Aqua soil life

hani

Lifetime Charter Member
Lifetime Member
Jul 27, 2007
302
0
16
I have been using Amazonia for the last 6 years in 5 different tanks, from 30-120 g. I do EI, co2 etc. spent more than 2k$ on test equipment , colorimeter, light meter etc. my observation been that all my tanks do extremely well for the first 6 month, then things slow down and stop growing. Tried every thing from increasing co2 , fert , light , etc...nothing happen. The only thing that will work is to use new soil. Works like magic . My theory was the organic waste build up in the soil was the issue which I can never fix with deep vacum . So for my last tank 120 gallon I used 4 nuclear filters (yes 4) , with iwaki 40., and 2 AM1000 for co2. Results was the same. Tha hair grass covered heavily for 2-3 month had to trim weekly now I may do it once a month the stergun had slow start but came around nicely and now stopped growing ior I should say it slowed down after 6 month. I went back to basic , the tank is always will termed . Measured the light at the bottom was the same . For the fun of it removed some Aqua soil from an area about 10x10 in . But fresh soil and replanted some of the hair grass and stergun , they grow very well in that area. I really have no explanation for that . I wonder if any one able to sustain a tank with Aqua soil for more than a year with some of the delicate plants. Thanks
 

Tom Barr

Founder
Staff member
Administrator
Jan 23, 2005
18,699
786
113
All my tanks essentially have old ADA AS. The stuff in the 180 is the oldest, that tank tends to do the best/most stable.


The only decline in the new vs old ADA is really the NH4. After about 1 year, it's virtually all gone as far as the plants are concerned.


This is true for rice paddie soils that are enriched with liquid ammonia(this is about all they add to such soils fertilizer wise).


NO3 after all does not bind to soil. NH4 gets attacked by aerobic bacteria and if not from plant uptake, the bacteria will get the it.


I dosed more KNO3 and this helps a fair amount. Some folks have fish in the tank and feed them well, others add a bit of urea to their trace mix and dose that daily at about 0.5ppm to 0.8 ppm a day. A wet/dry will process more organic waste that all those canister filters. A wet/dry and a lot of water changes will remove it.


So say I was dosign 10 ppm 2x a week of KNO3, I might dose 3x this amount with older soil. Same fish load and well fed fish.


Some plants are fine with less, others are less competitive.


New soil will lower the KH some also, that can have positive effects on some plant species.


Blyxa does not seem to like new ADA AS, but after 2-4 weeks, it's fine.
 

hani

Lifetime Charter Member
Lifetime Member
Jul 27, 2007
302
0
16
If you cut and paste the link it will work
 

hani

Lifetime Charter Member
Lifetime Member
Jul 27, 2007
302
0
16
Q3


How long will the substrate built with Amazonia last?


A


You can use substrate made of Amazonia for two to three years. However, the nutrients contained in Amazonia will gradually be lost and therefore, it is advisable to supply nutrients to the substrate with Multi Bottom or replace the soil on the substrate surface with new Amazonia soil to improve insufficient nutrients. When you remove aquatic plants to replace them with new plants, it is recommended to remove old Amazonia as much as possible and replace with new Amazonia soil to promote the growth of new aquatic plants. If the Amazonia granules crumble and the substrate becomes less permeable, blue-green algae may develop in the substrate. If you face this problem, you should re-build a new substrate.


Blue-green algae grown in the long-maintained substrate with crumbled Amazonia granules is a sign for replacing the substrate.


 

hani

Lifetime Charter Member
Lifetime Member
Jul 27, 2007
302
0
16
I was interested in that paragraph from ada site
 

hani

Lifetime Charter Member
Lifetime Member
Jul 27, 2007
302
0
16
this is why I was asking , as I see this happen after a year to 18 month, I guess it depends how much plants and bio waste you create.
 

hani

Lifetime Charter Member
Lifetime Member
Jul 27, 2007
302
0
16
you can try, never worked for me , don't get me wrong, I you plant amazon sword it will grow, but try things like hair grass, hc, ...etc they will die, most of the tanks I planted did will for the first 6-8 month, then I hit that wall which I cant figure out why things slow down and start dying, most the plants lives, but delicate plants don't do well. , its not a co2 as in the tanks run great for months and trimmed multiple times, the bio mass staying the same and I do through some plants away to reduce the biomass, but no matter what I did, the only way I can get every thing running back the same is to use new aquasoil.
 

hani

Lifetime Charter Member
Lifetime Member
Jul 27, 2007
302
0
16
I did that, up to 50 ppm.colourmeter lamote 2, .........fertilizer never the issue.
 

PhilipS

Lifetime Members
Lifetime Member
May 10, 2014
259
23
18
GMT -700
ADA +1.


I have acquired 3 year old ADA aqua soil and have successfully grown happy plants.


Plant away from the glass. Pull the dirt away from the glass with styrene sheets and pour in ADA sun sand, into the gap.
 
Last edited by a moderator: