Organic Soil Aquariums

[lefty o]

im not a dirted tank person, but it is always good to see and enjoy other ways of doing something.

[YeePuffer]

I started my first give gallon aquarium with 0.5" dirt and a 1.5" gravel cap. It worked fairly well and I didn't have issues for a while, however I started to notice pinholes in my plants eight months after. I wanted to change my aquarium anyway so this time I placed a 0.25" of new dirt (same brand, don't remember) with about 1,75'' of decorative sand. There was an issue with the dirt coming up above the cap as gravel vacuuming and water changes mixed the sand and soil together, and then several months later the same issue appeared in my plants. Using root tabs fixed the issue.

The best option for newbies in my experience would be just to use gravel or sand with root tabs. Easy to setup, no worries about things mixing and harming the look of the aquarium. Careful with some sands though, as if they're too fine it can harm root development. 

[Streetwise]

There are many threads for choosing substrate. I think this thread is good to talk about details for how different folks run with organic soil.

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

I tried a Father Fish style organic soil build with my 11 g bowl aquarium - 1” of the Father Fish recipe and then crushed coral, some gravel and mostly flourite sand as the cap at about 1.5”. Unfortunately, I used more sand then coral/gravel as a cap because I had more on hand. I think it compacted in some areas and I had gas trapped and then released which turned into a disaster for the livestock. Also the taper of the bowl may have been an issue as well. That then released some sort of livebearer Illness - It’s all theory and supposition at this point.  

I think my next build I'm going to use an organic aquatic planting mix made for pond plants I have leftover from my ponds and a mix of sand, crushed coral and gravel from prior builds as the cap more in equal parts this time.  I have a 10 g and I'm thinking this will be my plant storage and grow out tank. When I have my next week off after my next hospital week I’ll do the build out. 

One other thing I’ve been doing with some of my new builds since my last couple disasters is using lava rock under the substrates as a way to bulk up aquasoil and mixed substrates creating hopefully a place for aerobic on the outside and anaerobic bacteria on the inside of the stones helping keep the tanks more stable long term. Also it’s got a high CEC so should help collect nutrients for the plant roots. I have it on top of some laterite in my sons new 20 g long. I also used it in my new shrimp tank build recycling the eco-complete, crushed coral and gravel that was in the tank previous and giving me the height I wanted to create. We’ll see how it all goes.   

[JoeQ]

Reviving this thread from the dead for my future project. Are there any other tips people recommend for doing a Walsted tank other than worm castings and a barrier between substrates? I'd also be interested in knowing the amount of people who didn't soak their soil and had a mess/success, versus the ones who did and had success or a mess.

Edited October 18, 2023 by JoeQ