Expert Planted Tank Substrate Suggestion

[Leopardess]

I have to agree with what's been said. There have been so many technical advances, so many new products. Also, I wouldn't go to an optometrist if I were having ear problems....just like being a fish "expert" doesn't qualify anyone to be a plant expert. I mean, you said it yourself:

I don't think it's necessary for me to explain Dr. Axelrod's qualifications for being an expert on fish care....director of Tropical Fish Hobbyist. He also has several species of fish named after him.

I appreciate that you were trying to help out with a method you thought was great...how else would anyone learn anything. But it's generally accepted that all those steps are not necessary. Of course, ADA has a whole line out of different substrate layers and additives, many of which seem to work and some of which no one can seem to say exactly what, if anything, they do. That said, plain old flourite, ecocomplete, onyx sand, etc. works well.

 

[beviking]

On using potting soil...just an IME, I used it to set up spare tanks for clippings. I would put "X" number of handfuls in a 5 gal bucket and add water to let it soak for a week. Change the water a couple times (scoop all those white balls out) and THEN use it to coat the bottom of a tank with a couple inches of regular gravel over it. To use it right from the bag would rot anything planted in it...IME.
Another idea is let the mulm you squeeze out of your filter settle in the bucket of water. Carefully drain the water off several times after letting it settle and let the final bit of water evaporate. Now you'll have solid mulm.
Peat is recommended (and easier too!!!) for doing the same thing.

Wasn't layering the "way to go" if you were setting up tanks long term? I personally can't leave a tank alone for more than 2 years without major changes...not to mention (as already mentioned) the uprooting/dividing of established plants. Regular gravel over Onyx sand is about as complicated as I get.

 

[RTR]

LOL! My tanks are nominally set for a minimum 10 year span. Not all of them make it that long, as I want to reset for this or that reason, but I set for ten, and an at least equal number to those redone early go substantially longer than ten years. I have some pushing 20 years (the last time we moved).

Layer substrates would be ancient history in such tanks, but I charge the bottom layer of any new setup with re-cycled mulm as beviling suggests, plus just a dusting of peat moss. That is just for start-up, it has little long term impact.

beviking's presoak of potting soil or "real" soil is called "mineralization" and is IME very important for those using such materials. That presoak/mineralization allows bacteria and fungi to digest all/most of the organics present, converting them to their inorganic (i.e., mineral) components. That is a huge improvement in the access of the plant roots to those minerals, plus it avoids the ramapant bacterial/fungal digestion in the tank which can easily lead to the plants themselves rotting - as he reported. In terrestrial terms, plants do well with finished compost added to their soil, but a new or immature compost pile may not be the best place to grow them.

 

[Coulter]

Thanks for the responses, I was frustrated at one or two posts in particular, but that doesn't matter much.

I've just had good luck with this method, and to me it seems less complicated, partly because I'm just use to it for so long now, and partly because I don't have to worry about all these different chemicals, as FloraPride is all that I've ever needed to add.

And I do see how my post could have came off as ... dictatorial maybe? It wasn't intended like that. Just thought I'd share some information that was shared with me from a prominent figure in the fish hobby.

I guess like they say, you can't teach an old dog new tricks, which is probably why I still make webpages using simple ole notepad and type the code in myself. I'm sure frontpage or some other program works just fine, but notepad was the way I was taught, and it's the way I still use. Just stubbornness I guess.