Tropica Substrate ammonia problem:

[Tawny]

I recently set up a new tank (Superfish Start 30) with 1cm layer of Tropica substrate under 2cm of gravel. It is planted and has an internal filter running. The only livestock are a few ramshorn snails.
The ammonia levels have remained high since the start - more than 2ppm - for 3 weeks now despite several large water changes and adding several doses of Bacto Start. I can only assume the substrate is responsible. Is this normal and what can I do to reduce the ammonia so I can add more livestock?
I used Tropica Aquasoil (as opposed to substrate) in my other tank and had no problem at all. The aquasoil is more like little black pellets, the substrate is more like regular soil - brown and dusty.
I asked Tropica and they just said their substrate does not cause ammonia!
Look forward to your thoughts/experiences with these products and ammonia levels.

 

[tam]

I recently set up a new tank (Superfish Start 30) with 1cm layer of Tropica substrate under 2cm of gravel. It is planted and has an internal filter running. The only livestock are a few ramshorn snails.
The ammonia levels have remained high since the start - more than 2ppm - for 3 weeks now despite several large water changes and adding several doses of Bacto Start. I can only assume the substrate is responsible. Is this normal and what can I do to reduce the ammonia so I can add more livestock?
I used Tropica Aquasoil (as opposed to substrate) in my other tank and had no problem at all. The aquasoil is more like little black pellets, the substrate is more like regular soil - brown and dusty.
I asked Tropica and they just said their substrate does not cause ammonia!
Look forward to your thoughts/experiences with these products and ammonia levels.

I don't have a bag to hand, but I'm pretty sure the gravel is meant to be a minimum depth of 4cm.

That does seem unusal amount of ammonia - have you tried testing your tap water, both before and after adding declorinator, incase you are getting a false positive.

Have you planted it? I've used it a few times, planted immediately and added fish a few weeks later. I don't test for ammonia daily so it potentially could have spiked at the start but I've never detected any at the point I add fish.

 

[Tawny]

Yes it's planted. And yes tested tap and other tank water - both zero ammonia.
I've just put a filter pad from my long-running tank into the new filter to see if that speeds things up.

 

[fredi]

I had 3ppm ammonia with tropica soil until filters kicked in

 

[Tawny]

I had 3ppm ammonia with tropica soil until filters kicked in

OK thanks - how long did that take?

 

[fredi]

About a week, I used 2 seeded filters
I also added a lot of plants from an existing setup
I had soaked the soil for months beforehand too
I was surprised at the level of ammonia, but looking at it from a positive point of view, I knew that once the ammonia and nitrite readings were both at zero, I could add fish👍👍

 

[dw1305]

Hi all

The ammonia levels have remained high since the start - more than 2ppm - for 3 weeks now despite several large water changes and adding several doses of Bacto Start.

That does seem unusal amount of ammonia - have you tried testing your tap water, both before and after adding declorinator,

Are you using <"Prime"> as your dechlorinator?

I'd stop adding the <"Colombo Bacto Start 250ml - Bacterial Filter Starter">, it is pretty unlikely to contain the microbes that actually perform nitrification.

Have a look at <"Correspondence with Dr Ryan Newton - School of Freshwater Sciences, University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee"> & <"Dr Timothy Hovanec's comments about Bacterial supplements">.

Is this normal and what can I do to reduce the ammonia so I can add more livestock?

Add some floating plants? <"What is the “Duckweed Index” all about?">.

cheers Darrel

 

[Commander Shepard]

Depending on the grain size of the gravel 2cm is not going to do all that much and the tropica substrate has a lot of nutrients. Sand is much better for this purpose. You could still put some on top.

You could always chuck a big peace lily in there and some floaters.

 

[Tawny]

I have lots of floaters in there. The ammonia is slowly coming down now - what seems to have made the biggest difference is putting in a piece of filter material from a cycled tank. The Bacto Start did nothing.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

I have lots of floaters in there.

Perfect

what seems to have made the biggest difference is putting in a piece of filter material from a cycled tank

That was what <"Dr Newton found">. This is what he said:

..... If you do need to add nitrifiers the best source is from an aquaponics or aquaculture system that is already running and removing ammonia. Some water or sediment/soil or part of the biobilter (if there is one) is an excellent starter. Without this source as an inoculum then you could add some roots from plants from any other tank that is running - these are likely to have nitrifiers associated with them. A small clipping put into the tank would be enough....

cheers Darrel