[Tex Gal]

ADA AquaSoil is famous for releasing tons of ammonia in the beginning. Your nutrifying bacteria has to grow to mass to catch up. The plants I can see are all slow growers. It helps so much to cram your tank with fast growing plants at first. They can use the ammonia up before algae can get a grip. It really makes a difference in whether you get algae or not. It's not to late to add some of these plants. They will outcompete the algae and it will not be able to grow since it has no nutrients (all used by the fast growing plants). Buy some cheap fast growers like wisteria, hornwort, hygros, ludwigias, etc. Floaters like frogbit, salvinia, red root floater will also help as they block the light and use the ammonia.

1. Reduce light (ditto on what Zappins said).
2. Remove algae, trim plants affected, spot dose with excel.
3. Cram tank with fast growers.
4. Do water changes.

The following was advice from someone else about water changes. (Sorry I don't know their name.) It's great.

In terms of [AquaSoil]the first month is the most crucial month because in this time frame you are doing alot of things......
Just to give you an example(of course this regiment is not the absolute)
-water change everyday and adding plants and setting up the tank in first week
-water change every other day and perhaps adding some algae eaters second week
-water change twice or once a week and adding more algae eaters and some fish
***notice also you can add fertilizers even during the first week***

 

[Tex Gal]

pikovsg - hate to tell you but I had the same problem with Amazonia II. I fought it for 4-5 months. I eventually switched over the Amazonia regular. Nothing helped. I was NOT moving plants around causing dust. You can click on my 125g link at the bottom of my sig for the full story. It was horrible. I think they made some bad batched of the stuff, because some say they have not had any problems.

 

[Tex Gal]

You can also dose Prime if your ammonia is still over the top. I changed water every other day dosing prime with w/c and on opposite days dosed Prime again. I cramed my tank with fast growers. I limited light. IT will subside. Just hang in there. ADA Aquasoil is the BEST. Sometimes it takes 6 -8 weeks for ammonia to stop and become 0. When you finally get it kind of low add some ottos, amano shrimp and black mollies. Mollies will eat algae. I would spot dose Excell onto algae, it would die and the clean up crew would eat it. Wonderful work.

Like Frank said- if your soil feels like little gravels it's still ok. Mine felt like mud, compact and slimy. If you have a diatom filter stick that on to clear up any dust clouds. Also with your water change you can go carefully along the plants and soil and try to suck up the dust. It might be that the dust is dead diatoms.

 

[Tex Gal]

You can get Excel at the big box pet stores, LFS and online. I don't know where you are or if you have access to a Petsmart or Petco, etc. My local Petsmart carries it. It's cheaper by far online.

 

[Tex Gal]

If your ammonia numbers are still off the charts I would change 40% of water every other day. If not, but a little high then 2 x a week. If you can take the log out then you can use peroxide to treat it. See this link.
http://www.gpodio.com/h2o2.asp
You can also use a weak bleach dip of 20:1 water to bleach. Make sure afterward that you rinse the log and then soak in HEAVY prime/water solution. Since it's wood and porous I'd lean to the peroxide. It just turns to water and oxygen.

You can use tweezers to plant the plants. There are cheap sets on Ebay. I got my set there. Many sellers have these. Here is a link.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Aquarium-Plants-Landscaping-Tools-Aquascapin-Kit-5-Pcs_W0QQitemZ120108381171QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0

Are your lights T5's?

 

[Tex Gal]

Has anyone just soaked Aquasoil in a bucket and changed the water in it for a while before adding it to the tank?

Yes, I did that. I didn't have ammonia problems but the Aquasoil broke down. It was the Amazonia II and was a bad batch. When I talked to ADG they said the soak and w/c didn't make it break down. It did stabilize the ammonia.