# Removing Flourite and Replacing w/ADA Aquasoil



## LindaC (Nov 7, 2005)

Has anyone done this yet? Has anyone done this with fish in their tank? I would very much like to remove the flourite from my 29 gallon and replace it with Aquasoil, I have the Aquasoil inmy 10 gallon and love the way my plants grow in this soil. My problem is having a pretty heavy fish load in this tank and whether or not I could put these fish in my 10 gallon tank for a couple of days.

If anyone has done this, I would love to hear from you regarding your experience doing so, i.e., how long you waited before adding fish back into the tank, where you moved fish to, did the tank cycle again, etc, etc.


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## Wö£fëñxXx1 (Feb 10, 2005)

Put the fish in a bucket or tub or even your bathtub, add an airstone, and then you can do the tank right.
Vacuum all the mulm you can from the old tank and keep it and the soupy water. as many buckets of it you can get. (to start the new tank with)

Dismantle old tank and clean it good, if you are using powersand place that in the tank leaving a clean spot of glass on bottom on front and sides about one inch, if not using power sand add a little ground peat, then add just enough Aquasoil to cover the PS or peat by about an inch or so.

After mulm has settled to the bottom of the bucket, pour off the mulm water into another bucket, and add this thick mulm to the semi cover powersand/peat/AS.
If the mulm soup you placed in the tank was not enough to reach the AS covering the sand add enough mulm water till it is, then add the rest of the AS, the gently add the rest of the soupy water.

Fill tank about 1/3 water, add all the plants, then gently fill the tank add an established filter from old tank, add fish, ferts, C02 and you will be good to go, without any headache of any kind of algae bloom. add excel to you dosing regime for about a week.

All this being only a suggestion! I personally would take a little more time if I needed to, to do the tank right, I want to build a healthy vibrant planted tank afterall right? :biggrin:

Good luck


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## LindaC (Nov 7, 2005)

Thank you, sounds great and a good days project at best. The only thing that gives me pause is adding the fish back into the tank this soon, I'm sure there is a lot of mulm in my tank but I still worry about a mini cycle and amonia spike. Hopefully this won't happen and if it does, it will be very minor.


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## John N. (Dec 11, 2005)

I swapped out Eco complete to Aquasoil fairly recently.

1) I removed all inhabitants, plants, and eco. Fish and shrimp went into a rubbermaid bin with airstone for about 1 hour.
2) Added Aquasoil
3) Planted, added water
4) Stuck the fish back in
5) 50% waterchange each week for a month

I don't test the water, but all the fish and inverts have survived to this day. So I figured that if you keep up the waterchange, you can knock off the sudden ammonia effects that aquasoil has. Also, that discoloration that aquasoil gave my tank was removed by using a bunch of carbon.

-John N.


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## Wö£fëñxXx1 (Feb 10, 2005)

If you add the mulm and established filter, you will not have a "mini cycle" of any kind, the fish will be fine.

Fill the tank very slow being very careful with the AS, folks are trying to fill them to fast, thats why the discoloration, don't get in a hurry, use a quart at a time if you have too.
I guarantee the water will be crystal clear the next day if you add mulm.
Think it through, don't get in a hurry.


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## LindaC (Nov 7, 2005)

Thank you Craig and John, then I'm going to do it and trust me, I will do it very slowly. When I added it to my 10 gallon, I added it too quickly, although I thought I was going slowly at the time, and ended up with cloudy water for a couple of weeks. I am also going to use a plate this time too!

I don't think I'm going to use the power sand, I heard that causes the spike more than anything. I don't have it under the Aquasoil in my 10 gallon and plants are doing very well. I will probably add some peat though, providing I can find some. Is this Peat Moss your talking about? I have a bag that I use for planting in my basement, it's not ground peat though, it's moss. If this isn't the same thing, where can I purchase ground peat?


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## turtlehead (Nov 27, 2004)

I would take out all the tank water and have a bucket of tank water ready for the fish, scoop them out put them in the bucket and change it. Then fill the tank up with half tank water and half new water, then slowly acclimate the fish back in. I've done it before in a 5g and 10g tank. The swap from EC to ADA 3 years back.


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## Round Head (Feb 28, 2006)

What a coincident, I am going to do the exact same thing with my 80gal.
Believe me, I have close to 100 fish and snails in that tank and have been thinking about this for a few days already.
My plan is to get a good size cooler, add a heater, and run my canister filter in it. Then get my water storage plastic trash can and fill it up with the tank water. To remove the flourite, I will run a garden hose in it and repeatedly siphon it out into a bucket for proper disposal.
After the ADA soil is in placed, I will add the old water, replant, and introduce the fish.


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## LindaC (Nov 7, 2005)

Please let me know how you make out when you change your subtrate over to ADA Aquasoil. I plan on changing mine in a couple of weeks, after I return from a business trip at the end of the month.


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## Round Head (Feb 28, 2006)

LindaC said:


> Please let me know how you make out when you change your subtrate over to ADA Aquasoil. I plan on changing mine in a couple of weeks, after I return from a business trip at the end of the month.


Linda,
I did exactly as Craig suggested and I also keeped about 30% of the old water in a new trash bin.
It depends on the size of your tank; the smaller would be easier to work with.
But mine is an 80gal so it was a bit challenging getting the flourite out.
What I did was to run 2 hoses, one filling and one draining. I drained the water level down to a few inches above the substrate and removed the majority of the flourite using a plastic Spaghetti strainer . After most of the flourite was gone, I used the filling hose to squirt them to one side of the tank and removed them with. And operate the drain hose to drain the water down to a proper level. Once the strainer is no longer able to scoop, I switched over to the fish net and repeat the process. At last, I use the drain hose to suck up all of the fine particles to achieve 100% Flourite Elimination.

I don't know if our senior members can recommend this but I also added a thin layer of Sphagnum peat moss before I add the ADA soil.

After the new substrate was in, I placed the scape (wood and rocks) then I put back the old water that was saved and replanted. When all of the plants are in, I fill er up with new water and hook up the equipment. Then I acclimated the fish bucket using the drip method and put them all back in the new tank.

Good luck


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## epicfish (Sep 11, 2006)

How did you deal with the haze/brownish color that ADA AS gives off? Just charcoal in the filter?


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## Mud Pie Mama (Jul 30, 2006)

I find one of the best things for scooping old substrates out from the bottom is to use plastic needlepoint canvas. It is somewhat flexible, yet rigid enough to lift about 2-3 cups of stones. I can slide it along the bottom to get under the stones, then flex the edges to form a sling and lift; since it's a grid with holes the water drains. They are sold in the craft area at Walmart for about 35 cents for a 7" x 10" sheet. It's cheap enough to buy two or three and cut a smaller section to get into tighter spots.


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