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James i think i screwed up i have bought Spagnum moss from the bonzai shop and not Spagnum moss peat. I was planning to use it with some Osmocote which i have on order. How thickly or thinly did you spread the osmocote ?

Because of the associated PH drop that is quite sharp ( i deduce especially if injecting co2 ) given James had to do daily water changes. Im not sure how low the PH can go as a result but perhaps plants wont like the very low PH. Besides i have filters cycling at the moment getting ready so i...

On a bit of a tangent but what do you think it would do in a tank filter instead of carbon ,, if i understand the implications of it taking phosphates out of the water it might well take all nutrients out too ?

Thanks James, Im keen not to do a water change every day to be honest, its just wasting water ( i recycle all tank water for plants etc but would just end up pouring it down the drain which is a bit more wasteful given i live in a near dustbowl ). I take the point about you not know what...

Thanks for the answer , it seems clear that inorganic bacterial activity in the substrate should be encouraged to break down waste and turn it into nutrients as opposed to relying on the dosed water to soak downwards into the substrate. I think this is where a bit of "spagnum moss " or mulm...

So basically this can be achieved if one soaks akadama in nutrients for a week in addtion to a solution to stop it effecting the water chemistry ( KH )once introduced ? I wonder James if you have a view on this also , what do you dampen the KH effect with and how would ferts in that solution...

I was asking it as a question :D To put it in laymans terms can water dosed ferts permeate down through thicker grained substrata ?

Yes thats the fella. My point though is that that rock wool is inert and yes while it can be permeated i would imagine that its just as easy for nutrients to permeate the larger grained sands and substratas ? What im not sure is if Brownian motion / circulation can extend down into substrata...

Thanks Ceg. It seems to boil down to if dosing PMDD or EI then buying enriched substrata is just a waste of money all it. As i said its not that I balk at the cost ( ill gladly shell for something that i believe will make a difference and if not going the EI route it does untill the supply is...

Thank David ( and James ). How much latitude in your experience do you get on missing a dose with " nutrient rich substrata.. is it just a fail safe if you miss one day or could you go on holidays and forget having to worry about getting the neighbour in ? I notice that a lot of people who use...

I am kind of surprised there inst more debate about this , i didnt find any in the search function but that Barr report is sort of ground shaking when i consider that a lot of people are prepared to fork out a lot of money for Amazonia etc that could in theory be better spent on C02 / nutrient (...

Hi James, Thank you for the reply. I have visited your website and seen you use Quartz sand as your substrata in addition.

This is a very interesting thread which i only found after posting this one http://ukaps.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=6844. It seems to refer to heavy root feeders which means in a sense its a loaded poll , of the hundreds if not thousands of plants available anybody care to hazard a guess as...

I was going to post this over on the Barr Report site but its not working. Im wondering if there is too much of a hoopla about substrata if you are correctly dosing EI? I read a Barr Report which seemed to suggest that Sand was as good as one of the most expensive brands on the market. I am...