new into aquasoil

[yme]

hi all,

I am getting finally my new tank ready to use!
I am using ada aquasoil for the first time. I placed it on the bottom of the tank an gently filled the tank. The plan is to let the (excess) ammonia from the aquasoil leak into the water while the tank is not really up and running (no plants no lights). I decided to do this simply because I don't have the capacity to produce the amount of osmosis water needed for the reommended 80% waterchanges 3-4 times a week.
I wondered how much ammonia ada aquasoil leaks into the watercolumn. can you get actually high readings on an ammonia test kit? Will I have to do the procedure for one month? or will 2 weeks be enough to get rid of most of the ammonia?

Also, when I move the aquasoil by hand, the tank get's really really cloudy. will this occur every time when I move the aquasoil? Since I am planning to do a semi dutch tank (I am from holland ) this will involve a lot of pruning, moving plants and will for sure cause movement of the gravel. I would like to avoid a cloudy tank every time I uproot some plants. Is there anything I can do about it? can I gently lift the top layer of aquasoil to get the dust away? (and than do a couple of waterchanges). or will I just smash the aquasoil into little particles and wil I get nothing but mud?

thanks for any help!

yme

[Mooner]

I decided to do this simply because I don't have the capacity to produce the amount of osmosis water needed for the reommended 80% waterchanges 3-4 times a week.

Is there something wrong with your tap/well water??

[SeanS]

My experiences with AS: I had an ammonia reading of 4 ppm for a few weeks, even with large water changes and zeolite in the filter. During this time, I had no plants or fish in the tank, so I am unaware if it would have had a negative impact on anythings health. The snails did fine however

I always found AS to be cloudy when disturbed. However, it always cleared within a few hours, so it was never an issue. I uprooted plants and moved things around nearly every week, and the only thing that was affected was my visibility. There was never an issue with fish health or any apparent breakdown of the AS. Note, I always did a 50% water change afterwards, and occasionally two 50% WCs back to back when I did any major rescaping.

Overall, I like AS more than any other substrate I have tried and will use it again in the future.

[yme]

Is there something wrong with your tap/well water??

not wrong, but simply not ideal. KH 8 conductivity of 700. no Mg, PO4, <5 ppm NO3 etc.

thanks SeanS, I will just let it be then and monitor the ammonia level. 4 ppm isn't exactly little . I always do a weekly 50% waterchange, that's no problem. but if the water is still cloudy after the waterchange, won't there be any precipitations of AS dust on the leaves?

greets,

yme

[SeanS]

but if the water is still cloudy after the waterchange, won't there be any precipitations of AS dust on the leaves?
yme

There is some, I can't remember if I ever had to dust it off or if the filtration took care of it. Either way, it was no big deal.

[yme]

hi!
I filled the tank last weekend! put in the plants, leveled the aquasoil, placed the rhinox difussors etc.. It got really really cloudy! I did two 50% waterchanges since.

But it is still really cloudy. I do see precipitates on the plant leaves. is this normal???
It is alot more than I expected. If this happens every time when I uproot some plants, the aquasoil will be (not so) gently removed....

and a little picture:



thanks!

yme

[Tom Barr]

Did you fill it up slowly and all the other basic stuff?

Seems way too cloudy unless you move the plants and hardscape around a lot after it was filled.

ADA As is not the type of sediment for that or the chronic plant relocator.

You can add some Purigen and or micron filter the water or kjeep doing water changes, it should clear up.

Regards,
Tom Barr

[yme]

unless you move the plants and hardscape around a lot after it was filled

sure I did. that's dutch scaping. no way that I am not uprooting plants every week

at the moment I am doing 50% waterchanges twice a week.

a micron filter what is that? something like a diatomfilter?

greets,

yme

[Tom Barr]

Yes, the diatom filter is much like a fine filter.
Micron refers to the size that the filter is rated to.

Most pleated cartiages are 20-25 microns, that's pretty fine.
Diatoms go down to about 1 micron.

Regards,
Tom Barr

[yme]

well, I might want to go looking for it. I have never seen it, nor do I know which firm sells micron filters. But I will find out! do you know a good brand?

In the mean time, things are clearing up (after the last water exchange). I do see brown precipitates on the leaves, but I am trying to remvove as much as possible. Plants are growing great and are assimilating like I have never seen in my tanks. Which is I think a good think.
On the other hand, I also do see green thread algae appearing on leaves and the wood. Probably due to the organics in aquasoil? I dose full EI exept that i don't dose NO3: after the last water exchange it was still above 30 mg/ (could as well be 50 mg/l). PO4 is rapidly used, I added 1 mg/l last weekend, dosed every day 0.2 mg/l and yesterday it was all gone .
I started off with 4-5 mg/l ammonia, but it is not detectable after the last waterexchange.

I guess everything is normal? (allthough I am a bit concerned about the algae)

greets,

yme