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Re: Amano substrates
On Sun, 8 Nov 1998, Ryan Stover wrote:
>
> Steve Pushak wrote<<Does anybody know if Amano uses a special substrate to
> grow the Glossostigma he uses? How long does it take to develop the lovely
> Glossostigma carpets in the pictured tanks?>>
>
> I know for a fact that Amano uses Aqua Soil Powder. This is a very fine
> silty laterite, if I can go so far as to call it laterite. One thing to note
> about this substrate is its tendency to lower the pH and hardness.
If the "Aqua Soil Powder" is responsible for lowering the pH and hardness,
then it is not laterite. Laterite is a heavily leached soil composed
mostly of metal hydroxides and oxyhydroxides. It doesn't react
spontaneously in normal water at any kind of significant rate, so doesn't
change major water parameters like pH and hardness.
As to the original question... I just thumbed through the first volume of
Nature Aquarium World. He has glossostigma growing in sea sand, Akadama
ceramics and Oiso sand; I think that's all of the base material he used in
tanks featered in that volume. His instruction on substrates at the end
of the book say nothing about substrate additives other than base
fertilizer.
Roger Miller