# Struggling with aquasoil



## Rob P (10 Feb 2014)

I know this is down to me being rubbish and not the product, but...!

I set up my Mini M low tech tank a week ago using Columbo florabase. I got 3 x 10 litre bags of this stuff as i intend to use it in my new hi tech tank later this year and so nabbed a little for the Mini M, but my initial thoughts are that I'm really not enjoying having it! 

When it was just damp it was quite a sticky/gloopy substrate that the plants easily plugged into and I thought great, how easy is this!?! The more water I added when getting to planting taller stuff, the more difficult I found it. Stuff i've knocked out whilst my hands are in the tank are proving a PITA to replant well, just looks like the 'beads' of the substrate turn to clouds of mush and no matter how far i push my tweezers in the substrate seems floaty and crumbly and the plants just lift out again, pulling out the ones at the side as well. I've had to literally bury some plants to keep them in.

Am I missing a trick here? Maybe my tools aren't up to the job and I need thinner/longer points on my tweezers? I guess I was expecting the florabase to hold together as beads rather than appearing to crumble/turn mushy so soon.

I can only imagine the mess I could make with this stuff in a larger tank when moving stuff around, and with what I know now about water column fertilisation being sufficient i'm even tempted to ditch the idea of aquasoil and use a black sand/micro gravel substrate instead. Having now planted into sand, gravels & aquasoil it's the gravel type I find the easiest and aquasoil a pig!!

Any guidance from you experts?


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## Wallace (10 Feb 2014)

I've used Florabase in my previous set ups, and at first I hated it. It's so light and floaty lol

I found that if you fill slowly through an air line this will help to minimize air pockets that will kick up dust etc 

Also when you plant if you plant with one hand and then lightly press down on the plant with the other, then it tends to stay in place rather than lifting out with your tweezers / pincettes. 

This technique also works with cat litter and other similar substrates. 

Once I had got the hang of it, I didn't uproot anything by accident anymore. It's just my damn Angels that do it for me now lol 

PS. I had Florabase in my 60cm for 18 months and it didn't turn to mush at all. 

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## Rob P (10 Feb 2014)

Wallace said:


> PS. I had Florabase in my 60cm for 18 months and it didn't turn to mush at all.


 
Did it just stay as pellets then?


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## Wallace (10 Feb 2014)

Rob P said:


> Did it just stay as pellets then?




Ya, as it came out of the bag ( didn't bother to rinse it ) is how it stayed in the tank. 

I've still got 2 28l tanks out in the shed that both have Florabase in, and they haven't had any water in them since I moved house Sept 2012 and it's still all the little pellets / balls whatever you want to call them lol


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## LondonDragon (10 Feb 2014)

Even ADA soils break up, its just the way these soils are, the more you mess with them the more they will break up. For me the worst so far has been ADA Amazonia II (don't think they retail that anymore), I have used the Oliver Knott soil and still have that in on of my tanks, it breaks also and is very light, I have used Colombo Florabase, again breaks but better than the other two, the latest one I am using is the Ebi soils and those so far the better of the lot, in terms or durability. But they all break eventually.


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## Rob P (10 Feb 2014)

Maybe it's just the clouds of dirt when trying to replant stuff that is making it appear to mush up, probably just the floatiness of it that i'm not liking then. I'll have to have a closer look later on.


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## darren636 (10 Feb 2014)

Im using the fine grade florabase. Its a git to plant into, but now everything has rooted incredibly well.  Been running for just under two months. Soil is still very hard and looks like it did in the bag.


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## Lindy (10 Feb 2014)

I use really thick tweezers and thought about getting some of those needle tip ones but find i di just fine with what i have. I push the plant in and then gently shoogle the tweezers as i let go of the plant and pull them away. I find this lets the hole my tweezers are leaving fill up with substrate. I then fill any gaps/level the substrate around pulling it over with the tweezers. I've just planted a load of montecarlo in ada amazonia and there was not one floater this morn so it can be done. Sometimes it can help if you push the plant right under and then get it by a leaf and pull gently to the surface.


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## Rob P (10 Feb 2014)

ldcgroomer said:


> I push the plant in and then gently shoogle the tweezers as i let go of the plant and pull them away. I find this lets the hole my tweezers are leaving fill up with substrate


 
Yes this works great in my hi tech tank! (coarse sand over aquabasis) but not so well in the Mini M. Doesn't help due to the small size of the tank my hands are usually shaking like an alcy  lol


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## Lindy (10 Feb 2014)

Rob P said:


> usually shaking like an alcy  lol


 Sounds like you need something to rest your forearm on as you are planting to reduce shoogle. Maybe you would benefit from some angled pincetts purely because you are working in such a small tank


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## Rob P (10 Feb 2014)

Shoogle lol 

I actually use some angled Fluval tweezers, i'm thinking some long straight ones with fine tips might be better, or stop being soft and just stuff the plants in harder lol


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## Nathaniel Whiteside (10 Feb 2014)

TMC Aquagro Straight Tweezers | Charterhouse Aquatics


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## Lindy (10 Feb 2014)

Rob P said:


> Shoogle lol


Scottish  Don't you use that in england?


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## Rob P (10 Feb 2014)

ldcgroomer said:


> Scottish  Don't you use that in england?



Errrrrrrrr, no lol


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## Andy Thurston (10 Feb 2014)

I've got these
http://www.aquaessentials.co.uk/neutro-pro-pincette-straight-p-5891.html?cPath=545_5_215
Nice and short for small spaces


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## Nathaniel Whiteside (10 Feb 2014)

I used these for my recent scape.
Very very good. 
ADA Pinsettes S - buy Aqua Design Amano Nature Aquarium Aquascaping Tools | The Green Machine


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## Rob P (10 Feb 2014)

Nathaniel Whiteside said:


> I used these for my recent scape.
> Very very good.
> ADA Pinsettes S - buy Aqua Design Amano Nature Aquarium Aquascaping Tools | The Green Machine



lol, very nice Nath, but if memory serves me right you don't have kids or a mortgage? (or ten million other hobbies lol)


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## Nathaniel Whiteside (10 Feb 2014)

Rob P said:


> lol, very nice Nath, but if memory serves me right you don't have kids or a mortgage? (or ten million other hobbies lol)



Not quite yet 
Moving out in 3 weeks though


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## Rob P (10 Feb 2014)

Ah you'll be on the 5 quid Fluval gear soon then lol


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## Andy Thurston (10 Feb 2014)

I've got 3 so the bald welsh bloke and strange jap cant have my money


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