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Topping up Aqua soil....

JohnC

JohnC

Member
Joined
14 Nov 2008
Messages
1,067
Location
On a mountain in the Highlands of Scotland
Hi,

I've been presoaking some aquasoil as i need to top up a tank.

its not looking nice.

Its just not going to work. I'll mud bomb the nice plants and moss if i try.

Before i break open a bag of flora base fine and use that instead has anyone topped up with aquasoil before? is there a tip i'm missing (other then drain the tank entirely & put enough in to start with) ?

Best Regards,
John
 
I have, my tip, forget it. Ada's aquasoil with being ungraded is just rammed full of dust that kills the scape. The only way of standing a chance is to essentially do a fresh start up, ie drain the tank as low as possible so the area you want to top up is free of planting and water add the aquasoil then refill with airline until about half the tank is filled, even then though, you get so so much dust even when I did it that way my tank was murky for 3 days or so and dusty/silty for what seemed like forever after.
 
I did it as per the video but with wet substrate like Johns and got a cack storm. If it's just topping up with fresh then it's clearly a different story.
 
I don't want to risk the ammonia spike so i've pre soaked the stuff. every time I drain the water to replace it another cloud of dust and silt comes off.

Cheers for the video Mark. Once i stopped drooling over the rocks and watched what they were doing it was useful but again I don't want to risk it.

I'll just use flora base to top it off. No biggy. (although i do have a bucket of Mayan mud sitting spare now).

Best Regards,
John
 
You WILL still get an ammonia spike with fresh florabase and anyone who tells you otherwise is wrong mate. I have i in my tank and used it from fresh.
 
Antipofish said:
You WILL still get an ammonia spike with fresh florabase and anyone who tells you otherwise is wrong mate. I have i in my tank and used it from fresh.
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i do indeed know this. I'll presoak that too. unlike aquasoil it doesnt turn to mud first
:D
 
It doesn't turn to mud it's just "dirtier" when bagged with being ungraded so contains a lot more dust than florabase, it's the dust that turns muddy not the substrate.
 
Antipofish said:
The aquasoil turns to mud ? I didn't realise that.
Click to expand...

No, not at all. If handled right, you'll be fine.

My latest 120cm contains pre-used aquasoil. Constant rooting and uprooting of plants can cause the aquasoil to break down, so once planted it's best to leave it alone.

I take the old aquasoil out of the tank, place in the original bag, cut the corners off the bag and leave to drain for week. This time of year, place it in a warm shed with the top of the bag open to allow moisture to escape

To be honest, you'd never know that the aquasoil was used or not.
 
Mark Evans said:
Antipofish said:
The aquasoil turns to mud ? I didn't realise that.
Click to expand...

No, not at all. If handled right, you'll be fine.

My latest 120cm contains pre-used aquasoil. Constant rooting and uprooting of plants can cause the aquasoil to break down, so once planted it's best to leave it alone.

I take the old aquasoil out of the tank, place in the original bag, cut the corners off the bag and leave to drain for week. This time of year, place it in a warm shed with the top of the bag open to allow moisture to escape

To be honest, you'd never know that the aquasoil was used or not.
Click to expand...


I basically did this with 10L of EBI Gold, but rather than cut holes in bag, I left out in the baking sun on a board.

Just put it back into my CRS tank, and true to form, it looks completely brand new and is not dusting up at all. Probably even better than first time around.

Happy days :D
 
Well I've just removed all my old aqua soil and power sand and it's currently laid out on cut bin bags with drainage holes in the back garden. Unfortunately the British weather may well not provide the drying power needed, but I'll just pop it back in damp as a base to build substrate height and then cap off with the 9 l bag of Amazonia powder I have!
I'll be starting again though and don't have to worry about the ammonia spike, but Im not expecting a mud bath!
 
Garuf said:
It doesn't turn to mud it's just "dirtier" when bagged with being ungraded so contains a lot more dust than florabase, it's the dust that turns muddy not the substrate.
Click to expand...

So if its been soaked to minimise the ammonia spike, then drained and dried as I suggested, and gently sieved to remove this dust, won't that work ? Cos I guarantee that new dry colombo florabase WILL give a pretty hefty ammonia spike when its new.
 
they do, but i have always stocked straight away with shrimp, cherries and CRS, and never had a problem. Keep up with water changes and plant heavily and there shouldn't be a problem.
 
ianho said:
they do, but i have always stocked straight away with shrimp, cherries and CRS, and never had a problem. Keep up with water changes and plant heavily and there shouldn't be a problem.
Click to expand...
Just to be clear Ian is this combined with a mature filter?
 
sometimes yes and sometimes no...the plants will utilise the ammonia, but the water changes are a must. I have never seen the massive spike they talk of.
 
ianho said:
sometimes yes and sometimes no...the plants will utilise the ammonia, but the water changes are a must. I have never seen the massive spike they talk of.
Click to expand...


I did not get a "massive" spike either, and I thing thats cos I was doing what Ian said... I was doing 50% every other day in the first two weeks, then every third day for two weeks... and so on. I tested for Ammonia and Nitrite and saw them peak and recede, confirming that I had completed my cycle in under two weeks. I also used SERA BIO NITRIVEC which is meant to help the process and I, along with TGM, believe this to be the case. I did get a spike but not huge levels.
 
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