Reusing Aquasoil

[JayP]

I've done some reading on the subject of reusing aquasoil. There are videos showing fully removing the soil, cleaning it to remove all old detritus, and then even baking it. @Dennis Wong (2hr Aquarist) discusses regular replenishing of depleted aquasoil but I didn't see an article on a complete new scape using old soil. It seems to me that once you have removed all hardscape and livestock from a tank, you could remove a partial amount of soil, stir up what is remaining quite well while also doing a deep vacuum to remove as much detritus as possible, and then add in fresh soil to desired substrate level. In theory this would leave a substantial amount of beneficial bacteria in the tank, and if you're also reusing biomedia, the tank would cycle in very short time.

I was about to start the next couple new tanks with new soil but have paused to consider these options. I currently have 3 scapes that I'll be breaking down, but I can break down one tank at a time now, clean the soil in the tank as I described and, move the soil to the new tank (along with the additional new soil). The catch is that I would still have to do the scaping either underwater, or holding off filling with water for the extended time while I place hardscape, so I don't know how well live bacteria in the old soil would handle that.

Curious to hear other's thoughts, especially if you've actually done this.

 

[CincyScaper]

I have seen MJ aquascaping doing this often. I have not personally done so but does seem like a good option. I would probably still do the dark start/water changes.

One factor that I would be interested in knowing is the benefit of having fresh aquasoil in the root zone rather than the surface. If I were to do it I might place more fresh aquasoil in the area where the rooting would occur. It probably does not make a huge difference.

Would also be interested to know how long aquasoil actually last before breaking down.

 

[snowballs99]

If you don't care about refreshing the buffering capacity or ammonia in the aqua soil then go ahead.

I don't particularly want to go through the pain of cycling a tank so I always reuse aqua soil and just use RO water to not exhaust buffering capacity.

 

[Mr.Shenanagins]

Contemplating doing this myself. My soil has only been submerged for a few months and not too much plant growth to exhaust it. I’m wondering if just removing it and keeping it submerged to preserve bacteria is a better route than just draining and baking it and essentially starting over.