Finally the incredible ADA Amazonia has now arrived and we’re delighted we are stocking the complete range of substrates to give your planted aquarium the very best start. For those of you not familiar with ADA Amazonia it’s well known throughout the world and arguably one of the best substrates hobbyists can start with.

So what makes it special?

1) ADA Amazonia is dark in colour and this is the first major attraction to it – the colour sets off green plants perfectly.

2) It contains all the nutrients required to give your aquatic plants the very best start they need. This makes it a very powerful substrate and remember that most of the plants you have will probably have been grown emersed which means that this may be the very first time they have been submerged. Plants that have insufficient nutrients during this transition period can die off quickly so getting it right first time saves time, money and stress.

3) The grain size of ADA Amazonia is perfectly shaped into balls of about 3-4mm. This makes it very easy for planting into and once placed into the substrate, the plants quickly throw out roots and anchor down.

4) The substrate sets your water pH to approximately 6.8 which is the ideal parameter for freshwater plants. This means that you don’t need to use any chemicals to adjust the chemistry. It also reduces the pH and GH, which favours the plants.

As you can see the above advantage points are really quite impressive and probably one of the reasons why it has grown in popularity. However, it’s worth noting that Amazonia leaches ammonia (NH4) into the water for a period of 3 weeks. This means that no live stock can be added at this stage. The NH4 provides a key nutrient that the plants convert into energy and this is why it spikes very early on. Sometimes the water becomes slightly brown too but with water changes, it soon disappears.

When adding ADA Amazonia to a tank, you have to place it in before any water goes it – this is paramount. Remember, this is still a soil (even though it has been passed through a fairly extensive process) and if you pour your water too quickly, you’ll be the proud owner of a cloudy tank so take your time and fill your tank up slowly and your water should remain perfectly clear.

At the moment there are three different sized grains of ADA Amazonia – Normal, Powder and New. Normal is the grain size of 3-4mm and is the most established out of the three different sizes. Powder is approximately 1mm in diameter and we recommend that you use the powder type around rocks – this makes it look more natural and easy on the eye and the transition between rock and substrate is smooth as you would find in nature. If you were aquascaping a small aquarium (30L or less) then it may be more suitable to use  Powder type for the whole aquarium – it can give the illusion of your tank being larger than it actually is. The last type is the latest and appropriately called Amazonia New. It’s a combination of Normal and Amazonia II (now discontinued) sized granules. This substrate has evolved and the concept behind it is that planting is easier and plants can be pushed into the substrate and are more likely to anchor first time round.

For other types of substrates, we welcome you to visit our dedicated section which can be found here.