ADA soil

**leqk82** · 19th Jun 2007, 04:29 PM

Hi everyone,
I'm new to shrimp keeping, I bought a 9 litter ADA soil bag for my 20 gallons tank but used only 1/3 of the bag. The instructions states that "do not wash the soil", so i didnt now the water is really yellow. 3 of my bigger CRs died after the second day. I have been changing the water 10% daily but the doesnt seem to help clear up the yellow water. I don't have a cycled tank to quarantine the shrimps do to 100% on the tank. Please help!

Thanks so much.

**silane** · 19th Jun 2007, 04:55 PM

oh no, you use ADA soil without cycling the tank, you will be killing the CRS.

What you can do now is to put the crs into a pail, with 5% of the tank water with CRS with some moss, and slowly increase the pail water with aged water, not direct water. The CRS in a pail with good water can live for long time. You have to keep the water temperature cool, between 22 to 25C.

Then you wait for your tank cycled. You can search on how to cycle a tank with ADA soil in this forum. If water gets too yellow, you have to do LARGE water changes.

**leqk82** · 19th Jun 2007, 05:24 PM

Thanks Silane,
I found your Thread on ADA cycling, it was very helpful. The tank i have shrimp in was cycled for a month before i added the ADA soil in. I don't have aged water, is it safe to add bottled water? how long do I have to age the water before i can add to the tank? Thanks

**silane** · 19th Jun 2007, 06:57 PM

Bottled water is safe but expensive. You can age water overnight with anti-cholrine and with air stone, that should be safe for most tap water source. Do large water changes to get rid of the yellow water and the fert.

**leqk82** · 20th Jun 2007, 07:38 AM

Originally Posted by silane

Bottled water is safe but expensive. You can age water overnight with anti-cholrine and with air stone, that should be safe for most tap water source. Do large water changes to get rid of the yellow water and the fert.

Thanks Silane,
I'm aging my water right now. I will be doing 50% water change tomorrow. They seem to be doing fine with 10% water change daily but the water is still very yellow. No more deaths.

**dwaffer** · 24th Jun 2007, 12:56 AM

Hi Leqk82.

I just replaced the substrate in a tank that was running for over three years with Amazonia and I have never seen such a large amount of ammonia in any of my tanks before.
I am still using the same two sponge filters and everything just different substrate.
I was not able two get all of the Red cherries out of that tank and even with the high ammonia level none have perished but I can see they are stressed a bit.
Survival must be due to the lower PH.
Anyway after about a week or so now the water is clearing and the tank is getting close to established or cycled.
I was very susprised at the amount of ammonia, and nitrite, that came along with the aqua soil.
I think thats what you did not expect as well.
I have read that carbon will help remove the yellow faster but the real problem is the cycle.
I fear the large water changes may have a large PH and TDS, swings which may harm your CRS.
I think doing the bucket method is wise advice while checking your cycle progress untill it is safe.

**leqk82** · 25th Jun 2007, 04:11 PM

I'm setting up a new 20g tank, I'm doing 80% waterchage for a week now to remove the cloudy water. Now i'm adding water from an established fish tank and old sponge filter running, I will be doing nitrate, nitrite, and amonia test every 2 days until it the water is safe for the shrimps.

Thanks for your reply

**oasis** · 29th Jan 2012, 04:16 AM

Originally Posted by leqk82

Thanks Silane,
I found your Thread on ADA cycling, it was very helpful. The tank i have shrimp in was cycled for a month before i added the ADA soil in. I don't have aged water, is it safe to add bottled water? how long do I have to age the water before i can add to the tank? Thanks

Hi, i have been trying to locate the ADA cycling thread but no joy. Can someone point me the right direction to the thread?