I am currently reading Diana Walstad's "Ecology of the Planted Aquarium" and in particular the substrates section. I was wondering whether anyone uses soil substrates, meaning about 1-1 1/2 inches of potted/garden soil under layer and about 1/2-1 inches of gravel on top of the soil to good effect. It's not that i don't trust the book and what i says, i just want some real evidence that it actually works. Any problems with such a setup? Any advantages in particular?
I used dirt straight from a very green part of my backyard in a tank and then covered it with regular eco-complete or whatever plant substrate I had lying around... it clouded the water more than normal but cleared up. I have seen no outstanding benefit so far. I like that link by Burto and I'll try that next time. ~LiquiD~
um YES use organic potting soil and the most important part is an inch or 2 inches of sand over the top and the malaysian trumpet snails because of hydrogen sulfide gas which will be bubbling out of the ground alot for the first couple of months snails will keep it bubbling up if u have no snails u will get a volcano effect and it will blanket the tank in dirt
plant growth is phenominal i use no equipment have a crap light and a diy co2 thing and have grown enough plants in 2 months to pay for my whole setup even the hardest plants to grow grow like weeds
u realy have no problems i mean no maintenence is needed i just pour water in as it evaporates and scrap some algae of the glass every month and trim the plants frequently
fish ive never had a healthier fish in this tank they have never had a disease or anything they always seem to be so happy
evidence ive realy cut back to like 4 main plants i had a beautiful jungle before but i wanted to go smple for a while this is after a mass pruning too
If you have a deep substrate, say 3"+, if it's not disturbed you may end up with anaerobic pockets, parts of it that oxygen doesn't reach in which anaerobic bacteria can live. This can happen with sand and gravel, but sand is more prone to it since it compacts much more tightly. If you get organic waste trapped in these anaerobic pockets they can create hydrogen sulfide. If the anaerobic pocket/s are disturbed and the hydrogen sulfide is released into your water it may harm your fish. As far as I know the biggest danger is that the acidic nature of the hydrogen sulfide will lower your pH.
In general I think the dangers of anaerobic pockets and hydrogen sulfide are a bit overstated. Even if you do have a deep substrate full of anaerobic pockets this can actually be beneficial just so long at it's not disturbed.
