# ADA Amazonia soil dust



## dougbraz (21 Feb 2022)

Greetings.
I am just wondering if Amazonia soil (the "old"one) should be nice and tidy little pellets all the time or does it breakdown into essentially dust after only a year?
At the start I had a huuuge ammonium problem as well as excessive dust in my tank. All settled down after about 3 months and the tank became crystal clear.
JUST....don't touch the soil as it lifts a cloud of dust all the time - so when planting, for example, it's a hard job both seeing what/where you are planting and actually trying to settle the plant into the soil - they have to go in quite deep before they stay and don't float off.
Watching YouTube videosand the soil all looks so tidy!
Thanks for any comments
Doug
link to a quick vid








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## dougbraz (23 Feb 2022)

so....by the silence I presume this dust must be absolutely normal?


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## Konsa (23 Feb 2022)

Hi
You probably have hit a bad batch.
There are few people in past complaining of Amazonia turning to dust.
It is normal to have some but yours seems excessive. 
Usually it keeps its shape quite well for years.
Regards Konstantin


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## dougbraz (23 Feb 2022)

Thanks Konsa - good to know, but expensive to find out!  


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## Kelvin12 (23 Feb 2022)

I had exactly the same problem high ammonia and super cloudy water.  I had it in two seperate tanks two seperate 9kg bags the one with the yellow writing on the bag front.   One was way worse than the other.  I thought the dusty one must have been the sweeping off the floor.  The not so bad one sort of started to clear but still couldn't clearly  see the back of the tank.  The other was just a mass of cloudy water and not improving.  Finally enough was enough things just weren't coming good so I dumped the lot.  Never again what a waste of money that was.  
I have another tank with Amazonia V2 and its in the same league although its settled and is clear but any minute disturbance  brings up a cloud of dust.   Might be good for plants but don't  plan on removing or more plantings.   As far as the couple of days the ammonia will clear forget it it took weeks.  The ph buffering was zero.   This tank looks like going the same way as the other two.        
I can see why they recommend shrimp sand to cover it.   I could also see pool filter sand as a covering but you would still dig up the amazonia planting or removing a plant.  
Very disapointing and an expensive exercise. 

Dirk


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## dougbraz (24 Feb 2022)

Wow Dirk - sounds like you had it worse than me! I managed crystal clear water thanks to a whole bottle of Seachem Clarity and a bag of Purigen. BUT, just TOUCH the surface of the Amazonia and we have a powder blizzard! Settles down all over the leaves - horrible!


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## Kelvin12 (24 Feb 2022)

Yes pretty disapointing let alone over $130 down the drain, well into the bin.  

Dirk


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## plantnoobdude (24 Feb 2022)

my ada amazonia was nothing like that. I put a whole bag into a half full tankand made a huge mess. the tank was completely brown and I couldn't see more than two inches into the tank. but by 3 days later the tank was crystal clear, and the soil particles are holding their shape well. I think you guys may have encountered counterfeit soil, because if everyone's experience was like that, no one would buy ADA soil.


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## dougbraz (24 Feb 2022)

plantnoobdude said:


> I think you guys may have encountered counterfeit soil, because if everyone's experience was like that, no one would buy ADA soil.



Or maybe just a bad or old batch, agreed. Counterfeit ? Doubt it, as I bought it from a renowned ADA dealer here. Anyway, seems that I am not the only one with this experience.


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## Konsa (24 Feb 2022)

Hi
if you have a good relationship with the place that sold it to you or if they have decent customer service it may be worth to drop them a message to let them know.You may be able to get some sort of compensation/ voucher as the product is not as described while may still be usable.
It definitely shouldn't behave like that.I used ADA aquasoil  for an year then bagged it moist for 5-6 years and then reused it again and it didn't have that much dust in it.Its a good product but as with everything you get the odd bad batch. 

Regards Konstantin


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## dougbraz (24 Feb 2022)

The shop says they have similar experiences with the substrate and it can be conaidered as "normal". Will visit them soon and have a chat. Maybe cap it with a lighter colour sand, dunno.


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## Garuf (24 Feb 2022)

I’m not buying that it’s normal and neither should you. I’ve used aqua soil from Ada for the best part of a decade and never had this dust collapse. Does it make the tank “dusty” with rough handling or when “unplanting”, yes, but all clay substrates do to more or lesser extents. I wouldn’t bother capping it, that’s a whole hassle long term. Get a new real bag or use a rival like tropica and start again. No need to bin it, even as mud when mixed with grit and normal garden soil will enrich the soil in your potted plants/garden etc.


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## dougbraz (24 Feb 2022)

Garuf said:


> I’m not buying that it’s normal and neither should you


Point to ponder - thanks!


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## Kelvin12 (24 Feb 2022)

I don't think I will bother myself, one bitten twice shy.


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