Review on Enhance Growth and Flourishing with UP AQUA Sand for Aquatic Plants! by Amy Williams

This substrate looks great, appears more gray than black under aquarium light, but is pleasant. The problem I had was that it messed up my water chemistry. Other reviewers have stated that it doesn't affect water chemistry and I really didn't think it would have any effect as an aquarium substrate with plants. Anyway, I set it up and within 2 weeks my water hardness had risen to over 160ppm. For the rest of my life I would not understand why this is happening. I almost went insane trying to figure out what was causing such high GH levels in my aquarium, but in the end it turned out that this substrate was the only option left. Even then I didn't understand why that was so I did an experiment. I filled 2 1 gallon cans with tap water and checked the GH, my tap water is 6-12ppm. I kept the water warm with a couple of spare heaters I had and added Up Aqua soil to one of the jars. Then each day I gently stirred the water and retested the GH. A week later a can of Up Aqua Soil was at 80ppm, a can of tap water was of course another 6-12ppm. I think if I left my test for another week or so it would eventually hit 160+ ppm to be consistent with my tank. I ended up losing about 10 fish and the only fault I have is this substrate as everything else was fine. death by GH. I have to use Fluval Plant and Shrimp Stratum as I have used it before and had no problems.