Aquarium Soil

[Jazzzz]

I bought 5L of pond plant compost for £3 which claims to be pond safe. Is there any reason I carn't use it in a 6 gallon tank once bioled. instead of the £20 aquarium stuff

 

[Truck]

it doesnt need boiling and its totally safe

 

[Jazzzz]

Good as its 1/4 the price of aquarium soil
they did 20L sacks I noticed as well

 

[JenCliBee]

I bought 5L of pond plant compost for £3 which claims to be pond safe. Is there any reason I carn't use it in a 6 gallon tank once bioled. instead of the £20 aquarium stuff

Is this stuff as good as the likes of eco complete and flourite tho?

 

[Truck]

I bought 5L of pond plant compost for £3 which claims to be pond safe. Is there any reason I carn't use it in a 6 gallon tank once bioled. instead of the £20 aquarium stuff

Is this stuff as good as the likes of eco complete and flourite tho?

yep its all good stuff, its organic so its loaded with NPK+traces

 

[JenCliBee]

I bought 5L of pond plant compost for £3 which claims to be pond safe. Is there any reason I carn't use it in a 6 gallon tank once bioled. instead of the £20 aquarium stuff

Is this stuff as good as the likes of eco complete and flourite tho?

yep its all good stuff, its organic so its loaded with NPK+traces

So if this is just as good why do people go mad for eco complete and that sort of stuff? lol.

Think i may have a look around now for this stuff instead lol .

Cheers jazzzz

 

[Truck]

I bought 5L of pond plant compost for £3 which claims to be pond safe. Is there any reason I carn't use it in a 6 gallon tank once bioled. instead of the £20 aquarium stuff

Is this stuff as good as the likes of eco complete and flourite tho?

yep its all good stuff, its organic so its loaded with NPK+traces

So if this is just as good why do people go mad for eco complete and that sort of stuff? lol.

Think i may have a look around now for this stuff instead lol .

Cheers jazzzz

because its more readily available, andy (super coley) used aquatic soil i believe in one of his scapes

 

[JenCliBee]

because its more readily available, andy (super coley) used aquatic soil i believe in one of his scapes

Sounds good to me,

Looks like it's a visit round a few garden centres the weekend then lol .

One more thing and this may sound stupid lol, but wouldnt soil discolour the water?.... as in make it dirty brown?..... or would this clear in time with floss in filters?.


Sorry OP for high jacking your thread lol but saves starting a new one if this is about the same stuff

 

[Honeythorn]

I have pond soil under the sand in my 30 gal. Plants grow very well in it, but it is a little annoying when you get little lumps of compacted dirt come to the top but I just net those out.

I wuld say the only downside is uprooting or moving plants around. Try not to if you can help it. That does cause dirt blooms which murks up the water a bit, but the filter clears it.

 

[JenCliBee]

I have pond soil under the sand in my 30 gal. Plants grow very well in it, but it is a little annoying when you get little lumps of compacted dirt come to the top but I just net those out.

I wuld say the only downside is uprooting or moving plants around. Try not to if you can help it. That does cause dirt blooms which murks up the water a bit, but the filter clears it.

Thanks for info hun, it's for a shrimp tank and i will probably put black gravel or sand on top but i may leave it as just the soil we will see lol.

Just need to find a place thats ells it now

 

[OldMan47]

I have a tank with ordinary potting soil under a sand cap. It works great and makes the plants grow well without me adding any fertilizers to the water. The sand over the top of the soils keeps everything in place but makes it impossible to deep clean. The plants roots go right into the soil and the sand just gets put back over the top after planting is done.

 

[JenCliBee]

I have a tank with ordinary potting soil under a sand cap. It works great and makes the plants grow well without me adding any fertilizers to the water. The sand over the top of the soils keeps everything in place but makes it impossible to deep clean. The plants roots go right into the soil and the sand just gets put back over the top after planting is done.

Cheers oldman.

The sand/gravel will probably be put on last so all planting hopefully will be done before hand, hopefully this way it will make it much tidier for me to work with lol ( fingers crossed). Any other plants etc after will be done carefully not to disrumpt to much.

Planning on using CO2 ... just a cheap and cheerful nutrafin one just to see how it goes, tank is 40l and the CO2 states upto 20 gal so should be ok hopefully .

First semi planted attempt so we will see how it goes , hopefully well enough.

Another quick question the light built into the hood is an apparent 18w compact light the tank is 40l/10gal i think so this should be enough light, yes?

Thankyou all for the info so far

jen

 

[OldMan47]

18 watts over 10 gallons should be enough to support low light plants. CO2 can be useful in keeping algae at bay in a planted tank. In a natural type tank, the fish food provides all the fertility you need as long as you don't get carried away with high light. I found that I was best putting the sand over the top of the soil before adding water, otherwise the potting soils will try to float and make the water muddy. The sand cover kept the muddy effect to a minimum.

 

[JenCliBee]

18 watts over 10 gallons should be enough to support low light plants. CO2 can be useful in keeping algae at bay in a planted tank. In a natural type tank, the fish food provides all the fertility you need as long as you don't get carried away with high light. I found that I was best putting the sand over the top of the soil before adding water, otherwise the potting soils will try to float and make the water muddy. The sand cover kept the muddy effect to a minimum.

I cant fit anymore light into the hood becasue its a sealed unit so it will stay at the 18 watt.

It's never gonna be a very hightec planted tank, i just want it to look nice and be suitable for the shrimp and snails so somethink very mossy but effective ill be looking at, well thats the plan. The nutrafin CO2 is literally cheap and chearful at about £15 and its a yeast one if that makes sense? so no harm in trying for that sort of price.

Cheers for the heads up on the sand before adding water, never thought about the soil trying to rise .