# Killies Import > Planted Tanks >  ADA's Power Sand

## timebomb

Hi, folks,

A couple of years ago, I read on the APD (Aquatic Plant Digest) that ADA's power sand is actually a mixture of pumice and peat. Power Sand, supposedly, is some sort of base fertiliser to be used with ADA's Aqua Soil.
Power Sand is very expensive so I decided to DIY my own. I managed to find a big bag of pumice stones at Far East nursery at the foot of Caldecott Hill. For peat, I use those that are easily available at fish shops, filter peat. That was several years ago and I've been using my DIY version of Power Sand with moderate success.

Recently, having seen how lovely my _Rotala Macandra_ grows in ADA Aqua Soil, I decided to change my substrate in my main tank to it as welll. I haven't buy the soil yet but it's going to take at least 7 bags for my 4 feet tank. At around $40 each, it would mean I have to spend about $280 just for soil. Ouch!! The bag of Power Sand, if I want it as well, would cost another $140. Double Ouch!!!

So I've decided to DIY my own Power Sand again but the last time I went there, pumice stones were no longer on sale at Far East nursery. If any of you know where I can get it, I will appreciate the information very much. Here's a pic of some of the pumice stones which I've been using for years in my cube tank. They look a lot smaller now than when I first started with it. Seems like they have shrunk.



Loh K L

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## FC

KL,

Recalling the first time I visited you, the tank that caught my attention was the 50" tank, it was majestic and bubbling away with the green. However, the tank that I appreciate more was the 2 footer cube tank, it is proportionally very interesting (I had never seen a cube before then) and the plants were growing lushly and very naturally and fishes were homely.

Clearly, the pumice stone and peat in that cube tank has been doing a great job. Should you find them again, please let me know the source too. If you need help to do the large tank, I will be there (advance notice, please).

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## PeterGwee

Aquasoil and powersand both have some ammonia bind into them from what I have read. If you did not dose any source NO3, you might find them extremely special but really, its nothing much.

Regards
Peter Gwee

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## timebomb

You're probably right, Peter but I like to give the ADA aquasoil a try. I'm not much into water chemistry and I prefer to do it the easy way. Tom Barr's method is a bit too complex for me. I know you think it's probably a waste of money but the ADA aquasoil is a proven product. I've talked to many people and they all gave it the "thumbs up". 

The thing about Tom Barr's method which he probably don't realise - Many hobbyists, myself included, get turned off when people go too much into the technicalities. I read an article by him which is supposed to be idiot-proof but it turned out to be too complicated for me. But then, it could be I'm more idiot that usual  :Laughing: 

Loh K L

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## PeterGwee

> The thing about Tom Barr's method which he probably don't realise - Many hobbyists, myself included, get turned off when people go too much into the technicalities. I read an article by him which is supposed to be idiot-proof but it turned out to be too complicated for me. But then, it could be I'm more idiot that usual




Eh.....its just 3-4 types of salts to add isn't that tough isn't it? Baking is much more difficult.

Regards
Peter Gwee

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## stormhawk

KL,

Don't quote me on this but I'd advise you against using ADA Aquasoil unless you intend to have mud on your hands when you decide to tear down the tank. It breaks up easily, just like mud, when slight pressure is applied. I find it to be something like pelletized clay.

There's a period of water instability in the tank in the early days after setting up so I would give it 2 weeks or so before I add in any fish. The plants should be fine.

While its good for its efficacy in bringing down the pH and for keeping blackwater fishes like wild bettas, I would not want to use it again.

It does however help in the growth of Tonina. I can attest to this after seeing how the Tonina in the LFS I frequent, doubles up in growth in less than a week. The cutting was roughly 4cm in height and it amazingly grew to 15cm within a week without CO2 injection and just normal sponge filtration with "el-cheapo" standard FL lights.  :Shocked:

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## stormhawk

> Eh.....its just 3-4 types of salts to add isn't that tough isn't it? Baking is much more difficult.


Sometimes I think baking is alot more easier. No offence to Tom though.  :Laughing:

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## timebomb

Thanks for the warning, Jianyang but mud is okay with me. I've ADA Aquasoil in one of my smaller tanks and although it was more like mud after a while, I managed to transfer the whole substrate to another tank. I'm impressed by how the soil promotes plant growth. I have Rotala macrandra (Green) in some of my tanks but in the tank with ADA aquasoil, they grow particularly well. The leaves along the stems are very close to each other and the colour is bright green. It doesn't grow as well in my other tanks where I'm using normal gravel. Here's a picture:



Mud isn't a problem so long as you don't fiddle too much with the soil. The major problem, I can foresee, is that you can't wash ADA aquasoil. 

Loh K L

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## stormhawk

Yup you got that right. The major problem would definitely be the fact that its not able to be washed. If in a case some kind of sickness sets in with the fishes, its difficult to remove and cleanse it if one intends to do a round of total disinfection for the tank.

I have found that those big red ribbon worms that sometimes tag along with tubifex, kinda love the small spaces in between the Aquasoil beads and the thrive and reproduce in there.  :Confused:  

Other than these drawbacks, it is a good product but certainly overhyped. Just my views.  :Wink:

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## Green Baron

> I'm impressed by how the soil promotes plant growth. I have Rotala macrandra (Green) in some of my tanks but in the tank with ADA aquasoil, they grow particularly well. The leaves along the stems are very close to each other and the colour is bright green. It doesn't grow as well in my other tanks where I'm using normal gravel. Here's a picture:


Kwek Leong,
That is a nice and healthy bush of Rotala macrandra. Do you inject CO2 into this tank ?

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## |squee|

I did a search on pumice and according to this article, pumice sounds a lot to me like a natural form of Biohome.
I was wondering if there were any other additional benefits of pumice that actually makes Powersand worth the money. 

I might start adding biohome to the bottom of my tanks  :Rolling Eyes:   :Very Happy:

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## RonWill

No offence, Terence, but I think you need research further before adding biohome to the substrate or "bottom of your tanks".

Biohome, like Sera's Siporax, are made from sintered glass/ceramic to a very porous structure, which allows maximum surface area for nitrifying bacteria colonies. Both are not pumice.

Pumice is organic and extremely abrasive, even when it's grounded to a coarse-grit powder.

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## whuntley

> snip...
> Pumice is organic and extremely abrasive, even when it's grounded to a coarse-grit powder.


I hope you meant "inorganic." It is usually a foamed glassy volcanic stuff, high in silicon dioxide. Abrasive is almost an understatement. I'd keep it well away from any Cory barbels. The organic part of Power Sand must come from the peat.

I have lots of pumice around here, and was thinking of making my own Power Sand. Can anyone verify the conjecture that it is just pumice and peat? The Schultz APS is too expensive for me ($25 for a smallish bag, maybe 25 lb.?).

Wright

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## RonWill

'Organic' as in non-synthetic or naturally occurring material, not man-made, but it was a bad choice of words. [sometimes it just hangs at the tip of one's tongue...]

While I have access to pumice powder, it's not considered for substrate supplement, not when I still have a liking for corys.

Just a FYI, the abrasive power of pumice is well utilized in dental laboratories to smoothen out burr lines in acrylic dentures prior to a final buff shine/polish.

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## keehoe

Organic by defination must have "Carbon" in the structure.

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## |squee|

> No offence, Terence, but I think you need research further before adding biohome to the substrate or "bottom of your tanks".


No offence taken  :Very Happy: 

I guess I wasn't clear enough in my meaning. From the looks of pumice, it sounds like Amano included them just to increase the overall surface area for bacteria in the substrate to live in. So if that is true, one could probably include biohome at the bottom of the substrate. It's just a wild thought  :Opps:

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## imported_bpt

I've looked at pumice rock pictures. Seems it is the same as the floating lava rocks, called "batu apung" locally here. In the old days before detergent and sponge scraper, it was commonly used to scrap clean the bottom of pots & pants, very abrasive indeed  :Wink:  .

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## timebomb

Budi, 

Considering that you're living in a country with many volcanoes, you shouldn't have any problems finding pumice lying around all over the place. Why don't you send a few lorry-loads over?  :Laughing: 




> That is a nice and healthy bush of Rotala macrandra. Do you inject CO2 into this tank ?


Gan, all my tanks are injected with CO2 ever since I rigged up a 5 way splitter. It's actually two 3-way splitters joined together.



Loh K L

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## FC

KL's CO2 splitter sure looks massive for home user, like mother (CO2) tank milking the (Planted) tanks :P .

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## timebomb

Freddy,

The mother gas tank is from Ronnie. I traded an ordinary 5 kg tank for this big one with him many years ago. It serves me well as it has to feed CO2 to 5 fish tanks. 

I heard from Chan of Nature Aquarium that to upgrade a 5 kg tank to a big one costs only $10. It's a good deal, if you ask me. 

Loh K L

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## imported_bpt

> Why don't you send a few lorry-loads over?


Just a few lorry ? :P Take a look at this picture , a quarry full of pumice rock from Lombok Island. Too bad that I'm closer to Singapore than to this place.  :Laughing:   :Laughing:   :Laughing:

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## zmzfam

KL,

what happened to the original splitters?

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## timebomb

Zul, 

You mean my old one which consists of a long bar with several holes in it? That was my DIY CO2 splitter but I threw it away recently. Several years ago, when I wanted to feed CO2 to many fish tanks from a single CO2 cylinder, there wasn't any equipment in the market that was able to do this. My DIY splitter was made up from various valves, nuts and bolts from the hardware shops around Kelantan Lane. It worked well on most days but occasionally, it went crazy. Sometimes I would come home from work to find one tank where the CO2 was bubbling like crazy and the others without CO2 at all. The so-called fine-tuning valves on my DIY splitter were anything but fine-tuning. A little turn in any direction would either mean the CO2 gets cut off completely or it comes out in a gush. 

Now, my new splitter works like a charm. The fine-tuning valves are of the highest quality. Bubbling rates can be easily tuned to any desired rate. Best of all, it isn't expensive. Also, it's easy to rig up and you don't have to be a DIY expert to figure out how to join all the parts together. I used a bit of superglue around the joints to prevent leakages. 

Wright was right when he said we shouldn't use teflon tape to wind around the joints when we screw such equipment together. Telfon is good only for equipment that involves water. With equipment involving high-pressure gas, it's best to use superglue or silicon.

Loh K L

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## PeterGwee

Any new updates on your tank revamp with ADA substrates? How about some pictures KL?  :Cool:  

Regards
Peter Gwee  :Wink:

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## timebomb

I'm afraid I have no pics to show you, Peter. I'm having second thoughts about the whole thing. A very kind fish shop owner offered to sell me the ADA aquasoil at cost but it's still an exorbitant amount of money to pay for soil. It's kind of sinful to spend money this way, if you know what I mean.

I'm in 2 minds what I should do with my main tank. My wife said maybe I should stick with the original substrate and just rescape the tank. I might do just that but in the meantime, I'm too lazy to start work on it.

I don't know about you but I've been in this hobby since I was a kid. It's been 40 over years and I know my interest has its valleys and peaks. I don't know why but I'm in a "valley" now. I look at the tank and I don't feel like doing anything at all. 

Loh K L

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## itssg

Hi Loh,

Would you mind to let me know where and what is the price you bought the CO2 splitter? I am looking for it since long time ago....

Thanks
dom

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## timebomb

Dom,

I bought the splitters from Nature Aquarium at Balestier Shopping Complex. My memory is not what it used to be so I can't remember the prices clearly. But I think it's Sing $30 for a 2-way splitter and either Sing $40 or $45 for a 3 way one. You will need two 3-way splitters to make one 5-way splitter.

Loh K L

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## itssg

Hi Loh,

That is a good price. I can't really find this kind of splitter in Kuala Lumpur. Sound like i have to make a trip to Singapore soon.

Cheers,
dom

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## Martian

Dom,

88 Marine was supposed to bring in the 3 way splitters for Rm80...i havent check with them whether the stock is here or not. You might want to give them a call to check. If you are getting from Singapore, can you get me one as well? 

Thanks.

Rgds,
isaac

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## itssg

Isaac, we are going to out of topic. check you pm.

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## stormhawk

Hi Dominic, you could get these shipped to you via airmail if someone here was willing to help you with it. Saves you the trouble of heading all the way south.

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## itssg

Hi Jiang Yang... Do you mind to help me out?  :Opps:  I am just worry about the payment kinda troublesome.

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## stormhawk

Hmm.. depending on the weight of the items the postage might be higher. There's options of airmail and courier with a big price difference. Email me and we'll see if we can work it out. Payment wise there's always Western Union.  :Wink:

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## whuntley

Back to Power Sand.

I had a nice bale of Canada sphagnum peat moss, but needed the pumice sand for a DIY substrate, imitating Power Sand. My plan (unless someone knows otherwise) is to mix about 10% peat with 90% pumice to get a starting substrate. I'll probably cover it with coarse gravel from the Jade Beach area. [It is beautiful stuff, a lot like the Lapis Lustre, but bigger pieces of all rounded white, red, black and dark green pebbles from about 1/8" to 1/2".]

I went to an old abandoned Pumice Mill about 8 miles north of town and found a mountain of fairly fine pumice sand, apparently stuff that had been ground and was ready for filling bags. I filled a couple of plastic tubs, and guess I have about 70-80 Kg of the stuff. Should be enough for my 4' tank (55G) with some to spare for other plant tanks. Don't knock it! The price was right (even at today's gas prices).

I took a picture of the 4WD pickup I used to get to the mill. The white wall behind it was a solid mountain of pumice sand of the sort they used to put in the bags I found there. Digging was really easy. I just used a plastic pitcher to fill the bigger containers. One of the tubs can be seen on the lowered tailgate of the pickup.

Go to my gallery http://www.killies.com/forum/modules...view_album.php
to see the pics of the site and the bag details I found interesting.

Wright

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## stormhawk

Wright, saw the pics and I found the last line on the bag a little interesting:




> Does not play host to insects.

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## whuntley

Probably pretty hostile to small Cories, too.  :Very Happy: 

It is almost pure silica (like foamed glass) and really abrasive.

Wright

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## timebomb

Wright,

ADA's Power Sand does not come in powder form. They are about the size of small peanuts. Small pockets of air get trapped below the substrate when the pumice is of a fairly large size and irregularly shaped. With powdered pumice, this won't happen.

Loh K L

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## whuntley

This stuff isn't really powdered. it has a range of sizes, but probably a bit more fines than typical coarse aquarium gravel, like Lapis Lustre. I'm pretty sure it has plenty of porosity, as the bag advertising indicates. It was being processed as a soil amendment. In the case of the bags I found, it was aimed at golf-course maintenance. [Surely fishkeeping in planted tanks cannot be a dumber sport than getting furious while trying to knock a little ball into a gopher hole from a long distance.  :Twisted Evil:  ]

This same source of pumice was once used to make light-weight concrete blocks for building. It even floats in water if the chunks are too big. As kids, we used to like to amaze the tourists by tossing a big rock in the river and watching it float away.  :Very Happy: 

The trapped air in Power Sand would make it float, too. I think one must get rid of most of it for it to have the binding, high CEC and other properties desired in a substrate. It is the surface area for ion exchange that is important, I suspect. For that, the air must be displaced by water, eventually.

Wright

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## RonWill

> It is the surface area for ion exchange that is important, I suspect. For that, the air must be displaced by water, eventually


Wright, the pumice granules will attempt to float even if it's weighed down with coarser gravel. Perhaps a 'soak-in' period is needed, ie. water level just above the topmost layer of gravel, before you fully top-up the water? I dread to think about rescapeing (sp?) though, reminding me of the times I tried vermiculite/perlite mix + peat & gravel combo. Damned bits were all over the place at the slightest uprooting of plants.

The mentioned substrate combo looks interesting and if not for the fact that I need to reduce my tanks, I'd be fair game to try too.

Good luck to you and whoever else is attempting it. Looking forward to updates just the same.

Side note: Question opened to anyone 'in the know'.
Has Ms Diana Walstadt tried the aforementioned (peat/pumice/gravel) combination? If so, was her feedback/results favorable?

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## whuntley

Peat will float for weeks because of trapped air. Historically, I have heated it to boiling, in water. That expands the air a lot, so water then gets sucked back into the pores as it cools.

Rinsing in cold tap water also uses up most of the ion exchange sites (Ca replaces Na), so it is less chemically active. That doesn't seem to hurt its antibacterial properties at all.

If the pumice refuses to stay sunk, I'll use a similar treatment to get it saturated with water. My past experience is that it is so porous that small pebbles of it don't float very well, as the water quickly penetrates deeply enough to push the SG above 1. Only pieces the size of golf balls or bigger can be counted on to float for any length of time, as I recall. I'll test before setting it up, of course.

Vermiculite, OTOH, can be very tough to sink. It is a sheet-like mica material (mostly aluminum silicate) as opposed to the amorphous, expanded silica (silicon dioxide) of pumice. Even when hydrated, the sheet-like flakes want to stay in the water column forever, it seems. If you want the effect but without the "snowflakes" I suggest using Jersey Greensand (glauconite). It is dark green, sinks, and has lots of iron and potassium as well as a high CEC.

Wright

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## imported_bpt

Hi guys, instead of pumice, what about using lava gravel ? Seems to have a good CEC as well, and sink readily.


click for larger picture





I haven't try this for aquarium yet, but I'm just start using it for emerse growing. Have to do some sifting to get the right grain size.

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## whuntley

If it is not a floating nuisance, I prefer the pumice over other forms of lava gravel for one simple reason. It has less of other elements, like iron, manganese, etc. The pale gray stuff I just picked up is mostly silicon dioxide, I think, with very few impurities. [Based on the density in the tubs, I am betting that not much of it floats.] It will not change the water chemistry with a lot of dissolving minerals.

My tap water has adequate iron (over 300 ppb) and other nutrients can be dosed more accurately with the pumice. I see no other reason for not using the lava. Red lava is very popular among many emersed plant growers, I think, like orchid cultivators. It and black lava certainly provide a better substrate color than the stark gray-white of this pumice.

Wright

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## ruyle

Wright,
Would like to see some pics of the 55 when you get it set up.

Bill

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## timebomb

> Hi guys, instead of pumice, what about using lava gravel ?


Budi, lava rocks or gravel is just as difficult to find in Singapore as pumice. Eheim sells them as some sort of filter medium. I think it costs a lot more than pumice but both are hard to find. Where do you get yours? I suppose its easy for you in Indonesia where volcanoes are many.

Many years ago, my Mandore told me something about volcano lava. His father was a farmer in Java and he said that if you have lava in your soil, anything you plant grows.

Loh K L

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## whuntley

I discovered when I lived in Puerto Rico that a volcanic soil, coupled with tropical warmth (sun) and plenty of water assured that every square inch of bare soil was quickly occupied by a growing plant.

Wright

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## stormhawk

Most of the fertile lands in Java are actually located at the foothills of the volcanic areas like Mt Merapi. It is commonly believed that since the cooled lava is actually a mixture of minerals and other materials, once it turns into soil, the plants do grow very well in such conditions.

Another reason is that since lava rock is pretty much porous, the roots can take hold in such crevices, thus holding the plant down firmly.

I'm not sure if it works with pumice, but according to a LFS owner that I know of, he says that flatworms love tanks that have pumice at the bottom. Since they're a coarser material, the flatworms take refuge in such areas.

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## imported_bpt

> Budi, lava rocks or gravel is just as difficult to find in Singapore as pumice. Eheim sells them as some sort of filter medium. I think it costs a lot more than pumice but both are hard to find. Where do you get yours? I suppose its easy for you in Indonesia where volcanoes are many.
> 
> Many years ago, my Mandore told me something about volcano lava. His father was a farmer in Java and he said that if you have lava in your soil, anything you plant grows.
> 
> Loh K L


KL, I got the lava gravel from LFS here, about SGD 5 per bag. Locally its called "Pasir Malang", which is named after a city in East Java with volcanoes nearby. As Jianyang pointed out, as well as your mandore, it is true that volcanic soil is very fertile. 
In 1 bag of this gravel, about 1/3 is way too big of grain (> 0.5cm). 1/2 of it is about 2-4 mm size, and the rest is <1mm. Sieving is the nasty part  :Laughing:  

This kind of gravel while light and porous, has sharp edges. Thus, some people think it is the drawback, as it might injure fine roots. But, I think, if we don't uproot or move around the plant, it won't effect in such.

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