planting substrate

[armageddon]

I am in the midst of setting up a new foundation for my stock tank, i researched through common "garden soil" etc.
found that clay soil or clay sand is kinda good and economical for plants tank as an alternative to the highly rated aquarium ADA soil.

for bros whom are keen to explore this option, feel free to contact me as i will be setting up the foundation next week so we can explore together this option for a better aquarium plants keeping!

enjoy the vids (mod, i'm not sure if a sharing of youtube link is permitted? if not please advice, i will do accordingly. thanks)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_PWBRYTMn8

http://youtu.be/9FV1IC5gZMU

some good consideration factors to factor in

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPR-8bYKvk0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhtqX6f9TDo

in case any bros whom have tried this method, hope to have your share of exprience?

enjoy!

[sbladerz]

Hi, using garden soil sounds good. Look forward to your test results.
Apart from that, what's your take of using pre owned Ada soil for instance. How will it affect a newly planted tank?

[diazman]

I've only tried those normal $2 potting soil from NTUC though. Works well enough for my small tank because it doesn't really contain anything harmful that I can find in the content apart from tons of wood chips and stones .

[armageddon]

farms locally used chicken shit as fertiliser for their plants and they are growing damn well...
of course, the nutrients etc, fishes may not be able to take it...

thinking if this combination,
bottom larva rocks
mid, compose / clay soil
top, gravels.

purpose is for base to be a slow nutrients leaking bed so it provide constant nutrients for my plants...
hope this will work without killing the fishes inside.. haha

[diazman]

Or you try visiting those aquatic pond farms and purchase their pond soil. Works also

[thebaldingaquarist]

hi armageddon ,

quite a few of us used garden soil before. here is my take.
1. its cheap
2. its low maintanence (don't touch it often)
3. its initial set up is problematic
4. you don't want large fish in the tank. even SAE can be a problem.
5. if you want large fin-ed fish in the tank, consider a layer of lapis sand on top


the following are issues with garden soil i have encountered:
1. they decompose fairly quickly. faster then most brands of aquatic soil i have used. Note that i have used bacteria mix on the bottom of all my tanks.
2. anaerobic reactions accumulate faster. you will see large bubbles of air coming out, as soon as 3 months. these are sulphur dioxide. too much of it is dangerous to tank occupants.
3. really a pain to uproot plants. make sure you have plants which have thin root systems. HC works pretty well. if have large root system plants, make sure you place them in right and not move them too often. moving them will stir the soil and release ammonia and ammonium into the water.. not good.