aquasoil,ammonia and algae

[plantnoob]

the more i read about ada aquasoil , the more tempted i am to use it . but the ammonia in the 1st few weeks concerns me a little . does the ammonia being leeched leave you more open to algae attacks in the early stages ? is it better to wait until it stops leeching before planting ?

 

[foxfish]

Ada amazonia will leach ammonia although I think I read the new stock is not so bad, the best way is plant heavily from day one, use loads of Co2 & dont stock with fauna for about 6 weeks.

 

[plantnoob]

pretty much exactly how im going to set up . ive looked at costs of various substrates , and aquasoil doesnt work out half as expensive as i feared . plus given its reputation i would like to use it if its not going to make life harder with the leeching

 

[ceg4048]

Do plenty of water changes initially. After the initial leech period you will never have to worry about that again - unless you do something psychotic like add ammonia to your tank.

Cheers,

 

[plantnoob]

no ammonia is being added say 3x 50% waterchanges a week enough initially?

 

[clonitza]

Aqua Soil Amazonia, Initial Stage Maintenance ||| ADA Nature Aquarium - Aqua Design Amano Co., Ltd

 

[ceg4048]

Yeah, 3X 50% will be fine. The more water you change, the better.

Cheers,

 

[plantnoob]

very useful link , thanks

 

[Ady34]

Hi,
I'd do 50% every day for the first week, slowing down to every other day 2nd week, 3rd day 3rd week and then regular 50% per week routine changes from there on.
Cheerio,
Ady

 

[faizal]

Hi . I know this is an old thread but since my doubt is somewhat relevant to the topic discussed i thought i could put my question here. I am planning on a new non co2 set up with the ADA amazonia. Since we try to avoid regular water changes with non co2 set ups, I presume we cycle the soil first. My question is how long does it usually take to cycle the amazonia if i do twice daily 100% water change?

 

[ceg4048]

Hi Faizal,
Sediments take about 6-8 weeks to fully mature. It doesn't really matter whether it's Amazonia or kitty litter.

Cheers,

 

[Aquadream]

Aqua Soil Amazonia, Initial Stage Maintenance ||| ADA Nature Aquarium - Aqua Design Amano Co., Ltd

Nice article in here.
However the article states that Amazonia Aquasoil does not lower the PH in aquarium bellow 6.6-6.8.
My last experience with New Amazonia was quite different. New Amazonia have lowered the PH in my tank down to 5.2. Even today over two months after start up I can not get the PH above 6.3 no matter what.

That was not the case with the older Amazonia types.

I wish everything in ADA articles was somewhat more accurate.
Their parameters seem to fluctuate as the weather forecast.

 

[faizal]

Hi Faizal,
Sediments take about 6-8 weeks to fully mature. It doesn't really matter whether it's Amazonia or kitty litter.

Cheers Clive