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Personally I'd always wash 'inert' substrates such as sand or gravel to remove as much debris as possible. It's amazing how much dirt and cloudiness comes out if even washed substrates. Obviously don't wash planted substrates like aquasoil though!

Forgot to provide the links to the previous debates on this. viewtopic.php?f=21&t=989&hilit=heater+cable viewtopic.php?f=17&t=4101&p=45442&hilit=Heating+cable#p45442 And Glenn just because a company says something does something it doesn't necessarily mean it's completely true! If you're...

Well it will help heat the tank but as it's probably not powerful enough to do the job on it's own you're going to have to add another heater anyway so I wouldn't bother on that score. I think there may be a minimal value in it heating the roots of the plants in a cold room or with a very...

Thanks Tobi. Interesting results!

I can't see anywhere it mentioned how this analysis was undertaken. Was it done by putting the substrate in water and analysing the water column to see what leached out or was it a direct analysis of the substrate? Obviously the method used could have a large bearing on the practical...

The plants do love the nutrients in Aquasoil so they will definitely benefit. Ammonia is a part of those nutrients so it's all good! I'm not sure whether that means the Knott substrate has less ammonia and nutrients in or whether they are just in different forms? Either way AS is excellent. :D

No worries mate. :D

Please don't get any new fish for a while until you are completely sure that the tank has matured properly and their won't be any more disasters. If you think it might have been an ammonia spike then it would be cruel to subject more fish to it. After a fortnight more then you can start to...

I did it and kept the fish in a QT initially but never measured and ammonia or nitrite spike so added the fish back after 2 days! With a large mature filter and large daily water changes then you should be fine. I'd save as much water as possible when doing this to reduce the changes to the...

That's probably advise from discus keepers who keep their fish in bare tanks for hygiene reasons. Look at James's journal with discus in and see what you can do!!! Just don't feed too heavily with things like beefheart (though I wouldn't use this to feed to any fish as it feeds saturated...

Both sand and gravel are inert and don't add any nutrients for the plants. This is fine as long as your dosing is up to scratch so the plants don't run out of nutrients but you could use a substrate that will supply nutrients to the plants and IMHO the best of those is Aquasoil. It is more...

Yeah but a tank is a complex interactive ecosystem and I'm just not so sure you can break it down like that. I'm happy to use it and will continue to!

I will use it again. My tank with it in is a lot more resiliant of infrequent dosing and other issues than the one that doesn't have it. It kight not be the powersand but then again it might be. You can't prove it's always unecessary by a couple of simple experiments on a restricted sample of...

Well pumice is a major part of Powersand so that can! Is the Kanuma gravel?

Right I meant what is it starting at/going to as if it's really low then things dissolve easily to up the KH whereas if it's high then it changes. However if your pH is below 7 it must be fairly low. With large weekly water changes that kind of increase really won't be a problem and as the...

It's not one I've heard of. Please keep us informed with your progress with it as it might help someone else.

pH down won't check your substrate at all. It is a buffer to reduce the pH. What you want to use is a strong acid. I have used brick cleaner (hydrochloric acid) in the past and it does a good job. You don't say how much the KH and pH are rising but if you're doing large weekly water changes...

I think it would be best to use it 'fresh' rather than storing. However drying it our might be a viable option. The reason I say this rather than freezing (aside from the issues of putting muck from the filter into your freezer and the consequences when it's found and you're aksed, "What is...

Why not? Can't hurt! You could always put it in the base mixture in the tank with the slightly larger stuff on top.

Why not try crushing it gently and then seiving the resulting bits to get rid of the very fine dust like bits while keeping the slightly larger bits? I've never tried it but it might work well.

:lol: :lol: :lol: Watching Ronnie last night I was still struggling telling the brown and reds apart!!!

I've got about 1.5" of sand on top of Tetraplant Complete at the front of one tank and a 2" layer at the front of another tank. It's BD Aquarium sand which I use in all my tanks.

I'm nor familiar with this substrate Mark but can't you just use some sand or a fine gravel? I find sand anchors my HC and hairgrass well.

That's a shocker!!! I hope the blind person would do the only sensible option and punch the condescending person who tried to do that square in the face!!!!! I would!!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:

Well then it's black with a purple tint to your eyes!!!! :evil: :lol: No one really knows how anyone else sees colours apart from vague descriptions! That's the fun of trying to explain to my class how I see the world so they can understand it!!! Basically it's a really nice, natural...

Are you red-green colour-blind Simon? I am and do agree the AS in that photo has a purplish cast. It doesn't in real life. It's a matt dark grey-brown to my eyes.

Jus to add to what Will said you shouldn't even use pure coral sand in a cichlid tank as all their digging and rapid movements put the tiny particles into suspension and the sharp nature can cause them to flick and flash with the irritation. I used 90% aquarium sand with 10% aragonite sand...

The Green Machine are the UK suppliers and sponsors on here. Don't cover Aquasoil as it's lovely soft planting media and has a great, natural, matt effect in three different colours depending on which type you pick. There are pictures on their website of it bagged and there are pictures of...

I've got some under sand. I only chose it as it was fine and it doesn't come up through the sand. To be honest I wasn't that impressed with it as a growing medium since I started using aquasoil.

I've got 8 cories in a tank with aquasoil in the back two sections and sand at the front. The cories root around in the AS (though they are short nosed species so they don't really root too far down into the substrate) and don't cause any cloudiness. In fact they have reduced the amount of...

Gotta be Aquasoil IMHO. I'm assuming the tank is already set up with a fully matured large filter and that's why you're adding fish straight away? In which case the ammonia means you have to do large daily water changes which are a bonus anyway as they will help prevent any algae problems too...

I get this with my sand in my tanks. It's just bits of algae and dirt in the top layer. All I do is syphon out some sand during water changes, swirl it around and clean it a bit in hot water then add it back in. As the tank matures you find it settles down and happens less quickly, if at all...

If you heat it in hot/warm water then it makes it easier to straighten it and/or shape it into the curves you want.

I've used the sides of plastic penny sweet boxes. Easy to cut and a bit stiffer than pop bottles so they stayed in place better. But I'm sure a pop bottle would work fine too.

I'd top it up with another bag of aquasoil so that it all looks the same. If you mix another substrate on top of the light aquasoil pieces of it will come through and you'll have a mix of different substrates.

You're not going to effectively replace the entire substrate of a tank with fish, water and other things in place. The best idea if you don't want to replace it would be to add some things under the existing substrate. I remember on APC some people freezing up substrates and water and then...

You can certainly re-use but I would probably top it off with some new Aqusoil as it will be a bit messy doing it! That aquasoil granules are quite soft and you'll squash some. The Powersand is a bit tougher as it's pumice pieces (with a lot of other things).

Yeah anything like that would work. The egg crate would effectively make your own UG plate really, just with bigger gaps! The tin slits of a normal UG plate might get blocked up as the moss grows.

In that case you could certainly try the egg crate. I'd also suggest raising it off the bottom of the tank and having an intake to a filter under there to suck all the detritus up constantly, would certainly cut down on maintenance.

With moss's tendency to gather lots of debris I would definitely think about the egg crate idea. Then you will be able to lift the whole thing and syphon the detritus out. The problem is what do you grow the rest of the plants in if you do this?! You'll still need a substrate where you have...

No offense intended here mate but that's a company's marketing spiel and is always going to be looking at things from a point of view to sell their product! After all Guiness isn't really that good for you.... They may well claim that their product does this and it may produce some slow...

Well it certainly won't do any harm once it's in (except when you move plants with roots all wrapped around the cables! :shock: ) but I bet you could turn it off and would see no effect at all. However if it aint broke then my motto is always don't fix it! The temperature gradients caused...

It's been a while since this one surfaced again!!! If you do a search of the forum you should find a few threads going into a fair bit of detail about substrate heating. Basically I don't know anyone on here who uses them (thought I'm sure one or two will post now!!! :lol: ) As far as I am...

But the formula in the first post gives the amount of substrate in litres! I think Nick is wanting to convert litres into pounds and kilos. The answer to that is that it is going to vary slightly between the substrates as Aquasoil is lighter per litre than ordinary sand or gravel. The best...

If you've got a mature filter and do daily 50% water changes during the first week or two (which is a good idea to prevent algae initially whether the substrate releases ammonia or not) then you fish will be fine. I kept mine in a QT tank while I added Aquasoil to one of my tanks and I never...

Ah right James. Yes makes perfect sense. Thanks for clearing that up.

Sorry to be picky (or dim :lol: ) here James, but how will soaking it in Calcium and magnesium sulphate reduce the initial KH drop? KH is a measure of the carbonate hardness, Ca and Mg are measured via GH, general hardness. Wouldn't soaking in CaCO3 or KCO3 be better to act as a buffer, or...

Powersand needs to go under another substrate and is designed to supplement the nutrients in Aquasoil. It isn't a sand BTW! It is pumice pieces with peat and other things in amongst it. If you want a feriliser to go under sand I would go for the Tetraplant Complete. I this is a fine sandy...

It's aquasoil that leeches a bit of ammonia - I wasn't aware that Eco-complete did, but I've never used it.

If you're dosing EI and looking to replace this substrate soon then I'd simply stick some cheap 2-3mm gravel in with the larger gravel. It will work between the larger gaps making it easier to secure the cuttings. Then, when you have the cash, get some really good all-in-one substrate.

If you don't like the colour then look at the other types. Amazonia is the 'black' one (actually a dark matt grey and very nice IMHO) and Africa and Malaya are different colours. You might prefer those? I think your plan is a sound one and you might want to look at my article where I did the...

Totally. Aquasoil it is then!!!! :twisted: :lol: :twisted:

If you've already bought the grit then test it with some acid. If it fizzes then it contain calcerous material and will harden the water. Use a strong enough acid like brick cleaner and you should see the little bubbles clearly enough.

I used 2l to 18litres of Aquasoil. While many argue it's unneccesary I would use it again when I set up a new tank as I don't dose heavily and my tank with it is doing better than the one without! Not a scientific comparison as other factors are different but that's my opinion!

I've got garden soil under sand and that's fine. If only I had time to keep up the maintenance (that tank's at school) it'd look good enough to take some pictures!!!

You don't rinse Aquasoil either. And the granules are a range of sizes and shapes. I love the matt effect of Aquasoil compared to most substrates. The ammonia isn't really a big deal; a mature filter and some large daily water changes (always a good idea after any big re-scape IME) soon sort...

When you say gravel what sort is it? A lot of specialist plant substrates do not need washing like aquasoil.

I dose very lightly so simply carried on. If you dose heavily you may want to reduce the macros but I'd keep the micros at full strength. TO be honest I think you could carry on as normal there. Any fast growers will be fine. Just make sure there's plenty of CO2 too so the plants can use all...

If your tank has a mature filter and you plant heavily straight away you can add the AS and simply do daily 50% water changes to manage the ammonia. The spikes aren't that high and the fish will love the extra water changes. I removed my fish when using AS for the second time and found there...

My planted tanks are that deep, two with just some laterite at the base, the rest sand. I'd try and syphon some of the sand off and reduce the depth where you're having problems. Either that or give the sand layer a good stir every day and syphon off the debris for a few days and see how that...

I've got sand in all my tanks and have never had any problem at all. I don't stir up the sand but simply vacuum any debris off the surface. I've have never seen any gas bubbles coming out of the substrate at all and not all my tanks are planted so it can't be roots keeping the substrate...

With some mature media and a good filter you may find the tank cycles in as little as 10 days, or even less. However try to leave the fish for as long as you can. The AS will continue to leach small amounts of ammonia for a while, but once the plants are established they will take it all up...

They will affect biological filtration in that both will remove ammonia that otherwise bacteria would use as food. However, with a mature filter, Purigen especially doesn't seem to have any major deleterious effects. In a mature filter the bacteria will simply suspend their activity and wait...

Carbon won't remove ammonia, but old carbon will get colonised by nitrifying bacteria and become biological media too. If you want to remove ammonia chemically then Purigen or Zeolite will do it.

I find planting tweesers help a lot. The only problems I ever have are with the fact that my Crinums roots have spread so far and bound the AS together. When I plant in these areas I have to jiggle the AS back to fill the hole and secure the stem. Not a major problem, but I don't have...

The larger water volume will ease the issue I would have though by shear quantity. Maybe you could use a large pack of Zeolite to help reduce the ammonia spike without water changes?

Never used the Eco complete but I'd never look further than AS after using it on two tanks. IMHO, it's the best substrate, period.

I run 5 tanks from my RO unit!!! GOt it feeding into a water butt with automatic top-up though so it basically runs itself.

Yeah I've heard that. Using pure RO that wouldn't be an issue for me! :lol: Glad to hear the excitement mate; that new set-up buzz is great isn't it?

Worth every penny mate, seriously. Did you get Amazonia 1 or 2 or another type?

Any good reflector is better than none, but the big advantage of the gull-wing design is that it dramatically reduces re-strike. This is where light from the bulb ends up being reflected back into the bulb where it adds to the heat and inefficiency problems. If possible go gull-wing! It's...

http://www.charterhouse-aquatics.co.uk/ ... -1658.html They seem to be out of stock at the moment though.

Make sure they send you one with the new lights. Don't accept an old version as the amount it'll cost you to upgrade the lights will be wasted money. Once you add some good reflectors (I use D-D gull wing ones on mine) then that is enough light to grow almost everyhting, including Glosso, and...

Well IMHO I wouldn't worry about the cheapest. Get a good substrate and you'll use it for years and years and it'll repay you over time. You pay your money and you take your choice. Personally, after using it, I can't see me setting up a high tech planted tack without using Aquasoil. Using...

Go with the Aquasoil, you won't regret it.

I've got original Amazonia. I have heard reports on APC of 2 breaking up more for a couple of people compared to original, but only a couple so they may be isolated cases. I have a feeling you may be a pioneer over here as it only just seems to have come over here. Please report back how you...

I wouldn't do that! Half the advantage of AS, IMO, is that it looks so great in the tank with this kind of matt dark grey/black effect. Also you will get bits of the bottom layer (especially if it's AS as it's so light) coming through the top layer. My Rio 180 only used one bag because I...

If you can afford it and like the look go with the Aquasoil. It's great to plant in and has given excellent results for me and everyone else I think that has used it. IME it also gives you a buffer of nutrients in case you are less than regimented with your dosing (in fact I haven't dosed my...

Eco-complete is a 'complete' substrate!!! :lol: You can use it on it's own with no top layer.

I'd say it certainly couldn't hurt but quite probably it isn't worth it. All substrates will form a healthy bacterial population and the main factor in there growth is likely to be oxygen (or the lack of) and nutrients. Avoiding compaction will determine the amount of O2 and what kinds of...

I believe the idea of them is to encourage bacteria in the substrate and provide different surfaces for bacterial colonisation. The ADA catalogue says that, "Its porous volcanic stones secure water circulation, and avoid the stiffing of the substrate." whatever that means!!! Bascially...

You could also add a few large pieces of slate underneath the substrate to reduce the amount of substrate needed. I used slate pieces to attach my wood to in my tank and the knock on effect was to reduce the amount of Aquasoil I needed quite significantly. There was still a couple of inches...

I found these three from my Rio pictures. The first was taken with a flash so the Aquasoil appears lighter. I would say it's really a dark grey colour I suppose.

It's not really soil as in the stuff from the garden, but small rounded granules of baked material. It is quite soft but doesn't break down in the tank for a number of years unless you crush it. Plant growth in my tank using it has been amazing so I've recently set another tank up using it...

Personally I'd go with ADA Amazonia for the tank for a number of reasons; 1. It produces the most fantastic plant growth I have ever seen in any of my tanks. 2. IME it is very forgiving if you aren't the most regular at dosing as it retains and supplies a lot of nutrients. 3. It looks great and...

I have recently redone one of my tanks and totally stripped the tank and added Amazonia to the tank and I added the fish back after two days as there was no Nitrite reading! I think if you have a mature, overspec'd filter and did 50% water changes every day for a week or so you will be fine to...

Accroding to the 2006 ADA catalogue, Africana has harder granules with lower nutrients than Amazonia; Malaya has soft granules for long term set ups and Amazonia has more 'organic elements' and will lower the pH and hardness. I had the same decision to make not long ago and went with Amazonia...

I left mine for around 5 hours (I think!) while setting up my Rio tank and then mixed it with some old peat, Powersand Special and layered it under the Aquasoil. The results are pretty good IMO!

I liked the Tetraplant, but seriously, if you are even slightly considering it, go with Aquasoil. It looks great, is easy to use and the plants grow like crazy! The only reasons for not using it, IMO, are the cost and if you have fish that like to chew the substrate over like dwarf cichlids...

I've moved it to the substrate section as you do tend to use the mulm in new substrates!!! As well as maturing the substrate, adding mulm also increases the organic material in the substrate. It first became used, AFAIK, as a replacement or addition to Powersand with Aquasoil. That has peat...

I've used it under sand and have it in my Rio under the sand at the foreground. It's very good that it didn't come to when uprooting and replanting plants but for plant growth IME it can't compare with Aquasoil.

You might want to look in the substrates section. There are a few threads on there about Akadama, plus a fair few of us that use Amanos products too. ADA Aqusoil is the name of the substrate from Amano.

Just in case you're interested here are couple of great articles on using RO water for Koi by Mike Snaden. (This guy REALLY knows his stuff with koi!) Reversing a trend Softly does it

Goldfish will be fine in soft water. They don't need hard water at all, they can just cope fine with it. BTW a number of Koi keepers now use RO water as they have found that it really increases the growth rate of the fish and improves the white and red areas of the koi's colour. They...

If I remember correctly, standard retail Osmoscote will release nutrients for around 9-12 months in typical temperate climates. Its release is supposed to be temperature and moisture related so I'd definitely go easy on the amount you put in as in a tropical tank it might release it more...

You're right there is no exact answer. I think your last sentence sums it up. Have a look at what you like the look of and other people are using successfully and copy them!

Amazonia is the most widely used and is recommended for rapid plant growth, but it does release ammonia when first used. If this is a new tank then no worries as there will be no fish in but, if fish are present then you need to do daily large water changes to reduce the levels (They're a good...

Have you looked at the Malaya Aquasoil? There's also Africa which is a baked earth red colour.

I did the same as James when I used some mulm for my new tank. I also mixed some old peat in there too along with Powersand for a real belt and braces approach!

Here's Jim's journal where he used EC. Ignore the cloudiness, just add the EC BEFORE the water! :lol: :shock: http://ukaps.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t= ... c&start=20