Using potting soil

[mason87]

I'd like to start by saying I'm far from sold on using potting soil to plant my tank. The idea is fascinating to me, but I'm not set on it at all. I have two big questions.

Some potting soils can kill fish, right? IF I wind up taking this route, what should I look for and stay away from in a potting soil?

IF I used potting soil, it would be capped with gravel. If I clean my gravel while doing a water change with a siphon hose, is it going to vacuum out the potting soil?

 

[benzjamin13]

Get Organic Potting Soil. I hear Miracle Grow Organic Soil works. That's what I've heard, I'd like to try a dirted tank myself, but no room As long as you're just siphoning from the top, not gravel vacuuming, and the cap is deep enough, it shouldn't disturb the dirt.

 

[BuffaloPolypteridae]

I've been looking into this also, the thing I've found is that if it contains ANY kind of fertsilizer in it it may make your fish sick or shorten their lifespan. Or flat out kill them in a short period. Go for plain organic soil, no additives, nothing, miracle grow soil has some fertsilizers, even the organic kind

Sent from my DROID4 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App

 

[Pharaoh]

I just put soil in my 180. Using Organic Miracle Grow is the norm around these parts. He'll of a lot cheaper than aqua soil.


Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app

 

[StevieTheG]

I used standard top soil. It has to have no fertilizers in it and the fish will be ok. However I hated it and, personally, will never do it again.
Make sure you plant it heavy to out compete algae. Draw a picture of a top view of your tank and make a blueprint of where you are going to put everything (rocks, branches, background/midground/foreground plants, etc.)
Depends on how deep your cap is and how deep you siphon it.

 

[F1 VET]

As said above if you want a cheap alternative to plant sub cap ORGANIC soil with sand/pfs or better yet use a 50/50 mixture of laterite/flourite and gravel about an inch and cap with pfs. The idea is the gravel eventually builds up with nutrients over time and the laterite/flourite already has some that last awhile feeding the roots thus getting off to a good start and saving on fertz.

Don't get me wrong there are tons of beautiful and lush planted tanks done with soil but I've also heard a lot of nightmares....

This method did wonders for me. Sub/fertz/lighting is all a ratio that needs to be perfected for a successful planted tank and when using co2 it all gets bumped upped!




×Go S Vettel #1 Infiniti Redbull! 3x WDC!!!×
__________________________________________________________________

Cheap way to decrease nitrates and keep your fish healthy: http://monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=504763

 

[Big.bucknc1]

Check out fishtanktv.com and Dustins fishtanks, they have a lot of info on dirted tanks.

 

[HybridHerp]

Just get any old organic potting MIX (has to be organic, mix is better than soil due to how it breaks down and all), and cap it with small gravel or sand or something like that.

I do that with all my tanks now, it works really, really well. Only downside is that if I where to uproot say, mother plant sized crypts or swords it'd become messy if I don't take my time and cut roots liberally.

 

[xxUnRaTeDxxRkOxx]

I'm trying out a new concept for a dirt tank, and here are the details...

Tank - Aqueon Evolve 4
Lighting - 10" Finnex FugeRay 7000k LED
Heating - 25w Fluval compact heater
Filtration - Built into the tank

I'm going with the following mixture of substrates - Mineralized Topsoil mixed with Miracle Gro Organic potting mix, I mixed in 1 1/2 tablespoons of Azomite powder, 1 1/2 cups of dried red clay, 1/2 cup of 50/50 mix of eco-complete & floramax, 1 tablespoon muriate of potash, and 1 tablespoon of plantex csm+b mixed into the dry dirt mixture. Going with a 2" layer of the dirt mixture, sprinkled some dolomite calcium carbonate w/ magnesium, light dusting of magnesium sulfate, and a very light dusting of calcium sulfate on top of the dirt then capped it with 1/2" of eco-complete/floramax substrate.

I plan to set up this experiment tomorrow when the 10" Finnex FugeRay LED comes in, along with a plant trimming package I ordered from a guy. Don't know if it's going to work, or if it'll fail but we'll see how it goes!