# Adding soil to an established stocked tank advice please :)



## MAQ (2 Dec 2014)

how do folks, after some advice today. I've had really good results running a 110l planted aquarium with John Innes no3. it took a good three weeks with daily large water changes to cycle i got hit with real high ammonia readings. the tank is now three months old and is running sweet im fully/heavily stocked with fish/snails/shrimp all doing their part to keep the aquarium running well, i have never had any ammonia/nitrite spikes my water parameters are spotless. 

now for the advice part I am after converting my 90l which is allready stocked quite modishly but after this weekend i am having to house  pair of young discus. 

(i attended a fish auction and walked away with a young pair of discus no one wanted as one of the fish has a damaged gill plate i took pity and thought i could nourish him back to health, not only that a perfect excuse for a bigger tank pretty sharpish managed to get the pair of discus for a mere £10 with the precedes going to charity)  

any way back to the question in hand. im looking to recreate the conditions of the the 110 and would be looking to add soil to the existing 90l obviously with the tank all ready occupied i cant allow for any ammonia/nitrite spikes.

has any one had any success adding soil to an established tank?

which particular brand do people recommend adding to an existing established stocked tank ?

best wishes 

pete


Deuces!


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## PedroB (4 Dec 2014)

That's going to be hard... Is it possible for you to move the stock from the 90L to the 110L momentarily? Because a disturbance of the soil is going to raise your ammonia levels.

One thing you could do, but would also be risky, would be to use some of the soil from the 110L on the 90L, as it will have some bacteria already in it. Or slowly add more soil to the 110L, let the soil cycle and then transfer it to the 90L.

Sorry, I wish I could help more


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## darren636 (4 Dec 2014)

Adding soil will increase ammonia to toxic levels.
 How about you pre- soak the soil in buckets until ammonia is depleted by water changes?


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## ian_m (4 Dec 2014)

Either daily large water changes or use something like AmQuel+ to keep ammonia down. I have "cycled" a tank using AmQuel+ and got zero ammonia readings if dosed daily.


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## Jose (4 Dec 2014)

ian_m said:


> AmQuel+



Do you know how this works ian. And its sideeffects?


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## ian_m (4 Dec 2014)

I used it when I got my second hand tank which came with fish but no substrate or used filter media so effectively starting again. Used AmQuel+ daily and weekly water changes and saw no ammonia. Even bought some ammonia as thought test kit was faulty, but it wasn't could easily detect ammonia in my test ammonia solutions. Fish lasted years.


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## MAQ (5 Dec 2014)

darren636 said:


> Adding soil will increase ammonia to toxic levels.
> How about you pre- soak the soil in buckets until ammonia is depleted by water changes?


 This could very well be the answer  I never pre soaked last time as I was adding straight to the tank and running a full fishless cycle!!!


Deuces!


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## PedroB (5 Dec 2014)

Won't soaking the soil and changing the water take away the nutrients?


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## darren636 (5 Dec 2014)

PedroB said:


> Won't soaking the soil and changing the water take away the nutrients?


 Some
But it also makes the soil safe.
After all, the fish are the important factor.


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## Jose (5 Dec 2014)

I dont get why you are trying to do this but it istnt a great idea. You can make frozen cubes of mud and bury them in your substrate as well. I would remove the fish to add the soil.


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## MAQ (5 Dec 2014)

All I have in the tank at the moment is 2" of gravel the plants survive and that's it eventually they melt away... I want to recreate the conditions I have in another tank where all life flourishes and thrives


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## MAQ (5 Dec 2014)

Jose said:


> I dont get why you are trying to do this but it istnt a great idea. You can make frozen cubes of mud and bury them in your substrate as well. I would remove the fish to add the soil.



Do plants not thrive in a good substrate im looking at the possibilities of converting an established gravel tank in to a soil base capped tank. Generally the tank runs better with the dirt in there, the snails, the foraging fish the grazing fish the plants. I do water changes to replace minerals lost in the water Column not to dilute nitrate. I have a very low stable nitrate level of 10ppm  and that's with me EI dosing the tank very much looks after it's self I cut back new growth and keep the plants from over taking and the rest looks after it's self. I'd like to recreate this in my other tank as stable correct parameters are what we thrive to achieve do we not


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## Jose (5 Dec 2014)

MAQ said:


> Do plants not thrive in a good substrate im looking at the possibilities of converting an established gravel tank in to a soil base capped tank. Generally the tank runs better with the dirt in there, the snails, the foraging fish the grazing fish the plants. I do water changes to replace minerals lost in the water Column not to dilute nitrate. I have a very low stable nitrate level of 10ppm and that's with me EI dosing the tank very much looks after it's self I cut back new growth and keep the plants from over taking and the rest looks after it's self. I'd like to recreate this in my other tank as stable correct parameters are what we thrive to achieve do we not



If you dose enough a soil wont make much of a difference. But if you want to put soil in, then imo you have to try and do it without fish. And you might need to wait until its cycled if you dont cycle it beforehand. If anyone knows of a safe way of throwing dirt into a tank with fish let me know of it.


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