Mud
- Thread starter Smadav
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"Mud" is a vague term. Technically speaking, wet sand is "mud". But I understand that's not what you mean.
In calm water, sand falls out of suspension in seconds, silts in minutes and clays in days.
But in a tank with decent filtration, we aren't working with calm water. So it'll be constantly brought back into suspension.
I do have two tanks with 2-3" of soil (organic contaminated sandy silt) with 2" of sand (pool filter sand) on top of it. They're planted tanks. It's proven to be more of a pain than it's worth, in my opinion. If I ever do this again, I'll put egg crate on top of the soil before adding the sand.
In calm water, sand falls out of suspension in seconds, silts in minutes and clays in days.
But in a tank with decent filtration, we aren't working with calm water. So it'll be constantly brought back into suspension.
I do have two tanks with 2-3" of soil (organic contaminated sandy silt) with 2" of sand (pool filter sand) on top of it. They're planted tanks. It's proven to be more of a pain than it's worth, in my opinion. If I ever do this again, I'll put egg crate on top of the soil before adding the sand.
I'd be willing to bet money that many, if not all of the unique habitats we are attempting to replicate in our natural aquariums have substrates unlike anything we typically utilize in the hobby. I’d guess gents like
duanes
would be able to describe what he regularly runs into while collecting. As an avid fisherman I can comment as to local rivers, lakes, and creeks and mud would be a great description in many places.
duanes
would be able to describe what he regularly runs into while collecting. As an avid fisherman I can comment as to local rivers, lakes, and creeks and mud would be a great description in many places.
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I have run planted tanks with dirt capped with sand. I usually place a piece of fiberglass screen between to keep the dirt from mixing.
You could also make dirt packets wrapped in screen if you were only planting part of the tank.
You could also make dirt packets wrapped in screen if you were only planting part of the tank.
If you want the look of mud, just get yourself a couple bags of play sand. Rinse them well; if you start now and work at it daily, you should be done sometime in June. Lay it down as a substrate before filling the tank, and then carefully add the water to avoid stirring up your mock mud. Alternatively, you can just dump the sand directly from the bags into your tank; by the time it settles out it'll be June, so the results are about the same.
Play sand looks like mud but it packs down like concrete. It must be kept stirred and aerated to prevent it from going anaerobic and black, while releasing all kinds of noxious odours and gasses. Stirring should be done at least weekly; settling takes at least a month; do you see the problem here? But, even so...sand is still easier and nicer than actual mud.
Mud is certainly a natural-looking substrate if you can get it to work. But, here's the thing: not every habitat or environment in nature is attractive. There are plenty of habitats that contain wonderful aquarium fish but look terrible. Cloudy water...deep dark fields of fine sediment and mulm...dead and dying plant life...nobody wants to see that. Even habitats that look "beautiful" by our standards are fleeting. They become overgrown with plants and/or algae, they are seasonally inundated by floods of silt ("mud"), they are denuded of plant life when the seasons change.
We delude ourselves that we are creating naturalistic habitats in our tanks, when in fact we are striving to re-create a snapshot of natural beauty but then we want to pinch it and prune it and tweak it in hopes of keeping it stable. Nothing in nature is stable.
Especially mud.
Play sand looks like mud but it packs down like concrete. It must be kept stirred and aerated to prevent it from going anaerobic and black, while releasing all kinds of noxious odours and gasses. Stirring should be done at least weekly; settling takes at least a month; do you see the problem here? But, even so...sand is still easier and nicer than actual mud.
Mud is certainly a natural-looking substrate if you can get it to work. But, here's the thing: not every habitat or environment in nature is attractive. There are plenty of habitats that contain wonderful aquarium fish but look terrible. Cloudy water...deep dark fields of fine sediment and mulm...dead and dying plant life...nobody wants to see that. Even habitats that look "beautiful" by our standards are fleeting. They become overgrown with plants and/or algae, they are seasonally inundated by floods of silt ("mud"), they are denuded of plant life when the seasons change.
We delude ourselves that we are creating naturalistic habitats in our tanks, when in fact we are striving to re-create a snapshot of natural beauty but then we want to pinch it and prune it and tweak it in hopes of keeping it stable. Nothing in nature is stable.
Especially mud.
I know this may sound facitious, but what is mud?
Its a combinatin of sand, grit, animal waste, and fallen leaf litter.
This is my 125 gal planted tank (sump), I use it, to filer my cichlid tank.
The submerged growth is mostly Vallisneria, and water lilies.
Emergiant plants are mangrove trees.
Some grow 6 ft above the tank waters surface
There are also floaters such as Salvinia, among the lily pads.
All I use is about 2¨of pool filter sand as substrate, the fish waste the overflows from the main cichlid tank, and some occasional leaf litter that falls in from the garden. provide nutrients,
No ferts, no C02, no soil.
The plants use nitrate etc, as fast as it is produced, below is one of my average nitrate weekly grab samples.
Because my water is very hard, with pH of 8.2, and since I live about 50 ft from the Pacific, (the air is quite salty) I choose plant species carefully, nothing that would thrive in the soft, low pH water environment, like the Amazon.
Although I would prefer nature like conditions, they would tend to make water cloudy and turbid, some what like the waters where I collect the fish I keep.
Seasonally here in the tropics, visability can go from clear (depending on dry or rains), from crystal to muddy brown,
for my tank I do prefer crystal, although thats not alwaays the case.
Tannins from leaf litter (in the mud) can have a serious tint effect, that does not always filter out.
And because the alkalinity is high, pH never varies.
Its a combinatin of sand, grit, animal waste, and fallen leaf litter.
This is my 125 gal planted tank (sump), I use it, to filer my cichlid tank.
The submerged growth is mostly Vallisneria, and water lilies.
Emergiant plants are mangrove trees.
Some grow 6 ft above the tank waters surface
There are also floaters such as Salvinia, among the lily pads.
All I use is about 2¨of pool filter sand as substrate, the fish waste the overflows from the main cichlid tank, and some occasional leaf litter that falls in from the garden. provide nutrients,
No ferts, no C02, no soil.
The plants use nitrate etc, as fast as it is produced, below is one of my average nitrate weekly grab samples.
Because my water is very hard, with pH of 8.2, and since I live about 50 ft from the Pacific, (the air is quite salty) I choose plant species carefully, nothing that would thrive in the soft, low pH water environment, like the Amazon.
Although I would prefer nature like conditions, they would tend to make water cloudy and turbid, some what like the waters where I collect the fish I keep.
Seasonally here in the tropics, visability can go from clear (depending on dry or rains), from crystal to muddy brown,
for my tank I do prefer crystal, although thats not alwaays the case.
Tannins from leaf litter (in the mud) can have a serious tint effect, that does not always filter out.
And because the alkalinity is high, pH never varies.
