# ADA or netlea shrimp soil? Which one is better for CRS/OEBT?



## laurahmm (Apr 1, 2010)

Hi everyone, 

Was wondering if you guys had any personal experiences with both or have any suggestions. Up till now I've used ADA but havent had any experiences with netlea. It seems you have to replace ADA after one year or so. It's also confusing about old ADA or new ADA? Quite frankly I have no idea which one I have or what the difference is. I bought a bag from AI around a year ago and it's still brand new but might switch to Netlea if that one is better. Is netlea the same? Has a longer lifespan? shorter lifespan? I'm setting up a new tank for OEBT and CRS. Any advice, insight would be greatly appreciated.


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## getochkn (Jul 10, 2011)

I'm going on about 8 months with my netlea and its going great so far. They didn't have the shrimp soil when I went to AI, so I got the planted soil instead. The key I think with any buffering soil is how much you have expecting it to buffer. Using hard tap water with a pH of 7.6 and say gh/kh of 9/9, and then having the soil buffer it to 6pH, 5gh/0kh and doing 30% WC's every week is going to wear it out a lot more than using a 7ph RO water remineralized to a 5gh/0kh and doing a 5-10% wc every few weeks. 

I used a full bag in a 20gal tank and have about 2-3" of substrate in the tank. Crystals are doing good in it. Not sure how the tigers will like it, most say tigers like a slightly acidic but closer to neutral pH. My wild tigers are kept in a tank with inert substrate and I used 80% RO/20% tap which has a pH of about 7, a bit of peat in the filter, few almond leaves and the pH stays about 6.8pH and they are breeding great. They didn't do as well in the 6pH crystal tank. 

Netlea leeches ammonia like ADA as well, so expect to setup a tank and not use it for a month or two while the leeching happens. Also, in a 6pH tank, it does a little while to cycle as at lower pH, nitro bacteria has a harder time getting a good foothold. It can be done though and my crystals are doing good in it. I just counted 18 babies and you know when you can see 18, there is a lot more hiding and I have 3 more berried moms ready to pop, and juvi's of different ages.


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