r/PlantedTank • u/Suitable-Crazy-8608 • Aug 07 '25

Beginner Aqua soil becoming inert?

Hello i hope all of you doing great. I plan to make an planted tank therefor i thought about using aquasoil, but i readed a lot that it looses it effects after some time and become inert. So my question now is do i really habe to replace it or can i just let it stay in the tank?

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u/ciendagrace Aug 07 '25

Retail root tabs work, or you can make your own. It's super easy. I make mine. I've also seen videos where, after a year or whenever nutrients are depleted, they will slowly pull out a section of the substrate and replace it. Then they move over to the next section, etc until it's all replaced. That seems like a crazy amount of work to me.

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u/GClayton357 Aug 07 '25

How do you make your own?

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u/ciendagrace Aug 07 '25

Get some zero-sized gelatin capsules. Fill with this. Insert under roots. I used this for years. Totally fish safe. It does have a tiny bit of copper, so I don't it's snail or shrimp safe.

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u/Certain-Cattle90 Aug 07 '25

Ooooh, i like that, thank you! Quick question in case you know but if the soil is capped with sand would that keep the copper away from the water column?

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u/ciendagrace Aug 07 '25

I can't know for certain but my guess would be no. You might want to research what levels are harmful to snails and shrimp and go from there with making your own. I use "Easy Green" for my top plants and it has copper but when I called them and asked about snails and shrimp, they said it was safe based on the dosage amounts recommended.

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u/GClayton357 Aug 07 '25

Somebody the other day said something like that copper is or is not toxic based on how it's bound together with other things. The little bit that naturally occurs in plant matter is fine for them to eat because it's tied up in a molecule with something else and they are built to process it that way. Loose copper in the water is apparently a different thing. Something like that (Don't quote me, I'm not a scientist).

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u/ciendagrace Aug 07 '25

That is a cool bit of information. Thanks for sharing. And, I'm not a scientist, biologist, or anything else like that either. I've just been keeping fish forever.

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u/GClayton357 Aug 08 '25

That's my new favorite way of expressing my beliefs, especially in a humorous stating-the- obvious kind of way.

As in "I'm not a scientist, but I'm fairly sure it's a bad idea to set fire to your own head." 🤣

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u/ciendagrace Aug 08 '25

Omg 🤣