dirt

After a look at thread Here, I thought it might be nice to have a discussion about just dirt since dirted tanks have such a mix of understanding and experiences. I am not a soil scientist, but I have taken Soil Science and could play one on TV. My first round of undergrad was Horticulture...

Hi all it’s been a while but I’m glad to be back. Anyway as the title says I am setting up my first dirted tank and have a couple questions. Firstly, how do I know which soil is safe, I’ve heard organic topsoil is best but I’m scared I’m going to put something toxic in my tank? I’m also very...

I'm doing a fishless cycle of a dirted tank. The filter is cycled and has been going for over a year. Since I set up the tank more of this slimy tendrily stuff has appeared. On closer inspection under the microscope it turned out to be bacteria and infusoria. Anyone knows about this?

Just wanted to share a few pics of my first aquarium.. 3 ft tank 9 Harlequins 8 Corys 4 Bristlenose 15 Neons 3 Dwarf Gouramis 3 guppies (newest addition, why not).. and about 6 or so plant species.. What do we think ? :) I'm super happy for my first tank. It's about 8 months old now.

I plan on switching my substrate from sand to dirted, due to the fact I am not seeing any really good growth in my plants even though I use osmocote ferts. I'm going to use soil from the forest in my backyard (which is chemical free) I'm pretty sure the soil will be adaquete for plant growth...

I will be updating this guide multiple times. This is the first section that I have created and the second sections will be coming soon, as soon as I get hardscape and stuff to set it up and plant it. Hey everyone, I have mentioned that sometime in the future I would make a dirted tank guide...

I have a 10 gallon tank I am currently using to house my spare plants because my current 20g is too filled with plants. I have a little bit of seachem flourite left over from when I made my 20g and on top of that is a lot of sand. I regret using the sand now and plan on replacing it with some...

Hi everyone, I thought I'd post a few pics of my Aquastart 500 planted tank on here, mainly because of the dearth of information on the web regarding these tanks. Specifically, whether a planted setup would indeed be viable given their 'unique' lighting system. These reasons almost put me off...

Time to kick things off, now I've got plenty of free time I want to convert my Juwel Rio240 into a dirted tank. I'll be using Organic Miracle Gro potting mix.   - First Question is it necessary to have much capping, ex if I used 4 inches of dirt do I have to have 4 inches of gravel capping it or...

I am setting up a 55 gallon amazon themed, planted, dirted, generally awesome tank as soon as this semester is over. I have 5 angels that I have been raising for 4 months, and their bodies are silver dollar sized so it's time for my first "big" tank. I've been doing low tech planted tanks for a...