Hi all,
I just ordered 4× 9 litres bags of ADA amazonia since I need to replace my gravel that I currently have in my 290 litre tank. I read several times that the ADA soil will cause ammonia spikes, ph and kh decreases and it shouldn't be added to a tank with fish in it. Then I read a discussion where Tom Barr states he has done this several times and never had any issues.
My plan is to empty my tank completely, house my fish in my old 160 litre tank for a few hours with my current aquarium water, change the substrate replant everything etc, later refill my tank with at least 30-50 % of my old cycled water, that I store in my other tank and buckets. Filter and eveything else will be the same, only difference is the substrate. My current water tap ph is around 7.6, kh= 6, Gh= 8, my aquarium water currently has a ph of 6.6 controlled by the ph controler for the co2, kh=9, Gh= currently 13-16, hence why I need to change my substrate as the gravel is very high in calcium and my calcium is 80ppm, stem plants deficient.
So my questions are does anyone have any experience in this and has done a similar substrate change?
What sort of ph and kh drop can I expect with my current parameters, aquarium and tap water?
Will my established filter, using seachem prime, and my large amount of plants be able to keep the ammonia down?
Any help appreciated!
Pascal

I've only made 3 tanks so far but I've used amazonia everytime.

The ammonia spike is off the charts for a few days and doesn't go away for a few weeks. Therefore the nitrate and nitrite are off the charts as well during that time.

Absolutely do not expect to put your fish in there within a couple weeks unless you are doing 50% water changes twice daily. In that case, I'm not sure how long it will take to fully leech as I've never done that. I waa doing 50% every other day or so.

As for ph and kh, yeah those drop too due to the peat but that happens for months at controllable rates anyways. I'd say you can safely expect up to a 0.5 - 1 point drop in ph.

I suggest doing more research on amazonia cycling as it is it's own beast entirely. For now, drop some amazonia in a glass and measure it tomorrow.

i wouldnt do it. Youll end u wiping a good amount or maybe even all of your fish out. Just start a new tank with ada amazonia and wait a couple weeks for all the parameters to stabilize.

There is a way to do it without removing your fish. I did it once when i wanted to replace my Eco Complete with ADA Amazonia.

Take a small section (1/10 or so) of your existing substrate and suck it out with a filter hose. Carefully replace that with the new Amazonia. Suction more water out around the area you placed the AS to remove some of the immediate leaching.

Wait a few days or so and do another section. Over the course of a few weeks/month you can replace the entire substrate that way without removing the fish.

There are these thing called buckets.
They are very quick to do a water change too!
Put it in when it's ready.

Big issue with me is the dusty water after the change. I have pulled plants and just the dusty water from that and the clean up related to it would be a show stopper for me. Would be better to move fish to a temporary home and clean out the tank then replant the plants. Before I tried to do it in a tank already set up and running.

When you do it in small sections and suction out the water there really isn't any cloudy/dusty water issues.

Thanks for your thoughts everyone. I will house my fish in my 160 litre tank then for as long as it takes, not ideal as my ghost knife fish is quite large, but guess dont have a choice. Will keep everyone updates of how long the cycling will take.

Hi all, I am just close to the stage where I move the fish to the second tank and just got a question about the amazonia ada soil. I put some in a jar with my aquarium water just to see the ammonia spike, which indeed skyrocketed. However is it normal for the water to look this brown even after a while???

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Definitely not normal. When you fill a tank with Amazonia you might get a little cloudiness, but ideally it should be crystal clear. In that small jar did you just pour water directly onto the Amazonia?

Thought so, I tried pouring as carefully as possible. It does look a bit clearer today, however there always seems to be this layer of dust on top of the soil I cant get rid off even after changing the water multiple times. Aw well if you say it should be ok than I am sure it will, I guess I cant really compare that small jar with my 75 gallon tank