# ADA vs oliver knott/colombo! is there any difference?



## Angus (23 Dec 2010)

can someone help me out here? ive never used any of these aquasoils, i am looking for the one with the least vulnerability to disurbance, longevity, i know ADA lasts around a year before its depleted, but as im dosing EI i presume it would also absorb some of the ferts once it had been depleted, i want something i can rescape atleast 2 or 3 times if not more, but i dont want to go down the akadama route, and the eco-complete ive got is pretty much inert.

any help and reviews on these products from your own use would be much appreiciated.

Cheers, Gus.


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## sanj (30 Dec 2010)

They are all clay based products and as you say will absorb some of the nutrients added to the aquarium. I only have experiance with ADA and even though I have used what is supposed to be the softest, i found it pretty much was intact after two years of use when i then upgraded and used some of the old substrate.

I think they are all pretty much the same with small degrees of variance, so why not go for the cheaper product. Im not even sure if there is much between them on price.


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## nayr88 (4 Jan 2011)

Someone pllllleeeeeaaaase make a sticky from one of these ada vs colombo vs knotts soil


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## ceg4048 (4 Jan 2011)

fozziebear said:
			
		

> ...i know ADA lasts around a year before its depleted, but as im dosing EI i presume it would also absorb some of the ferts once it had been depleted,


Hi,
   This is not really accurate. Tests indicate that the Nitrogen retention of Amazonia 1 is excellent and that the phosphate retention is less so. Of course this is under eutrophic dosing. With lean water dosing the performance would be somewhat less but still quite good. CEC/AEC are responsible for this as mentioned by sanj.



			
				sanj said:
			
		

> I think they are all pretty much the same with small degrees of variance, so why not go for the cheaper product. Im not even sure if there is much between them on price.


Although they are all clay, there is more than a small difference between Amazonia and the other two. Amazonia is NPK, micro and carbon enriched whereas the other two are inert. When choosing between an enriched sediment and an inert one, you need to decide what level of water column dosing you will pursue. It's always ideal to have nutrients in both sediment and water column, however, it's more accurate to say that a rich water column with an clay based sediment means less dependence on high performance (and high cost) sediments.

Cheers,


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## mjbarnard (5 Jan 2011)

Clive I'm a bit confused by your reply. You state that Amazonia is NPK, micro and carbon enriched whereas Oliver Knott is inert. 

In your post http://ukaps.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=13801#p143731 you state that "Elite products such as ADA Aquasoil and Oliver Knott's Nature Soil are category 3." Where category 3 is "Clay impregnated with macronutrients (NPK), micronutrients, and peat." 

I understand that Akadama is inert clay, Caribsea is inert clay impregnated with small amounts of micronutrients. However as per your previous post I thought Oliver Knott and Colombo were also impregnated with macro and micro?


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## ceg4048 (6 Jan 2011)

Sorry for the confusion mate. When I said "other two" I was referring to  Caribsea and Akadama, not the Knott.

Cheers,


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