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## Drady (12 mo ago)

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## ElleDee (May 16, 2020)

I'm not sure a little filter bag of aquasoil is going to be able to do much buffering. Why not just do a low tech tank with aquasoil instead of dirt and cap? I don't know of any water quality benefits that a dirt-n-cap tank has that aquasoil wouldn't have.

You should be aware that aquasoil has limited buffering capabilities that deplete faster in higher kH water. 

Also, some people have tried to achieve the same thing using peat in their filter. I have no idea how successful this is, but it's been attempted and you can probably learn some valuable information from those attempts.


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## Drady (12 mo ago)

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## pauld738 (Jan 4, 2019)

First off please, please stop thinking that ph fluctuations are a bad thing!!

ph fluctuates all the time in a planted tank. It is way more important to watch out for fluctuating Kh (obviuosly Kh will affect ph), Gh, TDS. Those are the killers of any kind of aquatic system.

Since you are using RO water the only scenario that I can think of to use Aquasoil for Kh management is if you really, really wanted to have Seriyou stone in there, or some other kind of rock that leaches carbonates. But then if you have that in your CRS tank you really don't have stable parameters, lol!

With RO water you have the perfect kh, and therefore ph range, you need. Simply by being able to dictate how much kh you put in there in the first place.

So I say ditch the Aquasoil sock (I use Aquasoil in all of my setups, as a substrate) and just start with your preferred parameters. Less things to fail.

As for your #2, my low tech tanks with a ph monitor 24/7 on them show a pretty close 0.3 ph fluctuation from before lights on to before lights off. This has been true in tanks with 0.5 Kh and tanks that have 4-6 Kh. As long as your Kh, Gh and TDS don't fluctuate, and are in their sweet spot, then your CRS will be happy. Please note that there are many ways to alter ph in a tank. High surface agitation is an example so ymmv. 

Lastly, in case you are unfamiliar with RO use in an aquarium, you will need to remineralize not only the Kh but also Gh. Minimum Gh would be 4 dGh with maybe a high end of 6.


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## ElleDee (May 16, 2020)

I completely missed that you're using RO water - no kH to worry about, so the soil buffering running out is not really an issue. I agree with @pauld738 that I wouldn't worry about any minor pH fluctuations from lights on/off. 

As for dirt vs. aquasoil, yes, I think you can get roughly the results because the aquasoil is pelletized soil. I hesitate to say it's _exactly_ the same since there's already a wide variety in the makeup of the "dirt" people use in their tanks, so it's not like there's a definite standard to compare it to, but they are both active substrates that contain plant nutrients, have organic and in organic matter, high CEC values, support better plant root growth, etc. 

I have seen mixed reports of aquasoil breaking down (it has happened to some people, but it's hardly a universal thing), but it seems like it takes years and it's certainly easier to replace part of an aquasoil substrate than the dirt in a dirted tank. It's not like dirted tanks are known for not being messy to begin with. (I have dirted tanks, so I say that with love... but I'm using aquasoil for my next build.)


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## pauld738 (Jan 4, 2019)

It might be important to clarify what is meant by the term Aquasoil. There are different types/brands.

If you are talking ADA Aquasoil then yes, early on there were issues with things like breaking down to mush and massive ammonia releases(much higher then it normally produces, which is a lot by itself). The mush seems to be rarer these days. And ADA has their Amazonia light which has less ammonia/phosphate leakage.

But there are other brands out there. I've used Mr. Aqua, Tropica (grew plants so hot that I ran into potassium deficiencies until I started dosing, lol), Fluval Stratum and Contrasoil.

Contrasoil is one that you might want to look into if you are at all interested in going down the "Aquasoil" path. It has much lower ammonia leakage and you don't hear many complain of it turning to dust (not saying it won't ever happen). I completely swapped out a tank with inert substrate to Contrasoil with fish in it without any issues. Not saying you throw shrimp in the first month but it's not as "hot" as other Aquasoils yet still grows plants well.

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk


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## Drady (12 mo ago)

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