Underwurlde
Always look on the bright side of life..
Need some help / reassurances here.
I've been intreagued by the use of 'soil' as a substrate in planted tanks and as a result I would like to give it a try using a Diana Walstad 'El Natural' / Tom Barr mimimal EI dosing with Excel.
These type of setups depend on setting up a 'soil' substrate so I have put a lot of effort into trying to establish exactly what this is.
So far my basic soil substrate will consist of an equal measure of soil (literally dug up from my back garden), Westland John Innes No.2 Potting On Compost and coarse rounded sand (KelKay Horticultural Grit Sand - cleaned).
Q) Feedback on this mix please.
Now at the mo, I have a test sample of this soaking in a pot in my garage. And yes, it is literally just muddy water so I am VERY concerned at putting this any where near my tank (of course, it will be convered by 1" of sand, but you should see it, not encouraging at all!).
Q) How muddy do soil substrate tanks get!?
Anyway, something I couldn't quite figure out was the business of leeching chemicals out of this 'soil' substrate before using it in a tank (with fish).
Q) Some say to soak it for 6 weeks, others to boil it for 15 mins. I would of course prefer to boil it, but would doing so remove some 'goodness' or is a good idea as it will kill any nasties lurking therein?
I guess what I am seeking is a reassurance that this is indeed a good idea. I am not entirely enamoured with this idea of bunging just any old soil in my tank, but this whole idea, when I first came across it, just made sense to me and I have been itching to try it ever since!
TIA,
Andy
I've been intreagued by the use of 'soil' as a substrate in planted tanks and as a result I would like to give it a try using a Diana Walstad 'El Natural' / Tom Barr mimimal EI dosing with Excel.
These type of setups depend on setting up a 'soil' substrate so I have put a lot of effort into trying to establish exactly what this is.
So far my basic soil substrate will consist of an equal measure of soil (literally dug up from my back garden), Westland John Innes No.2 Potting On Compost and coarse rounded sand (KelKay Horticultural Grit Sand - cleaned).
Q) Feedback on this mix please.
Now at the mo, I have a test sample of this soaking in a pot in my garage. And yes, it is literally just muddy water so I am VERY concerned at putting this any where near my tank (of course, it will be convered by 1" of sand, but you should see it, not encouraging at all!).
Q) How muddy do soil substrate tanks get!?
Anyway, something I couldn't quite figure out was the business of leeching chemicals out of this 'soil' substrate before using it in a tank (with fish).
Q) Some say to soak it for 6 weeks, others to boil it for 15 mins. I would of course prefer to boil it, but would doing so remove some 'goodness' or is a good idea as it will kill any nasties lurking therein?
I guess what I am seeking is a reassurance that this is indeed a good idea. I am not entirely enamoured with this idea of bunging just any old soil in my tank, but this whole idea, when I first came across it, just made sense to me and I have been itching to try it ever since!
TIA,
Andy