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When I first did my planted tank, Adakam was very much in vogue. I'm contplating a complete reacape of my 250L tank and wondering why the current thinking is on low maintenance substrates?

Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned CEC. :D

It's been in the tank for 10+ years. IIRC It's "hard" Akadama. As much as anything, I was wondering about it's ability to facilitate (... oh jeeze ... what was the phrase I kept reading at the time I chose it ...) cationic exchange (I think that was it?) or whether it becomes (I'm guessing here)...

Bump (... because I still don't know the answer. :) )

Can Akadama get too old?

Hmmm. My tank has been running a bit longer than that.

Do you do anything other than putting it in the tank and leaving it indefinitely?

It seemed to be the substrate of choice when I set the tank up, in terms of taking nutrients from the water and supplying them to roots. I don't recall giving any thought to KH or pH.

Does Adakama ever need replacing, or ... or something? Ion exchange filters need "recharging" and as I understand it Adakama works as a substrate based on ion exchange, so I wondered. (The answer may well be in the sticky post on Adakama, and I'm very sorry if it is, but there are 234 replies...

I'm thinking of it because the tank has been a bit neglected in the last few months, I need to some replanting, I've got loads of algae to get rid of and the substrate has been largely undisturbed for 2years. I was only thinking of rinsing the Adakama in tank water to get rid of decayed bio matter.

I'm thinking on removing the Adakama from my tank and rinsing all the crud out of it. (It's been largely undisturbed for about 2yrs.) Is this a good idea or bad idea?

Have just recieved a bag of Akadama I ordered from Bonsai Direct. Unfortunately whilst they use the Double Red(?) brand as a photo to advertise the product, (as recommended in JamesC's thread) they've actually sent me this brand. The max grain size appears to be about half of that in the...

I was being ironic with 6" but that's food for thought. (It'll bring my plants closer to the lights if nothing else!) Based on my previous tanks I don't expect the Algae Crew to go hungry if I don't add leaves :lol: Having battled with Duckweed in our pond for some years I may look for another...

Thanks guys. Matt - I was expecting to buy some Rena clip/scissors http://www.seapets.co.uk/products/aquarium-supplies/aquarium-ornaments/cleaners/algae-scrapers/rena-long-handled-clip-and-scissors.html .. but do you think I could use a toddler instead? Darrel - So is putting oak leaves into...

Matt - low light plants (like those you mention) are top of my list. Certainly for the short term. The plan is that if the plants struggle I shall look at adding CO2. I'm aware that the height ofthe tank may give me issues, but I went for max volume before I'd considered plants. Oh well. Adding...

My new tank will be low-ish tech. It's deep (2'6"), lighting will initially be about 1.5 W/gal and It may eventually have preasurised CO2. (These are decisions that are, for the moment, too late to change.) My goal for a relatively low maintainence tank and I'd rather not be replacing...