Substrate systems

Scmelik

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Sep 12, 2023
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South Dakota
It has been discussed many times over here and other places that the ADA system is a lot of hype. We know their aquasoil is top of the line but the powersand, additives etc are maybe a bit gimmicky.

That being said, what are y’all’s thoughts things like Brightwells Laterite Powder and Florinbase Laterite substrate that goes underneath the aquasoil? Is it beneficial or is it just a gimmick??
 

Allwissend

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It's ... laterite. The same clay that people in certain locations use to make "bricks" for their houses...so the markup is similar as for the ADA additives. It's also been in the hobby long before ADA existed.

Iron from laterite is not readily available for plant uptake. The idea is that the iron in the iron oxides from the clay will become available at some point to the plants roots due to the conditions in the soil. Maybe, but ... in the many decades since laterite was needed by the hobby we came up with easy to measure, reliable and available day 1 methods to provide iron to both the leaves and the plants roots. Not to mention a lot cheaper per amount of plant available iron... With laterite you also have to worry about uprooting plants and bringing up a clay dustcloud in your aquarium.

Laterite had it's place when we didn't have readily available forms of plant available iron and aquariums were mainly soil substrates, slow growth and a few plant species. Overall don't see the need to keep aquariums with the same limitations people had already overcome. Give plants well chelated iron and they won't have an issue with iron deficiency.
 

Scmelik

New Member
Sep 12, 2023
13
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3
South Dakota
Thank you very much for the information I appreciate it. I had read that somewhere else but I couldn’t was having a hard time validating the information. Thank you for your honest assessment.
 
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