Adding more Amazonia Question?

[Timms2011]

Hiya all,

I've just set up my aquarium a month ago and i'm still going through the water cycle process. At the moment I have a very high Nitrite level. I've already Planted the fore and mid ground plants, and I left the background plants as I'm considering adding more Amazonia to the back to bank it higher. What sort of problems might adding more Amazonia at this stage cause if any? Possibly a ammonia spike and prolonged water cycle.. if thats all then i'm prepared to do add. At the moment there's no live stock.

Your thoughts would be appreciated

 

[ceg4048]

Hi,
Just add what you want and continue to do frequent massive water changes. Also, you can add a lot more fast growing stem plants, even if you don't intend to have them in your scape. Plants like Egeria densa or Hygrophila carymbosa are easy, bulletproof plants which help to mature the sediment. Later, you can just pull them out and replace them with those that you really want. The more healthy plant mass you have the more ammonia they pull from the water column and the more quickly they oxygenate and colonize the sediment with bacteria that convert the ammonia in the sediment to nitrate. Just makes sure you wait 6-8 weeks or so prior to adding any fauna and everything will be fine.

Cheers,

 

[Timms2011]

Hiya Ceg,
Thanks very much for your points and suggestions, I will certainly be following these. One thing I could have mentioned is I have the choice of Amazonia Powder and soil that is sealed and unused, or 1 year old Amazonia mixed with Powersand from a previous project that I will be taking down,. Would there be any benefits of using one or the other or even both? The only thing I could think of is the used Amazonia and Powersand has had a year to leach some ammonia.

Thanks.

 

[ceg4048]

Hi,
A lot depends on how much you will be changing your scape and uprooting the plants. Any of these options will grow the plants but the issue is whether you want to deal with the cloudiness and mess form the soil or powder. If you'll only fiddle around with the plants occasionally then these are all about equal but if you'll be fiddling a lot then I'd just add the old Amazonia, as the other two are messy, the soil much more so than the powder. Amazonia holds it nutrient store quite well, so even "preowned", it's still quite good, and even so, it is a clay, so you can't go wrong unless it disintegrates into mud, but that doesn't happen very often. I reckon the Powersand is useless by now so if you can separate it easily then I'd just toss it.

Cheers,

 

[Timms2011]

Hiya,
Thanks again for replying. I think what i'll do is leave my aquarium as it is for now as I'm toying with the idea of adding more redmoore root at the back to get a similar effect as soon as its finished soaking. I don't really tend to move plants around allot if at all, so it probably wouldn't get disturbed to much, it was more If i could use the soil then that would be kool, I'm actually looking at getting my new aquarium matured ASAP as my wife doesn't appreciate me having two large aquariums in our front room, i'm almost 5 weeks into the cycle so not adding it would seem the best way to go.

Thanks