# Alternatives to power sand? And other substrate questions.



## futurezach

I'm looking for something to provide micro and macro nutrients under ADA soil. I read that you can put earthworm castings for the macro nutrients and certain plant micro mixes for micro. Has anyone had experience with this? A ny other cheap alternatives to power sand you can suggest?

Second question: any suggestions for plastic barriers for holding up sloped substrate? I'm having trouble finding it online. 

Thanks!


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## xriddler

people have told me to use the egg crates plastic lighting covers for the office ceilings for that. $25 a sheet at home depot i think.


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## futurezach

Daily bump


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## snaggle

The wholesaler for ADA in Canada did a presentation in Whitby last fall he said what power sand is and that you can buy something at Home Depot that would do the same job, all though you would have to break it up your self.

I hope someone who was there can remember what he said to use.


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## TorontoPlantMan

I personally find this the best method for substrate as it provides all the essential nutrients and you'll only occasionally have to dose potassium.

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/...-mineralized-soil-substrate-aaron-talbot.html

It's well worth the read, although it is 47 pages long I've found a lot of useful information while going through all the pages to see how others have modified the original recipe based on the plants they were keeping. ADA substrate is a waste of money and the results achieved with this method can compete with any substrate product ADA can offer.

As per the substrate supports I would also go with egg crate, a large sheet will last you forever and gives much more room for plant roots to spread as opposed to TGM Substrate Supports.


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## matti2uude

The thing for supporting the substrate is corrugated plastic. The power sand is made from sintered glass. The power sand has nutrients added to it.


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## default

Was interested as well in PS, but justifying the price for lava rock with some fertilizer was.. Hard.
I'm still considering it for my upcoming nano to compliment the Amazonia, but like other people have said - there's no difference in growth or performance of the AS without the PS.
Might just break a few lava rocks and root tabs and use it like PS - ghetto sand style


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## mikosoft

TorontoPlantMan said:


> I personally find this the best method for substrate as it provides all the essential nutrients and you'll only occasionally have to dose potassium.
> 
> http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/...-mineralized-soil-substrate-aaron-talbot.html
> 
> It's well worth the read, although it is 47 pages long I've found a lot of useful information while going through all the pages to see how others have modified the original recipe based on the plants they were keeping. ADA substrate is a waste of money and the results achieved with this method can compete with any substrate product ADA can offer.
> 
> As per the substrate supports I would also go with egg crate, a large sheet will last you forever and gives much more room for plant roots to spread as opposed to TGM Substrate Supports.


I'm reading the article now and they are saying to use the mineralized soil, clay, dolomite and potash. Would it make a big difference if you don't use the potash? I don't think I would need the dolomite since my tap water isn't acidic at all.

I'm up to page 9 right now. haha


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## TorontoPlantMan

mikosoft said:


> I'm reading the article now and they are saying to use the mineralized soil, clay, dolomite and potash. Would it make a big difference if you don't use the potash? I don't think I would need the dolomite since my tap water isn't acidic at all.
> 
> I'm up to page 9 right now. haha


If you have the time I highly suggest reading all the pages, there is always hidden pieces of useful information. I've had a hard time sourcing dolomite so thats the only ingredient I haven't used in it, everything else was easy to come by. I think it wouldn't make a huge difference but at the same time I cannot say for sure. The dolomite is more so to provide an initial potassium source, what makes the water acidic is the soil itself. I've also used crushed lava rock as an alternative to dolomite with a mix of aragonite as an alternative to dolomite.


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## jimmyjam

Mineralized soil is absolutely brutal when it comes to replanting. Prior to ADA's availability in Canada, I have done many tanks with mineralized soil. I followed that recipe for a 20 gallon at one point back in 08 when he first posted the formula, as well as experimenting with my own. My conclusion after all that and currently using only aquatic base substrate / akadama, I'll have to say that I absolutely hate working with Mineralized soil. 

For the money your spending for all the minerals your purchasing, waiting for shipment because you cant find it locally, travel time/ gas for pickup, time to setup the formula, its really not worth it. But the worse part of it is re-scaping your tank. You will basically have to start from ground zero, especially with crypts, swords, deep rooters (includes most stem plants). Even if your just replanting in the tank, I found a significant amount of fert leaching into the water column, my phosphate levels were really bad. Nitrates were probably leaching too, but I had some many nitrate loving plants, that I really didnt care about that. Something else musta leached in as well because it was killing my green neocardinas. I had green water for the first time with this setup (that would be because I was doing EI on top of this setup). 

What I would recommend is to get some slow releasing root tabs, or slow release granules such as osmocote, but because of its lack of availability (and I hear their discontinuing it), you might want to look into other slow release from hydroponic shops, I get mine from hydrotech. Back in the day I would also use jobe sticks, and my home made clay /fert slow releasing sticks, its cheap but you also run into leaching issue and messiness. Lots have evolved in the last 5-10 years. 

Remember, with aquasoil, you have more flexibility with scaping your tank (valleys, parting of AS sloping), so only place the tabs or granules in areas your looking to plant heavy rooting plants, so you avoid leaching and messing the nice look of your AS, especially when your rescaping. 


1/4 inch granules of lava rock or just larger black gravel at the bottom layer can suffice for "powersand". This also reduces the ability of your soil to be anaerobic (if your looking to sustain a tank for longer). With that being said, I have done lots of tanks without any bottom layer without any issues, and if you check out my scapes, you will see I have no issues with growth.


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