ibebian Posted November 8, 2016 Report Share Posted November 8, 2016 Yay, I have permission from the missus to start a new tank! It's a 3g bookshelf from TruAqua. Shrimp-only, low tech, moderately planted. Curious to hear from those who have used AS and SL-Aqua long term (2+ years) and can share their experiences. Thanks! avonsurfernc 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JuanSan Posted November 14, 2016 Report Share Posted November 14, 2016 I would love to know the answer to this as well. According to preliminary research, this it what bostoneric had to say about it. Quote I'll try to answer all the questions short and sweet that i've been getting bombarded with both on here and FB. everybody seems to ask similar questions. 1. vs aqua soil. Aqua Soil is a very different type of soil, designed and composed of very different stuff. so hard to compare the 2. ADA soils are primarily designed for heavily scaped planted tanks. SL-Aqua soil is the soil used in all the tanks for the 2015 Taiwan Shrimp Competition, its the largest and most competitive competition in the world. 2. how long does it last? just like every other buffering soil, including ada, it really depends on how you treat it. you use RO water and quality mineralizer like SL-Aqua Blue Wizard and you'll get longer life from your soil. use crappy tap water and force the soil to work hard and it will degrade quickly, both in its buffering capacity and its physical shape just like all soils. 3. what ph level does it buffer to? We've have a few established healthy tanks setup 1 year now and all still buffer to ~5.8-6.0ph 4. does it leach ammonia? all soils do in some capacity, even controsoil did. I didnt test any of the tanks we have during cycling. Im not one to constantly be checking during cycling. I have faith in the SL-Aqua soil and their cycling system. I know a few others who i leaked the soil to over the past year said they tested for ammonia and it was very minimal during cycling. I attribute that to the SL-Aqua cycle method products being used. But to me I dont think either way matters because we all know we arent adding shrimp for at least a month. We give the tank has time to establish a healthy colony of bacteria/biofilm/etc. No buffering soils are designed for instant setup. $40 shipped per bag. not going to beat that... check out Aqua soil at some of the other online shops. looking close to $60 shipped per bag. EricM 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chan011 Posted September 13, 2018 Report Share Posted September 13, 2018 any update to this topic? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILikeAsianBooty Posted September 14, 2018 Report Share Posted September 14, 2018 SL is great. Been holding up for the past 6m or so and hasnt turned into mush. I'll be going the ADA route next time because I've heard many good things about it and would like to try it out in atleast 1 tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vasishta.sushant Posted September 14, 2018 Report Share Posted September 14, 2018 I would love to know the answer to this as well. According to preliminary research, this it what bostoneric had to say about it. I'll try to answer all the questions short and sweet that i've been getting bombarded with both on here and FB. everybody seems to ask similar questions. 1. vs aqua soil. Aqua Soil is a very different type of soil, designed and composed of very different stuff. so hard to compare the 2. ADA soils are primarily designed for heavily scaped planted tanks. SL-Aqua soil is the soil used in all the tanks for the 2015 Taiwan Shrimp Competition, its the largest and most competitive competition in the world. 2. how long does it last? just like every other buffering soil, including ada, it really depends on how you treat it. you use RO water and quality mineralizer like SL-Aqua Blue Wizard and you'll get longer life from your soil. use crappy tap water and force the soil to work hard and it will degrade quickly, both in its buffering capacity and its physical shape just like all soils. 3. what ph level does it buffer to? We've have a few established healthy tanks setup 1 year now and all still buffer to ~5.8-6.0ph 4. does it leach ammonia? all soils do in some capacity, even controsoil did. I didnt test any of the tanks we have during cycling. Im not one to constantly be checking during cycling. I have faith in the SL-Aqua soil and their cycling system. I know a few others who i leaked the soil to over the past year said they tested for ammonia and it was very minimal during cycling. I attribute that to the SL-Aqua cycle method products being used. But to me I dont think either way matters because we all know we arent adding shrimp for at least a month. We give the tank has time to establish a healthy colony of bacteria/biofilm/etc. No buffering soils are designed for instant setup. $40 shipped per bag. not going to beat that... check out Aqua soil at some of the other online shops. looking close to $60 shipped per bag. Isn't this too lopsided opinion? Almost disguised marketing for aqua soil. Things like "I've faith in aqua soil" doesn't portray an objective assessment. I'll be wary of such analysis. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricM Posted September 20, 2018 Report Share Posted September 20, 2018 On 9/14/2018 at 5:42 AM, vasishta.sushant said: Isn't this too lopsided opinion? Almost disguised marketing for aqua soil. Things like "I've faith in aqua soil" doesn't portray an objective assessment. I'll be wary of such analysis. do you have a problem with my reply? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vasishta.sushant Posted October 14, 2018 Report Share Posted October 14, 2018 do you have a problem with my reply? Did I even quote you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricM Posted October 25, 2018 Report Share Posted October 25, 2018 On 10/13/2018 at 6:13 PM, vasishta.sushant said: On 9/20/2018 at 3:04 PM, DiscoBee said: do you have a problem with my reply? Did I even quote you? yes yes you did. you didnt like my review that JuanSan shared. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vasishta.sushant Posted October 25, 2018 Report Share Posted October 25, 2018 Well then you read it. I stand by what I said. The review is more subjective than a true comparison. I don't subscribe to any of the products mentioned but to me, I didn't find that review worth anything since it doesn't add any objective comparison with no tangible points of measurement. PS: Why do I feel like I must like the review or you'll get pissed off? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricM Posted October 25, 2018 Report Share Posted October 25, 2018 18 minutes ago, vasishta.sushant said: Well then you read it. I stand by what I said. The review is more subjective than a true comparison. I don't subscribe to any of the products mentioned but to me, I didn't find that review worth anything since it doesn't add any objective comparison with no tangible points of measurement. PS: Why do I feel like I must like the review or you'll get pissed off? Im just trying to understand your opinion of my review based off years of using both products. there is nothing opinion based in my review. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vasishta.sushant Posted October 25, 2018 Report Share Posted October 25, 2018 My earlier reply was using tapatalk. The signatures are not shown there. Today I saw this post on full blown browser and I noticed this: "We now only wholesale SL-Aqua ". Well, this answers and corroborates my earlier guess. With that said, I've used both AL Aqua and ADA products. May be not as much as you might have but 4 years is still a reasonable amount of time to judge which product works better. The only product I liked from the house of SL Aqua is Blue Wizard. Legendary stuff. Not that the other products are bad, they just don't stand out as super performers. I always saw better growth with ADA and both the soils die after 12-18 months. Price wise, I found both to be at par. Anyway, this discussion won't go anywhere. I just felt that your comparison was too much inclined in favor of SL Aqua so I mentioned that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricM Posted October 25, 2018 Report Share Posted October 25, 2018 better growth of what? if you are talking heavily planted scaped tanks, sure i'd even lean towards ada vs any brand of shrimp specific soil. you do realize these are VERY different products right? composed of very different things. and my statement Juan shared above doesnt show any favoritism of one over the other. it simply answers a common question about one vs the other in regards to shrimp. my reply was written back in early 2015 (i believe) and still holds true now. even more so. SL soil has become by far away the most popular shrimp soil in the usa because it just works. its used by some of the biggest breeders in the USA and world because its that good. i'm not trying to fight with you about your opinions of the products, but saying just because i rep a brand it corroborates some alternative motive. anybody who knows me, knows i dont hold back my views just for sales. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madcrafted Posted October 25, 2018 Report Share Posted October 25, 2018 ADA Amazonia Pros: Legendary substrate for planted tanks and for good reason, that's what is was designed for. In cases where plants rely on taking a majority of their nutrients via their roots, this substrate is the best choice. It requires very little effort on the aquarist's part other than providing sufficient light and stable CO2 levels. Cons: Expensive. Especially when trying to set up and maintain a rack full of shrimp tanks. Leeches ammonia for 8 weeks, sometimes longer. Cycling process is tedious if following the ADA way, not to mention wasteful of RO water (which should be used in a caridina tank from day 1). SL-Aqua Nature Pros: Maintains ideal parameters for bee shrimp because that is what this substrate was designed to do. Leeches very little ammonia, which is a good thing for those that don't have the patience to wait 2 1/2 to 3 months for their shrimp tank to cycle. Cost less than other substrates designed to do the same thing. "Fine" grain size is convenient for planting even the most delicate of stem plants like Rotala Indica. Also great for shallow rooted plants like HC, where there is less void between the grains that ultimately causes such plants to come un-anchored and float. Con: Carpeting plants and root feeders will need additional fertilizing sooner when compared directly to ADA Amazonia. That's the only con I can think of when comparing these two. Pretty much what Eric stated in his old post, just worded differently and coming from an objective source with no affiliation to SL-Aqua or it's partners. EricM 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILikeAsianBooty Posted October 28, 2018 Report Share Posted October 28, 2018 Let the guy do a substrate swap straight from the bag with a shrimp tank lol. SL Aqua > ADA Want plants ADA -> SL EricM 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kathy Posted January 13, 2023 Report Share Posted January 13, 2023 How lo g is sl aqua expected toretain buffering capacitis? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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