ADA Aquasoil Substrate Question

So I finally jumped the gun and decided to go with ADA Aquasoil. I decided to go with this over the Seachem Flourite. Anyways, I already have a cycled tank with fish. My main concern is the soil leeching ammonia.

The steps for substrate change:
Take most of the tank water out into separate bucket.
Put fish and plants into the bucket and keep the filter running to keep most of the BB alive.
Clean out the tank and remove the gravel substrate.
Next add the aquasoil into the tank and add my plants back in and add my hardscapes.
Siphon back my old tank water and add new dechlorinated water to fill back up all the way if I don't have enough old tank water to keep the cycle.

I know that the aquasoil needs to be cycled, but can it be done with fish in? I did do a fish in cycle, so would this be the same process that I was doing for the first month of doing a fish in cycle?? Also, would adding TSS help cycle the soil faster? Or would just doing normal daily water changes and adding Seachem Prime be enough?

My thoughts are doing daily water changes and adding seachem prime would be more than enough to keep the ammonia levels down to cycle soil. Am I correct? Seems like a simple process, but sometimes I over think things and would like to get some opinion.

 

Bump!

Thanks!

Ken

 

The jury seems out on this one. Some say it leeches stupid amounts of ammonia creating an uninhabitable home for fauna, some say they didn't register any significant amounts of ammonia. If you can let the tank run for a week with just plants, no fish to be safe I would. If you have no other option but to add fish back immediately than test nightly and prepare to change water. Depending on a few things the ammonia may not even harm your fish. You can do a double dose of prime daily as a n added precaution. Plus side is that stiff grows plants like it was made for itgod speed sir.

 

I used ADA New Amazonia in a brand new tank. It leached ammonia for about a month. Nothing spectacular, about 0.5- 1ppm. That means a free fishless cycle for me. Since your tank is already cycled, you will not be able to detect it. It does not take more than a couple of days for an established BB to double in size.

Having said that, I would be very careful when putting fish back into the tank with this new substrate as the water conditions (osmolarity especially) has drastically changed.

 

So I finally jumped the gun and decided to go with ADA Aquasoil. I decided to go with this over the Seachem Flourite. Anyways, I already have a cycled tank with fish. My main concern is the soil leeching ammonia.

The steps for substrate change:
Take most of the tank water out into separate bucket.
Put fish and plants into the bucket and keep the filter running to keep most of the BB alive.
Clean out the tank and remove the gravel substrate.
Next add the aquasoil into the tank and add my plants back in and add my hardscapes.
Siphon back my old tank water and add new dechlorinated water to fill back up all the way if I don't have enough old tank water to keep the cycle.

I know that the aquasoil needs to be cycled, but can it be done with fish in? I did do a fish in cycle, so would this be the same process that I was doing for the first month of doing a fish in cycle?? Also, would adding TSS help cycle the soil faster? Or would just doing normal daily water changes and adding Seachem Prime be enough?

My thoughts are doing daily water changes and adding seachem prime would be more than enough to keep the ammonia levels down to cycle soil. Am I correct? Seems like a simple process, but sometimes I over think things and would like to get some opinion.

I have done this before with cherry shrimp And it worked absolutely fine. Keep up the water changes 50% everyday for about 2 weeks and the bacteria in the filter, Substrate and on the plants will adjust.

I'm about to do this again actually but I'm not completely changing the substrate, I'm just adding extra aquastop for new plants I'm getting.

The ammonia is a good source of nutrients for the plants as well.

 

Great to know thanks for all the tips fellas. I've just been reading a lot of old posts that went back and forth and how people didn't like the substrate. Which was not informative imo.

 

Great to know thanks for all the tips fellas. I've just been reading a lot of old posts that went back and forth and how people didn't like the substrate. Which was not informative imo.

I like it now (after 3 years). I had some problems at the beginning...Four kinds of algae in the first 6 months. I blamed the soil for leaching nutrients into the water column.
This soil is very light (puffy) and fertile. The ideal plants for this soil would be the swords. Avoid any stem plants that need constant cut the top and replant...Uprooting plants from this soil is a mess....

 

Quick update. My substrate finally came in after being delayed for 3 days with no reason from USPS. Smh. Anyways, I just wanted to mentioned the ADA aqua soil Normal Type soil is a PITA to plant rooted plants especially the smaller ones! I think I'm going to invest in some long tweezers to make it easier to plant. Some of the plants became uprooted when I was adding the water. Also, I had to add about half tank water and half dechlorinated water I'm hoping I didn't kill off all of my BB. Going to test the water tomorrow night when I get off work. Hopefully the ammonia spike isn't huge.

 

If you had small root plants the powder version would of been better to get

 

If you had small root plants the powder version would of been better to get

I didn't know about that until after I ordered it and Amazon was only selling the normal type. Didn't know who else sold them all the places I've seen were only in Europe..

 

I didn't know about that until after I ordered it and Amazon was only selling the normal type. Didn't know who else sold them all the places I've seen were only in Europe..

Oh I see. Well on trick you could try is getting some crushed lava rock or small rocks. Tie or glue the roots of plant to it and bury the rock under the substrate