Advice please?

[ChefConfit]

@Streetwise is the organic soil expert here but I'll give my advice as well.

I've done soil layers ranging from 1 inch to about 6 in the back of my hex. Sand layers between half an inch and an inch. 

My biggest piece of advice is plant heavy at the start and use fast growing and or floating plants to soak up the nutrient leach in the begining. 

My second biggest piece of advice is to poke into the substrate to release gasses before water changes until the your plants are really well established. This will help release the gasses that can build up in anaerobic soil. Once the plants all have established root systems them will oxygenate the soil and prevent it on their own. I use a metal skewer in my hex but a metal chopstick worked in my 5g. Just got straight down then back up to avoid an eruption.

[Streetwise]

I am just a hobbyist. I found a slice of the hobby that I really enjoy.

Great advice @ChefConfit. Adding plants will also poke the substrate as you describe.

My other generic advice is to add wood, and try to avoid smothering any of the organic substrate with large pieces of hardscape.

Edited February 5, 2021 by Streetwise

[Tory]

You need to cap the soil with more sand than that to keep the soil from leaching nutrients into the water column and causing bacterial blooms. Soil is a really incredible way to do a fish tank, but you need at least 2 inches of sand on top of 1 inch of dirt. Check out Father Fish on youtube if you're interested in dirted tanks! 

 

[Streetwise]

His technique is different than Diana Walstad's. I have found her book to be very helpful to my pursuit of the hobby.

Edited February 5, 2021 by Streetwise

[Hobbit]

If you want to prevent hydrogen sulfide buildup in the future, you could add Malaysian trumpet snails. They burrow through the substrate, oxygenate the soil, and will pop any bubbles of hydrogen sulfide that develop. The downside is they’ll end up mixing your soil and sand/gravel cap together. @Streetwise do you have any experience with MTS in your tanks?

@Melissa Ann if you’re not smelling the rotten eggs smell anymore, you probably have very little hydrogen sulfide left. I wouldn’t get rid of the soil, though if you had an ich outbreak I’d recommend spreading it out on some cookie sheets and baking it, or soaking in boiling hot water. Unless it’s already been a while (2 weeks) since you had fish in there—in that case I think the ich will all be dead. I think. 😅 Part of ich’s life cycle is living in the substrate.

Of course the heat will also kill all the beneficial bacteria, so then you’ll potentially have to change water every day when you add your new fish until the cycle establishes. 😛  I had a Walstad bowl with soil and sand for about six months, and I never got my ammonia to be consistently 0. It was my first ever setup in this hobby and I definitely overstocked it, but even without any fish (just snails) I was getting ammonia readings of 0.5 at the two month mark. 

You’re in a tough spot but don’t give up!

[Streetwise]

I haven't tried MTS, but road construction works:

 

[Melissa Ann]

@Streetwise- jackhammer. Got it. I’m on it. 😂