Comparing substrates - please help with a protocol ...

Wow. Seachem never even came close?

 

Was a shock, but then we have to remember this is same water column ...

At the moment it is the leader but from the wrong side ;-( maybe it takes a while to warm up.

left SF right ADA



some notes on SF -
it has the largest particle size of all the substrates - it would imply that it take more form a plant to push runners around
it needs to load up on ferts - something that might not be available in the shared water column

Lets see - it is not far behind some of the others - so once it get all load it could still pull a fast one.

A tasa friendly pic, different angle light from behind



I think the real surprise for me was the sera, since it is affordable and easy to cap - wonder if tropica would be as good?
Later Ferdie

 

Great thread @f-fish ! I think you should do a full write up at the end and get it made a sticky!!

 

Where would one find macro aqua- energy Nutrients soil for plants @f-fish?

 

Sorry Fishie missed the question .. Loolilocks have it.

This experiment is also still running ... can see the cold weather has knocked then all a bit.


Later Ferdie

 

This is a great experiment, now ill have to go ada :love:

 

I wonder what black earths growth would be and how it would compare

 

Marc - it was a price prohibitive substrate ... and when I sourced the substrates the LFS's did not have any in stock
Another I could only get my paws on after the start of the experiment was tropica's.

Later Ferdie

 

Just over 15 months and the experiment is still going strong - remember the kicker - the water column is always the same.

For a while now they have been sitting exclusively outside - brought them in doors today still need to do some final arrangement with them.





New home for now



Adding them to the top right and making sure that tank gets a good amount of light. Filtration HMF with an HOB driving it. Tanks substrate silica - low plant density before no fertz.


Update pics t follow.

Later Ferdie

 

Still need to take real comparison shots here goes before the move



Above ADA



Earth Worm castings



JBL - have not seen in local stored yet.



NS - Macro Aqua



Above list is alphabetical based on file name - sorry if you got all excited

 

and we continue



Sera



Seachem



Control - silica



Tetra

 

re-arranged them this morning


ADA -EC-JBL-NS-Sera-Seachem-Silica-Tetra



Later Ferdie

 

@f-fish: Thanks for the pics and giving your results from this experiment. Rather large difference in the result for the growing media. Considering the cost of each of these and the results you obtained which one would you pic as your winner?

 

Hmmm ... considering cost - I would have to do an earth worms castings tank - and no I have not done one yet so that will be a first, or did I add it to 4 ft clear - that was a mix of stuff lying around. If you can find the right substrate to cap it with it seems to be a good choice. In answering this I realise that EC and old ADA might actually be a real winner when it comes to regenerating that investment.

If money was no problem and you can live with ADA dust every time you touch the substrate then ADA is tops - but mixing them seems to be the way to go - just look at 4ft clear .

But the experiment continues - in some form I hope lets see.

Later Ferdie

 

This experiment has now been completed and I have replanted the remaining vallis into the 3ft. (little light for the winter months meant they took a bit of a knock)



Later Ferdie

 

And the winner is.........?

 

Drumroll........

 

If they are showing the same growth i would opt for the EC since it does not create a dust storm every time you do anything in the tank.
Also like the look of EC over ADA

 

Yeah .. thing about ADA .. it lasts for years and is easy to regenerate with some osmocote tabs, as for looks I really like mixed i.e. ADA, gravel silica and what ever else I have lying around. But few things beat the amount of light you get from a clean silica sand substrate bouncing back into the tank.

EC is really interesting and I will continue to play with this ADA is becoming seriously cost prohibitive and the search for DIY substrates will always be part of what I like about this hobby.


As luck would have it - I have a bee in my bonnet about using non-aquarium fertz and substrates at the moment - on the fertz side I am planning to get to the holly number that is 7:1:8 for NPK but with high Fe and low low Cu counts. At the moment the contest has moved away from my Dr Fischers multifeed to Nitrosol liquid and the range of starke ayres that is ultra low in Cu but high in Fe ... playing with a few - but aim is to not kill stuff ;-). Yeah PFP was cool - but I want more so the use of expanded clay balls crushed is also now forming part of my substrates that I am playing with.


BTW the nitrosol liquid is interesting - fish hate it all go topside on a tank dose but they recover quickly. So I am dosing it via a syringe into my substrates or into filter intakes - this seems reduce the irritation on the fish and allows for long term uptake since nothing is immediately available to the plants I substitute with some water soluble fertz also.


Some details for the record - all g/kg
[TABLE]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #00ff00"]N[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #00ff00"]P[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #00ff00"]K[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #00ff00"]Fe[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #00ff00"]Mn[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #00ff00"]B[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #00ff00"]Cu[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #00ff00"]Zn[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #00ff00"]Mo[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #00ff00"]Mg[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #00ff00"]Ca[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #00ff00"]S[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #00ff00"]N[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #00ff00, align: right"]7.00[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #00ff00"]P[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #00ff00, align: right"]1.00[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #00ff00"]K[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #00ff00, align: right"]8.00[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: #ffff00"]Starke Growing Orchids[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]310[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]49[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]91[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]1.5[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]0.24[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]0.24[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]0.02[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]0.05[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]0.01[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]0.16[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]0[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]0[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #ffff00"]NPK Analysis 30:10:10 (?)[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]0.00[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]44.29[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]4.71[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]9.62%[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]-263.29[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]-289.32%[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: #ffff00"]Nitrosol[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]80[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]20[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]58[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]0.06[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]0.04[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]0.023[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]0.001[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]0.001[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]0.015[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]7[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]6[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]4[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #ffff00"]NPK Analysis 4:1:3 (16)[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]0.00[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]11.43[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]8.57[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]42.86%[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]-33.43[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]-57.64%[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: #ffff00"]Multifeed Clasic[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]190[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]82[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]158[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]0.75[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]0.07[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]1[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]0.075[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]0.35[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]0.3[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]0.9[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]0[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]0[/TD]
[TD]NPK Analysis 2:1:2 (43)[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]0.00[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]27.14[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]54.86[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]66.90%[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]-59.14[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]-37.43%[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Multifeed Flower Grow[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]150[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]45[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]263[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]0.75[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]0.3[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]1[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]0.075[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD="align: right"]0.07[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]0.9[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]NPK Analysis 3:1:6 (46)[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]0.00[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]21.43[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]23.57[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]52.38%[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]91.57[/TD]
[TD="align: right"]34.82%[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]N:K (concentation %)[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]under / over[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]under / over[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

Later Ferdie