# Substrates that don't leach Ammonia



## MikeC1408 (19 May 2014)

I'm looking to replace the substrate in my current tank from gravel to a soil type.

As the tank is already cycled (been running circa 6 months) I will be looking at temp removing the shrimp, fish (mainly shrimp) and plants , change the substrate over re plant and then replace the water (50% old water removed and 50% new) and then replace the stock.

As I will be looking to replace the stock straight away I'm looking for something that does not leach Ammonia etc in the first few weeks so that's ADA Amazonia out the question.

I was led to believe that EBI Gold would be OK but then found the following posted by Freshwater Shrimp on here



> . EBI will leech some ammonia and nitrite, perfect source of plant food and to help you cycle your shrimp tank. Maximum Ammonia and nitrite level measured in our tests was Ammonia 2 PPM, Nitrite 1 PPM


 
So my question is does anyone have any recommendations for something that meets the bill, maybe FSS?

Thanks


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## sciencefiction (19 May 2014)

Mineralized topsoil? Cheap but required a bit of manual preparation prior to putting the soil in. Here is the method..

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/...-mineralized-soil-substrate-aaron-talbot.html


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## Alastair (19 May 2014)

MikeC1408 said:


> I'm looking to replace the substrate in my current tank from gravel to a soil type.
> 
> As the tank is already cycled (been running circa 6 months) I will be looking at temp removing the shrimp, fish (mainly shrimp) and plants , change the substrate over re plant and then replace the water (50% old water removed and 50% new) and then replace the stock.
> 
> ...



Benebachi red bee sand leeches no ammonia. I'm running it in one of my smaller set ups and no big ammonia jump 

Sent from my D6503 using Tapatalk 2


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## MikeC1408 (19 May 2014)

sciencefiction said:


> Mineralized topsoil? Cheap but required a bit of manual preparation prior to putting the soil in. Here is the method..
> 
> http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/...-mineralized-soil-substrate-aaron-talbot.html



Thanks will read that in a bit



Alastair said:


> Benebachi red bee sand leeches no ammonia. I'm running it in one of my smaller set ups and no big ammonia jump
> 
> Sent from my D6503 using Tapatalk 2



Cheers Alastair, will google that one.


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## X3NiTH (19 May 2014)

Fluval Stratum doesn't leach either, Plant and Shrimp both. I have found it to be a pig to plant in though. I didn't rinse it and any water column sediment settled out within 24hrs to crystal water after filling the tank (sponge filtration only, no mechanical filtration).


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## Andy D (19 May 2014)

Just bear in mind that a lot of your bacteria are in the substrate so replacing it entirely may put you through a mini cycle as the bacterial levels build up again.


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## mikka23 (19 May 2014)

How long does the leeching last for top soil?  I didn't mineralize the soil and added my fish straight in.  So far I've yet to see any ill-effects.


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## sciencefiction (19 May 2014)

mikka23 said:


> How long does the leeching last for top soil?  I didn't mineralize the soil and added my fish straight in.  So far I've yet to see any ill-effects.


It takes some time for the organics to start breaking down in large amounts and when they do there could be spikes. With low stock, enough water changes and lots of plants you can control it easily.


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## MikeC1408 (23 May 2014)

Cheers guys, think I'm going to go with the FFS


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## ale36 (3 Jun 2014)

ffs? whats that


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## EnderUK (3 Jun 2014)

I would just replace with any substrate, plant heavy, use flaoting plants and not worry about ammonia and just do 50-75% daily water changes for the first week, reducing to every other day on the next couple of weeks and then reduce to a couple of water changes a week for a couple of months. Healthy plants will mop up the ammonia quicker then any bacteria.

If you're using old hardscape and exisiting plants don't wash them or the glass as baceria live on all surfaces. Try keeping your filter running in a bucket of old tank water or what ever. This will help with the transisition phase but just do big water changes.


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## John P Coates (26 Jun 2014)

Mike, Perhaps you have already changed your substrate. If not, I used Tetra Complete Substrate in a new tank. For a couple of weeks, it did leach a little ammonia but, once the nitrifying bacteria were established, any traces of ammonia were gone.


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## ian_m (26 Jun 2014)

I have changed substrate before and just used daily dose of Amquel to remove ammonia. Works fine, fish all lived.

In fact my mate had to do it when once, when he broke his tank, by placing it straight on a wooden surface, with a grain of sand underneath and bottom sheet cracked. Got a new tank from advert in paper (free to good home), that came with masses of substrate, but all dry and unused. So transferred as much water as possible, topped water up with dechlorinated water, put in plants and fish and connected external filter. Ammonia was measurable he said, but dropped to zero upon adding Amquel. He still has this tank, years later.


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