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Akadama - A cheap substrate

Quick question quys. I have a 55l tank which I am planning to rescape next weekend.
I went to my local bonsai store this morning to get a bag of Akadama, mission completed.
The plan is to flood Akadama with water tomorrow in a bucket, my current KH is 2, GH 9, pH 6.5.
I am keeping in my tank 2 red rams, 8 neons tetra and 4 corydoras. Should I do the bit with making Akadama a bit more KH friendly?
I am planning of cleaning the tank, then adding this which I just purchased:
ADA Super Clear Tourmaline Bacter 100 Penac P Penac W | eBay
Then I am going to add some peat. Should I bother with Osmocote? or ADA mix will be enough?
I have few different mesh size sieves, so I will sieve my Akadama and then place the biggest granules at the bottom simulating ADA Power Sand.
Then the rest of the stuff and the finest sieved portion on the top.
What you guys think about this?
Regards
Lucas
 
hi
i want to know what is the difference betwin the quality of ada aqua soil amazonia and ista aqua soil
 
quick question but how long will it take for the akadama to settle down, absorb water and air to be released?
I saw alot of movement in the hardscape and lots of air released after flooding and can still see some pockets sat around so wondered whether i need to actively stir it up a little or will it be settled in a week or so? i will need to re-scape the wood arrangement anyway given the moement but just wanted an indication of whether i should consider doing it now or in a week or two as i normally need to plan ahead given the hectic social lives of my kids 🙁
 
I use a barbeque skewer to poke my substrate to release large pockets of air. I've used cat litter and ada amazonia and africana and all of them have stayed light.
 
That is why I always weight my wood now as the substrate can't support it in any way.
 
Does anybody know if i can buy this in a shop somewhere around manchester? would like to buy it tomorrow rather than order from ebay?

Thanks in advance Ian
 
Really interesting and long lived thread, I used Akadama back in 2003-5 when keeping FW, since moved to Marine and now back to FW. I used it as both a substrate and filter media in a fx5. I can assure those who doubt the breakdown quality of a decent brand that it will not breakdown if you get a quality hard brand. As a filter media its excellent, given it was in an FX5.. theres not much more of a test given the water flow thru it.
My new build planted tank will use a base layer of Hard Line Akadama Bonsai Soil with a seachem flourite topper. Having used Akadama many yrs ago, I can vouch for its fantastic qualities, Seachem is without doubt a star brand in the marine world, lets see how it fairs in FW 🙂
 
I actually changed my mind and ordered TMC Nutrasoil instead of Flourite.. simply for the buffering of the PH...
 
How much of a pain is it to clean this stuff? I'm looking at using it in new set-up but the inhabitants will likely dig a bit so I'll need it to be completely dust free before it goes in.
 
I wasted loads of time trying to clean it before giving up and chucking it in. I wouldn't advise bothering as it seems to clear pretty quickly after being disturbed.
 
Bought a couple of bags of akadama this week and have had them soaking for about 24 hrs and they've already turned to mush. I think I know the answer to this question but can I still use it? Also anyone know where I can buy some stuff that will last
 
kempster2000 said:
Bought a couple of bags of akadama this week and have had them soaking for about 24 hrs and they've already turned to mush. I think I know the answer to this question but can I still use it? Also anyone know where I can buy some stuff that will last
Click to expand...
Hi Kempster,

Sorry to hear about your bad experience. Here's the link to akadama I bought, it's really good quality 🙂

http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/262202695000

Just as a warning, it's best to sieve and get rid of the biggest "granules". It will make planting easier. And also, rinsing is more important than soaking. It takes a while to get rid of the dust... And don't worry if the water is getting slightly cloudy when flooding the tank, it clears very quickly.

Cheers,
Manu
 
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