Has anybody ever tried.....

[jdheff1982]

Using dirt/mud for a substrate instead of gravle or sand??? Just a curious. I just thought it would be neat to use something like dirt instead.

Ciao!

 

[Drakerizzo]

IMHO it would probably kick-up a great deal of substrate during cleaning/water changes. I would also be weary of diseases or other contaminants that I could introduce into the tank.

 

[Glenstorm]

The more compact/dense the substrate the more you have to worry about build up of gas pockets in the substrate. These pockets would be caused by decaying biomass and could have methane and other types of not so nice chemicals. If these pockets were disturbed or released into the tank they could kill your fish.

 

[Captain Hook]

I recently saw an interesting tank that used about 3 inches of organic soil covered with 1 1/2 inches of flourite. The guy said he puts blackworms in to move the dirt a bit. Also heavily plants so no anerobic pockets build up.

 

[Mako]

heavily planted tanks with *calm* sedate fish, like angels or small tetras can get away with this. If you're interested in something like this I'd recommend buying "laterite", a substance sold in many pet shops that is basically compacted red clay. I've used it and mixed with with similarly colored fine gravel as the bottom half of the substrate, covered by 100% of the same color/size gravel.

I use washed beach sand (collected myself from SC beaches) in my 55 gallon, but I only keep freshwater fish that like the higher pH that beach sand will cause. It's very compacted and I only use 1 inch to cover the bottom.

 

[RTR]

Lots of folks use soil mixes in their substrates. Lots of folks hate soil mixes for substrates. Some folks (don't ask how I know) have even had H2S problems from soil substrates.

I use Flourite, or gravel/laterite blends.