Shrimpscales Posted December 27, 2014 Report Share Posted December 27, 2014 I setup a new tank last week with ada aquasoil. I noticed right away that it looked more brown in color than the last time i used it. Now it is dying my water a tea brown color. Water changes and filtering make no differance. If you pinch some between your fingers it will crumble and dissolve with very little effort. For this reason i cant see this tank ever clearing up. I am just sick over this, all the time and money i have invested in not just the soil but all the substrate additives will be lost. Any suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
High5's Posted December 27, 2014 Report Share Posted December 27, 2014 Patients, just leave it be the more you mess with it the worse it will get. manticore 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrimpscales Posted December 27, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 27, 2014 That is what i thought at first but it actually gets worse with time without doing anything. Keep in mind this is not the first time i have used aquasoil so i knew what to expect. Yea it is usually cloudy at first but should slowly clear up with time. I am thinking about trying to cap it with some flourite i have. Will i lose the buffering i want if i do this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mayphly Posted December 27, 2014 Report Share Posted December 27, 2014 In my experience with aquasoil the slower I fill the tank with water the less cloudy it will be. I always pour the water over a cup to diffuse the water. My tanks have never gotten that cloudy. I don't see a purpose of adding flourite as a cap since amazonia already has all the nutrients your plants will need in a shrimp tank. You shouldn't loose buffering if you decide to do so. Just keep up with the water changes and add some floating plants to help with absorbing ammonia. What shrimp do you plan on keeping in this tank? High5's 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
littlebirdie Posted December 27, 2014 Report Share Posted December 27, 2014 The Shrimp Farm has an article written about cycling ADA Aquasoil before planting, etc. I had the same issue as you with it and, as it was my first tank and I didn't know this about the ADA, I reset the whole tank with different substrate. After I did that I read this article. I am going with Brightwell now but still have the Aquasoil..the unused portion..so I might try it again now that I know how to handle it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrimpscales Posted December 27, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 27, 2014 I have been doing some research online and have found many people who had similar issues with Amazonia. It seems the product has a problem with consistency. I have two other tanks set up with Amazonia and noticed right away that this new stuff has a very different color than my other tanks. It is a more yellowish brown and seems to dissolve easily in water. I will give it a couple months of water changes and filtering before I give up but I am not to confident at this point. This tank will be for my shadow shrimp so I need to be sure it is correct manticore 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrimpy Daddy Posted December 28, 2014 Report Share Posted December 28, 2014 Did you flush your tank when you first top up with water? What is the pH and KH of the water that you used to fill the tank? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrimpscales Posted December 28, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 28, 2014 I dont know the ph and kh as i didnt measure them. I used tap water mixed with ro water. It may have been a little high though because my tap is kh17 ph8.2. Does this make a differance ? when you say flush tank do you mean drain all the water? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrimpy Daddy Posted December 28, 2014 Report Share Posted December 28, 2014 Highly alkaline water will cause your problem. In actual fact, I purposely use moderately alkaline water to force the organics and ammonia out of the ADA AS. What I meant by flush is to fill the tank, drain it and repeat again and again. Based on my past experience, for 8 to 10cm thick of ADA requires more than 10 times of flushing before the water is crystal clear. Alternatively, you could have a pipe for filling and another pipe for drain, adjust both pipe to have the same flow rate. One thing I'm not sure is about your pinching test. ADA AS crumble when you pinch them with your finger within a little bit of pressure. However, it does not crumble easily when you disturb it. Try taking a grain and roll it between your thumb and index finger. If they don't crumble, then it should be fine. But if it drops a lot of brown colour crumbs, then it is a bad batch. When you received the ADA AS, did you see some vapour formed on the packaging? One thing I discovered is that many people received dried ADA AS; they are supposed to be kept moist. Dried ADA AS can't be used as it will crumble. This commonly happened due to the packaging is punctuated and moisture escaped. One way to find out whether the ADA AS expired out not is based on the packaging. Old batch of Amazonia will be written as "New Amazonia" and the newer batch is written just with "Amazonia". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrimpscales Posted December 28, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 28, 2014 I am not for sure but i think it was new amazonia. They were out of stock at first and i had to pre-order. I am going to try and flush it a couple times with tap water. I did a 50% wc yesterday with pure ro and it is actually worse this morning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrimpy Daddy Posted December 28, 2014 Report Share Posted December 28, 2014 Do the rubbing test like I mentioned in my previous post to find out whether it is really a bad batch. If it is bad batch, then there is nothing you can do. In actual fact, ADA usually will change for you. If you buy the AS from authorised dealer, you should be able get an exchange. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrimpscales Posted December 28, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 28, 2014 Yea when i pick a piece up and roll it between my fingers it will instantly dissolve between my fingers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrimpy Daddy Posted December 28, 2014 Report Share Posted December 28, 2014 Then you should contact your seller to change. I think you must have received a pack of dried up AS. In future when you are buying any brand of AS, always ensure a little amount of water droplets formed on the packaging. All AS have to be kept moist. mayphly 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrimpscales Posted December 28, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 28, 2014 Thanks but this will be my last time with amazonia. Its not worth it. Not only am i out the cost of the soil but also all the substrate additives and time i have invested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrimpy Daddy Posted December 28, 2014 Report Share Posted December 28, 2014 I doubt it got to do with Amazonia. This problem happens on all brand of AS. It is a matter of more people are using AS and the frequency of encountering this problem is more. If you are buying any AS, you should buy from respectable dealer such that they will take good care of them. Personally, I hate using AS. They are messy, no matter what brand. Those claims that is clean is not really that clean too. Those "clean" AS does not make your water looks dirty but after a week or so, you will find all your filter become black. This is because they bake bond the AS instead of ADA uses steam bonding, I think. As such, I prefer to go for inert natural substrate that is porous and light. You could consider inert substrate next time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
High5's Posted December 28, 2014 Report Share Posted December 28, 2014 I have half a bag of Aquasoil that has dried out, I am going to mist it down with a spray bottle as I layer it in my tank, Hopefully I don't get mud. I have seen this problem many time's on forum's and the main cause is adding water to fast usually result's in cloudy/muddy tank water. svetilda 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrimpscales Posted December 28, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 28, 2014 This soil was not dried out when i started. It was actually more moist than the last time i used it. The last tank i set up i used soil that was sitting in a bucket for a year. I had no problems at all. Now i am trying to decide if it would be worth trying to cap it with flourite or just scrapping it and starting over with controsoil. I have tried breeding taiwan bee shrimp with an inert substrate in the past and have found i have a much higher survival rate of baby shrimp when using an active soil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrimpy Daddy Posted December 28, 2014 Report Share Posted December 28, 2014 I have tried breeding taiwan bee shrimp with an inert substrate in the past and have found i have a much higher survival rate of baby shrimp when using an active soil. Then don't go for active substrate in the future. People claimed that pH will affect survival and breeding. This is kind of true and false statement. If the tank has a lot of bio-load and the bacteria is not cleaning them on time, then acidic water will help. However, acidic water may increase erosion of shell, acidification of blood and increases formation of nitric acid. Therefore, it is a double edge sword. If the AS is bad, I will suggest revamping. Don't waste money on those additive. I seriously doubt about the claimed effect. Given said that, it will be quite an effort to revamp it. If you are going to get any other brand of AS, then you will burn your pocket. Why don't you just get the person or shop that sold you the ADA AS to exchange new one for you? Not sure you will like baked type of AS, such as Contrasoil as per you mentioned. Each grain is heavier than ADA AS and they seems to compact pretty tightly. This is good to plant small plants like HC and create nice slope in aquascaping, but not may not allow waste material to flow down as quickly as ADA AS. Hence, you better think twice before taking the next move. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrimpscales Posted December 28, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 28, 2014 Thanks for the advice everyone. I have a tough decision to make, i will have to think about this one for awhile. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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