Garden Soil as base fert ?

[nleong]

Ok, I have cleared my tank and think will be ready to be back to FW again in the next 2 weeks..

I know I probably can get all I need from NA. But I have heard there are people who use garden soil as base ? Any disadvanatage or advantage on this ?

[juggler]

There's info from:

http://home.infinet.net/teban/how-to.html
http://home.infinet.net/teban/substrat.htm
http://home.infinet.net/teban/soil.precautions.html

There's more if you can get hold of Diana Walstad's book "Ecology of the Planted Aquarium". Copies are available in our National Library.
See her setups at http://www.aquabotanic.com/diana_walstad_gallery.htm

Personally I have used soil (cocopeat) alone or mixed with fertilisers like JBL.
You can do a search for "cocopeat" or "soil" to find out the discussions we had in the past.

good luck!

[ah^siao]

garden soil is not advisable as you do not know wad are the contents inside it. like how much iron and stuff

[bclee]

garden soil is not advisable as you do not know wad are the contents inside it. like how much iron and stuff

Soil can be used in aquariums, especially for low-tech tank that do not use CO2 injection. Quite a number of us are using potting mixes as substrates and have quite good results. I have 2 tanks that contains potting mixes (mainly soil+peat).

Soil mixes (garden soil or potting soil) are generally much cheaper than aquarium base ferts, for example Florabella Potting Mix: $3 per 3L pack, J Arther Bower's Aquatic Compost: $6 per 6L pack/$15 per 25L pack.

These soil mixes usually contain: grit/sand, organic matter (peat or/and other stuff), fertilisers, and other stuff like vermiculite or perlite.

However, due to different contents, results can be mixed. Some mixes that have been used by forumers here are: J Arthur Bower's Aquatic Compost, Horti Moss, Cocopeat, Florabella (I used it but I have a bit of problem with water staining).

Do a bit of read up on sites that KF (juggler) has posted. They are quite helpful.

BC

[vinz]

I've used the aquatic compost listed by BC. Search the forum, I've posted about it before.