What's in ADA Aquasoil?

[tefsom85]

I'm slowly getting all the pieces together to start my 120G back up. Two days ago, I put in the aquasoil into a clean tank. (All old gravel removed, wiped down, filled/emptied to rinse it out,etc. In other words, it was very shiny. :O). When I first added water, the water turned very brown and I noticed lots of debris floating on the surface - looked liked small pieces of straw.

The directions indicated no rinsing would be required and any cloudiness would disappear after a couple of hours with proper filtering. Well.. it hasn't yet, although, I have to admit my filters are purely mechanical - no carbon or zeolite. I also thought that if I let it sit that maybe whatever was clouding the water might settle. No such luck.. I am on my 3rd ~75% water and now the water just looks cloudy. We'll have to see if it clears up. I'm guessing this will all turn out ok - I hope so cuz it was over $200 in AS. I've read other posts that this does happen sometimes.

My question is.. what's in aquasoil that makes it do this?

 

[tefsom85]

OK.. quick update.. after the last drain of the tank, I decided that the gravel didn't quite look even enough so I leveled it off with my hands as gently as I could. Its back to so brown and cloudy that I cannot see more than 6 inches into the tank.

I really hope this goes away...

 

[tefsom85]

Attached is pic of the debris.. can also see how muddy the water is

 

[David Hui]

Hi,

When you filled the tank, the water had to be really slow. It took over an hour for me to fill my 120. Was your filter aged or fully cycled? The debris was normal. I set up about 5 tanks with aquasoil and the only time I have cloudy water was re-using aquasoil from a previous tank combined with brand new filter. HTH

David

 

[tefsom85]

Hi,

When you filled the tank, the water had to be really slow. It took over an hour for me to fill my 120. Was your filter aged or fully cycled? The debris was normal. I set up about 5 tanks with aquasoil and the only time I have cloudy water was re-using aquasoil from a previous tank combined with brand new filter. HTH

David

I did fill the water slowly so as not to disturb the AS. The water going in was not fully aged but was straight out of the tap. I'll let it settle for awhile with filters running and see what happens.
Will

 

[Frolicsome_Flora]

I cant see itll take that long to clear, but with how muddy your water is, Id probably clean out the filter sponges, wool, or anything else you have in there to trap small particles daily. Thatll keep things running at full speed while it clears the muck away.

I dont think theres any way of adding water to a new substrate without kicking up at least some sediment.. I woudlnt worry about it, itll sort out.

 

[David Hui]

IMO, the water did not have to be aged, but the filter had to be cycled.

 

[Tom Barr]

Try adding some Flocculant(alum-> aluminum sulfate etc) and some Purigen.
That will remove it.

I just do water changes, never had this issue but have seen on line several folks that have.

Well cycled filters help, mulm from another tank will help and should be added to any new tank/substrate.

I think product variation/lack of consistency is a real issue, some batches are not so hot it would seem.

I've used some that works great, some that leeches a lot more tannins than the others, some that has more fines in it.

I think the product is not particularly consistent, but still good.


Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[detlef]

Tanks with AS often continue to have cloudy water for several days after filling sometimes weeks even. Neither cycled filters, UVs nor flocculants did the trick for me strangely enough. Diatoms are the best option IME.

Don't allow the debris to collect in your biological filter. Clean the muck away every so often.


Hope that helps and good luck,
Detlef

 

[RlxdN10sity]

what exactly is mulm? How should one go about collecting and extracting some to be added to another tank? As far as clearing up that water I would recomend lowering water level to about half so that you get more cycles per hour through your filtration system. Also keep up with cleaning your filter media. Once the water has cleared to acceptable clarity slowly add more water to desired level. If this substrate is that sensitive to disturbance it may be a pain to plant your plants. Just my 2 cents but I have no direct experience with AS.

 

[Tom Barr]

Deep gravel Vacuum from an old tank.
Allow to settle in a bucket for 5 min.
Decant off the supernatant clear water, save the "mulm" in the bottom of the bucket.
That adds precisely what is missing from an old established substrate.

Regards,
Tom Barr