I spent 4 days redoing a massive tank that never had the optical clarity that I felt it should nor the client.

Why?
One reason and only one reason: ADA aqua soil.
We gave the stuff 7 months and it never cleared, the micro filters(4 high pressure) clogged every 5 days, the own changed the water 3-4x a week, 50% each time.
Tried every clarifyer made.

Some issues are the tank's intake is 4ft and the flow rate is 2x per hour for the filtration. So the particulates and haze never makes it up to the weir box.
No combination of spray bars and current could fix this.

You cannot walk on ADA As either, it's turns to mud, this can be vacuumed up, however, this still did not resolve a single issue.

Adding another 2000gph ran though a giant micron filter also did not stop it.
Tank was clean for about 1-2 days, then back to the same stuff.

We changes the entire 12ft x 4ft of ADA AS out, placed in plastic bags to dewater.
That took all day, from 8am, till 2 am.

I got a rash from working in the tank with ADA As once before, I though little of it, maybe dry skin etc.

No, it was that damn ADA AS. After it was replaced, I re did the tank usign Eco complete, the rash went away.

Either EC is a cure for the rash, or ADA AS gave me a rash and huge headache.
I think it's the latter.

Immediatelym, even after removing the wood, rock and redoing the entire set up, adding all those items back again, not once even rinsed the EC, and the water was clearer than it had even been. Replanting was 10x easier, I could walk on the EC. I could also see to plant in a deep tank as well.

Now in smaller tanks, I have little issue with ADA AS, but for larger tanks, I'll never use it ever again in 100 lives.

Depth, weir box intake and locations for inlets, simple maintainence/set up issues etc and let's take a look at Amano's own giant tank:

Oh my, he does not use it in there either
Wonder if he got a rash too?

While it does grow plants easier/better for smaller tanks, I think the trade off is not worthwhile on such larger display tanks.

I do like that you can mound it and it'll stay put a bit easier than other substrates, but when you look through longer tanks and use a lot of it in larger tanks, it can be very problematic.

BTW, if anyone in the LA region wants to buy 18 liter scaks for 30$ out the door of semi used ADA AS, PM me.

Rainbow Pet shop will have it and is selling it for me as a favor.

Regards,
Tom Barr

just for the record: what do you consider as "too big for ADA AS"?

greets,

yme

see we need you to create a new substrate after all. something as soft as AS that doesn't break stems, but without the cloudy water and the rash. ugh.

A tank that is hard to clean or access (scaping, moving anything etc) is too big.

So that's about arm's length.

Regards,
Tom Barr

What does amano use in his tanks ? also what is your favorite substrate?

I believe hard water will cause ADA soil to cloud the water constantly. That is the very reason why they release a new version of ADA soil.

I heard about that also i'm lucky to have softwater since it means the clouding goes away quickly in about a week or less. I only used AS in a 10 gallon so far but i may use it in my 20 gallon. If tom was going to ship it i would probably buy some from him.

That made not one bit of difference here though............we have both RO and tap, there was no difference at all.

None.
That was after 6 + months of various combos and trials.
Nothing worked.


Regards,

Tom Barr

I'd be willing to bet that the "Aquasoil only has problems in alkaline water" claim is sort of ADA's way of "covering up" the problems that Aqua Soil has been having lately. I mean, they're not going to release Aqua Soil II and say, "Lots of people have problems with the original Aquasoil causing cloudiness and turning to mud, so here's the fix!"

I'd be curious to see how Aqua Soil II would have worked instead of Eco Complete as the final solution for you Tom. Of course, it's not available yet, but apparently it will be "soon" - http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/f...azonia-ii.html

http://www.adana.co.jp/index_e.php

I can assure you that there is absolutely no way I'll ever use it again on large tank as the substrate, neither I nor a client would be willing to.

ADA AS II would not have solved the issues from what I've seen either.

I love ADA As for smaller tanks................I still suggest it, but the trade offs in this larger tanks and the frequent water changes simply made using other methods easier at that scale.
The client really does not care about many of the plant species that are easier tio grow with ADA AS.

Regards,
Tom Barr