# Testing Soil for Ammonia



## ILuvMyGoldBarb (Apr 7, 2007)

Could someone please explain the method for testing soil for ammonia? I assume this involves putting some soil in water and letting it sit for a little bit and then testing the water. Just want to make sure.

Here's the background on this question.
In just a couple of weeks I will need to move my 60gal to a new location in the house and when I do so I am wanting to put a first layer of soil in the bottom of the tank. Would there be an advantage to soaking the soil for the next few weeks to get the ammonia out or should my established biofilter be capable of handling this? I considered using peat as a first layer but that would change my water parameters too much.
I'm gonna have to completely empty the tank to move it. I have something to put the fish and plants in during the move. I'm thinking I can air out the soil for that week, then soak it and then when I'm ready to move the tank I can take up my substrate (keeping it wet of course) and then put down the layer of soil and then add the substrate back on top of things after I plant some of my larger root feeders (Aponos) and then fill the tank. I can then test for ammonia and then add the fish back once safe.
The tank does not have a high plant biomass, it is not low either. The tank is made up of almost entirely root feeding plants. I have one bunch of Rotalla roundifolia, and one small bunch of Ludwigia repens. Other that those 2 plants I have 2 species of Apono, 3 different species of Crypt and Sagittaria subulata. This is a low tech planted tank. I have 130w of PC light over the tank (60gal) and no CO2 injection. Everything seems to be doing rather well. except for the root feeders due to a plain substrate. The reason for adding the soil is to give them the required nutrients.

Sorry if this all seems choppy, I just copied and pasted all my posts from another forum.

I realize this setup is not truly an El Natural setup but this seems to be the logical place to get info on Soil. 

Just to add, the soil is currently sitting outside airing out. It has only been there for one day in 95F weather.


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## aquabillpers (Apr 13, 2006)

Hi,

I think that it's safe to say that most topsoil does not contain any ammonia. But when it is placed in water, the decomposition of the organics in it creates ammonia after a few days, the amount depending on how high the organic content of the soil is.

There are several ways of dealing with this, as you know from your research. Personally, I soak topsoil for a week or two, with several water changes. That gets rid of the ammonia as well as other stuff that you don't want in your substrate.

Good luck!

Bill


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## david f (Mar 24, 2006)

ILuvMyGoldBarb ,

If you want to ,You could always keep your plants and fish in the something ,and remove what plants you need while keeping your fish at the same time, untill you are happy with your water levels .


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## ILuvMyGoldBarb (Apr 7, 2007)

ILuvMyGoldBarb said:


> I have something to put the fish and plants in during the move. I'm thinking I can air out the soil for that week, then soak it and then when I'm ready to move the tank I can take up my substrate (keeping it wet of course) and then put down the layer of soil and then add the substrate back on top of things after I plant some of my larger root feeders (Aponos) and then fill the tank. I can then test for ammonia and then add the fish back once safe.


Already got that covered David.  Thanks though


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## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

ILuvMyGoldBarb said:


> Could someone please explain the method for testing soil for ammonia? I assume this involves putting some soil in water and letting it sit for a little bit and then testing the water. Just want to make sure.
> 
> Here's the background on this question.
> In just a couple of weeks I will need to move my 60gal to a new location in the house and when I do so I am wanting to put a first layer of soil in the bottom of the tank. Would there be an advantage to soaking the soil for the next few weeks to get the ammonia out or should my established biofilter be capable of handling this?
> ...


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## ILuvMyGoldBarb (Apr 7, 2007)

Thanks for the help Diane. I'm going to be adding the soil today actually. I'm not too worried about the ammonia anymore since I know I have a really good biofilter. Id addition I used this same soil in my 2.5gal nano tank and it has absolutely taken off. The tank is doing extremely well and I didn't do anything to the soil at all.


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## aquabillpers (Apr 13, 2006)

Hi,

I think that pre-soaking soil is an acceptable alternative to adding it to an aquarium right out of the bag.

When I soak the soil that I use I change the water once or twice a week, and stir it more frequently. It "bubbles" for a few weeks, the product of decomposition, I assume. Unwanted material such as pieces of wood float to the surface where they can be removed. 

To me, the advantage of pre-soaking is that I can add fish almost immediately without worrying about ammonia hurting them. I also don't have to be concerned (usually) with algae blooms occurring in the first few weeks.

The more organic matter that is in the soil, the more important pre-soaking might be, I would think.

Bill


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## newbie314 (Mar 2, 2007)

No presoak on mine.
Put fish in after one day of soak (and a few water changes) for my 2.5 gallon tank.
Anacharis is a fast grower (and can sometimes be rooted and will create ariel roots).
The Val is pretty fast.
Of course the winner is duckweed.

The algae bloom kind of happended but was minor. Like an carpet edge on the surface of the water on the edge of the tank. After 3-6 weeks of taking out duckweed with algae, the algae seemed to be weak and I was able to pull it out. I have minor algae but nothing major. Looks just like a slightly smudgy grass.

Never had any ammonia and I know that the tank would get ammonia with a betta, no filtration and 1 week.

No filter just lots of lights and fast growing plants.
The plant growth is the key.


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## ILuvMyGoldBarb (Apr 7, 2007)

Well, I got the soil in. I'll try to get a picture or 2 in the next couple of days. Things were a bit too cloudy today.


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## flagg (Nov 29, 2004)

Another issue to worry about is nitrites. I've never had detectable levels of ammonia when I've done bottle tests and when I've set up NPTs, however, I always, without fail, detect high levels of nitrites after about a week or two. You want to make sure to test for that too.

-ricardo


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## ILuvMyGoldBarb (Apr 7, 2007)

I have a good biofilter in that tank. I've had no ammonia or nitrites in the last 24 hours.


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## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

flagg said:


> Another issue to worry about is nitrites. I've never had detectable levels of ammonia when I've done bottle tests and when I've set up NPTs, however, I always, without fail, detect high levels of nitrites after about a week or two. You want to make sure to test for that too.
> 
> -ricardo


Good point. The rare problems I've in new tanks have been with nitrites.


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## ILuvMyGoldBarb (Apr 7, 2007)

Tank has now been running for about a week now with soil and no NH3/NH4 or NO3 showing up in tests. The only change in water parameters has been the pH. It was at 6.4 before the switch over and it has buffered to 7.0 even. I would like to get my KH value up just a little since I've also added some Corkscrew Vals to the mix. Other than that things are going extremely well with this tank.


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