# new ada amazonia soil clouding question!- I am going crazy!!!



## curious_shrimp (Nov 1, 2011)

I've set up my new Fluval Edge 12g tank with ADA amazonia soil(powder/small grain) and have that topped with 1.5" of pool filter sand. Its been set up for two weeks now, and I've have about 15+ Water changes since then. One of the recent WC was yesterday and I went to bed seeing the clear water. This morning I woke up to a cloudy,slightly tea colored water, AGAIN. Now, this is my first time using the ADA soil for me, and I did not rinse the soil. I have no ammonia leaching, but the water is cloudy and is tea colored that I cannot do anything about!!!

how long will it take for that to go away? I am about this close to tearing the tank down right now. 
Am I supposed to do water change everyday? for how long?!!!!


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## somewhatshocked (Aug 8, 2011)

Did you rinse the soil? That can cause major cloudiness.

How'd you fill the tank? Was it done gently and slowly? If not, that also causes cloudiness.

Can sometimes take a few weeks to clear up. The way to speed the process up is to do major water changes and to add water back as gently and slowly as possible. Using an extra filter in the tank can also help. Just pick up a cheap $1-$2 sponge filter online or at your LFS and attach it to an air pump.


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## Storm (Aug 7, 2011)

You're probably just having a bacterial bloom. It's not a big deal and will usually go away in a day or two. Just keep doing regular water changes.

With Aquasoil you need to do daily 1/3rd water changes first week, every other day, 2nd week, then twice weekly the next two weeks. If your Ammonia levels are dropping to zero you can cut back to weekly and add fish once your filter is established.

A lot of new tanks have this bacterial bloom or cloudiness. It's quite normal and can happen with any substrate.


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## curious_shrimp (Nov 1, 2011)

I didnt rinse the soil, I am too lazy to(but was i supposed to??). I placed a saucer on top of the substrate(which is pool filter sand, btw) and flood the tank slowly with tubing form the faucet. 
ok, so bacterial bloom could be one of the reason, which I hadnt thought about. I also saw few diatom spots on the soil... so it might be a new tank syndrome. 
what bothers me more is the tea colored water. I bought white Fluval edge tank and the tea colored water is more obvious against white body of the tank. I ordered Purigen just now, as some folks says it helps with tanin in the water..

it is just that, Fluval Edge;s got tiny tiny opening on the top and its sitting on top of my kitchen counter top. Its 12g, so its tall, and everytime I have to do WC, I have to use step stool to do this- not a pretty picture. I dont mind it as long as I know this will end but it seems like its going to go on forever!!!


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## somewhatshocked (Aug 8, 2011)

Water changes are just the nature of the beast with Aquasoil.

Additionally - please keep in mind that a sand cap isn't necessary with substrates like Aquasoil and Fluval Shrimp Stratum - the sand will eventually end up on the bottom of the tank.


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## CaptainPictusIII (Oct 22, 2011)

Have you been wiping down the inside of your tank? And do you have any plants in there that could be dying?


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## mordalphus (Jun 23, 2010)

Do you have any driftwood? Aquasoil doesn't have a ton of tannins


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## zergling (May 16, 2007)

mordalphus said:


> Do you have any driftwood? Aquasoil doesn't have a ton of tannins


This. 

When I setup my 12" cube with the new ADA AS Multi-type, the water looked like chocolate soup on the first fill. But a single large water change and letting my old but oversized HOB filter run overnight, the water cleared up by morning. 

Never turned cloudy on me after that, though it did take me a while to get it to finish cycling (74F probably didn't help LOL).



If I were in your situation, I'd actually go ahead and tear it down. No point in capping aqua soil with sand anyway -- you're just asking for an ugly aquasoil+sand mix in the future. Tear it down, get new aquasoil. Fill very carefully, add activated carbon on your filter, and then do daily large water changes until it has cleared up.


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## HolyAngel (Oct 18, 2010)

could be the powder type soil you're using..

although i've used malaya powder and amazonia normal with no clouding after the initial pour in. Could be bacterial bloom as well or tannins from driftwood like the others stated.


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## splur (Nov 26, 2011)

I'm actually experiencing the exact same problem. My ADA turned the water tea colored after a day or two, did nothing to the pH and had no ammonia leaching. I tested the water, zero ammonia and zero nitrates. ADA aquasoil is notorious for leaching ammonia, when I bought ADA the first time around it was type II and it leached ammonia for months. This second time I bought it, zilch.

I'm wondering if I might have gotten a bad batch or a counterfeit bag. If it it's counterfeit, which it probably isn't it's a damn good one.


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