New tank - ADA & Eco Complete

[Chris25]

Hi all,

I'm redoing my 180L tank and have been looking into ADA aqua soil.

I did have eco complete but found I'd pretty much just paid a lot of money for expensive black gravel. Crypts and stem plants did grow well but I want to get a carpet and do a nicer planted tank, so I've been looking into ADA aqua soil.

I've read about ADA Power sand and using that under the substrate to aid water circulation. Now seeing as I have eco complete could I use this in place of the power sand and save some costs there and also use it to increase the depth towards the back?

If that is okay could I then could I cap this with ADA Aqua soil amazonia?

I've also read that carpeting plants do better in the ADA Aqua soil powder amazonia. I understand the only difference in this is that it has a finer grain size? Could I just take a normal bag and break it up manually (Maybe a blender? that may be too much?) to get a finer grain for a top layer? It seems crazy that its an extra 30% more expensive simply for a smaller grain!!

Any idea's suggestions welcome.

Thanks in advance,
Chris

 

[Chris25]

No one?

Further to this, would it be worth doing a layer of Tropica plant growth on the bottom, I had this under my eco complete and have some left and am thinking of adding another couple of bags to it as the roots of plants seemed to love this...

Thanks,
Chris

 

[doylecolmdoyle]

I would probably advise against trying to break down the ADA Amazonia, it would probably just turn to a fine powder and not hold any shape / form of a grain, if you squeeze a grain of ADA regular between your fingers it just turns to dust. If you broke it down then added water it would probably turn to mud, carpet plants will grow fine in regular sized ada amazonia. As for using the eco complete under the ADA soil, I am not sure, people do use all kinds of inherit substrates (lava rock etc) as a base layer to save money, powersand is questionable regarding the benefit and it is fairly expensive! If the eco complete is depleted of nutrients I would just use that.

 

[Tim Harrison]

Personally, I'd just use regular Amazonia.
No don't try to break up regular it'll just turn to dust; powder is actually smaller granules.
There are other complete substrates on the market that may work out cheaper, for instance Tropica Aquarium Soil http://tropica.com/en/plant-care/aquarium-soil/aquarium-soil/

 

[kadoxu]

One thing I've learned from this hobby is that you get what you pay for... if you try to find a way around something just to make it cheaper, it will most likely come back to bite you in the a**.

I've used both Amazonia types in my last tank. I used the regular one to fill up most of it and the Powder as a cap just for scale purposes.

 

[Chris25]

Thanks for your replies! I actually purchased a 5x2x2 that I want to do planted and that raises a whole host of other questions as using ada in that would cost an absolute fortune! Research now starts on planting large tanks and how to do it fairly cheaply...

 

[Tim Harrison]

How about aquatic compost capped with pool filter sand?
Both are dirt cheap, and will give great results...check out my tutorial for more info.
And take a look at this soil substrate / CO2 scape https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/my-garden-250l-m-pluta.27746/