The dirt on doing a dirted tank...

[aquatic hoyt]

Hey all I got a new mix for you.....@meh<-- ATUB --> this should be easy for you to do if you want to redo your tank.

30 gallon tank.....low light redo.

1/3 dirt.

1/3 peat moss.

1/3 dirt and peat moss hehe.

you can add clay clumps also for iron.

3 inches PACKED of this mix then cap it with 1 1/2 to 2 inches of small gravel....sand sucks, I will fight for that fact....I know it to be true.

meh your ferns will love this..........this is my 2nd dirted tank..........I need to convert all 14 yr olds keeping plants to this.

[meh]

1st off you don't know me....I LOVE SIMPLE....3 kinds of soil in one tank....I want somthing simple like Flourite! Will that work!??!?!

[1077]

Have several tank's with soil and sand as cap , plant's thrive,fishes happy,shrimp's happy.

[aquatic hoyt]

1st off you don't know me....I LOVE SIMPLE....3 kinds of soil in one tank....I want somthing simple like Flourite! Will that work!??!?!

flourite is okay......dirt is wayyy better!

[meh]

ok good....I am gearing up for the rebuild

[freshfish]

I use dirt capped with Flourite- best of both worlds

I don't like sand- gets "dirty" looking way too fast, or pea gravel, as I love black substrates best personally.

PS If you haven't come across this advice yet, make sure you wash the Flourite really REALLY well before putting it in your tank. I take it outside in a bucket and blast a hose into it until the water runs off clear, personally. If you then take the extra step and spread it out and let it air dry before putting in the tank it reduces dust dramatically more (I have no clue why but someone told me to do that once and the few times I did make the effort to do that, it really did make a difference, though I don't always bother).

[aquatic hoyt]

I use dirt capped with Flourite- best of both worlds

I don't like sand- gets "dirty" looking way too fast, or pea gravel, as I love black substrates best personally.

PS If you haven't come across this advice yet, make sure you wash the Flourite really REALLY well before putting it in your tank. I take it outside in a bucket and blast a hose into it until the water runs off clear, personally. If you then take the extra step and spread it out and let it air dry before putting in the tank it reduces dust dramatically more (I have no clue why but someone told me to do that once and the few times I did make the effort to do that, it really did make a difference, though I don't always bother).

I agree with you about sand and gravel size and color.

flourite is really hard to wash....one guy took 2 hours doing it.....crazy......

[meh]

great...........Laura how long does it ussaully take for you to wash it?

[aquatic hoyt]

a hour to 2 hours.

[Hurriken]

Don't over wash flourite. It's like boiling the vitamins out of your vegetables! I buy paint strainers they are very cheap at hardware stores. Like a mesh sack. Fill it with flourite and dip it in a 5g bucket. Then spread it out on some plastic and let it dry completely. Letting it dry is the trick to avoiding the chocolate cloud.