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
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