# Sorry, another ADA AS thread.



## epicfish (Sep 11, 2006)

OK, I've done a bunch of reading on here, PT, and APD.

The qualities of substrate that make it "desirable" are:

1) Effect on the water, ie: kH, pH...
2) The amount of nutrients it contains
3) Look
4) Ease of planting
5) Cost
OK, I've done a bunch of reading on here, PT, and APD.

The qualities of substrate that make it "desirable" are:

1) Effect on the water, ie: kH, pH...
2) The amount of nutrients it contains
3) Look
4) Ease of planting
5) Cost

I think those are the basic 5 components. Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

I'm looking for a 3"-6" (depending on the area in the tank) layer of substrate for a 40 gallon breeder tank. 36"x18". I plan to have stem plants, java ferns, anubias, mosses, and possibly HC, glosso, dwarf hairgras...etc. A complete collection of plants pretty much.

Water buffering qualities:
We have hard water here in LA, so softer, more acidic water would be great for my plants. I believe I can achieve that through peat in the water, so are the buffering qualities of AS really worth it?

Amount of Nutrients:
From recent discussions, it's a given that ADA AS has more nutrients than the rest although Flourite and Eco-Complete come close. SMS has barely any nutrients since it's used as layering on baseball fields I think.

Look:
I'm aiming for a dark color, so ADA AS Amazonia, Eco-Complete, and charcoal SMS would fit the bill. I have a small amount of Flourite and I don't much like the color. True that it all gets covered, but I'd rather not. Also, it seems like Flourite would have the potential of scratching a tank.

Ease of planting:
What are you thoughts? I've heard Eco-Complete and SMS are harder to plant in? I'm also planning for either a nice glosso or HC carpet hopefully, so ease of planting is somewhat important.

Cost:
Since I'm aiming for a 3-4" thick layer in a 40 gallon breeder tank. The cost of ADA AS, Eco-Complete, and Flourite are comparable to each other for what I want to use it for. Soilmaster Select is obviously much cheaper.

So, my bottom-line question is...with a cheap substrate like Soilmaster Select or even 3M colorquartz and root tabs and column fertilizing, could I get equivalent growth and vibrance as I could with ADA AS? Would I be able to soak anything in a nutrient bath then bake it before I used it...etc?

I want the best of my tank, but I also don't want to have to sell my kidney to do so.

Thanks for reading this huge, long post, and I hope it'll help someone else decide between the costs vs. benefits of the pricier substrates out there compared to cheaper ones.
I think those are the basic 5 components. Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

Water buffering qualities:
We have hard water here in LA, so softer, more acidic water would be great for my plants. I believe I can achieve that through peat in the water, so are the buffering qualities of AS really worth it?

Amount of Nutrients:
From recent discussions, it's a given that ADA AS has more nutrients than the rest although Flourite and Eco-Complete come close. SMS has barely any nutrients since it's used as layering on baseball fields I think.

Look:
I'm aiming for a dark color, so ADA AS Amazonia, Eco-Complete, and charcoal SMS would fit the bill. I have a small amount of Flourite and I don't much like the color. True that it all gets covered, but I'd rather not. Also, it seems like Flourite would have the potential of scratching a tank.

Ease of planting:
What are you thoughts? I've heard Eco-Complete and SMS are harder to plant in? I'm also planning for either a nice glosso or HC carpet hopefully, so ease of planting is somewhat important.

Cost:
Since I'm aiming for a 3-4" thick layer in a 40 gallon breeder tank. The cost of ADA AS, Eco-Complete, and Flourite are comparable to each other for what I want to use it for. Soilmaster Select is obviously much cheaper.

So, my bottom-line question is...with a cheap substrate like Soilmaster Select or even 3M colorquartz and root tabs and column fertilizing, could I get equivalent growth and vibrance as I could with ADA AS? Would I be able to soak anything in a nutrient bath then bake it before I used it...etc?

I want the best of my tank, but I also don't want to have to sell my kidney to do so.

Thanks for reading this huge, long post, and I hope it'll help someone else decide between the costs vs. benefits of the pricier substrates out there compared to cheaper ones.


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## eklikewhoa (Jul 24, 2006)

water:
I have hardwater here too and the ada soil has brought it down quite a bit. 

nutrients:
I have no idea yet since i just set the tank up but i will go to say that my old tank looked 10x better with inert TMS than it did with eco-complete. 

look: 
I like the dark look too, i had TMS in the tank switched to eco and now ada. the eco got nasty looking with all the big clumps stayingon top and didnt look to good with the newly planted HC(pulled them out before they settled), the ADA looks to be all similar sized granules so i dont think there will be much of the same problem. also ADA offers the fine aquasoil to "top" the layers. 

planting:
The ADA stuff wasnt too bad to plant in, i think much easier than eco but harder than sand. i think what made it easy for me was the thickness, i have 4" up front and almost 6" in the rear.

cost:
Eco-complete was $20 ADA is also available locally for $26 so there is a $6 difference for me. 



my main reasoning for ADA is to grow higher maintenance plants that require a rich substrate.


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## epicfish (Sep 11, 2006)

ADA AS is $36 shipped for me here. We don't have ADG here. 

Would sand plus root tabs and column fertilizing have the same potential to grow plants like ADA AS?



eklikewhoa said:


> my main reasoning for ADA is to grow higher maintenance plants that require a rich substrate.


That's the exact question I'm trying to figure out. Is there a way to get a cheaper substrate to have the same nutrient property as AS? Either through root tabs, column fertilizing....etc. Soaking in nutrients? Reading it a book every night? =P


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## eklikewhoa (Jul 24, 2006)

i had some gayi that would not grow in my TMS but im gonna give it a try with the ADA.

when i had the tahittan moon sand i used flourish tabs and dosed EI with 96w over a 20g and it grew everything but the gayi and crinum. crypts had roots all over the place and it was a lush growth and nice green color everywhere. im thinking that going with the nutrient rich substrate will remove my limitations and hopefully i will be able to grow anything.

here's a picture of my tank with the TMS, flourish tabs, EI seachem, 96w 8hrs, 50% wc each week and pressurized co2.


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