# Cycling 35l tank with AquaSoil



## drammy (31 Jul 2015)

New to the site - so Hi everyone.

I'd call myself an intermediate experienced fishkeeper but I've never successfully kept plants so having been out of the hobby for a few years I've decided to start it up again.

I'm building a lo-tech planted tank in an old 35L Arcadia Arc I still had kicking around (dimensions 28 x 40 x 33cm - WxLxH).

Among many things I've bought some Power Sand and some AquaSoil Amazonia Powder.

When all the kit arrived I wanted to get the tank cycling as quick as possible despite going away for a few days.  So I white vinegar-ed the tank to make it sparkle again, Added just over 1 litre of the power sand and about 4litres of the aqua soil.

I then added the water and set up the new filter (AquaClear 20 HOB) - note I don't have media from a runnign tank so its a complete new cycle.  I had to leave the house for a few days.  Whilst away I read that to cycle the soil I was supposed to change 95% water for a few days from the day after setting up.  Obviously I missed this as I was away.


So after it's been running for 5 days I got back today and changed 95% of the water.  I'm a little unsure what to do now...

Should I keep changing the water?  Obviously the ammonia is what I need to cycle the filter so I'm a little reluctant to do water changes at the moment.
Or should I be changing water until the aqua soil stops leeching ammonia and then start planting.  Then Cycle the tank ready for the fish?
or do something else...?


Also one other question - how to people add Osmocote to an already running tank - do you bury it under the substrate or just spread it onto the top of the substrate?


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## 5678 (31 Jul 2015)

I've just bought the same and was advised...

Start tank with no plants
Change 95% of water end of wk1
Change 95% end of wk2
Again at wk3
Then plant tank and do 50% changes once a week as normal.


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## ian_m (31 Jul 2015)

You need such massive water changes so early on as Aquasoil leaches huge amounts of ammonia for first couple of weeks. Some people recon so much ammonia that it will kill your filter bacteria unless diluted with large water changes. You can of course test using an ammonia test kit as water should be free'ish of other contaminants that influence test kits. Do not test ammonia around water change times as water dechlorinators do influence ammonia tests.

To add Osmocote to existing tank, freeze Osmocote in ice cubes and push the cubes under the substrate. Then be extremely careful when substrate and plant fiddling so as not to uncover the Osmocote. Osmocote consists of ammonium citrate, obviously not good if released into water column.


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## tim (31 Jul 2015)

Amazonia will contain more than enough nutrients to negate the need for osmocote it also has great cec so will absorb nutrients when you add fertiliser to the tank.


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## drammy (31 Jul 2015)

Thanks for the replies guys; good stuff.

I forgot to mention that I don't plan on using ferts - just the Osmocote and some a little Excel every day.  I'm only planning on keep slow to medium growing plants and will take my time in growing the tank.


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## Iain Sutherland (31 Jul 2015)

hey drammy, welcome to the forum.

While the level of ammonia has been said to kill of bacteria its more likely you will find it is part cycled.  You can change 50% of the water every few days for a week or two.  Even better would be to add the plants now as they will happily suck up the excess ammonia and nutrients.

It is always recommended to also add a water column fert (cheap if you buy dry ferts) as plants that dont have large root structures prefer taking nutrients via their leaves and epiphyte's  like ferns wont necessarily have access to the substrate.  As a slow burner you could get away with lean dosing twice a week, maybe even weekly which will also in turn top up the amazonia nutrient availability.



5678 said:


> Start tank with no plants


no harm in this but planting from the off is a far better idea, the plants go mad in the first 4 weeks.


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## Lewis G (1 Aug 2015)

I started a low-tech tank with aquasoil about a week and a half ago. Changing 25% of the water every day stopped the plants from burning, which are then sucking up ammonia. It's still at 8 ppm though.


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## drammy (2 Aug 2015)

OK, cool - I'll get planting then, monitor the water and do water changes.


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## pastu (12 Oct 2016)

mine, at the 21 day mark, has finally dropped ammonium from more than 8 to about 4. after water changes. ammonium rises again but now only to 4-5, no ammonia added, just the  amazonia aquasoil leaching it


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