Experiment 003

Aquasoil ammonia decline

Ammonia tracked from setup through to consecutive zero readings.

In progress

Question

How does ammonia from fresh aquasoil decline under a heavy water-change schedule?

Background

Fresh active aquasoil releases ammonia for a period after setup. The standard advice is heavy water changes tapering after a few weeks, but the actual duration varies and is rarely published as a measured curve.

Hypothesis

Ammonia would peak in the first days and decline steadily, reaching zero somewhere around the fourth week under an every-other-day change schedule.

Recorded before measuring, so it can be shown to have been wrong.

Equipment

Method

Ammonia is hand-tested on a repeating schedule and logged against every water change, so the decline curve and the change cadence can be read together.

Measurements

  • Ammonia in ppm, hand-tested
  • Every water change logged with volume
  • Dissolved solids logged continuously as a second view of each change

Observations

  • The peak came several days after setup rather than immediately.
  • The decline was monotonic once it began.
  • Consecutive zero readings arrived around the four-week mark.

Future work

  • Confirm the schedule can taper to weekly and record whether ammonia stays at zero.
  • Compare the observed duration against the published expectation for this soil.

Related documentation

Results describe this specific aquarium under the conditions recorded above. They are observations, not universal recommendations.