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Move over Shultz Aquatic Plant Soil...

  • #21
I saw a guy buying a bag of perlite that big last time I was at the garden center. I'd have to strap it to the roof of my car, it surely wouldn't fit inside my lil Focus. I couldn't help laughing out loud when I saw it! It looked like a hallucination of a gigantic bag of perlite walking through the garden center!:D
I'd never seen a bag of perlite that big before.

The problem with Kitty litter is that it's not fired at a high enough temperature so it becomes that mud you speak of. That's why I chose the Napa everyone said it doesn't degrade like kitty litter or granulated limestone. I used that in some pots for lime-lovers and it disolved creating a nearly solid calcium brick!

I don't have any water testing kits since I don't keep fish anymore but I will put a handful of Napa in a jar of water and see what happens to it... stay tuned!

Edit:

Here is a bit of Napa underwater, the shot isn't really this blurry or water this salty but rather all the napa is gassing out and filling with water, there's billions of tiny bubbles rushing to the surface in this tiny jar. The larger pieces floated to the top as I filled the jar cos they hold more air. There was a lot of dust so I rinsed the Napa three times to get clear water.
napaunderwater1.jpg


My empty pot tests are almost totally dry. Lower 1/3 of both pots are still slightly moist at the end of 2 days, so it seems like "good stuff" so far.
 
  • #22
Crystal,
If you have a TDS meter, $8 is pretty reasonable to try for an experiment (for the NAPA stuff). If I don't hear that someone has run some TDS tests soon, I'll probably grab some at my local NAPA and give it a try.

While previously researching APS, I came across info on some other products that are apparently identical & typically used as ballpark infield conditioner. One of them is Turface - also called Profile. Here's a thread (start at top) discussing it on an aquarium site. The other one I came across is Lesco infield conditioner. Here's a thread from frog folks discussing merits. Depending on what you can find locally, this appears to open up the options ....
 
  • #23
Don't worry about silica dissolving. It's solubility is awfully low unless you boost the pH into double digits or add hydrofluoric acid to the water. High dissolved silica will be the least of your plants' concerns in either situation.
 
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