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Kalum

Member
Joined
8 Jan 2018
Messages
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Location
Scotland
The confusing world of ADA substrates...

ADA have never been the clearest with their marketing, and now there are old/new and different varieties i'm just trying to get my head round what is what. After searching the ADA journals, youtube, google and many other reviews i'm finding a bit of conflicting info.

As it's for a Caridina shrimp tank, the main things I'm bothered about is using the highest buffering version without high Nitrate levels. I'm not a fan of the light version due to colour, so it's down to Amazonia vs Amazonia ver2 (but without using the supplement tabs).

OLD
ADA Amazonia (original and discontinued for a while)
ADA Amazonia II (seems to also now be discontinued)

NEW
ADA Amazonia Light (lighter in colour with less nutrients and no initial ammonia spike)
ADA Amazonia (Gold Writing - unsure where this sits in the line up which is my biggest question tbh)
ADA Amazonia ver2 (Orange writing - new version of Amazonia II as i understand it, but with the nutrient supplement tabs separate)

A couple of comparison tables from ADA which haven't really cleared it up for me:

ADA Journal 277 - MAKE & KEEP (AQUA SOIL-AMAZONIA Ⅱ)
Full amazonia comparison.jpg

ADA Journal 289 - MAKE & KEEP ‘AQUA SOIL – AMAZONIA Ver.2’
Amazonia light v normal.jpg
 
Hi all,
Orange writing - new version of Amazonia II as i understand it, but with the nutrient supplement tabs separate
<"Tarot readings"> beckon yet again. ADA have stolen <"my intellectual property rights">.

<"Darrell's (dw1305's) soil thread">
..... Better would be to have a small pack of Osmocote (or other "controlled release fertiliser" <http://www.springerlink.com/content/u702t10765qp7164/>) and possibly some organic matter (peat or leaf mould) included in separate packs with-in the bag. You would sprinkle these on before use (a bit like the little blue bag of salt in an old packet of crisps).

cheers Darrel
 
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Hi all,
Wow! ADA is really getting some great PR today
The thing for me is that you can argue about aesthetics with tanks and filters, and even, to a lesser degree, with substrates, but you can't with fertilisers, (once you've got past the <"sexy bottles">) .

<"Hypothetically">, if some-one gave me an "ADA 60P" aquarium, "ADA Aquasky RGB 60" light, "ADA Super Jet Filter ES-300" and 9 litres of "ADA Amazonia Ver.2"? I would use them and you could argue that you have bought quality and quality will last.

Would I pay ~£1000 for them as a set, no I wouldn't, but £130 for 500 mL of "ADA Phyton-Git" (or £14 for 180 mL of "Brighty K") is just beyond satire or any form of reason.

cheers Darrel
 
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There's definitely 2 sides to it, aesthetics and functionality

The ADA aquariums & lighting are simply aesthetic driven, they look great, are high quality and like any Gucci brand are priced higher (but not in comparison to some of their other products (which is scary in itself)

The fertilisers & filters obviously work for some but there is less about them which justifies the price in my opinion, there's definitely a mix of 2 sides as some will buy these for the kudos of the bottle or shiny canister, while others might have the hope of wanting to try and replicate scapes they have seen using the same products so are more functionality driven

The substrates fall more into the functionality category as they don't look any different to many others on the market but perform very well for specific purposes (in my case here, for buffering capacity and a proven track record with shrimp breeding)
 
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