Dirted Tank - Best Advice, Resources, etc?

[Miranda Marie]

In a few months, I'm going to upgrade my 20g long to a 29 gallon and am researching the possibility of doing a dirted tank. Right now, root tabs are eating me out of house and home (for some reason, rooted plants grow much, much better in my hard water...) and I'm hoping doing a thin soil layer beneath a nice cap of sand or gravel might help mitigate the cost for a while. That said, I'm going to be doing a ton of research and slowly buying things for the new scape/tank over the winter, and would love some advice or resources that any of you have used before!

Thanks in advance, and happy Almost-New-Year!

[JoeQ]

On 12/27/2023 at 5:51 PM, Miranda Marie said:

In a few months, I'm going to upgrade my 20g long to a 29 gallon and am researching the possibility of doing a dirted tank. Right now, root tabs are eating me out of house and home (for some reason, rooted plants grow much, much better in my hard water...) and I'm hoping doing a thin soil layer beneath a nice cap of sand or gravel might help mitigate the cost for a while. That said, I'm going to be doing a ton of research and slowly buying things for the new scape/tank over the winter, and would love some advice or resources that any of you have used before!

Thanks in advance, and happy Almost-New-Year!

I was in the same boat a few months back of attempting to do a dirted tank which sounded really simple. As I looked into it I realized that the dirt will eventually need to be 'recharged'. I then set plants in pots some in dirt, some in aquasoil. To my surprise in my small unscientific 'experiment' the aquasoil plant(s) grew far better than the dirted plant(s) . This alone swayed my decision away from dirt, in favor of aquasoil. Especially considering dirt seems cheaper to start but more aggravating & labor intensive in the long run. Just for the sake of "bragging rights". I might still do a smaller biotope with dirt, but imo id be smatter to start there than do a 29g dirted

[Miranda Marie]

On 12/27/2023 at 5:16 PM, JoeQ said:

I was in the same boat a few months back of attempting to do a dirted tank which sounded really simple. As I looked into it I realized that the dirt will eventually need to be 'recharged'. I then set plants in pots some in dirt, some in aquasoil. To my surprise in my small unscientific 'experiment' the aquasoil plant(s) grew far better than the dirted plant(s) . This alone swayed my decision away from dirt, in favor of aquasoil. Especially considering dirt seems cheaper to start but more aggravating & labor intensive in the long run. Just for the sake of "bragging rights". I might still do a smaller biotope with dirt, but imo id be smatter to start there than do a 29g dirted

I have dirt in the bottom of my ikebana aquarium bowl for now as a "test". Thus far, I am already seeing explosive growth. I have used aquasoil in the past and ran into horrible algae issues because I had no idea that it probably should've been capped. The tank was an algae farm for several years until the aquasoil became useless, and I've been struggling through with root tabs since. I wouldn't mind doing an aquasoil base instead of soil, but in my experience, aquasoil runs out and needs recharged/changed just as fast as soil would. The nutrients only lasted in either for so long.

I do know that my ikebana tank will be much easier to handle when it needs replaced (all the soil and plant substrate is contained in the bowl, so it will be very easy to remove and replace). With the 29g, I am hoping to use shallow dishes of some kind where the soil would be localized in a double-island scape and hidden by said shaping, but we'll see.

Either way, even if I get 2-3 years out of the soil, it will save me so much money that I'm willing to deal with changing it after that. I can't keep spending this much money on root tabs. It's costing me so much. 😭 And even with the root tabs, my plants constantly look sickly and I struggle to keep enough nitrate/nutrients in the aquarium to make them look nice.

[JoeQ]

On 12/27/2023 at 7:30 PM, Miranda Marie said:

I have dirt in the bottom of my ikebana aquarium bowl for now as a "test". Thus far, I am already seeing explosive growth. I have used aquasoil in the past and ran into horrible algae issues because I had no idea that it probably should've been capped. The tank was an algae farm for several years until the aquasoil became useless, and I've been struggling through with root tabs since. I wouldn't mind doing an aquasoil base instead of soil, but in my experience, aquasoil runs out and needs recharged/changed just as fast as soil would. The nutrients only lasted in either for so long.

I do know that my ikebana tank will be much easier to handle when it needs replaced (all the soil and plant substrate is contained in the bowl, so it will be very easy to remove and replace). With the 29g, I am hoping to use shallow dishes of some kind where the soil would be localized in a double-island scape and hidden by said shaping, but we'll see.

Either way, even if I get 2-3 years out of the soil, it will save me so much money that I'm willing to deal with changing it after that. I can't keep spending this much money on root tabs. It's costing me so much. 😭 And even with the root tabs, my plants constantly look sickly and I struggle to keep enough nitrate/nutrients in the aquarium to make them look nice.

I would definitely cap aqua soil, and am aware  that it'll also need to be recharged. I think [I hate that I always need that disclaimer.....] Anyway, I think the place where most people go wrong with algae and aqua soil is they either don't have enough water colum feeders to absorb the nutrients that are released in to the water colum, and/or they don't have a large regular water change schedule. Probably a little of both! 

As for the cost of root tabs I feel your pain! The tank in my profile was grown exclusively on root tabs, but that got expensive real fast! I've since switched to Dyi liquid ferts which is much cheaper but my crypts are suffering. Ill agree, they want root food! 

Another option you might consider is placing bags of aqua soil by your root feeders. @Peperedoes

this with incredible success!

Edited December 28, 2023 by JoeQ

[Miranda Marie]

On 12/27/2023 at 6:04 PM, JoeQ said:

I would definitely cap aqua soil, and am aware  that it'll also need to be recharged. I think [I hate that I always need that disclaimer.....] Anyway I think the place where most people go wrong with algae and aqua soil is they either don't have enough water colum feeders to absorb the nutrients that are released in to the water colum, and/or they don't have a large regular water change schedule. Probably a little of both! 

As for the cost of root tabs I feel your pain! The tank in my 36g profile was grown exclusively on root tabs, but that got expensive real fast! I've since switched to Dyi liquid ferts which is much cheaper but my crypts are suffering. Ill agree, they want root food! 

Another option you might consider is placing bags of aqua soil by your root feeders. @Peperedoes@Pepere@Peperedoes@Pepere does @Peperedoes this with incredible success!

The plan is to only have the soil (or aquasoil) where I will be planting. I'm hoping to do a double island scape (or that's what I am currently leaning towards...) and confined by the borders of that (probably some form of rock). Then sand or gravel everywhere else as to hopefully remove the risk of quite so much of an algae bloom while still providing enough nutrients. And yes, I'll definitely be capping regardless of which way I go this time! I wish I had known to cap the first time around but alas, we live and learn.

If I do go the aquasoil root, I have already found some nice coarse mesh bags (with no metal) I could use, but I'm still leaning towards trying soil or worm castings at present... I have a while to research and change my mind though if I decide to go the other route.

The other odd thing is that my sword plant never grew at all with aquasoil. It stayed the exact same until the aquasoil stopped working and I began giving it root tabs (it devours 4 root tabs per month now and still struggles to not have nutrient deficiencies!)

At this point, I'm just willing to try things to attempt to get success that isn't hinging on feeding 12 root tabs to this tank every month with minimal success in the plants actually looking nice...

[JoeQ]

Well i wish you luck with what ever you decide!

Hopefully you're not anything like me who decides on plan 'A', buys everything for plan 'A'. Then changes my mind  to plan 'B', buys everything for plan 'B', in the end decides to go with plan 'C' a bare bottom tank with terracotta pots..........

And of course because im a man and not too bright I currently have all the materials for plan A & B because I threw out all my receipts!!!! 

[Streetwise]

I run organic soil tanks. I have tried a variety of things over the years. I should probably start a new thread.

The most basic formula is one inch of organic topsoil, capped with one inch of 2-4 mm gravel.

I have used and removed sand. It is not conducive to plant growth.

[Miranda Marie]

On 12/27/2023 at 6:31 PM, JoeQ said:

Well i wish you luck with what ever you decide!

Hopefully you're not anything like me who decides on plan 'A', buys everything for plan 'A'. Then changes my mind  to plan 'B', buys everything for plan 'B', in the end decides to go with plan 'C' a bare bottom tank with terracotta pots..........

And of course because im a man and not too bright I currently have all the materials for plan A & B because I threw out all my receipts!!!! 

Oh dear. I can definitely see how that would be a problem!! LOL. Luckily, I am more a meticulous planner who has to be absolutely set on something before moving ahead with it, so I should hopefully only be buying one set of supplies! 😆 

I definitely feel you on receipts, though. I always lose mine!

On 12/27/2023 at 6:31 PM, Streetwise said:

I run organic soil tanks. I have tried a variety of things over the years. I should probably start a new thread.

The most basic formula is one inch of organic topsoil, capped with one inch of 2-4 mm gravel.

I have used and removed sand. It is not conducive to plant growth.

Thank you!! This is really helpful. The plan as of now would be to do soil in the corners where the islands will be, capped with pea gravel (which I already have). Then if I decide to do sand in the other parts of the tank (undecided), I would only do them in the negative space where I won't be planting/using hardscape.

If I use a thicker layer of pea gravel to give the islands some more height, would I need a thicker layer of soil as well, or would I still only use an inch at the base?

[JoeQ]

On 12/27/2023 at 8:33 PM, Miranda Marie said:

Thank you!! This is really helpful. The plan as of now would be to do soil in the corners where the islands will be, capped with pea gravel (which I already have). Then if I decide to do sand in the other parts of the tank (undecided), I would only do them in the negative space where I won't be planting/using hardscape.

Sounds beautiful!  Hopefully you'll start a journal when you begin building.  Good luck! Let us know how it turns out!

[Miranda Marie]

On 12/27/2023 at 6:42 PM, JoeQ said:

Sounds beautiful!  Hopefully you'll start a journal when you begin building.  Good luck! Let us know how it turns out!

I'll definitely be updating my journal as I go! It'll probably be a little while as I'm hoping to slowly buy the supplies needed throughout the winter and tackle it in the spring! 🤞 I'm no master aquascaper but I'm hoping if I plan well enough, it'll turn out pretty.

[Streetwise]

You can choose to build a scape, an ecosystem, a display tank, or a breeding facility. Lots of choices!

[Miranda Marie]

On 12/27/2023 at 6:50 PM, Streetwise said:

You can choose to build a scape, an ecosystem, a display tank, or a breeding facility. Lots of choices!

My current 20g is more an ecosystem than a "scape" per se (though I do like how it looks). It can go months without a water change and never see a change in perimeters. The fish are all very happy. I'm just frustrated with the struggle to get my plants looking nice without spending a fortune! 😆 The goal is always to have enough plants and a stable enough environment that it doesn't rely very heavily on constant water changes once the initial set up phase is over.

I find it fascinating that tanks can take so many different forms. It definitely keeps the hobby interesting! 

Edited December 28, 2023 by Miranda Marie

[Streetwise]

I see your replies. Please do not quote me. I keep wet houseplants, sometimes with aquatic friends.

[Miranda Marie]

Understandable! Thanks again. 

Edited December 28, 2023 by Miranda Marie