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Darius
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 Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2012 12:01 am Post subject: Aqua Clay - Need advice |
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Hi All
Just got my hands on some aqua clay ... Its german.
Now I have never used this before .. so here is where i need some help.
I had no idea the pebbles would be so light. I put them up in the tank only to find that planting is a lot more difficult now.
I know a simple fix would be to take off some of the aqua clay and top it up with some different soil.
But I do want to understand how effective would that be? Secondly will the aqua clay eventually become denser?
Need some help on this. Any one with any experience with this - Can you suggest?
Cheers
Darius |
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vipin
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| Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2012 12:06 am Post subject: Re: Aqua Clay - Need advice |
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| I had read somewhere that aquaclay should be boiled before use. Is that true? |
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Darius
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| Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2012 1:26 am Post subject: Re: Aqua Clay - Need advice |
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| I read that too but i dont believe it is neccessary |
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Nidhi
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| Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2012 9:09 am Post subject: Re: Aqua Clay - Need advice |
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Darius,
Aqua clay is light because of its porosity. once its In water, it starts to get water logged like driftwoods. so eventually it will be good enough for planting.
Boiling is not necessary, Boiling is done to speed up the waterlogging process.
you can use a thin layer of sand or gravel if you are in a hurry, or else wait for them to settle down. |
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zoomrenault
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| Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2012 10:46 am Post subject: Re: Aqua Clay - Need advice |
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| Nidhi wrote (View Post):
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Darius,
Aqua clay is light because of its porosity. once its In water, it starts to get water logged like driftwoods. so eventually it will be good enough for planting.
Boiling is not necessary, Boiling is done to speed up the waterlogging process.
you can use a thin layer of sand or gravel if you are in a hurry, or else wait for them to settle down.
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Hi Nidhi
The thin layer of sand/gravel should be added before or after adding Aqua Clay? I am confused as to mixing the sand/gravel or make it like a layer on the bottom or the top.
Its a dumb question I know.
Thanks
Zoom |
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Nidhi
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| Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2012 11:03 am Post subject: Re: Aqua Clay - Need advice |
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@ Zoom
You put in aquaclay first and then put a thin layer of sand or gravel on topof it. |
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Minnu
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| Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2012 11:53 am Post subject: Re: Aqua Clay - Need advice |
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@ zoom,
I have used aqua clay mixed with contra soil in my 2 feet tank, I felt aqua clay is the worst substrate as you can not grow any forground plant's and the stem plants eventualy come out after you planted them as the soil is very light weight.
I would sugest you either go for contro soil or ADA substrate.
you an use Aqua clay as a filtration media.
Regards
Praveesh |
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Darius
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| Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2012 6:49 pm Post subject: Re: Aqua Clay - Need advice |
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@Nidhi - So you say this will get waterlogged after a while and become heavy enough to plant - How long will this process take?
@Minnu - Thanks, though I have used contro soil and my views on it are mixed ... ADA substrates are good ...
But wanted to know how good is Aqua Clay |
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josyjames
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| Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2012 7:18 pm Post subject: Re: Aqua Clay - Need advice |
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As far as I know, Aqua clay is just an inert substrate and it does not have any nutrients and you will have to provide any base nutrients when you are laying aqua clay as the substrate.
You can use the plant base from Ocean free, JBL or Ferka and then use the aqua clay at the top of it.
But I would also like to mention that the substrate is very light weight that it almost floats. It would be very difficult to grow carpet plants in aqua clay as the substrate. This is my opinion on the substrate.  |
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Razeen
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| Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2012 7:20 pm Post subject: Re: Aqua Clay - Need advice |
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Hi,
I used aqua clay as the only substrate in my tank. Plants gets up rooted often and you should add ADA soil on top of it because there's no sufficient nutrition on aqua clay so plants are looking mal nutritious plants and some of the plants started to die :-( But aqua clay keeps the water crystal clear in my tank. |
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Darius
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| Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2012 8:23 pm Post subject: Re: Aqua Clay - Need advice |
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Thanks guys ... let me know what you think of this. I need to fill up certain areas of the tank only ... Since I already have a base of red soil ... I will remove some of the aqua clay (which is above the red soil) and top it up with either more red soil or contro soil.
Will this work enough for me to plant stems and carpet?
Thanks
Darius |
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Darius
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| Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2012 4:40 am Post subject: Re: Aqua Clay - Need advice |
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| any suggestions? |
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Nidhi
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| Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2012 9:34 am Post subject: Re: Aqua Clay - Need advice |
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Darius,
As Shelly has mentioned, Its basically a inert substrate.
Meaning, that it does not contain any nutrition of its own. But it has good CEC, CEC is used as a measure of fertility and nutrient retention capacity.
so if you provide a source of nutrition under the Aquaclay, it will absorb them and make them available for the plants.
What I would suggest is remove the Aquaclay. add a hand full of vermicompost on top of the red soil and put back the Aquaclay.
Regarding the water logging, I feel it will take around 1 month. |
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Darius
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| Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2012 9:59 pm Post subject: Re: Aqua Clay - Need advice |
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| Got it thanks ... will keep you posted!! |
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