# Stirring up ADA Aquasoil Caused Ammonia Spike?



## bdement (Jun 4, 2007)

Hey guys,

So I've had a 46 gallon planted tank established for about a year now. As eventually happens with me, I'm ready to give it a new look. Well I started fiddling around in the tank, stirred up the substrate (ADA Aquasoil) quite a bit, and now I've got a smelly, cloudy white ammonia spike going on.



I can't understand how this happened when nothing was put into or taken out of the tank. What's going on?! Are my plants in danger of ammonia poisoning too?

Sorry for the rant, but here's a list of all the info I can think of that may be helpful:

Fish: 5 3" discus and 3 ottos (all in a hospital tank now, it's a good thing too!)
Plants: Fully stocked with quite a bit of Rotala sp. 'Green,' and a few other types
Filters: 2 Eheim 2217s. I'm sure that they're completely saturated with all the dust that was stirred up, so tomorrow I'll be cleaning them out.
CO2: Injected. I stopped the CO2 injection when the ammonia started creeping up, but I've decided to start that back again tomorrow.
Light: 4x24w(?) T5, 8 hours per day
Driftwood: 8 manzanita branches deeply embedded in the substrate. I noticed as I was taking them out that the buried parts smelled bad and were black, which I guess were anaerobic pockets forming around them. I noticed that a lot of "clumping" in the soil, but they didn't smell bad, the only parts that smelled bad were the parts around the driftwood.
Heater: Hydor HydroKable Under Gravel Heater Cable


----------



## jeff5614 (Feb 15, 2006)

A lot of time stirring up a lot of mulm can cause a small amount of ammonia. If you're fairly well planted and your biofilter is in good shape it shouldn't cause much trouble. The plants will be fine and any concern should be directed toward your fauna. I would leave the filter alone for now and not clean it so as not to cause any harm to the bacteria it contains. With the fauna in mind, it would probably be a good idea to do frequent water changes until ammonia levels subside.


----------



## NanoTanker (Feb 26, 2011)

how about an update?

I'm curious how things went and what you did or didn't do to get things back to normal. assuming things have gone back to normal now.


----------



## davemonkey (Mar 29, 2008)

From what was described about the wood, it seems like unearthing the rotting wood is what released the ammonia into the water column.


----------



## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

Manzanita is pretty and branchy and I have tons of it too. 

It also falls apart and it is soft to the touch. You can scrape it with your fingernail.

Maybe that's why ADA uses only certain kinds of wood.

Back to the Ammonia spike. Change water. Leave the filter running. You have disturbed an established gravel that has a lot of things going on inside. It should not smell though. Amazonia is designed to not clump up, to allow water flow and all that good stuff. That is in theory. In reality some batches turn into fine particle mush. It is the greatest aquarium plant substrate on Earth but it is not perfect day in day out. 

--Nikolay


----------

