will my backyard soil be good as gravel..
I am from India and have soil in my backyard which matches the description of laterite very well. I also asked the Geology professor (as i am not so good at geology myself) at my college and came to know that it is high in iron content and all, he said that it is not exactly laterite but very similar.
here is a pic of pebbles from my backyard..
after washing and drying..
A picture of soil just few yards from my house..
please advice if i should use it as gravel for my planted aquarium, or finer soil as a thin bottom layer and the pebbles as the top layer..
Don't be afraid of my duck!
Maybe you could try placing some of the soil in a pitcher of water for a few days to see if they remain intact or fall apart.... but I would think your idea of using the finer soil as a lower layer topped with pebbles sounds fine.... of course you could start off with an experimental small tank to see how plants/fish respond to it.
I'd go with the soil as a lower layer and topped off with another gravel too.
ok, i researched a lot and now it's official that it's pure 'laterite' high in oxides of Iron and Aluminium. My professor conformed it today, he called someone in the 'Geological survey of India' office here and they conformed it.
Now as far as i've read, Laterite is a good substrate for growing plants in aquariums, isn't it? I'll try to get some fine soil from 2-3mtrs deep from some construction site nearby, it will be comparatively free of impurities.
Can i use a layer of river sand (about 1 cm) to prevent the water from clouding? or will that result in anaerobic conditions??
Any advice are welcome..
Don't be afraid of my duck!
I think a 1 cm layer of sand would easily get mixed up with the laterite, so unless you want the sand for aethestic purposes, I'd forget it. Test the laterite in a jar to see if it causes permanent or merely temporary clouding. If you think the substrate will pack too tightly, mix in some pebbly gravel when using it in a tank.
Thank you budak. i'll test the soil in a jar rightaway..
I found some interesting things about laterite in this region. laterite here is formed by the action of high rainfall and elevated temperatures. The percolating rain water causes dissolution of primary rock minerals and decrease of easily soluble elements as sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium and silicium (no toxic solutes). This gives rise to a residual concentration of more insoluble elements predominantly iron and aluminium. (good for aquatic plants).
laterites here mainly consist of minirals kaolinite, geothite, haematite and gibbsite. it also contains quartz. and as far as i know it seems pretty safe as aquarium substrate..
Last edited by Harsh; 12th Mar 2006 at 20:53.
it's been a while since i put water in the jar and the water now is quite clear, justa bit foggy nothing a 50% water change will not clear up..
i'll be using this as a substrate for my new 4x2x2 (feet) planted, discus tank.
Wow... Free substrate! Right behind your doorstep...
furry plant grower
Actually, the reddish earth in Singapore is also lateritic. Those who have served National Service in Lim Chu Kang area know perfectly well what I mean.Originally Posted by valice
In fact laterite is everywhere if you dig below our topsoil. Contractors dug up the field in front of my house in Hougang, and below the layer of topsoil is clayey laterite.
It's so common, but just that we don't use it fearing we'd introduce some unwanted disease from the soil into our tanks. I've been thinking of microwaving it to disinfect then using it as basefert for some time.
If only I can summon enough impetus to propel this body of mine into motion.
Warm regards,
Lawrence Lee
brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.
Philippians 4:8
The other consideration would be chemicals in the soil. I suggest that you should try having some cheap feeder fish or something like that in the tank with the soil before introducing your main objective. You never know things like weed killer could exist in the soil.
Just a suggestion
@gaspinggurami
microwaving for semi sterilizations seems like a good idea. have you tried it before?
@cheetf
I added a few feeder guppies to the jar yesterday and they seem to be doing fine, let's see for another couple of days.
thanks for the suggestion.
furry plant grower
no, I'm not confident I can convince the powers that be to allow me to put dirt into her microwave oven
OTOH, sterilising the soil also means killing off some of the beneficial bacteria
Warm regards,
Lawrence Lee
brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.
Philippians 4:8
you might want to try boiling and then sun-drying the stuff.
the bacteria can be "regrown" by adding mulm from an old tank.
mix the laterite with larger grain pebbles, about 1 to 2 cm.
i feel the gravel layer over this should be 2in.
when you replant large root system plants the clay has a tendency to get pulled up too.
so you need to time it with your waterchange regime.
celticfish
It is a good day to die!!!
I finally uploaded an avatar and Cupid is dead!!!
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