# ADA Substrate Additives - How Important & Which



## rohitsingh_81 (31 Aug 2011)

Dear All,

I will be re-scaping my 60cm tank shortly. The layout in mind is Triangular aquascape since my tank is kept in corner. I have never before used the substrate additives and Power Sand. My previous tank was built using Amazonia II only.

I need your views as to what of the below-mentioned items from ADA substrate system are essential and what can be overruled:

1. Bacter 100
2. Clear Super
3. Turmaline BC
4. Penac W
5. Penac P

Please also let me know in case I am using Power Sand Special (which has Bacter 100 & Clear Super), would it still be recommended to buy them separately and use.

Many thanks


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## spyder (31 Aug 2011)

skeletonw00t said:
			
		

> You need all of the above otherwise most plants will not grow.



 Fanboy woot!

You can grow most (if not all) plants without any of those additives. There was a busy thread around about these additives and their usefulness. I'll link it here if I stumble on it.


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## Morgan Freeman (31 Aug 2011)

Only use them if you want your plants to develop consciousness and eventually takeover the world.

You don't need the additives, most of them are pseudo science.


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## nayr88 (31 Aug 2011)

skeletonw00t said:
			
		

> You need all of the above otherwise most plants will not grow.



It's not quite THAT extreme 

The supposed reason you add so much is because your water column dosing is fairly lean. 
Saying that I've grown most plants in my previous ada set up that had power sand special s, aqua soil ad Ada frets.
So saying you need it all! Is abit much.


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## Tom (31 Aug 2011)

You can do it fine just with Aquasoil and the liquid ferts


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## George Farmer (31 Aug 2011)

It's generally accepted that you don't _need_ any of those additional products, as hinted by some of the sarcasm posted already.

Aqua Soil on its own can and does produce great results. 

If you already have the Power Sand Special and Aqua Soil then I would use them without spending the extra on the other products.

For the record I've used Aqua Soil on its own, with PS Special, and with all of those additional products.  I've also used plain sand.

All of the set-ups grew great plants, but I put that more down to appropriate maintenance, lighting, water column nutrients, CO2 and circulation.  

So if you get everything else right, the substrate is one of the least important aspects.  

A good nutrient-rich substrate, however, does give you lots of room for error with regards water column nutrient dosing.


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## ghostsword (31 Aug 2011)

George Farmer said:
			
		

> It's generally accepted that you don't _need_ any of those additional products, as hinted by some of the sarcasm posted already.
> 
> Aqua Soil on its own can and does produce great results.
> 
> A good nutrient-rich substrate, however, does give you lots of room for error with regards water column nutrient dosing.



A good nutrient substrate goes a long way, and your plants will root quicker and give you more room for error.

I use Tropica Aquasoil under all my substrate, and echinodorus and crypts grow like weeds.  

Also it depends what sort of plants you are looking to have.


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## rohitsingh_81 (1 Sep 2011)

Dear All,

Thanks a lot for your replies. I shall go ahead with PS Special & Amazonia II which I have without spending extra on fancy items. The setup I have in mind is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60tI1J4J ... ature=plpp

The ingredients are:

Tank: 60x30x36
CO2: Pressurized setup
Light: 2x24w T5
Filter: Jebo Canister
Fetrz: EI Dosing (I run a tight schedule except when I am traveling)
Temp: 27 - 29 (No Chiller)

The reason I was had thought to buy ADA additives was that I had always failed with HC and thought ADA might help. 
Turmaline BC claims that Glossostigma Elatinoides grows very successively with its usage and was the only reason i was thinking to use it. Other wise I will fall back to Hairgrass which had been working well always for me.

Please share any pointers for me to grow Glossostigma Elatinoides without these expensive additives.

Many thanks.


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## George Farmer (1 Sep 2011)

Good CO2 and circulation are key elements to growing carpeting plants. Circulation at the bottom of the aquarium is often overlooked, so consider adjusting your filter configuration accordingly.


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## rohitsingh_81 (1 Sep 2011)

Thanks George !

I am going ahead without fancy items. And I am sure you are right with bottom circulation ~ Carpet Plants..... because that has been overlooked always by me. Shall get this right this time.

Thanks a Ton Guys..... you saved a lot of money for me.

Regards


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