Does Anyone Use Soil As Substrate

[merlinblack]

Hi folks,

I've bought a book called the ecology of the planted aquarium. I've only read the first couple of chapters (out of 11 chapters) and it goes into a lot of the science behind growing plants and the benefits they have.
It talks about the low tech approach and says soil (from the garden) should be used in the substrate.

Has anyone tried using garden or any other soil and how did it go?

 

[always4lora]

I'm going to keep an eye on this topic as it's something i was thinking about not to long ago...

 

[aly_starh]

From what i have gathered, if its not done properly then the tank will end up in a big mess. And also its top soil that needs to be used, not any ordinary soil.

 

[merlinblack]

From what i have gathered, if its not done properly then the tank will end up in a big mess. And also its top soil that needs to be used, not any ordinary soil.

I can imagine it could easily make a mess.

 

[merlinblack]

From what i have gathered, if its not done properly then the tank will end up in a big mess. And also its top soil that needs to be used, not any ordinary soil.

I can imagine it could easily make a mess.

bump

 

[merlinblack]

From what i have gathered, if its not done properly then the tank will end up in a big mess. And also its top soil that needs to be used, not any ordinary soil.

I can imagine it could easily make a mess.

bump

well I've planted some amazon swords in 6" plant pots with about 2" organic miracle grow compost & 2" or fluorite gravel on top and only got a tiny whisp of cloudy water come off them when I placed them in the tank which cleared up straight away.
The plants have already grown a few new leaves after a weekt so looking good so far. My lighting isnt the most powerfuil for the tank size, its a 5x2x2 so quite a bit of depth and has floating plants on top so looking good so far considering.

 

[Truck]

Some compost in a tank makes a good substrate, providing you fill with air line really slowly, keeping disturbance to a minimum it should be fine.