APT Feast: the pilots' view

How did APT Feast come about? Well, we have been searching for good soil for a long time. In the past, serious aquarists would use garden soil, but underwater it is necessary to cap it with sand or gravel, and even then, any uprooting creates a mess. In addition, garden soil is not uniform, so hobbyists in different places often experience very different results.

Commercial aquasoils appeared on the market about 30 years ago, and have since flourished. Like fertilisers, most are usable, but we wanted something really powerful. We wanted something that we would want to use again and again, and which would really give that super boost.

For over 3 years we worked with agronomists and soil producers in China, Malaysia and Japan. Finally, we found a partner in Japan who managed to achieve the what we consider to be probably the best possible aquasoil.

The name of the product relates to its origins. During its 3 year journey, we often joked that the level of care that went into the soil was akin to preparing a ten course meal for a king. In many ways, we were indeed preparing a feast for the aquarium plants. The idea of a feast also came from the 'Itadaki' ritual that is performed in Japan before every meal - a simple joining of hands and a small bow of thanks for the many factors that had come together to make the meal possible at that moment.

We had a lot to be grateful for on our journey to developing the soil - early missteps, kind friendships, trust and determination. We wanted to celebrate that, as well as the Japanese heritage of the soil. So it became APT Feast, with 'Itadaki-masu' printed in Japanese characters on every box.

What were we searching for? Oh, we had a long wish list. Firstly, it had to be really rich - in nitrogen and key minerals, and secondly, it had to be in the right forms that would hold these nutrients tightly in the soil granules rather than leaching everything out into the water. It is a subtle balance - some minerals need to be available immediately, but most need to be retained and released over as many months as possible. This would support sustained growth, rather than just provide an initial 'pop' and then deplete quickly within a few months.

We wanted the soil to lower the pH of the water to around 6.3, which is the range favoured by most aquatic plants and low enough to render ammonia harmless. Below pH 7 the toxicity of ammonia is greatly reduced as most of the ammonia is present as ammonium rather than ammonia.

We wanted high organic content, which touches on the key point that the aquarium substrate is not just a surface for plants to hold on to, not just a source of nutrients, but also an important home for beneficial microbes and bacteria. A healthy, diverse population is one of the key factors in the stability of the aquarium. It helps, in layman's terms, to achieving an algae-free tank. Organic content is more expensive to obtain, much harder to preserve and overall very rare. 

And finally, plants must really like the soil. In a way, they are the ultimate judge. When they touch soil they love- and we mean really love- , they root immediately and experienced aquarists can see the immediate impact in the form of fuller, juicy, plump new growth. The whole aquarium reaches cruising altitude more quickly. 

Downsides? APT Feast is unfortunately rather costly to produce. And it takes more skill to handle. We like to use the analogy of fresh versus ultra-heat-treated (UHT) milk. You can leave a cup of UHT milk for a week on the kitchen table and it does not turn bad. It just sits there. Do the same with fresh milk and it will likely sour and turn mouldy. UHT milk is like conventional aquasoil or inert substrates. It is easy in that sense. But of course UHT milk cannot compare with fresh milk in terms of nutrition. On the bottle label, both UHT and fresh milk may even have similar percentages of say protein and fat. But in terms of nutrition in the holistic sense they are very different. 

Well maybe we mean it takes more work to tap its potential. When using a super rich, high organic soil like APT Feast, it is best to cycle the aquarium for a week or two before planting. Alternatively you can indeed add soil, immediately add plants and do large 90% water changes every other day for 2 weeks. Compared to using sand or more average aquasoils, it involves more work in that sense.

And if people do not do put in this work?

Then, similar to leaving fresh milk on the table, you get plant melt and an algae explosion. Algae are just microscopic plants, and they love nutritious and highly organic stuff too. And they are faster and more adaptable.

Interestingly, while hobbyists tend to see Algae as pests, we see algae as valuable indicators. They are like a fever- a signal that something is off. In the case of our aquariums, that something is off balance. A strong, balanced system is extremely resilient against algae, while the opposite is also true.