# Aquasoil, Ferts & New Tank Melt



## BJRuttenberg (Sep 25, 2005)

So I'm 3 days into my new 10 gal tank with Aquasoil...so far so good...

HOWEVER, I have been reading posts on APC about people having problems with melting plants when establishing a new tank with AS...so for those of you out there who have used aquasoil to establish a new tank please let me know:

1. What kind of dosing regime should I utilize from the onset?
2. What kind of water changes should I do?

Currently I am doing a 30%-50% water change daily and just began dosing K and micros... (because I found in some obscure post that this is what you're supposed to do for the 1st week and a half.
I am seeing some growth in both my HM and didiplis diandraare showing signs of growth...however I'm beginning to see signs of melting in my Hemianthus callitrichoides (HC)...

PLEASE RESPONDS WITH ANY THOUGHTS, SUGGESTIONS, ANECDOTES, etc.

My plants are already in the tank and they're not coming out again...so Im looking for info that addresses my current situation. Will some of you older and wiser folks please share your knowledge and if you have time give a brief explanation of why...I like to understand how my tank will likely be affected by your advise and the process it entails...thank

-BEN-


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## eklikewhoa (Jul 24, 2006)

*Re: Aquasoil and Ferts New Tank*

50-60% water changes
I dosed full schedule on the 2nd week 
Short photo-period.


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## MrSanders (Mar 5, 2006)

*Re: Aquasoil and Ferts New Tank*

When I started up my tanks with AS and had melting issues.... 3 days into it my plants were long gone. It only took about 24 hours for them to turn to mush. If you have made it this far I think you maybe alright. If it were me I would just keep up with daily or every other day WC's for the first week or two to keep levels in check.

I dont know why it is that my plants were melting with AS so I can't give you any of the why, I don't think it is from ammomina as I have started up soil based tanks with osmocoat slow release ferts in the substrate that had levels through the roof, and had no such melting issues in these tanks..... *shrugs* oh well, hope your plants pull through  WC's seemed to help mine out....


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## eklikewhoa (Jul 24, 2006)

*Re: Aquasoil and Ferts New Tank*

They melt because there is a drastic drop in water parameters with AS before leveling off.


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## MrSanders (Mar 5, 2006)

*Re: Aquasoil and Ferts New Tank*



eklikewhoa said:


> They melt because there is a drastic drop in water parameters with AS before leveling off.


 A drop in what sort of water parameters? and why does that cause the plants to melt?


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## John N. (Dec 11, 2005)

*Re: Aquasoil and Ferts New Tank*

I think it has to do something with the drop in pH and KH. Acclimation shock for plants.

I justed planted some healthy HC, and crypts recently in a 3 gallon tank. Right now, all of the plants are recovering from the melt down. The same thing happened on a larger scale to all my plants in a 40 gallon breeder. All the plants have recovered and grew back in the 40 a month later. I'm still waiting for some new growth in my 3 gallon to occur, but it's early. I believe the difference in water parameters caused the melting issue:

*Before in Eco Complete*
pH 7.5
KH 8

*After in Aquasoil*
pH 6.4
KH 2-3

In my 29 gallon tank, I did daily 50-75% water changes for about 2 weeks after installing Aquasoil. The plants there did not experience a melt down. So I suspect the water changes help alleviate any drastic water parameter change, and allowed the plants time to adjust.

-John N.


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## eklikewhoa (Jul 24, 2006)

Thanks John for explaining it out.


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## aloha (Jun 2, 2005)

50% water changes daily for the first week. Then 2 X 30% weekly
Many many plants (plus many floating plants)
Full CO2 and lighting (2X39w T5 in a 120 liters tank - max 10 hours) from day 1.
Started adding K2SO4 and Flourish at the 3rd week.
No melting issue because my parameters were very close.
Before AS with inert gravel pH: 6.30 KH: 3
After AS pH: 5.50-5.80 KH: 0


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## eklikewhoa (Jul 24, 2006)

See I think that's where the trouble lies....


my params....


start:
pH = 7.8-8.0
dKH = 11
dGH =10-12

Aquasoil/powersand:
pH = 7.4
dKH = 5-6


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## houseofcards (Feb 16, 2005)

You guys are giving me the hebbie gebbies. I'm getting set to start an AS-based tank and my parameters right now with Eco are:

ph 6.0 (late afternoon)
kh 2


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## eklikewhoa (Jul 24, 2006)

With those numbers it would turn out perfect!!!


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## argblarg (Aug 10, 2006)

I changed 75% daily for a week before putting plants in, that seemed to get rid of the lingering ammonia. pH dropped from 7.8 to 7.0 using Aquasoil. KH from 10 to 3.

Some plants melted but others were fine. Tonnia, Blyxa, foxtail were pretty bad. HC was fine.

I put in what I thought was enough plants, and started EI dosing w/ 10 hours of light right away. That was a disaster. I am still cleaning up from that. I stopped dosing anything at all for almost 2 weeks and bought enough plants to cover the tank. Algae is almost gone with 6 hours of light and now I'm starting to dose K again. My advice is to take it slow because I sure screwed it up badly.


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## houseofcards (Feb 16, 2005)

Just so you know I asked Jeff S. about this in his 90cm Install Log so you can go there to see what he said. 


jsenske said:


> I have had plants melt in new setups using every type of substrate, so I do not attribute it specifically to ADA substrate (or substrate in general), though it surely may be a factor.
> 
> Either way, I find doing 50-60% water change every other day for the first week to 10 days seems to work. I also have started adding SeaChem PURIGEN right at the 2 week mark. I find it clears the water to amazing clarity and any lingering algae present disappears almost overnight. This tank and 2 other new tanks I did in recent weeks hit a pretty nasty little algae bloom that I completely eliminated in 3 days using 90% water change, shrimp (added immediately after 90% water change which seems to help them transition into Aqua Soil better), Purigen, and ADA Bamboo Charcoal added to the filter. Powerful combination that has worked identically now in 4 tanks in a row.
> 
> ...


http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/...-adanew90cmadg-installation-3.html#post294585

_With those numbers it would turn out perfect!!!_
Eklikewohoa why do you feel that is so?


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## eklikewhoa (Jul 24, 2006)

The plants would acclimate a lot easier then going from two opposite ends of the scale.


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## Salt (Apr 5, 2005)

I don't get it... Aqua Soil used to be the product where everyone said, "Just use Aqua Soil, you plants will all grow great!" And many people did just that and posted threads confirming success.

Now I'm reading thread after thread of water so cloudy you can't see in the tank, spiking ammonia levels that won't go down, and plants melting... all on new tanks set up with Aqua Soil.

I seriously wonder what the heck is going on...


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## eklikewhoa (Jul 24, 2006)

It does grow great and the amonia thing I think is part of the "jump start" for the tank. It has always stated in the instructions to do multiple water changes and dose Brighty K in the amounts listed which I believe raises the KH so that the plants don't go into shock. 

It's always been a good substrate IMO just less people reading instructions I guess. Also nothing beats the growth after the initial start up.....the first time I used it it melted everything into nothing and I left it and now everything is like giant bushes! same plants that melted into nothing....


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## dhavoc (Mar 17, 2006)

i agree, its more people trying it out and thinking its a magic bullet to grow anything, they forget the startup issues like clouding, ammonia etc that have always been there but handled by massive water changes, purigen etc. after the first month, you should be past the ammonia spikes and most of the clouding (mine took 3 months) but you cant beat the growth. 

as for the melting, i dont know very many plants or fauna that can take a 1-2 ph drop immediately without some stress. my latest tank went from 7.8-8.0 ph (tap water) down to 5.5-5.8 with co2 (i actually add baking soda to buffer it and raise the ph a little), plants took a beating, but came back stronger than ever after adjusting. same with fish, some didnt adjust and kicked the bucket, but those that did (most of them) are doing fine. just need to be patient and do the reccomended water changes.


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## houseofcards (Feb 16, 2005)

eklikewhoa said:


> The plants would acclimate a lot easier then going from two opposite ends of the scale.


Yeah I see what your saying, but those are the numbers in my co2, eco-based tank (ph 6.0, kh 2), but out of the tap my ph is 7.5.

Another thing, those that have been experiencing these issues with AS, have you been seeding your AS-based tanks from the start with mulm or a mature filter media or are you just relying on water changes and the ADA additives?


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## eklikewhoa (Jul 24, 2006)

Well I have noticed that tanks with eco have higher Kh then others and mine was one of them. 

With my aquasoil tanks I have done....seeded filters...no filter....no filter with green bactor....seeded filter with green bactor....the fastest cycle time was the one with the seeded filter and green bactor which was less then a week.

I just set up another tank actually with Aquasoil/Powersand and it filled up clear....

All of my tanks have Powersand under the Aquasoil though... don't know how much difference that makes from the others but there is a pattern though.


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## FishandTurtleJunkie (Apr 14, 2007)

50%-60% W/C daily for first week. 
50% W/C every other day week 2 (50 % W/C every 3rd day thereafter) 
Dosed full E/I on end of week 2. 
Photoperiod: 6.5 hours (increased gradually to 9 hrs by week 5.) 


No plant melt, no problems.


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## LindaC (Nov 7, 2005)

I didn't have a problem with plant melt either when I added ADA Aquasoil to my 10 gallon. It did become cloudy and I did a lot of water changes so that's probably why the plants did not melt.


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## Naja002 (Nov 15, 2005)

Salt said:


> I don't get it... Aqua Soil used to be the product where everyone said, "Just use Aqua Soil, you plants will all grow great!" And many people did just that and posted threads confirming success.
> 
> Now I'm reading thread after thread of water so cloudy you can't see in the tank, spiking ammonia levels that won't go down, and plants melting... all on new tanks set up with Aqua Soil.
> 
> I seriously wonder what the heck is going on...


Personally, I think it has to do with the general "Fear" of going up against certain brands and having the loyal "Wolf-pack" come out to chew Your ankles off. I just went through my first experience with ADA AS and it was a disaster. Plain and Simple. From what I can gather to date--hard water--compounds the effects.......


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