Dirted 55 and 20 gallon

ErnieG

ErnieG

Members
The 55 is dirted with peat moss and organic topsoil, the 20 is not dirted. I'm using regular lights that would come with your standard 55 gallon hood, the water is tan because of the driftwood and dirt.
 
ErnieG

ErnieG

Members
Dirted 55 gallon update

Just showing the growth of the 55 gallon dirted tank, no co2 or dosing just dirt and light.

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Hannibal

Hannibal

Members
Do you think you could post up how you do these please? Do you just buy the organic top soil and cap it with sand?

I was doing some searching on the Google machine and came across a bunch of different ways. I was just curious how you do yours.
 
ErnieG

ErnieG

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Hannibal said:
Do you think you could post up how you do these please? Do you just buy the organic top soil and cap it with sand?

I was doing some searching on the Google machine and came across a bunch of different ways. I was just curious how you do yours.
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I use because it looks better to me but if you want to use gravel go with a small grain size. I use organic soil because it has all the natural ingredients that you need for growing plants in general, plus a lot of the other stuff isn't aquarium safe. I place a 1"-1.5" of organic soil in the tank and I spread it out evenly, I then take a water bottle and spray water on the soil to get it presoaked. Next I cap with pool filtered sand but you can use gravel, the best way to cap your dirt is to start but capping the sides and then work your way to the middle. In other words just cap the perimeter of the tank then you cap the middle, this way there is no chance the your dirt will come up. I then fill the tank up with water and let it seat for a day, I do 90% water changes everyday 4 days straight to get the very heavy tannins out of the water. After this is done I plant my tank and I add my old filter media, bottled bacteria, and a guppy or danio to cycle the tank. After that your done and your tank should fully cycle in a day or so, you can also plant your tank right after you cap you the dirt and do your 4 90% water changes while planted I just chose not to. And a side note, some plants melt in a newly dirted tank such as crypts, dwarf sage, and ludwigia. They will return but it better to add those plants when the tank establish its self, good luck guys and I hope this was helpful. I help anyone that is interested.
 
Hannibal

Hannibal

Members
Thanks man! I think I am going to give this a try when I get some time. I will be sure to post up some pictures.
 
Becca

Becca

Members
Hannibal said:
Thanks man! I think I am going to give this a try when I get some time. I will be sure to post up some pictures.
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Ditto! I had considered doing a mineralized soil bed at one point, but there's all this "wet the soil, dry the soil, mix in some stuff, wet it, dry it, etc." stuff that is a lot of busy work.

This looks much simpler and you seem to get great results.
 
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