# Amazonia gravel making water Brown? (HELP!)



## mattsoccer20 (Nov 8, 2011)

So I have some amazonia gravel in my tank which I filled up a couple months ago, then I went away to school and left the tank half filled hoping it would maybe leech out all the stuff making my water dirty.. When coming home last week, I drained the remaining water and refilled it only for it to make the water dirty again,, so yesterday I bought some cheap black sand to cap over the amazonia to maybe help it not leech as much dirt into the water coloumn, which worked at first but upon waking up today the water is dark again . 

What do I do??? What am i doing wrong? I am very close to just getting rid of it and doing flourite black sand but I spent so much money on the substrate I dont wanna just give in. Any help would be great thanks!!


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## JusticeBeaver (Oct 28, 2017)

You definitely shouldn't have capped the amazonia soil. The package recommends doing 50% water changes every day for like the first week or so. Also you need to refill your tank really slowly or else it'll kick up the dirt again. The cloudiness eventually goes away but it does take a bit of work to do so.


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## mattsoccer20 (Nov 8, 2011)

I read something that someone said, saying that you are supposed to do like a 90% water change everyday for a week with this substrate? Is that true? Or is that for when the water is like milky? Because my water is like dark brown like the color if you get a new piece of wood or if you smash the substrate up and mix it around lol

Bump:


JusticeBeaver said:


> You definitely shouldn't have capped the amazonia soil. The package recommends doing 50% water changes every day for like the first week or so. Also you need to refill your tank really slowly or else it'll kick up the dirt again. The cloudiness eventually goes away but it does take a bit of work to do so.


Oh really? Well what should I do now, now that its capped? I refilled it very slowly the second time even putting paper towl and a plate down so that the substrate is untouched when the water went it. It was clear for a couple hours but then brown again..


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## JusticeBeaver (Oct 28, 2017)

mattsoccer20 said:


> I read something that someone said, saying that you are supposed to do like a 90% water change everyday for a week with this substrate? Is that true? Or is that for when the water is like milky? Because my water is like dark brown like the color if you get a new piece of wood or if you smash the substrate up and mix it around lol
> 
> Bump:
> 
> Oh really? Well what should I do now, now that its capped? I refilled it very slowly the second time even putting paper towl and a plate down so that the substrate is untouched when the water went it. It was clear for a couple hours but then brown again..


Yeah you really need to do heavy water changes the first week or so. I threw in some seachem clarity as well which helped a bit but I still ended up doing a ton of water changes anyway because it was leeching too much ammonia into the water. Also I had to fish out a ton of floating debris but I think in the end it was worth it. The soil front-ends a lot of the work but my plants seem to enjoy it.


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## mattsoccer20 (Nov 8, 2011)

JusticeBeaver said:


> Yeah you really need to do heavy water changes the first week or so. I threw in some seachem clarity as well which helped a bit but I still ended up doing a ton of water changes anyway because it was leeching too much ammonia into the water. Also I had to fish out a ton of floating debris but I think in the end it was worth it. The soil front-ends a lot of the work but my plants seem to enjoy it.


So yours was making your water dark brown at first too then? Sounds like water changes in my best option then lol


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## JusticeBeaver (Oct 28, 2017)

mattsoccer20 said:


> So yours was making your water dark brown at first too then? Sounds like water changes in my best option then lol


Yeah it was very brown and very cloudly for like a week. I put some crypts in there and they were constantly covered in brown dust from the soil so all the leaves melted off because of it, and the ammonia spikes as well. But I didn't have a very strong filter on my tank either so that probably didn't help. If you have a filter I would just put it in after like 3-5 water changes then load it up with filter floss and biomedia to start cycling the tank and clearing out the water. As the soil absorbs water it doesn't kick up as easily.


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## houseofcards (Mar 21, 2009)

You have to be very careful with AS when you start up a tank to avoid cloudiness. If you put something over the soil and pour water extremely slow over it and then when the water gets to be a few inches or more over the AS, you could hold something above the surface and pour the water onto that. 

Many people using AS don't realize the mess it can make. If you do what I mentioned in the 1st paragraph the water will be crystal. I've setup countless tanks with AS and never have a problem with any cloudiness.

The water changes are necessary to keep the ammonia levels in check until the tank cycles.


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## Chlorophile (Aug 2, 2011)

Sounds like you rinsed the soil or something.
There should be absolutely no brown anything when done right, maybe a little discoloration but clear not cloudy brown.


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## mattsoccer20 (Nov 8, 2011)

houseofcards said:


> You have to be very careful with AS when you start up a tank to avoid cloudiness. If you put something over the soil and pour water extremely slow over it and then when the water gets to be a few inches or more over the AS, you could hold something above the surface and pour the water onto that.
> 
> Many people using AS don't realize the mess it can make. If you do what I mentioned in the 1st paragraph the water will be crystal. I've setup countless tanks with AS and never have a problem with any cloudiness.
> 
> The water changes are necessary to keep the ammonia levels in check until the tank cycles.


See that's what I did. I put a thin layer of black sand over the AS then paper towl then a plate and poured the water onto the plate. It was crystal clear for a couple hours then it turned dark brown again. The water is turning like a dark stained brown color.




Chlorophile said:


> Sounds like you rinsed the soil or something.
> There should be absolutely no brown anything when done right, maybe a little discoloration but clear not cloudy brown.


So you're not supposed to rinse the soil?? What are you supposed to do for it to be "done right" for it to be clear on the initial fill up? 

Thanks for the help I'm worried something isn't right because I see people on YouTube put it in and the water is instantly clear lol


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## NueoK (Oct 24, 2017)

I am cycling a tank using the soil right now, and nothing like that is happening to me. When pooring water, you have to be very very careful not to disturb it. 

And the instructions state not to do rinse the sand.

Also I think I found your issue, according to the instruction that was included in the bag:

"When using Amazonia, organic substance may seep into the water and makes the water in yellowish or brownish color if the local tap water has high pH levels. The water coloration stops when aquatic plants grow and cover the entire substrate. Until plants fully grow, please make a frequent water change, and use optional NA CARBON for filteration media"

Also stated in the manual the soil is not suitable for fish that stirs up sand.

And finally they state do not reuse the sand to move between tanks and such. 

So depending your setup it maybe a lot of different issues.


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## AlGee (Sep 7, 2006)

Put a 100 or 50 micron filter pad in your filter.


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## houseofcards (Mar 21, 2009)

mattsoccer20 said:


> So I have some amazonia *gravel* in my tank


I think this sums it up. It's not gravel, it's really more like soil, thus the name aqua soil. You don't treat it like dusty gravel that you rinse. Unfortunately you didn't read the directions so you basically rinsed some it away and broke up the granules. 

You can still probably use it, just will take some time.


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## mattsoccer20 (Nov 8, 2011)

NueoK said:


> I am cycling a tank using the soil right now, and nothing like that is happening to me. When pooring water, you have to be very very careful not to disturb it.
> 
> And the instructions state not to do rinse the sand.
> 
> ...





houseofcards said:


> mattsoccer20 said:
> 
> 
> > So I have some amazonia *gravel* in my tank
> ...


Well it sounds like I did not read the directions correctly and misused the soil sadly. Here are pics of the tank, I did a 90% WC yesterday at around 1-2 o'clock and the water was 100% clear when I left and now apon just coming home, the tank is looking like this again.. 

What are your guys thoughts? Does this look normal and I should keep doing WC's or is this a lost cause? Thanks for all the help everyone!!


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## mattsoccer20 (Nov 8, 2011)

AlGee said:


> Put a 100 or 50 micron filter pad in your filter.


This is resolve the water issues? I have a large canister filter and a sponge filter running on the tank currently and the tank still turns the dark brown color shown in the pics above..


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## Chlorophile (Aug 2, 2011)

You'll probably have issues from here on out if you rinsed the soil, see it's basically silt pellets, they're held together decently but rinsing them breaks the silt up and then it's not really a pellet anymore.
Put the soil in the tank dry and scape the tank dry and then you can mist it down to plant your plants, and then fill carefully.

One-time I tried to re use aquasoil I had the same issue as you, brown all the time

There are things you can try but not sure they're going to work, removing the soil and drying it in the oven and trying to sift off the dust might help.
it's mixed with sand now though, so I'd say just keep trying big water changes, if it works it works.


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## houseofcards (Mar 21, 2009)

I’ve used AS over a few times, but what I usually do is put a fresh top layer over the used layers of AS. That has worked for me. If you don’t have any AS left maybe order a small bag of it drain the tank and put some down on top and fill it up slowly. The unbroken AS wil also look more attractive.


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## mattsoccer20 (Nov 8, 2011)

Chlorophile said:


> You'll probably have issues from here on out if you rinsed the soil, see it's basically silt pellets, they're held together decently but rinsing them breaks the silt up and then it's not really a pellet anymore.
> Put the soil in the tank dry and scape the tank dry and then you can mist it down to plant your plants, and then fill carefully.
> 
> One-time I tried to re use aquasoil I had the same issue as you, brown all the time
> ...


This is what I was afraid of! So upon careful initial filling with new amazonia substrate (without rinsing it before like I did lol) the water should be clear right off the bat (not brown)? Thinking my substrate is a lost cause sadly.. Now I need to figure out my next option/step.

What are peoples thoughts or reviews of the Amazonia "light"? I heard its more beginner friendly and doesnt take nearly as long to cycle and be ready for fish? Thinking either buying this stuff (and not rinsing it!!), doing a dirted tank or just doing flourite black sand at this point but not sure which route is best! Thanks again for the help:fish:


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## natemcnutty (May 26, 2016)

You'll have to keep adding more sand until you build up a real cap. The issue is that fine particles will always sink to the bottom, and even broken up, the soil is not packed as tight or densely as an actual dirt tank that you would cap.

Sand will still breathe allowing water to flow to the soil and create cloudiness, but the cap will help slow it down, and it will eventually clear up. The question is how long until that happens....

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk


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## AlGee (Sep 7, 2006)

mattsoccer20 said:


> This is resolve the water issues? I have a large canister filter and a sponge filter running on the tank currently and the tank still turns the dark brown color shown in the pics above..


I'm pretty confident it will work. It's basically like felt material, a tighter weave than any polyfiber/sponge filter you are probably using. I used it to clear up my cloudy water from sand. At first I used a 100 micron filter sock and submersible pump but eventually switched over to just putting a pad in my canister filter. 

I'm using this now:
https://www.amazon.com/Premium-100-Micron-Polishing-Filter/dp/B06XCHLT3J/ref=sr_1_3_sspa?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1513727469&sr=1-3-spons&keywords=100+micron+pad&psc=1


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## Chlorophile (Aug 2, 2011)

mattsoccer20 said:


> Chlorophile said:
> 
> 
> > You'll probably have issues from here on out if you rinsed the soil, see it's basically silt pellets, they're held together decently but rinsing them breaks the silt up and then it's not really a pellet anymore.
> ...


It will get a little color over the course of a few days but not something you really notice, nothing like the picture you posted.

The original aquasoil is the best and most used for a reason, the light won't do nearly as much for your water or plants.


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## NueoK (Oct 24, 2017)

Whats the PH of the water your using?


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