Substrate "how long will it last"

[Eron]

Hello fish peeps, I currently have a 55gal that I've had running for a little over a year. I have always had tank or tanks but took a break from them for a few years. Well you know how it goes. You get one then another, and another, and so on. Well my 55 is full of plants but isn't "planted". All have done really well. I have zero problems with any type of algae or plants dying. All really is well. But I have a 150 that I'm work in on and my question is this. How long will substrate last? Now I google this and was shocked to see just how stupid some people can be. Most if not all answers went like this. " it's dirt so it will be there as long as you leave it there" I get that part Einstein. My question is how long will it productively feed and substain my plants before all the nutrients are depleted. Cause then wouldn't it be useless? The whole point is I don't want to spend the money or the time to plant the tank if in a year I'm gonna have to Tare it down to re-dirt it. And has anyone given any thought to potting their plants, and if so how did that turn out. And FYI I will not be running c02, and I will be using a sump.

 

[skjl47]

Hello; As to how long a dirted tank provides nutrients to live plants, I cannot say. I have not done a tank with a layer of soil as substrate.

I do have experience with long term planted tanks. My general setup is a gravel from bb size to small pea size. I have had planted tanks remain set up for five years or more. As you mention the tanks are sometimes broken down for other reasons.
Once the tank is cycled the live plants take up some of the nitrates. I do have to add some sort of fertilizer to the base of heavy root feeders like the swords. The crypts, saggitaria and other plants grow from the nutrients in the water column.

I did try for a few years a method of direct root feeding of the swords with soil. I would soak some soil and then freeze it. I could manage to get most of the frozen plug into the substrate before very much flaked off into the water. The plugs were the size of a 35mm film container for reference. The swords grew well for about two months from one plug. The down side after a time was the mess if the gravel was disturbed. I had to take such a tank down this past summer and the old soil was a pain to clean out of the substrate.

The tank is set back up now for about two months. I will use some other way to feed the swords. I am using FlourishTabs right now. The swords have been growing well on them. The cryps and dwarf saggs are also filling out nicely.

Sorry to butt in if you are looking specifically for answers about dirted tanks. Perhaps someone else will have the experience you seek.

 

[Eron]

Hello; As to how long a dirted tank provides nutrients to live plants, I cannot say. I have not done a tank with a layer of soil as substrate.

I do have experience with long term planted tanks. My general setup is a gravel from bb size to small pea size. I have had planted tanks remain set up for five years or more. As you mention the tanks are sometimes broken down for other reasons.
Once the tank is cycled the live plants take up some of the nitrates. I do have to add some sort of fertilizer to the base of heavy root feeders like the swords. The crypts, saggitaria and other plants grow from the nutrients in the water column.

I did try for a few years a method of direct root feeding of the swords with soil. I would soak some soil and then freeze it. I could manage to get most of the frozen plug into the substrate before very much flaked off into the water. The plugs were the size of a 35mm film container for reference. The swords grew well for about two months from one plug. The down side after a time was the mess if the gravel was disturbed. I had to take such a tank down this past summer and the old soil was a pain to clean out of the substrate.

The tank is set back up now for about two months. I will use some other way to feed the swords. I am using FlourishTabs right now. The swords have been growing well on them. The cryps and dwarf saggs are also filling out nicely.

Sorry to butt in if you are looking specifically for answers about dirted tanks. Perhaps someone else will have the experience you seek.

Hello; As to how long a dirted tank provides nutrients to live plants, I cannot say. I have not done a tank with a layer of soil as substrate.

I do have experience with long term planted tanks. My general setup is a gravel from bb size to small pea size. I have had planted tanks remain set up for five years or more. As you mention the tanks are sometimes broken down for other reasons.
Once the tank is cycled the live plants take up some of the nitrates. I do have to add some sort of fertilizer to the base of heavy root feeders like the swords. The crypts, saggitaria and other plants grow from the nutrients in the water column.

I did try for a few years a method of direct root feeding of the swords with soil. I would soak some soil and then freeze it. I could manage to get most of the frozen plug into the substrate before very much flaked off into the water. The plugs were the size of a 35mm film container for reference. The swords grew well for about two months from one plug. The down side after a time was the mess if the gravel was disturbed. I had to take such a tank down this past summer and the old soil was a pain to clean out of the substrate.

The tank is set back up now for about two months. I will use some other way to feed the swords. I am using FlourishTabs right now. The swords have been growing well on them. The cryps and dwarf saggs are also filling out nicely.

Sorry to butt in if you are looking specifically for answers about dirted tanks. Perhaps someone else will have the experience you seek.

Really any info or insite that will help keep plants growing strong is welcomed. I'm not gonna use dirt but was thinking about some type of gravel style plant substrate and cover with sand. I just didn't want to blow alot of money on it to just end up useing ferts as I am now. My 55 I do a 10-15 gal water change every sat and then fertilize afterwords. This seems to be wrkn fine.

 

[HarleyK]

I've had tanks set up for 10+ years without changing substrate.
Fish waste will replenish nutrients.
Just like nature intended it...

 

[xxUnRaTeDxxRkOxx]

While some substrates like Aquasoil, and brands like it tend to last for about a year there are some substrates that will last for years with the right fertilizing regime, and root tabs. I prefer to use Fluorite, FloraMax, etc... because I follow a standard EI dosing regime for fertilizers, and I use Osmocote Plus root tabs. But the same tends to go for "dirted tanks", because you can keep it going with root tabs...

So this question is always up for debate with people always asking "what is the substrate holy grail, which is best", there is no such thing because it always comes down to preference and what works for you. Just because I have success with a certain substrate doesn't mean you will, so I suggest maybe trying a couple different substrates and find out what works for and what doesn't.

 

[HybridHerp]

Yeah, how fast plants use nutrients depend on which plants you have specifically and what you're lighting is like. I always recommend dosing a little something something on some interval just because I like some extra nutrients in the water column for some of the stem plants that don't root strongly into the dirt. But all in all, its hard to give a concrete answer since every tank is different and every substrate is different. From what I've heard the ADA stuff physically breaks down after a couple of years (just started a small 5 gallon with it though so we will see), and the soil will eventually deplete (or if you're growing a lot of large rooted plants like swords and crypts they might just drain it stupid fast and make a tangled up mess of roots) but that could be in a few years or a few decades. Without using co2 its going to last a lot longer though.