Diana Walstad tank method question

You can bring in many unwanted micro- organisms with your driveway dirt as well as larval forms of certain creatures that are justs waiting for the right conditions to hatch. I personally wouldn't risk it .

Whatever you decide to do it sounds interesting and I would love to see the finished project or some updates on how you progress as I have not used this method my self and am curious how it works out for you.

Good Luck!!
 
huffmagx said:
You can bring in many unwanted micro- organisms with your driveway dirt as well as larval forms of certain creatures that are justs waiting for the right conditions to hatch. I personally wouldn't risk it .

Whatever you decide to do it sounds interesting and I would love to see the finished project or some updates on how you progress as I have not used this method my self and am curious how it works out for you.

Good Luck!!
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I bet you can bring in just as many unwanted microorganisms in a bag of potting soil.
 
jschall said:
I bet you can bring in just as many unwanted microorganisms in a bag of potting soil.
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I also doubt that "Aquarium Gravel" is sterile either. But less likely to have chemical threats as driveway stone would.

Your driveway stone is also likely to have petroleum contaminates.

Unless you are willing to bleach/ammonia/boil it pass on the idea. If I use rock from the local environment I bleach it for a couple days, let it dry, and then bake it in oven. It works and is alot of work.
 
I'm gonna add another reason not to use it from your yard. CATS. I once used sand that a friend had bagged, but stored outside. for 2 week I was like "what's that smell?" the fish were fine, but once the heat and the water mixed with the 'soiled' substrate for a few days, my whole apartment spelled like cat pee!! granted that was sand, not dirt, but animals pee on dirt too.

NOT worth it. spend the $3.95 and get some good old organic potting soil.
 
Plain washed gravel, ferts, trace elements and flourish excel. Excellent results, not the mess of dirt! The single most important thing in a planted tank is the right light. Period. Then ferts and trace elements.
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No offense or anything intended but have you ever looked up the Diana Walstad method and done any reading on it? There's a reason this method uses dirt instead of gravel.
 
I bet you can bring in just as many unwanted microorganisms in a bag of potting soil.
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I'm going to pour boiling water on it. I do the same thing when I germinate seeds and need a sterile growing medium. It works well and is easy.
 
I am not offended in the least, however, I have always, always, always had excellent results without any soil for over 18 years now. There are people who love to use soil and have excellent results as well. Although, when it comes time to re-vamp the entire layout and pull things out and move things around... gravel would be much less messy. Click on the link below to see my tanks, then you will understand.

Maybe you would do better convincing the aquaculture farmers of that method. ;)
 
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They look great! But I still want to try the soil method. I like the fact that I won't have to put the gravel vac into it. I don't think I'm going to be digging things up and moving them around much anyways. If I do, I'll probably just lift the whole thing out, which will probably be a mat of roots by then, and cut it into sections.

In your last pic, what's that ruffly looking light green plant towards the top of the aquarium?
 
Boiling water on it should be fine. I guarantee you the potting/topsoil comes from conditions just as favorable as your yard. Do a search for topsoil production and you won't find one indoor, sterile operation. It's all dirt and compost (which is a by-product of microbes) mixed together outside, left there for lengthy periods of time while it gets defecated on by several organisms, thrown in bags by people who don't wash their hands, stacked on pallets that have been chemically treated, loaded onto a truck which takes over countless roads filled with pollutants, then delivered to a store which stores it both outside and usually next to a busy road with a drainage ditch which will probably get sprayed for mosquitoes more frequently than your average residential neighborhood. Now which one do you want to boil?

The real issue is whether or not your soil has enough organic material in it to be initially beneficial in an El Natural tank.
 
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