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It's basically tiny balls of dried clay, so it's unlikely to cause any issues with your loaches. As Sean says, the powder version is smaller still.

It does look like a larger size. It almost looks like shale or stone chips. I would think stems and eleocharis would be OK, as there roots can be poked into the substrate with a set of planting forceps. HC on the other hand... Well, that's hard enough in fine substrates!

Interested to know, is there any issues with them being scented?

Re: How its made - Oliver Knott's NatureSoil Interesting stuff! So does that mean you could theoretically create one of these expensive soils using any soil, to give the same product (more or less) or does the contents of the soil matter in the first place?

Bare in mind the amonia spike you get with ADA Amazonia also. You'll need to do big waterchanges daily for the first few weeks to combat this.

How big is your tank? I've heard that nature soil can degrade after 9 months or so (LondonDragon was telling me today) but I have no personal experience of this. The current hot substrate is Colombo Florabase. There are others out there and it really depends on what you want to grow etc.

Bare in mind that ADA sand is varying granule size, but there isn't much sand in it generally. You could almost do with Zambezi sized sand (but lighter colour). Check out the Unipac website - http://www.unipacpet.com/ - The Arctic sand (under natural category) looks quite interesting.

Re: Aquatic shop in London where ADA Aquasoil can be purchas I'm heading there too, from the Midlands. Looks like I'll be on the same train though! Will be a great day out :)

Interesting question. I'm not totally sure, but I believe the idea of akadama and other clay based, high CEC substrates is that they retain nutrients so what you suggest might work. Pre-treating it so that it is already charged with nutrients might also work (soaking it in a container for a...

Shame Oliver put a cheesey photo on the front of his packaging :lol:

That's interesting :) It's literally soil dug up, burnt and sieved. Makes you wonder why it's so expensive, but the processing isn't going to be cheap I guess.

You're technically correct, although the ADA substrates specifically say you shouldn't pre-wash them; you put them into the aquarium dry and then fill with water once scaped.

They look like they go together quite well, but if you're putting one ontop of the other, does that matter so much? :) I guess you will get mixing when up-rooting plants etc so it's worth considering. If you can get hold of Unipac Zambezi sand, I think it'd work quite well too. i'd say go for...

It will depend on what plants you are growing really. If you think about it, Crypts have rampant root growth, where as something like HC has fairly shallow roots. I would say a few centimetres should be fine for most plants (shallower for carpeting plants).

It's expensive, but you just can't get anything else like it! When I was in Yosemite National Park, I was walking accross this dry riverbed and the substrate was this perfect granite sand/gravel. It really was just like ADA forest sand blanco! I wanted to stuff my pockets with it and bring...

Imitation is one of the best forms of flattery :)

The amonia leach will actually help cycle your filter in that case :)

Hi Bob. Welcome to the forums! You can get Aquasoil from The Greenmachine (see their banner or sponsor's section of the forum). AE also do Oliver Knott Nature soil which some have tried and rate highly. Will you be adding this to an existing tank or starting fresh and stocking with fish a...

Yeah, perhaps sticking the plastic in and syphoning between it and the glass would work? Perhaps a plastic ruler might be a good place to start :lol:

Re: Bargain Tropica You could also try syphoning out the front edge of your substrate, and then replace with fresh gravel, but it will depend on your setup and the like :)

True mate :) But wouldn't you still get a bit of merging above where the barrier sits, as you can't have it sticking out abouve the substrate? Still, you wouldn't want it to be a very stark contrasting line I guess, you always need an element of blending :)

Basically use a strip of cardboard or something similar as a barrier when putting the two substrates into your tank. Fill both sides evenly, and when you've got the levels you want, remove the barrier very carefully. A paint brush can be useful for tidying up (obviously a brand new one, not...

it's actually clay pellets, as apose to stone. It contains nutrients added by the manufacturer also. You can grow anything in inert substrate if other factors are optimum, just look at LondonDragon's 125 litre tank :)

Also bare in mind that Aqua Soil, and I believe Oliver Knott substrate change the water chemistry a little. Might be worth thinking about with exisiting fish, but then might not be a problem ;)

I've heard of the stocking method before, too but not tried it. Is this a new scape, from scratch or an existing one you're wanting to change? I'd suggest dividing the substrate using something like card/plastic and add both substrates. Carefully remove the card and as long as they are...

I would place them around your big root feeders and not worry to much about the rest :) Stems will take nutrients from the water column (as will crypts, but they'll like the nutrients around the roots too).

An alternative might be the new substrate from Oliver Knott. It apparently doesn't leech amonia like AS, but it's still early days yet...

I'm going to be setting up an 80cm at some point in the comming weeks, but should I pre-soak my AS to lessen the impact of the GH/KH drop when I start using it?

I have Eco Complete in my new shrimp setup. Some reasonable photos here: viewtopic.php?f=35&t=3401&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=20#p38191 It's older stuff, there seems to have been some weird batches of EC with larger granule sizes, but I don't think it was a product change as such, just a small...

Tropical Fish Forums. Check your message box :) They guy is asking £40 delivered for 3 bags of EC!

There is a guy selling 3 bags of the stuff on TFF at the moment. He's in Aberdeen apparently. You could probably get them quite cheap if you haggle :)

Sorry, wasn't that specific :) Basically Aquasoil is an "all in one" which doesn't need capping off with anything. Personally I'd have the Aquasoil in the rear, where your plants will be, and something like sand or gravel at the front where it will be open or covered with hardscape (and...

Due to the cost of aquasoil, it's usually a good idea to have it where you're planting lots of stems. You can then partition off areas where there will be no plants, say a nice open front area or sand or something.

Another test would be to put some of the new gravel into a bucket of tap water and check the PH/GH/KH over a week or so, see if it's affected.

Pea gravel should be OK. How big are the stones? You could consider Tropica capsules in the gravel to give things a boost :)

Any ideas how it affects your water chemistry?

Check this image. The Zambezi is the more gravel looking stuff, though it is quite fine:

I've not seen it in the flesh, but Unipac Zambezi resembles it partially. One of my LFS sells very fine sand which has a nicer colour than your average play sand. Bit more natural looking. I've tried mixing the two in my new 80cm and seems to look reasonably nice :)

As long as it isn't too big a grain, and isn't sharp in any way then it should be fine :) Thought about maybe having a sandy area perhaps?

I didn't think Eco was supposed to alter KH? Odd...

This pic shows just Eco-Complete in my little 27 litre tank and should give you an idea of what it looks like: http://deviant-uk.org/pics/aquatics/Liv ... ril_04.jpg Its a mixed grain size, with some fine and some less fine bits but evens out quite nicely I think :)

Not used that black sand, but I've used the Hagen black river sand which is nice. Has a sort of dark grey/black look and looks quite natural. The Eco wouldn't necessarily need topping, and looks quite nice on its own too :)

Thanks Ed, thats reassuring :) I was only thinking about leaving it for several hours, while I wash and prep the new sand i'm using :)

Hey gang... Not sure where to post this, perhaps under fert dosing, perhaps planting, perhaps general ;) Anyhow. I'm setting up and moving plants from an established tank to new tank today. I wondered how long you can leave mulm without covering/filling the tank? As I understand it we put...

Thats a good price... I just paid £17.99 at LFS... I knew it was over the odds but it was more the convenience and also supporting the LFS :)

Its a bit like fine grit. I've used it before but couldn't really say what it was like as I'm really still learning. I'm using it again in a new setup so hopef'ully I'll see some good results. Just make sure you have a nice thick layer of gravel or sand to cap it off, and that you don't have...