Tips on worm castings with sand cap in 55 gallon

[Mississippi fish guy]

I plan to redo the substrate in my 55 community tank since I think I may have more of a dirt problem than a tannin problem. I was thinking about trying worm castings capped with black diamond blasting sand and I was wondering how should I do this and should I use medium or fine grain sand since it will be a planted tank. 
 

[clownbaby]

I have done a handful of dirted tanks + ecospheres in the past year, and it is my go-to method. In fact in my 30gal I don't even use a "cap"; it's just dirt. My cories love this.

Anyway, to answer your question: this could work great but also could lead to some problems. With dirt, it can definitely muddy up the water and also leach tannins, making the water yellowy or cloudy. Another thing is the fact that most dirt (especially the store-bought dirts) is high in nutrients, which also leads to an ammonia and nitrate + nitrite spike, as well as bacterial and algae bloom, which then can make the water cloudy too. There are some major cons to dirted tanks, that being said, I have had such great experience with dirt I personally don't plan on using anything else.

With that being said, worm castings are basically worm poo, which means they are technically a form of manure. They are super nutrient dense and will leave your tank with a massive ammonia spike. You could pre-soak the worm castings for about two or three weeks, changing the water every day or two; this would reduce the ammonia risk. This will also reduce any tannins leaching out too. Some tannins will be present, it is inevitable. This could of course be reduced with water changes. For the cap, I do not think medium or fine grain sand matters much, it is really just dependent on your inhabitants (for example, if you have bottom dwellers like corycats, I would recommend fine sand) and your personal preference. You would be surprised how well plants can grow even in rocky substrates like gravel! I don't think it will effect it much. 

Anyway, long story short, you do not have too much to worry about. I hope this helped a little!

[Mississippi fish guy]

On 8/14/2024 at 6:07 PM, clownbaby said:

With dirt, it can definitely muddy up the water

That is a partly why I’m redoing the tank. What ways could I try and prevent this from happening.

 

On 8/14/2024 at 6:07 PM, clownbaby said:

In fact in my 30gal I don't even use a "cap"; it's just dirt. My cories love this

Could you elaborate more. I like the idea of doing dirt with no cap. What type of dirt did you use and would it be a problem for a Bolivian ram? Also how would plant the plants?

 

On 8/14/2024 at 6:07 PM, clownbaby said:

They are super nutrient dense and will leave your tank with a massive ammonia spike

Could I soak the castings in a 5 gallon bucket? If not could I only partially fill the 55 gallon. Also is there a type of dirt I could get that would not have as much ammonia?

[clownbaby]

On 8/14/2024 at 6:37 PM, Mississippi fish guy said:

That is a partly why I’m redoing the tank. What ways could I try and prevent this from happening.

 

Could you elaborate more. I like the idea of doing dirt with no cap. What type of dirt did you use and would it be a problem for a Bolivian ram? Also how would plant the plants?

 

Could I soak the castings in a 5 gallon bucket? If not could I only partially fill the 55 gallon. Also is there a type of dirt I could get that would not have as much ammonia?

Ah, to be honest the dirt thing was incredibly difficult. First thing first, my substrate is 6 inches thick. It is in layers; sand and pea gravel as the base, then topsoil, then sand, then soil from a local stream which is the “cap”. The soil in the stream is incredibly fertile and healthy. It is primarily silt, then followed by sand, clay, and of course, mulm. I would guess the ratio is 40 percent silt, 25 percent sand, 25 percent clay, 10 percent mulm. The hardest part with the dirt was patience. My water was muddy for nearly a week. Eventually, it settled. It was hard not to just do a thousand water changes but I knew it would settle eventually. I have done a lot of study on this stream as a volunteer for my county’s water surveying team, and because of that I had walked on it so much I knew that the soil would settle within minutes once waterlogged. I took some home and put it in my aquarium. Since it dried a bit on the drive home, it muddied the water. But now that it’s waterlogged if the cories disturb it or if I plant some trimmings, the water clears pretty easy and is back to normal in minutes. 
I did have a sand cap for a while, but after watching a biotope video on corycats in the wild, I decided to try to just have dirt. I had success but unfortunately since I got the soil from outside I don’t really know how to replicate it other than telling you to trial and error.

 

i know little about Bolivian rams so I can’t say there.

Eventually the ammonia will go down. Even with a dirt that is like mostly clay there will be some ammonia. It is just part of the cycling process when you add in dirt, especially one so nutrient dense 🙂

[Mississippi fish guy]

On 8/18/2024 at 8:07 PM, clownbaby said:

Ah, to be honest the dirt thing was incredibly difficult. First thing first, my substrate is 6 inches thick. It is in layers; sand and pea gravel as the base, then topsoil, then sand, then soil from a local stream which is the “cap”. The soil in the stream is incredibly fertile and healthy. It is primarily silt, then followed by sand, clay, and of course, mulm. I would guess the ratio is 40 percent silt, 25 percent sand, 25 percent clay, 10 percent mulm. The hardest part with the dirt was patience. My water was muddy for nearly a week. Eventually, it settled. It was hard not to just do a thousand water changes but I knew it would settle eventually. I have done a lot of study on this stream as a volunteer for my county’s water surveying team, and because of that I had walked on it so much I knew that the soil would settle within minutes once waterlogged. I took some home and put it in my aquarium. Since it dried a bit on the drive home, it muddied the water. But now that it’s waterlogged if the cories disturb it or if I plant some trimmings, the water clears pretty easy and is back to normal in minutes. 
I did have a sand cap for a while, but after watching a biotope video on corycats in the wild, I decided to try to just have dirt. I had success but unfortunately since I got the soil from outside I don’t really know how to replicate it other than telling you to trial and error.

 

i know little about Bolivian rams so I can’t say there.

Eventually the ammonia will go down. Even with a dirt that is like mostly clay there will be some ammonia. It is just part of the cycling process when you add in dirt, especially one so nutrient dense 🙂

Thanks! I might try the no cap dirt tank once I start to set up my banded pigmy sunfish tank.