Artificial Soil in 65gal tank renovation

[Ph11p3540]

My fourth attempt at planting my tank. Straight gravel just don't cut it anymore.

Tank: 65 gal less then 22" deep.

Substrate:

Bottom most layer: China-porpoise brand artificail soil to 1/2" depth; thicker at back of tank. (Never heard of this stuff it sounds like a fortified clay based soil about the consistancy of course sand)

Middle layer: Black Earth soil mixed with 25% peat to 2" depth; thicker at back of tank.

Top layer: 2" gravel;deep enough to set plants in without clouding the tank. (Was thinking of burlap between gravel and soil but you guys convinced me otherwise.)

Lighting: three 48" dual T5 coral life fixtures each on its own timer. Works out to about 2.5w/gallon (I love the design and blinding power of these things. They have electronic ballasts to boot).

Water conditioning: 1 fluval 304 canister filter (boy oh boy I going to be servicing my canister heavyly as I expect some debrise with the new substrate untill plants are established).

I figure I will need to stick a sponge on the intake of my filter to precatch all the debrise as well.

CO2: 2 Hagen fementation type CO2 tanks to tie things over untill pressurized CO2 kit is aquired.

Plantings: Well I am still a total nobe at this when it comes to identifying and picking out plants but I figure I will need at least 30 assorted plants just to get me started

ANY OPINONS OR IDEAS WELCOME as my last attempts failed.

[byte]

That porpoise brand artificial soil sounds interesting. I am not sure about the Black Earth (topsoil)... I wonder if it is the same stuff I used in my garden. Mine was full of weed seeds and lots of organics that would float up every time I watered. It had very little topsoil I thought.

I would recommend a few bags of fluorite or eco-complete for a substrate IMO...

I have set up 4 planted tanks over the last year with normal gravel, fluorite, frac sand and the only difference I notice is the sand tanks seem to have a bit more hair algae, possibly due to high silicates.

It sounds like you have almost everything you need for the planted tank (pressure CO2 will help) except for fertilizers. Look into EI dosing with dry ferts (hydroponics store), and a bottle of Seachem Flourish and Excel and you will be set.

[jvision]

Make sure that once you place your plants, not to move them. The organics in the soil will produce quite the algae problem. With your set up, you could get away without adding much in the way of fertilizer. Plants that will do well in your set-up will be roset plants like Swords, Cryptocoryne and Lotus. CO2 will go along way to keeping algae at bay. In the mean time, pick up some Seachem Excel to help supliment your CO2 - those little fermentation canisters are fine, but they die off slowly and can be slow to start up; and, when the tank isn't stable algae will get the upper hand.

Have plants, have fun!

[werner]

That porpoise brand artificial soil sounds interesting.

I just saw a plant substrate at the LFS that looks just like that (little round balls) but I can't remember the brand... I wonder if it's the same thing? Sounds like it might be a similar thing to Flourite, Eco Complete, etc.

[Ph11p3540]

It's been almost 9 months since experimenting with this artificial soil. Just to be safe I mixed it with laterate above a thin 3/4" layer of soil and peat. My plants are doing wonderful.

I have done water hardness and iron content tests. The first 3 weeks the hard hardness shot up but not dangerously high. Then it fell back to what is normal.

The peat might have something to do with keeping hardness in check I do not know. My plants get to have something to work with finally. Can't wait to by my new camera and

clean the hard water deposits on the glass.

[firestorm]

I would really love to see pics. I would be terrified to use a soil type substrate in my tank unless it's peat I keep in a bag in my filter lol. Just the idea of it floating around and dirtying up the water. How do you do water changes? You must not be able to vacuum a whole lot with soil.

[Ph11p3540]

I would really love to see pics. I would be terrified to use a soil type substrate in my tank unless it's peat I keep in a bag in my filter lol. Just the idea of it floating around and dirtying up the water. How do you do water changes? You must not be able to vacuum a whole lot with soil.

[Baos]

Was thinking of burlap between gravel and soil but you guys convinced me otherwise.

I'd love to read this argument as I'm considering doing the same thing but I have diggers.

[Ph11p3540]

It's been 2 years since I last posted on this forum about mixing Porpise brand artifical soil mixed with my other soil and peat layer. It was a successful and my plants rooted well with with less fogging issues than I was expecting. In less then a day my tank was crystal clear. Just to let you guys know the exact subtrate system it was:

Bottom layer: 2 large boxes of pure laturite

Middle layer: 1 20lb bag Porpise brand Artifical Soil + 1 20lb bag black gold potting soil(It's a local Chernazem Soil) + 5lb spagmum peat moss = All mixed as evenly as possible

Top layer: Fine gravel with aquarium course sand.

I have since broken down the fish tank for a complet refurbishment with the soil and gravel in careful storage. I have learned some lessons and realized that any substrate over 4" is not heathly since it was starting to trap noxious gases. My new set up has an average of 3" of substrate. I have used 60% of the soil mixture in the new setup along with some of the established gravel and new gravel of my choice.