R macrandra certainly does well on a diet of water column ferts.
Discus tanks, other higher fish load tanks with stable feeding, + less light produced some of the absolute best R macrandra I've seen, not those high light ADA tanks.

Actually, I've seldom/rarely even seen nice large groups used well in any ADA tank.
I might be wrong, but it's certainly seldom ever used. And just a few as an accent or in the rear to hide scraggly lower leaves.

What I'm saying is that is not a good plant to make comparisons on.
Just because you distribute something does not mean you know what a plant needs, how it might behave nor have any experience growing nice thick large stands of this plant.

If you do and can show it, then you can say something.
Neil Frank many years ago sent large amounts in his puny 2 watt/gal normal output 24" deep tank with a decent fish load and CO2.

Steve Dixon also grew what I think was one of the nicest stands.
All without ADA or ADA AS etc, ADA did not even exist as far as folks here knew.

Obviously it can be done and can be done without any advice from ADA

That said, adding ADA AS will make it easier, but it puts no bearing nor credibility on claims that you do not need water column ferts(other than N certainly) and makes the point that those tanks had soft KH water, plain sand, maybe laterite which truthfully does not do much for this plant and these folks grew it for many years and tortured various water column dosing routines with it.

In general, good stable nO3, higher is good, some NH4 source, PO4/K/Traces/Ca/Mg etc.

Any ADA distributor or Amano himself that would like to show me how come folks do not have algae when they add KH2PO4/KNO3/GH booster/Traces, as in __a lot more__ that is required by any plant, still do not have algae, I'm all ears.

This includes ADA AS or PS combos, this includes sand, flourite, onyx sand, Flora base, EC, SMS, Kitty litter, soil/sand capped and about any other substrate you can cook up.

Such comparative testing takes many years. I do not think anyone has done this other than perhaps a few folks that are now "old timers".

So the new folks think it means something and don't have the test or experiences to draw on. Some think I'm crazy, I'm not, I just have a nasty habit of trying to stop history from repeating itself.

Anytime, anywhere Amano or any of his associates would like show causal or even correlative evidence why I do not have algae in the high light(or low light)/high KNO3/KH2PO4/high trace ADA AS tanks is welcomed to try.

I shall leave this challenge open as it has been for many years, still unanswered.

I'm an academic, I love scaping, but I cannot devote such time as Amano, that is his passion and he has spent a lot of time doing that and photography, mine is much more about why plant grow and how they work. I'm also just one guy, ADA has many people working for them, not so much for science, rather, the money money, it's a business. They need stuff that they can sell. That's not my motivation. I do this to help and not lose money. Big difference.

I do sell the ADA line to LFS's BTW
But that's business, not hobby levels stuff and personal one on one help other than the LFS owner etc.

I will never sell you any ADA stuff through this site etc.
I will suggest an appropriate product, but I do not view folks here as business to business.

LFS's need to make $, it's a business, but I will not lie to anyone if they ask either.
Instead, I amplify and augment their methods, or try and find a good use for various items I really would never use personally.
I suggest PS for LFS since they neglect tanks and never dose except maybe traces. By the time the PS runs out, the tank generally, hopefully is filled in well.

Then the chance for algae is much less, but I still see later they have BBA often times or GSA etc.

Regards,
Tom Barr