AKADAMA and the Aquarium

[merlin2005]

I seem to have missed the beginning of this trend, only stumbling on it by chance after using similar clay media for growing plants (out of water!). I thought I had a brain wave when I looking into using it, only to find I had been beaten to the post.

Overall it seems alot, I mean a hell of a lot cheaper than most aquarium substrates working out roughly half the price. I currently have 2 tanks, 1 4ft and 1 6ft.

The 6ft foot in question is to be the victim of change to the new substrate and I will keep you posted on how its going.

It might be worth adding for all you aquarium keepers out there that Takashi Amano used the stuff with great effect. He has now got his own company which specialises in various top end components for the aquarium.

One of his products happens to be a filter substrate which is very, very much like AKADAMA and offers the same properties. Who knows this may be the cat out of the bag in terms of cheap but very effective substrate, at home in both the base of the aquarium and the filter.

http://www.adana.co.jp/_e_product/50_index.html

I intend on running a Fluval FX5 full of the stuff added to the 5 bags for the base of the aquarium..

 

[Ed Seeley]

You might want to look in the substrates section. There are a few threads on there about Akadama, plus a fair few of us that use Amanos products too. ADA Aqusoil is the name of the substrate from Amano.

 

[ceg4048]

Hi,
Welcome to the forum. Use of clay substrates is not a recent trend. Hobbyists have been using clay components such as kitty litter for donkeys years. As Ed mentioned the Aquasoil is a clay product which has nutrients added. The BioRio product you list will probably do about the same job as sintered glass media with high surface area. That product description could apply to almost any Eheim or Fluval high capacity media. I shudder to think of what they might actually charge for BioRio. Based on Aqusoil pricing, the pricing structure for this product would no doubt be of epic proportions.

The advantage of clay in the substrate is as a result of clay's ability to hold and redistribute nutrients via contact with the root hairs. This property is called CEC, or Cation Exchange Capacity. A combination of clay and organic products within the substrate will facilitate nutrient movement to the roots.

Cheers,