# ADA Amazonia



## Ghazanfar Ghori (Jan 27, 2004)

About three weeks after the AGA Convention I tore down my 46G bowfront completely. Total tear down - emptyed the tank, scrubbed
it clean etc. I set it up with ADA Amazonia in the back with some
of the ADA White sand in the front. 

The tank is planted with four different types of Rotala as the background.
The stems I started with were really small - maybe about 3" in length
before planting them in. 
The tank has been setup for about 3.5 weeks now. So far the results
have been quite impressive. I've never had stem plants grow so fast
or so well. My Rotala rotundafolia var. 'green' has crowns about 2" wide!
The crowns of Rotala sp. Nanjenshan are even wider. I came back
from a week of vacation to a JUNGLE. I gave the tank a severe pruning
last night - the stem plants I used really seem to love ADA Amazonia!

I'm really quite impressed. Let's see how it holds up in the long run.

BTW - I've grown these plants in Eco-complete and Flourite, so thats
what I'm comparing the growth against.


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## IUnknown (Feb 24, 2004)

Ghazanfar,
Do you run a controller in this tank? How do you deal with the changing pH?


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## Ghazanfar Ghori (Jan 27, 2004)

No controller. I also really don't do many tests on the water. I did
notice the pH drop significantly during the first week, after which I
did a 80% water change. Haven't tested the water since then though.


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## Gomer (Feb 2, 2004)

Have you maintained the typical dosing regime, or have you changed it?

Thanks for reporting!


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## Its me (Oct 21, 2004)

Hi,

I have just setup a 15gal tank today and im also trying the ADA Aquasoil Amazonia. I added a few stems i have from the other tank, soon ill add more.

Good to hear the substrat is doing well. I have this friend (he is also member here - nick is ramirezi) who is also using ADA substrat and he told me that never saw a so fast establishment on a tank.

Ill keep reporting results here 
Btw, here a pic of the tank (just has a few hours of life hehe):


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## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

I see you have H. polysperma, which is a very good plant to start up with. If you have algae problems, cut back on the light temporarily. Introduce other species once the H. polysperma is doing well. I always like to keep at least a little H. polysperma present because it is a good indicator plant.


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## Ghazanfar Ghori (Jan 27, 2004)

I uaully dose with a liquidoer, but as with any new setup, i don't dose
for the first few weeks. So this tank hasn't gotten any ferts. It does
have a decent amount of fish in there though - about 40 rasboras.


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## Rolo (May 12, 2004)

Ghazanfar Ghori said:


> I've never had stem plants grow so fast
> or *so well*. My Rotala rotundafolia var. 'green' has crowns about 2" wide!
> The crowns of Rotala sp. Nanjenshan are even wider.


It really intruiges me you said this. Something I've noted about Amano's aquariums and other's (including Ramirezi's 63g) using Aquasoil is that the stemplant seem so much fuller, compact, robust, heathier from tip to base. Is that a statement you would agree with from your own experience so far?

At the LFS they have a lot of planted tanks with plain gravel + mulm, but then have one with Florabase. I'm guessing it is similar to aquasoil b/c it looks and behaves similarly (lowers hardness and acidifies the water). There is Rotala rotundafolia var. 'green' in there which looks so much better then in the other tanks. Larger crowns as you noted.

I'm also interested on how aqua soil has affected your water parameters.


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## Its me (Oct 21, 2004)

Hi,

Just let me correct something here: in the post above ive mentioned im using Amazonia soil; the one im using is the Malaya type, got confused with the names sorry.

Best Regards


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## Piscesgirl (Feb 25, 2004)

Is Amazonia a substrate you have to rinse first?


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## MiamiAG (Jan 13, 2004)

Piscesgirl said:


> Is Amazonia a substrate you have to rinse first?


Nope.


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## Ghazanfar Ghori (Jan 27, 2004)

Rolo said:


> It really intruiges me you said this. Something I've noted about Amano's aquariums and other's (including Ramirezi's 63g) using Aquasoil is that the stemplant seem so much fuller, compact, robust, heathier from tip to base. Is that a statement you would agree with from your own experience so far?
> ...
> 
> ...
> I'm also interested on how aqua soil has affected your water parameters.


Stem plants in the tank w/ Amazonia definitly are growing much
better than I've ever grown them. I haven't tested all the water
parameters yet - stopped testing once I got my fert regiment 
worked out for most of my tanks. I'll try and test some parameters
tonight and report back....


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## Raul-7 (Feb 4, 2004)

That's why we need Tony to analysize the substrate to see what's the real secret behind it...:wink:


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## plantbrain (Jan 23, 2004)

Do the jar test.
Add some to jar, wait 2 days, test the water.

The phyiscal characters are not being considered here, semi soft clay is good for rroots, kitty litter did very well in the tanks I used it on, it was cloudy when I replanted, but otherwise did well.

If you make comparisions, do controlled test, otherwise, I don't care how it's done, it's not going to tell much nor why. Maybe that does not interest you 

Flora base is suppose to be the same material asa ADA's stuff.

I have a serries of small cube tanks I got a great deal on so I'm going to set up a few with ADA's soil.

I use it back in 1997(amanzoia+ power sand), I did not see a significant difference at the time. It was light weight, I do not care for that aspect. 

Jeff Senska has talked me into using it again. I will evalute it in a more controlled manner along with Onyx sand, Florabase, kitty litter and Flourite. 

I plan on using one species of plant. I can change these and tear the tank down and try another species.

While the nutrients maybe in the substrate, one needs to provide non limiting conditions to do this test which means the water column as well.

I'll do a tank without water column dosing as well.
Don't worry
I'll look at quite a few things.

I plan on using a fast grower as these will show signs of differences quicker.

Regards, 
Tom Barr







Regards, 
Tom Barr


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## Raul-7 (Feb 4, 2004)

Tom you made a good point, the most important aspect that makes Aquasoil different from any other substrate is it's texture. It is soft which makes it easy to penetrate, thus making the nutrients easier to reach. I don't think you can rely too much on the Aquasoil without the use Powersand, as that is where all the nutrients are "recycled". Plus, I believe Aquasoil is simply a base fert that supplies the plants with all the nutrients through the waiting period(4-6 weeks), then you have to rely on using ferts.


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