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Ada Amazonia and Ada Power sand alternative
- Thread starter Mikewol
- Start date
Yes.
Yes, but Powersand is a base layer for Amazonia (or whatever) as Nutribase is a base layer to go under sand or soil.
I have used crushed lava rock in some tanks, and Powersand in others, and can't say I've noticed any difference. Crushed lavarock is usually dirt cheap. Powersand is very expensive; 70£ for a 6L bag, and from what I can tell, it's just pumice with two ADA additives.
From ADA's own website those additives are:
- Bacter 100: "It is a substrate additive, containing more than 100 kinds of substrate bacteria in a dormant state. By sprinkling on the base substrate, it can make an ideal substrate environment. By applying on top of blue green algae, it suppresses the growth of it." In my mind, you could easily just seed the tank with some established filter media or something from an established tank. Doesn't sound very necessary to me.
- Clear Super: "It is a substrate additive made from activated carbon and organic acid. Clear Super helps the growth of microorganisms. By sprinkling on the base substrate, it promotes the growth of microorganisms in the substrate, and stabilizes the environment." I don't see how activated carbon could help microorganisms grow. I think the product sounds a bit like snake oil.
From ADA's own website those additives are:
- Bacter 100: "It is a substrate additive, containing more than 100 kinds of substrate bacteria in a dormant state. By sprinkling on the base substrate, it can make an ideal substrate environment. By applying on top of blue green algae, it suppresses the growth of it." In my mind, you could easily just seed the tank with some established filter media or something from an established tank. Doesn't sound very necessary to me.
- Clear Super: "It is a substrate additive made from activated carbon and organic acid. Clear Super helps the growth of microorganisms. By sprinkling on the base substrate, it promotes the growth of microorganisms in the substrate, and stabilizes the environment." I don't see how activated carbon could help microorganisms grow. I think the product sounds a bit like snake oil.
SSK101
Member
The power sand advanced is packed full of nutrients
Yes, but I've seen comments that this can be overkill when starting a new tank, potentially leading to algae problems.
SSK101
Member
You are correct, it's not for everyone if you can't yet control the power 😄
Okay, and what special nutrient(s) is it that powersand contains that you can't get anywhere else - and that justifies the price?
If you tumble a batch of lavarock (or pumice) in a bucket with tropica substrate or even garden soil, wouldn't the effect be pretty much the same? From what I can find, pumice and lavarock have about the same cation exchange capacity, which if I understand it correctly, means they can absorb roughly the same amount of nutrients. What is it, then, that is so special about powersand? Because the 'additives' surely don't justify the price on their own.
SSK101
Member
It is very expensive the only reason I use it in most of my tanks is the hobbie is self sustaining for me,
I use it in combination with amazonia 1 and this is what works well for me but there are many options, I've also used small lava rock in bags under the soil and just soil just fine
It would be cool to see a long term (a year?) experiment on this, where someone tried out something like:
Tank 1: Just aquasoil
Tank 2: Pumice or lavarock under aquasoil
Tank 3: Pumice/lavarock tumbled in a bucket with tropica substrate or garden soil
Tank 4: ADA powersand advance under aquasoil
...Because I could absolutely be wrong!
SSK101
Member
There's a few youtubers who have done similar tests
I haven't seen anything like that. Would love a link!
Marcel G
Member
I don't know the composition of ADA Powersand, but if I'm not mistaken, even if it contained all the essential nutrients [in the inorganic form], most of them would leach out into the water column within the first few hours after being flooded, because the only [inorganic] nutrients that the substrate can hold for a long time are the cations (most often H+, NH4+, K+, Ca++, Mg++), and the monovalent ones (H+, NH4+, K+) also leach out very quickly and are replaced by the divalent ones (Ca++, Mg++). This would mean that in the first few hours the aquarium water will practically turn into a cesspool (which the manufacturer himself recommends to solve by frequent water changes, thus removing most of the "extra nutrients" from the water yourself ... so you're actually buying something for a lot of money that you have to remove quickly yourself for the most part), and then you will be left with only a supply of calcium and magnesium in the substrate (which, according to some studies, many plants prefer to have in the water, not in the substrate). So the advantage of such a substrate remains a mystery to me. Anyway, the problem with all products of "unknown composition" is that the manufacturers may just rely on the customer's imagination. And as we know, imagination knows no bounds! I can imagine the substrate making gold in my aquarium. 🙂
Hi all,
Personally I like an initially <"low nutrient substrate">, so I use 90% silica play sand, with a <"small amount of acid clay"> and structural leaf litter added. These additives give me both some CEC and minimal slow release organic nutrients.
Adding nutrients to the substrate is relatively easy, but <"removing them is a lot harder">.
cheers Darrel
That is right, cations of higher valency are more strongly bound. There is some discussion of this in <"Osmocote plus disaster"> and subsequent posts.
Alchemy is actually a property of the word "Aquarium", but only <"if you are the vendor">.
Personally I like an initially <"low nutrient substrate">, so I use 90% silica play sand, with a <"small amount of acid clay"> and structural leaf litter added. These additives give me both some CEC and minimal slow release organic nutrients.
Adding nutrients to the substrate is relatively easy, but <"removing them is a lot harder">.
cheers Darrel
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Thanks for the thorough reply! Interesting stuff. It seems I wasn't entirely too far off on a few things.
I found the bolded part especially interesting. I guess what you wrote here kind of applies to aquasoil as well, since a common advice is to do waterchanges daily for the first week, every other day the next week etc.
Human imagination coupled with our desire to have perfection in a glass box must be profitable indeed. I imagine (hah!) some filter media being claimed to cure cancer in the near future!
