Please advise how to switch substrate

[chiller]

My 5 months 4ft tank of ADA amazonia II is deteriorating away. The water always look muddy and everything look dusty. Every 3 to 4 days I need to wash the sponge at the filter intake, the bucket of water will turn black. Now my CRS are dying almost weekly.
I getting very worried that the condition will get worst and kill all the shrimps. I was thinking of replacing to Magic soil and seeking advice on how to do it without causing more casualty.

All replies are very much appreciated. Thank you.

[AquaObsession]

take all your fauna and flora out, in a temporary tank, and do a complete rescape.

That will be the best in my opinion for your case.

Then again, the dust might be caused by the position of your filter, how strong it is, and also if there is anything which is stirring up the substrate.

Try finer wool sponge in your filter.

Cheers, Christophe

[Aquaculture]

To avoid casualties, best to remove them and start afresh.

[chiller]

I am using a Fluval 304 and a chiller CL650 . Is this filtration over size or flow rate too high?

I think I will start a fresh but it will take 4 weeks for the fresh setup to cycle fully, any suggestion to keep the shrimp alive for that period?

Thanks.

[tcy81]

by the way, what filter are you using ?
Is the soil you used , brand new when you start up the tank ?

[jacian]

Instead of replacing the whole substrate, you may want to just top up with 1 inch of new substrate to your existing one.

[chiller]

by the way, what filter are you using ?
Is the soil you used , brand new when you start up the tank ?

Canister filter Fluval 304. Soil is brand new when I started.

Instead of replacing the whole substrate, you may want to just top up with 1 inch of new substrate to your existing one.

I did buy another bag of 9 litres of same soil. I added two tau huay tub each week and it was washed and SUN before adding. However, shrimp starts to die. I stopped and everything was back to normal.

[nkthen]

I also have this problem. The dust never seem to go away.

Can regular cleaning of the canister filter and the sponge filter do the job?

[Summer]

You can try the jap brand Nisso. So far my last change about 1 month, the water not muddy and in good condition too

can consider this brand

[jacian]

I did buy another bag of 9 litres of same soil. I added two tau huay tub each week and it was washed and SUN before adding. However, shrimp starts to die. I stopped and everything was back to normal.

I do not think you should wash the ADA soil. Anyway, to top up the substrate, you will still need to take the fauna and flora out, drain the water before topping up with new soil.

[chiller]

Thank you all for your suggestions and replies.

[Aquaculture]

Instead of replacing the whole substrate, you may want to just top up with 1 inch of new substrate to your existing one.

Humm... gonna face the same problem soon. I'm using ADA and its known to turn muddy when it reaches its lifespan. A couple of worries I have about topping up but it does seem to be the easiest way out.

1) Via topping up and not removing the 'mud' will it cause more algae problem?
2) Will the 'mud' somehow dissolve over time instead of adding a permanent height of substrate to it?

[ADA SG]

I added two tau huay tub each week and it was washed and SUN before adding.

Hi Chiller, regardless what brand you get or replace, after washing, you get this problem of muddy or cloudiness. Unless the soil is mainly quartz sand or of harder grains, then you probably wouldn't encounter such problem. If the soil is composed of more organic matters and more porous, it is only natural for it to break down after a long period of use.

We have transferred old Amazonia I soil from one tank to another and then another, without any problem of cloudiness or whatsoever because we did not wash them. The soil was just scooped out of the tank and put it into a basin and place under the sun.

The soil had some crypt rhizomes in there still and they started sprouting new shoots in the new tank.

1) Via topping up and not removing the 'mud' will it cause more algae problem?
2) Will the 'mud' somehow dissolve over time instead of adding a permanent height of substrate to it?

Hi Aquaculture, that would depend on your lifespan of your substrate. If it is 2-3 years old, it would be more advisable to remove everything and put in new soil. The motivation of topping up the substrate with a thin layer of new soil is to hold down any soil which could have broken down and lifted up to the top when doing rescaping. This also helps to cover up exposed Powersand when rescaping.

As soil is a solid material, it wouldn't dissolve away. But rather, it would compress slightly due to smaller grain size of the individual particles after the breakdown. Therefore, the overall height will be lower than when first setup.

Hope we have provided you some answers.

[jacian]

Humm... gonna face the same problem soon. I'm using ADA and its known to turn muddy when it reaches its lifespan. A couple of worries I have about topping up but it does seem to be the easiest way out.

Chiller mentioned the tank is 4 months old, so unlikely the lifespan had reached. I am suggesting topping up as an option so as to speed up the cycling process.

[benetay]

I think it's the outlet of the filter which is position directly to the gravel. Moreover what does 'sponge at the filter intake' means? Does it mean you put a sponge at the intake to prevent crs from getting into the filter?

Maybe a picture will help.

[chiller]

I think it's the outlet of the filter which is position directly to the gravel. Moreover what does 'sponge at the filter intake' means? Does it mean you put a sponge at the intake to prevent crs from getting into the filter?

Maybe a picture will help.

The outlet is not directed at the gravel, I reduced the flow rate to half but still no improvement. The sponge is those air drive black sponge which I improvised to attach to the intake to prevent shrimp being suck into the canister.

Here are some pics and a video shot . I am sure something is not right but what is the cause and how to correct it.

Thanks everyone.

[chiller]

Today, I did a clean up of the canister filter and intake sponge filter.

Pictures showed the water from the canister filter which was last clean up 3 weeks ago. The sponge filter was cleaned just 1 week ago. Where does all these dirt come from when I only have CRS in the tank? Anyone?

[EvolutionZ]

i wondered how does ada soil last for 2 - 3 years? mine were only 3 months old and the bottom half are already in mud form.. tried to rescape my tank but now im worried for my faunas.. basically just a stir and whole tank turns cloudy..
2 - 3 years i think bottom dwelling fish move only, the whole tank turns cloudy?

[blue33]

I've just setup my 2ft tank using "Amazonia 2" but i dont get cloudy tank as mentioned above, there's many way to do it right.
My methods:
1) Scape the soil to the shape you want, if you are putting any powersand, this is not the right time to introduce it as you need to do major planting unless you are doing iwagumi scape or the area you intend to put carpet plant, if you place the powersand at this stage, most of your powersand will go down to the bottom instead of top when you do stem planting.
2) Get a water mist spray and spray on the soil and leave it for 30-60mins. WHY? Gently spraying the soil with water will settle down the dust and it will cement down and firm the whole scape during introduce of water at later stage, it just like you do cementing. Make sure all the soil is spray with water, not too much till flood the soil.
3) DO NOT SWITCH ON YOUR FILTER OR POWERHEAD AT THIS TIME! Get a plate and place your hose on the plate and slowly introduce the water into the tank to about 30% and start doing planting. After planting introduce the water to full. At this time you should be seeing some wood chips or things floating in your tank, use a net to scope up the dirts, let it settle down again for around 1 hr. During this period it should be settle down most of the things.
4) Replace about 70% of the water and you can start the canister or what ever filter you're using.

I dont see any cloudy at all using this method during my setup. This method has being widely used and it doesnt cause any cloudy at all. Hope it helps!

[RHX]

I had the same experience using ADA Amazonia II. The first few months is ok then subsequently when the soil began to breakdown. My tank looks cloudy & dusty all the time. The outer dark layer has slowly disintegrated exposing the orangey clay inside.

I was constantly washing the sponge wools inside the filter, and it is always full of dirt.

Was suspecting if i've ever gotten fake ADA's, which i seriously doubt so. Because i've gotten it from a reliable source.

I'm really disappointed with Amazonia II. Had no such problem with Amazonia I before. I had actually wanted to buy Amazonia I, but they no longer sells them .

Now i'm actually thinking of sucking away the top layer & top it up with GEX soil.