Haha to be honest I'm not sure just the basic fluorescent light strip. I have thought about replacing and getting new light but that will be down the road as this hobby is not cheap to start up 
Gravel/sand I just don't know
- Thread starter Smithmode
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Pea gravel, because of the large interstitial spaces, tends to collect a lot of detritus below the substrate surface, and I understand that your heavy vacuuming may be needed to get that stuff out.
PFS does not permit detritus to work in so easily, and it usually sits on the surface of the sand, which makes vacuuming easy and requires a less aggressive technique.
Below is a pic of one of my tanks before a vacuuming, you can see the mulm on the left sitting near the surface of the sand/gravel mixture.
I can place the vac 3 inches above the substrate so as not to disturb the plants, and still remove plenty of mulm.
This 50 gal tank has about 10 medium sized lake Barombi mbo cichlids and 3 synodontus catfish.
PFS does not permit detritus to work in so easily, and it usually sits on the surface of the sand, which makes vacuuming easy and requires a less aggressive technique.
Below is a pic of one of my tanks before a vacuuming, you can see the mulm on the left sitting near the surface of the sand/gravel mixture.
I can place the vac 3 inches above the substrate so as not to disturb the plants, and still remove plenty of mulm.
This 50 gal tank has about 10 medium sized lake Barombi mbo cichlids and 3 synodontus catfish.
So yesterday I planted my tank up a little to start and added aquarium plant soil and mixed it with my gravel as recommended. At first my tank was really cloudy(I did wash the soil out first) but now it remain somewhat a little cloudy....is this normal?
hello; Cloudy water when using soil is a main issue. This is why I have rarely tried it the way you describe.
I have put potting soil in a small container with a layer of gravel on top into which I plant specific types of plants. Amazon swords for example. I then make a hole in the gravel substrate in which to bury the small container. This way there is less chance of the soil getting all about a tank and the container can be moved from one tank to another with less fuss. I use containers with perforations in the bottom.
My guess is that you will have an issue with cloudy water for some time and it will recur each time the gravel is disturbed. It has been my understanding that folks who dirt a tank put the soil on the bottom and try to add a layer of gravel on top. The gravel layer being there to try to contain the soil to some degree.
In time with enough filter media changes the cloudiness wil likely be reduced.
I do have a few questions for anyone reading this post.
It seems to me that pre-rinsing the soil will wash away many of the nutrients?
I also imagine the soil used should be in some way free of potential contaminants? A past friend use to put steam thru his potting soil before using it in his greenhouse.
What and where is aquarium plant soil and how does it differ from other potting soils?
So I just finished a 20% WC and the water looks better. Still not there but I'll do it again tomorrow. I think a few of these will fix the issue. Also, I would have rather some the layer tactic as you described but already had a lot of gravel in and didn't want to mess with it to much.
As for the differences you asked...I have no clue. The soil I used is aquatic plant soil, for pond plants, it is what was recommended to be by my LFS. I only out on bag of it in my 125 so I didn't put tons. I'm hoping this will do enough as I don't want to go through that again lol.
My new question now is, is it better to pot the plants? Or does it even matter?
As for the differences you asked...I have no clue. The soil I used is aquatic plant soil, for pond plants, it is what was recommended to be by my LFS. I only out on bag of it in my 125 so I didn't put tons. I'm hoping this will do enough as I don't want to go through that again lol.
My new question now is, is it better to pot the plants? Or does it even matter?
Hello; I have done it with and without potting. Either way can work. I have had amazon swords on occasion send out runners and potted the runners in a QT untill they grew some. Plants that propogate by sending out a lot of runners I do not put in pots.
As stated before the pots can help reduce the mess in a tank. I cannot recall ever dumping soil on top of the gravel in an established tank. I can only imagine the mess. It may well turn out that much of the soil will wind up in your filter media or siphoned out over time. Good luck and keep us posted.
I have frozen wet soil into plugs to spot feed plants that are root feeders. I can get most of the frozen plug under the gravel before it melts with just a small amount getting free in the open water.
Welcome to learning by doing.
What soil?
If dirting a tank you want the tank to be empty and then you put the dirt in and then cap it with a layer of sand or small gravel.
If your dirt is visible you didn't do it right sorry to say.
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It's not dirty I fixed the problem. The brown spots are the aquatic soil I mixed in. Is this not right? This is what my LFS said they did with a few of their planted tanks. Here is a pic.
Ah, okay no I see what you did.
What did you add flourite or Eco complete or something?
I thought you added straight up dirt and was like nnnnoooooo lol
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No it was some kinda of nutrient rich and absorbing aquatic soil. It is also for ponds I believe. But yeah I mixed it in, but I think I will need more lol but I don't want to go through that again Lol made the water cloudy for about 3 hours. Then I did a water change and it was better.
