mineralizing dirt

[spoot]

Is this necessary when using Organic Potting soil? From what I read in the thread on Planted Tank forums it is mostly used on plain ole dirt. Problem is with the apartment life I do not really have the space to mineralize 3 or 4 bags of soil. I had planned to let it take a month to stabilize in my tank before adding fish/plants, will this be sufficient?

[rickl]

I'm pretty sure that organic potting soil IS plain old dirt -- just guaranteed to be free of pesticides etc. I'd lean towards mineralizing it myself, but I haven't started a planted tank yet so I dunno! How long does the mineralizing process take? Maybe do smaller batches throughout the month that you were planning to let it just sit in the tank? You can always just use it as is and make sure you check your nitrogen levels, I suppose? I assume that the "mineralizing" process removes alot of the organic matter from the soil, to prevent decay/nitrogen spikes?

-Rick (the armchair aquarist)

[aaron]

I had looked into this type of setup a few months back... read this article, I hope it might help both of you. Yeah yeah, I bookmark everything.

www.aquabotanic.com/?p=1400

[ree123]

What a GREAT Bookmark ! I am gonna bookmark it too.
I just went to an outdoor aquatic store that sells lilys, koi and goldfish, and other aquatic plants, and bought some of their dirt. Mud really. Put it into pots, planted my plants, and covered the mud with SMS or Soil Master Select. A clay based type gravel substrate I bought from Tractor Supply. I have no tank that has dirt directly on the bottom of the tank and none that I went thru the process of mineralizing. I read an article about this and it seemed to take a long long long time to achieve this process. I figured plants in the wild grow in mud, so that is what mine got. So far - so good. H20 change of 30 +/- % each week to 10 days and no nutrient spikes or fish population problems. Had these mud pots in tanks for a month or so now.
My plants are still growing really small and I think my fertilizer/temp./light/whatever levels, are still off, so this is still an experiment in the making for me. I have not achieved the success I was striving for, but am closer to my goals.

[plecoman]

Hey Rick, when are you gonna start posting some pics of your tanks and fish for us? Still waiting. LOL......

[spoot]

Good read. Yea, after I posted this I realized -
"You just called organic dirt something other than dirt... if it's organic, and it's dirt.... it's well, dirt."

I guess what I was meaning is how much of mineralizing dirt is adding nutrients to it, and how much is trying to balance/reduce ammonia/ph swings and possible pollutants. The article I read on mineralizing was based on going out to ye olde woods with a shovel and getting a few 5 gallon buckets.

There's just no way I can mineralize. I don't have the space or area, or patience to do it small scale. Assuming I did a small scale operation, I could only assume it would be a 2-3 month process to get enough for a solid 1 to 1.5" layer in my 75, that's assuming I could create the space in-doors (that is not going over with the wife) to do 1 bag per month.

I guess I'll have to go with my original plan... wet the dirt, cap it, fill tank, 50% WC every 2 days until 0 Ammonia and minimal tannin.

[aaron]

not bad either. I'm going to do the article above.. but test it out on a 10g first. lol after I move that is (next month).. I'll keep everyone posted on the status of it with pics when I get there.

[spoot]

Re-reading that article though, more or less is suggesting the same thing I'm planning on doing with the exception of flooding the tank.

The reason behind me flooding from the go is to trying and release tannins. If tannin exists in material it is going to come out one way or another, and I don't believe it will evaporate out. So based on reading what he is describing I would think you would have tea colored water when you did flood. I just don't see the benefit of not flooding the tank to leech out the tannin while you wait for the ammonia and trites/trates to settle.

[spoot]

For additional reading here's an article detailing more what I was talking about with mineralizing the soil:

www.plantedtank.net/forums/substrate/152027-how-mineralized-soil-substrate-mts-aaron.html

In this process, it's step #2 that kills it for me. There's just no where here to dry the dirt out unless I did it indoors... and with a hyper-active jack russell terrier... disaster waiting to happen. I still plan to soak the dirt, in tubs and clean (? can you clean dirt ?) before I put it in the tank, and add clay. I just can't dry it out and do steps #1 and #2 over and over.

[aaron]

Yeah rinsing makes sense... think about it, you do the same with gravel you buy ...

I'll finish reading it later, gotta run.

[spoot]

Ok, first off, I waaaaay over estimated how much dirt I would need. I bought 4 of the bags that were 9 bucks, and wound up using 1. Taking 2 back tomorrow and giving one to the wife for a flower planter.

Second, drying the clay out and powdering it is probably a much better road than trying to dissolve it in the water and mixing it in the dirt that way. I've spent about an hour with my arms in a 2 gallon bucket massaging this ball of goopy red clay trying to get it all dissolved in the water.

Also, another suggestion for a substrate is Paver Base... It will be dark grey wet and cleaned. I picked up 2 50lb bags of it @ Lowe's for around 8 bucks. I still don't know that I'm going to like the bland grey color, but it is darker than the gravel I have, and a bit finer... compacting kind of concerns me though.

Anyway, letting the dirt sit tonight to air out a bit, will add gravel, rocks, driftwood, and water tomorrow.

Dirt after being sifted through, and breaking up clumps.


After adding red clay water and hand mixing.

[bunnie1978]

I never mineralized anything. I thought that way too much trouble. I did add a couple things to my soil, which I mentioned one on the other thread - Oil Dri. I have some if you want it. I live in Hermitage.
I also added coral because I wasn't getting calcium and magnesium from my water (I was using RO water) so, two additives, but if you're using tap water, you just need the iron.

[bunnie1978]

Also, Amano Shrimp are the best escape artists I've ever seen.

[ree123]

My iron is coming from the tap and from nails I have near the base of many of my plants.
Spoot, where did you read of the process that you have pictured and described above that removed all the wet and re-dry steps ? And,...where did you get your clay ? Real clay ?

[spoot]

The clay is Terra Cotta Pottery clay. You can pick up a 5lb block from Hobby Lobby for about 11 bucks or so.

As for the process I'm using... it's a modification of the Walstead method. I have spent probably 2 weeks or more going through various low tech and dirt substrate forums. Also, look up DustinsTV on YouTube. He has 600ish videos or dirt tanks and setting them up. Also from his videos you will find a ton more from other folks. The. Ig downside to this metbod is it will be anywhere up to or a lil more than a month before i can stock fish. Ammonia levels will be through the roof nxt few days... or should be. Will be testing and letting you guys know.