Adding aqua soil to a cycled aquarium

[fancytail]

Hi!

I was wondering if it was okay to add Aqua soil to my tank that's been active for 4 years. Would this effect my water parameters in anyway? I have some sensitive loaches and I don't want to put them in danger if that's the case.

I have this fine gravel, but I forgot what's called. It's like this gravel that's designed for planted tanks and it had "Live bacteria" in it. Similar to eco-complete.

The reason why I want to switch out the gravel is because I want to add some red cherry shrimp. The current substrate has copper in it-

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

Aqua soil leaches ammonia at first so that might not be a good idea unless you can temporarily house the inhabitants in another tank.

I wonder what substrate you have now? Floramax and flourite are similar to eco-complete. The trace amount of copper is okay for shrimp. Just prevent adding more by avoiding ferts/meds that contain copper.

A little bit won't harm them...in fact i occasionally feed my red rili and tangerine tigers Fluval shrimp granules and it contains copper oxide.

Edit: read post 12 by veener... This explains why a trace amount of copper is actual good for shrimp. Their blood-like fluid, called hemocyanin, in their bodies are copper based.. So that's why some shrimp specific foods, like the Fluval shrimp granules, contain copper. They need "some" but too much will kill them.

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=81420

 

[fancytail]

Thank you Brian! I forgot the name of the substrate I have now until I saw you mention Floramax. Floramax totally flipped some switches in my head! The type of substrate I have now is called Activ-Flora. People complain about it a lot, clouding up the water and some other stuff, but I never had any negative affects from it.

Activ·Flora? Planted Aquarium Substrate by World Wide Imports Ent., Inc.

I researched a lot about Red Cherry Shrimp and people say there should be NO COPPER WHAT SO EVER or the shrimp will just die.

 

[Billbug68]

Make sure you completely drain the tank when you make the switch to aquasoil, and make sure all the AS is where you want it before you fill the tank... Fill very slowley, use the pour onto a plate method, or... Talk about clouding...

 

[fancytail]

Okay!
I think the brand at my LFS is Aquasoil... I don't remember. It's really expensive though. There's this little bag that goes for like 20$ and the grains are the size of pebbles. A 10 Ib bag is like 40-60$. Is this too much?

Also, would it be a bad idea to mix the soil with my current substrate?

 

[aqua_chem]

You probably should be able to have AS shipped to you for less than that.

I wouldn't be too worried about the AS leaching ammonia. While it's true that aquasoil is well known to add ammonia, this is most readily noticeable in new tanks without established filters to remove it before it builds up. If I were in your position, I would just add it in and let the filter sort it out, doing water changes as necessary. Alternately, you could soak it in a bucket for a few weeks to let the ammonia leach out.

On the topic of copper.... I wouldn't worry about it for the reasons stated above. The whole shrimps and copper relationship is more about using copper-containing medications where huge concentrations can be reached and less about avoiding it like kryptonite.

 

[fancytail]

Thank you Aqua_Chem!

So would would you say that it would be okay to mix Aqua Soil with the already settled in Activ-Flora?

 

[aqua_chem]

Why are you opting to mix it rather than just buy a new bed of AS?

 

[fancytail]

Are the nutrients in AquaSoil THAT good compared to other brands? I'm just kind of afraid of uprooting some of the plants that settled in. I was thinking that Activ-Flora and AquaSoil had different nutrient properties and mixing them would provide plants with a variety of goodies also for future plants that I might add in.

I'm not sure how I would mix them, but some people say that I can put Aquasoil as a bottom layer and the Activ-Flora as the top layer or the other way around. I'm not sure the benefit of this is unfortunately.

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

This is the first time i ever heard of activ-flora, but from that website you linked to, it sounds/looks good. It looks like eco-complete. If that's the case, you'd be fine just to continue using it. You can layer it with AS if you want i imagine. I have a layer of Fluval Stratum on Floramax in two of my tanks, mainly for esthetics. I also have a tank with UP Aqua shrimp sand on Floramax. And another with just Floramax... All do fine.

What plants do you have and/or planning to grow? A lot of plants get their nutrients from the water column when you dose ferts. Also a lot of planted tank specific substrates have a high CEC property that allows for the absorption if nutrients for the roots as well..

 

[fancytail]

Thanks Brian!
Your aquariums are so,so,SOOO amazing! My goal is to do what you do, but I wanna start off easy.

I figured "Easy" would be Anubias, Java Ferns, and oinion plant types of species. Also Anacharis, but I floated them and they melted pretty fast. It's weird though, I rooted some of the Anacharis and those ones survived. It makes me assume that most of the essentials are all at the bottom of the aquarium. I love Anubias, they're amazing! One of the Anubias are growing tall, and one in specific has been around for years. So long story short, I have kind of a low tech planted aquarium.

I have NO Co2. I wish I did, but I don't know what one too get let alone being able to afford it! I would totally appreciate a recommendation for a Co2 set up for a 100 gallon aquarium though- Since no Co2, I might stick with plants that can thrive in these conditions like the ones I listed as well as plants that my clown loaches wont destroy or easily uproot (They've been going to town on some anubias though, punching holes in the leaves as if they were pouting!).

EDIT: OOoooOoh! I always had this question floating around- but wouldn't plants that require little Co2 in a 100 gallon benefit from a Co2 system that could fuel a lesser proportioned aquarium? Since I have low demanding plants- could they thrive off a Co2 set up that was created for a... lets say 30-40 gallon tank.

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

Thanks for the complement on my tanks.

Umm, what's your lighting on this 100g? Anubias and Java Fern are easy low light plants. They thrive when tied to stone or DW because they get their nutrients from the water column. Don't bury the rhizomes. You can plant swords and crypts too as they'd do fine without co2 supplementation. Just place a root tab underneath each because they're heavy root feeders.
I never had anacharis but i think it requires moderate lighting and co2 to thrive.

You should look in to dosing Glut (generic Excel). Its a liquid carbon that can be used in lieu of co2. Excel is good stuff but can get pricey to sustain it in a 100g. You can get loads more Glut compared to Excel for the same price.

If you ever decide to invest in a co2 system, i think you need to get one appropriate for a 100g. The regulators would be a common denominator to most systems..the differing factor would be a cylinder large enough to hold enough co2 so you wouldn't have to get refills as often. Something like a 10# tank. The diffusion method would also matter to get the co2 to circulate throughout the tank. When the time comes, just start a new thread asking advice and I'm sure you'll find a solution.