Soil in tank?

red_wall

red_wall

Whoosh! feel the onomatopoeia
Jun 15, 2008
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SE Georgia
So people buy dirt + minerals for $20+ a bag right?

Well.

I can't help but notice I have a lot of FREE dirt and minerals lying... well, all over the world.

Would soil from outside, or from a local body of water be good to use in a tank?

I know I would have to make sure that there are no fertilizers and what-not in it, but would it contain all the nutrients and goodies for my plants?

Would it be a hassle to handle?

I have never used any specially made soil for the aquarium, or soil from outside, I've just had rocks in there, and I'm looking for a change - a nice FREE change :]

Basically asking:
Any downsides to using soil-y stuff from outside?
 
Soil from a lake or other water body would have a lot of potential critters and harmful stuff ... I can vouch just getting plants from a local lake I got Leeches, plant worms and Damsel fly larvae in one tank.

Soil from the yard could also have a lot of palnt debris that you may not see and other things that could cause a wild swing in PH or large amounts of ammonia output even over a long time.

You would be better off using stuff like the mineralized topsoil plan or just good old play sand from your local hardware store.
 
jmhart said:
Mineralized Soil Substrates:

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/...-mineralized-soil-substrate-aaron-talbot.html
Click to expand...

Ahhhh, thanks :] Really helpful!


Sounguru said:
Soil from a lake or other water body would have a lot of potential critters and harmful stuff ... I can vouch just getting plants from a local lake I got Leeches, plant worms and Damsel fly larvae in one tank.

Soil from the yard could also have a lot of palnt debris that you may not see and other things that could cause a wild swing in PH or large amounts of ammonia output even over a long time.

You would be better off using stuff like the mineralized topsoil plan or just good old play sand from your local hardware store.
Click to expand...

Ah, I see your point.

Do you think that boiling the soil (I know itt'l take a long time) will help in control of the critter eggs? I will probably go and get some cheap topsoil or something (if I do it), but Theres still the chance of all that nastyness.
 
I have never had a problem with store bought because most of the time they clean and sterilize it for ya.
 
I just spent this past quarter studying... drum roll.... soil science.

So since I passed the class I will regurgitate some of the information back to you.

First off soils all different. They have different parent sources, mineral composition, pH, organic matter, particle sizes and nutrient composition (one test questions answer).If everyone went out back and dug some soil out of there yard we would all have different results in their tanks. People use prefabricated mediums for better predictability.

I did read that link that jmhart posted and it was quite interesting. He did use the wrong type of clay as in middle layer. Kaolinite (pottery clay) holds the least amount of nutrients of all the clay minerals. Montmorillonite clay or any other of the smectite family have a much higher capacity for storing nutrients based upon the CEC (Cation Exchange Capacity - another test question).

When he put the topsoil outside and "mineralized" it he was simply allowing for the microorganisms to use up some of the free organic material. Since he started with a relatively clean original sample it didn't take long. Some soils could take years to stop smelling (if ever). BTW only try to do this if it is 70-80 degrees outside. This is the optimum temperature for most soil microbe (another test question).

As for the mixing instructions. In essence the poster created a sandy clay loam class of soil. This is a mixture of clay (very small particles), silt (small particles) and sand in a certain percentage. There are places were this is what the soil found outside is like for example Southern GA and Northern FL. While there are othe places like my backyard that is 85% smectite clay (need pickaxe to plant a rose and if I let it dry out it will crack the foundation).

So in answer to your question of "Can I just use the dirt in my backyard?" Since you live in GA the answer is a definate maybe. Try it and find out is the only way to know for sure.

You still may have to dose ferts for the plants depending on the nutrient in the soil. Often micro or even macro nutrients are missing in soils.
 
And do forget you have to cap the soil with sand or gravel, to prevent a mess.
 
Gosh this thread rocks.:cool-1: If there was a "substrate" sub-forum, this'd be stickied.
 
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