Substrate question.

[jptjpt]

Have you read A. Talbot's article on mineralized topsoil? If not, here's the link:
http://gwapa.org/wordpress/articles/mineralized-soil-substrate/
I have a 55G, a 2.5G and a 6.6G all set up w/mineralized topsoil, very close to the instructions given in the article. The 55G will be a year old at the end of this coming October. I do run pressurized CO2 in the 55G, but not in the other tanks. The only fertz I have had to put in the 55G so far have been 5 DIY root tabs which were made according to what was posted here at AC by Riiz. I have 2 x 55W PC AHSupply retrofit to an old 48" Perfecto hood on the tank. The plants are growing well in all of the tanks, and I've gotten it to a point where I can enjoy the plants/fish w/o going crazy w/fertz and trimming schedule. I have at least 6 bags of Eco-complete laying around because I have switched over to mineralized topsoil. If you still want to go for it after reading the article, PM me, I can give you details on where to get all of the needed materials.

 

[DeeDeeK]

just use sand. If you want to go cheap, buy yourself some play sand and you will have no issues.

I've read that play sand is too fine and packs down too much. I'm totally open to the idea that it works just fine, though. Just thought I'd bring it up.

I use this river sand they sell at my LFS, pre-washed, with nice large-ish rounded grains - it allows oxygen to penetrate relatively deep into the substrate but not two inches most likely. You may want to top the topsoil with a thinner layer of river sand or consider fine gravel.

You definitely can successfully use soil!

 

[FasterShrimpo]

just use sand. If you want to go cheap, buy yourself some play sand and you will have no issues.

I use play sand in my 10G and it's pretty good too. No problems so far, except it's kinda hard to distinguish poop from sand.

And I will be doing a thread about my 20 with the topsoil soon, when I set it up, about this weekend or so.

 

[FSM]

Pool filter sand is a good alternative to play sand. Larger grain size and cleaner.

 

[Signus]

When you set up, plant a full tank. No scrimping on the amount of plants. Algae issues are often caused by a lack of macrohytes and nutrients.

You can find testimony and support for this on the Estimative Index method.