Amazonia breaking down?

[Calmia22]

Anyone know what to do?



I know the substrate is about 2 years old. I actually just bought this 75 gallon from another member. The cloudiness is so horrible. I am trying to filter it like mad, and the worst part: I tried to prevent as much cloudiness as possible.

Does anyone have a solution? Or should I just try to cap it with something else?

[volatile]

What kind of filter are you using? Did you try putting a bag of Seachem Purigen in the filter yet? It clears up cloudy substrate water pretty quickly.

[Calmia22]

I am running a Emperor 200, Aqua Clear 110 and a sponge rated for 40g. The HOB filters don't seem to be messing with the substrate.

I have never tried Seachem Purigen before, but will grab some tomorrow.

The tank does look a little better now. Instead of looking like coffee it looks like coffee with cream! Lol

[Calmia22]

Well, after almost 24 hours, a 50% water change and cleaning out my filters all day the tank looks like this:



Still not happy, and my brother took my 60 pounds of eco complete. I think when I get another chance I will get another 60-80 pounds of eco complete to put on top of the amazonia as this stuff is so fine my fish are disturbing it pecking at the bottom of the tank.

[jcgd]

Do more, bigger water changes. Should have done 80% the first time. It would have been pretty clear after that if you put the water in gently.

[Calmia22]

It's pretty much a constant change for the fish right now, so I don't want to stress them out too much. I wish a had another place to put them while the tank cleared up but I didn't

Here's the tank today


I can actually see the plants in the back. It's amazing how much crap settled on the plants and driftwood. It looks like my tank just has dirt at the bottom, not a normal substrate.

[dmagerl]

I think I'd have ripped it all out days ago. I had AS in my tank and after two years, I had to supplement with ferts to get healthy growth. So I think you're putting up with a lot of grief for not much benefit.

I also had a new unused bag of AS do that. After two weeks of near constant water changes and little change in murkiness, it all went to the compost pile in the back yard.

As you can probably tell, I'm not an AS fanboy.

[Calmia22]

Originally Posted by dmagerl

I think I'd have ripped it all out days ago. I had AS in my tank and after two years, I had to supplement with ferts to get healthy growth. So I think you're putting up with a lot of grief for not much benefit.

I also had a new unused bag of AS do that. After two weeks of near constant water changes and little change in murkiness, it all went to the compost pile in the back yard.

As you can probably tell, I'm not an AS fanboy.

I can tell lol. I figure since it acts like mineralized top soil I will just cap it. Only issue: My brother took my 60lbs. of eco complete I bought about two months ago, then gave me a guilt trip when I said I needed it. Sigh looks like my tank will be crap until I can afford more eco complete.

[lewl]

Those things will settle eventually. Just be patient. You will be fine!

[styxx]

I generally don't use AS over 2 years old. Even after 1 year it tends to break down and loose it's structural integrity. However if you want to clean that water up quickly (e.g. after about 3 hours) a diatomaceous filter would do the job perfectly. Here's an example of what I'm talking about :http://www.aquasythe.com/Products/Sy...T-DM10001.aspx

[takadi]

I got amazonia underneath flourite and eco mix. Well at least it used to be. It has broken down to the point where it has become extremely compact and the substrate has essentially turned into rock. I want to blame this on the fact that I have dojo loaches that love to dig and turn around the substrate. But amazonia has been a nightmare for my tank