Help Aquasoils, Tissue Cultures, Water Parameters, & Planning.

[filmpunk]

Thank you all so much for you input, I really appreciate it. A lot of my hesitation to make certain moves in this hobby I now realize was based on old outdated, or incomplete information (pH swings/ crashes for example). I'm really excited to get this tank going. Seeing the pictures of the tanks you all have are really inspirational. I'm not trying to rush it, don't get me wrong..... still probably several weeks to maybe a few months out. Want to play around with the RO water, grow out the plants a bit more (maybe get some others) and get an idea of their growth rates & patterns. Just feeling really positive about how this tank is going to come together. Will def be trying a dark start simply to get through the white fungus stage of the drift wood.

 

[BenB]

What I'm uneasy about running with no KH is the unstable pH that could occur if say a mistake was made or caused by some other factor.

I haven't yet read all of your Journal, but I didn't want to comment on this. My KH and GH out of the tap are basically 0. I crashed 2 set ups and killed everything in them from pH crashes. Overnight the plants turned white. It led to a 4-5 year absence from the hobby. I asked a friend what to do, and now right before a 50% water change I pop my KH up to 2. After a 50% water change, it goes to 1. Then the substrate absorbs the bicarb by the next day, and the KH goes back to 0. I haven't had a pH crash in this set up ever. Note: I don't have fish. So your results may vary. However, the water change is disruption enough. I don't think the KH up and down will bother them. I use Seachem Alk Bufffer which I believe is K bicarbonate like Art mentioned above.

Edit: I left out the important part that they crashed after a water change and not just randomly sometime. Ugh. Trying to rush to get in bed for the night.

 

[filmpunk]

So let's discuss substrate. Do you layer your substrate? Doing you use products like ADA power sand beneath your aquasoils? Do you add any additional elements or nutrients before adding your aquasoil? I was watching an ADA video and they mentioned adding the power sand beneath the aquasoil was a very important step if you planned on keeping the tank set up long term. What's your substrate routine?

 

[Pepere]

I dint worry about KH levels and ph crashes. By doing weekly 50% water changes you wont have PH crashes as you are regularly flushing out acids. Ie they never have time to build.

I do not use Aquasoils or root tabs in my tanks. I place mesh bags containing an equal mix of Safe T Sorb fired clay with a high Cation Exchange capacity , aquasoil, and activated carbon, directly on top of Under Gravel Filter plates. The mesh bag layed flat measures about 3/4 to an inch thick. On top of this I pour 2-3 inches of Black Diamond Blasting Sand. Inert coal slag.

My thought is the under gravel filter continually washes water column nutrients over the high cec safe t sorb and aquasoil to replenish nutrients absorbed From the roots.. I dont know definitively if this does so, but the plant roots definitely seem to enjoy rooting into the mesh bags and they seem to grow well. It could be that the roots like that base layer simply because of the spaces being greater than the BDBS …. Asa note, I do not add the activated carbon for chemical filtration but rather as it has high surface area for beneficial bacteria to grow on…

 

[ElleDee]

I haven't yet read all of your Journal, but I didn't want to comment on this. My KH and GH out of the tap are basically 0. I crashed 2 set ups and killed everything in them from pH crashes. Overnight the plants turned white. It led to a 4-5 year absence from the hobby. I asked a friend what to do, and now right before a 50% water change I pop my KH up to 2. After a 50% water change, it goes to 1. Then the substrate absorbs the bicarb by the next day, and the KH goes back to 0. I haven't had a pH crash in this set up ever. Note: I don't have fish. So your results may vary. However, the water change is disruption enough. I don't think the KH up and down will bother them. I use Seachem Alk Bufffer which I believe is K bicarbonate like Art mentioned above.

Edit: I left out the important part that they crashed after a water change and not just randomly sometime. Ugh. Trying to rush to get in bed for the night.

That sounds like an awful experience and I know how demoralizing that is. How did you conclude that the die off was from a pH crash?

 

[Naturescapes_Rocco]

Do you layer your substrate?

Only to help add height!

Doing you use products like ADA power sand beneath your aquasoils?

I tried it for a few years in different tanks, never once saw a difference from just 100% ADA Amazonia. Maybe it helps some, but mostly the powersand is a huge headache when it's pulled up by plant roots when removing/replanting plants. I'd recommend putting the powersand in mesh bags if you use it. It's mostly just helpful for bacteria surface area amongst the roots and also contains some artificially added fertilizers, but you can just add that yourself later.

Do you add any additional elements or nutrients before adding your aquasoil?

In my latest tank, I did stick some root tabs in the soil under certain midground plants, but otherwise no.

I was watching an ADA video and they mentioned adding the power sand beneath the aquasoil was a very important step if you planned on keeping the tank set up long term. What's your substrate routine?

I have 3 routines I've tried:

1. Base of crushed lava rock in mesh bags (solely for slope/height) in the background, followed by ADA Amazonia II or Controsoil. No other additives. My main 150p journal tank is this way.
   
   
2. ADA Aquasoil/Controsoil in fine mesh bags, placed under an inert sand, essentially like large root tabs. The sand cap is functional or aesthetic. I recommend sand that's medium grit, like HTH pool sand or BDBS . The paludariums, bowl, and "river" scape in my signature are this way.
   
   
3. BDBS-only. This is my latest experiment, but with proper water-column fertilizing you can technically grow almost any plant. So far so great! Excited to post a new journal for this inert-substrate tank. Zero aquasoil, zero root tabs, just 100% inert BDBS sand base, and 100% water column fertilizing.

They all work. As long as your plants are getting enough of every element they need, whether that's from aquasoil, root tabs, fish waste, or dry/liquid ferts, it'll work! Don't worry too much about additives -- an aquasoil like ADA Amazonia or Controsoil or Netlea or Dennerle or Fluval... they all work great without the expensive additives. Trust me, I've spent the money and saw little difference too many times to count!

 

[Pepere]

aquasoil like ADA Amazonia or Controsoil or Netlea or Dennerle or Fluval... they all work great without the expensive additives. Trust me, I've spent the money and saw little difference too many times to count!

That is sort of the feeling I have. I have used aquasoil and have been rather underwhelmed by what they provide compared to inert with water column fertilization.

I have been using “some “ aquasoil in mesh bags, but mostly because I have some leftover from another tank.. I dont know that I believe in it enough to buy another bag instead of just Safe T Sorb in mesh bags…

 

[Koan]

Base of crushed lava rock in mesh bags (solely for slope/height)

Definitely use mesh bags if you're going to do this

I made the mistake of trying to use lava rock as a height base with aquasoil straight over it.. Just ridiculously difficult to plant in the lava rock pretty much locks together and your pinsettes bounce right off

 

[filmpunk]

Interesting, I guess the size (maybe shape) of the granules makes a difference because in my low tech tank w/ pea gravel plants grow painfully slow (dosing modified EI & excel) my low tech farm tank with fluval stratum and low nutrient dosing has had explosive growth, i assumed it was the aquasoil that made the difference.

 

[BenB]

That sounds like an awful experience and I know how demoralizing that is. How did you conclude that the die off was from a pH crash?

I described what happened to a couple friends on different occasions and they both said the same thing right away. I had no idea. In both cases the tanks looked great, I changed the water, and the next day everything was white and dead.

 

[filmpunk]

Definitely use mesh bags if you're going to do this

I made the mistake of trying to use lava rock as a height base with aquasoil straight over it.. Just ridiculously difficult to plant in the lava rock pretty much locks together and your pinsettes bounce right off

So glad you told me this because this is pretty much exactly what I was planning on doing, but also a reason I raised these questions. I would prefer to avoid major setbacks like this if I can. I'm wondering How would the mesh bags prevent this though? Or is the lava rock mixed with something else in the bag that allows the pinsettes to penetrate? would something like crushed lava rock work any better or would they still lock together in a similar way?

 

[Koan]

Bags of crushed lava rock do two things. For one, they give you great porosity for water circulation to the roots and bacterial colonization, along with that ability to build up some stable height. You can then layer enough aquasoil on top for a good depth for planting.

And two, they also allow you to easily subtract some of that lava rock, when you realize you went overboard with height and your good sufficient aquasoil layer is now going to run halfway up the back of the tank