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Mineralized Top Soil Substrate

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#1 · (Edited)
I am starting to do my top soil substrate. I am following this thread
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/...-mineralized-soil-substrate-aaron-talbot.html
by AaronT

I dose every now and then when I have a chance to. This method for me makes it where if life gets ahold of all of my time I don't have to worry about my dosing schedule. Here is a result of topsoil with minimal dosing. roughly once a week on some ferts





I have my 2 bags of plain old top soil with no ferts added. I put one bag in a large tupperware container and put water in with it mixing it up and breaking up all of the large clumps. the water level is a few inches over the top of it. I will keep this updated as I go along.

this is going to be fun!
 
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#2 ·
Join the fun! I'm currently mineralizing mine also. I washed the topsoil in water twice and laid it out to dry on a tarp. Once it was dry, I sprinkled some water and made it nice and muddy again. Then, I let it dry and started the process again. I'm on my second dry/wet cycle. I'm thinking of doing it one more time and then laying it out in the tank!
 
#7 ·
you can get the clay at an arts store (i.e. "Michael's" around here). The Potash was difficult to find, the big stores (Home Depot and Lowes) don't carry them. I finally found some at a local nursery - you can do some 'phone shopping' beforehand. The dolomite can usually be found at an LFS that has reef supplies.

The mineralized setup works great for my nanos (2.5 gallon setups), going to try it on a couple larger ones and try to set up a large, high-light system like Aaron has going.
 
#13 ·
A caution here.

Most of the "clays" - all of them that I found locally except one loner product, actually - in stores like Michaels and Joanne's were not true clays, but man made polymer materials. When you see the self setting, etc, odds are it is polymer. Be very careful of what you are buying in those kinds of shops. Not that it'll do harm, but you want the iron content of real clay, which isn't in the polymers!

I went to a pottery supply store to get a block of real, pure clay.

For Potash, call around to Farm and Family, John Deere Supply, type stores. It is a pure form of a fertilizer used for farming. Bag will say like 0-0-60 or 0-0-50.


FWIW - All my tanks are going to mineralized soil. I personally feel it is every bit as good as Aquasoil, etc, and in some ways, better!

I've even begun to test the limits of those plants that are not supposed to fare well in it. Happy to be able to report that Tonina Fluviatilis is growing gangbusters, Belem is growing as well. Blyxa Japonica and Aubertii also doing well. Erio Type 2 is struggling. I slaughtered Ludwigia Pantanal in the past, need to try that one again. All plants that supposedly don't fare well in this substrate system (due to lack of water column dosing).
 
#12 ·
Laura.... I am going to do this with my 75 gallon. I am going to try to do this in a one day marathon! I am already getting the mixture ready to go. I will take the plants out and put them in a few different bags. the fish will go into a large tupperware container with a filter running on it. I will drain the tank and away we go!
 
#23 ·
"Step 7 – Add the Dolomite and Muriate of Potash

Sprinkle a light dusting of both the dolomite and muriate of potash on the bottom glass of the tank. The bottom of the glass should still be somewhat visible."

In Step 7, could you use Potassium Sulfate (K2SO4) instead of Muriate of Potash (Potassium Chloride - KCl)?

KCl is about 3 times more soluble in water at 20°C than K2SO4. KCl's solubility is 34.0 g/100 mL and K2SO4's solubility is 11.1 g/100 mL.

Is this why KCl is used?
 
#32 ·
I suspect so. Honestly, I didn't develop this method, my friend Sean did a long time ago. Potassium is the one nutrient that seems to be limited using this method. The potash added initially is only to provide the plants with an initial potassium source for the first 3-5 months. After that period of time you may notice some older leaves on plants beginning to yellow and / or form pinholes in the leaves. This is the sign that it's time to dose potassium, but only a tiny little bit. I dose about 0.5 ppm / week and most of the time even less than that. That's all it takes, any more and you'll get algae. I didn't mention this in the article because I didn't want people to dose it too early or overdose it and get frustrated. Also, YMMV as my setups are all very high light and pressurized CO2 as well. Lower tech setups may not need this extra potassium dosing, though adding the potash initially is still advised.


Torpedobarb - Your LFS should be able to order the Flourite Black Sand for you. I've seen it online for a fairly cheap price. I'm using the Flourite Dark in my 75 gallon right now so it can be used. :)


Sorry I didn't see this thread earlier folks. I was on vacation during its inception. :D If anyone wants enough of the materials (potash, dolomite and clay) to startup a tank PM me and I'm happy to help out for the cost of materials and shipping.
 
#24 ·
I did 2 bags in my 75, 1 bag and probably 20 pounds of accent stone in my 50.


LeftC, excellent question I have no idea on the answer to! It may be a cost thing - I bought 50 pounds of potash for what I'd buy a pound of Potassium Sulfate for.... or it may be a particle size thing, as K2SO4 is dust, while the potash is crystals like small pebbles (easier to lay down and put mud on top of without clumping it up)... not sure tho.... I'll see if I can ask!
 
#29 ·
Don't worry, they'll be possibly be founded soon. ;) Every tank I've started goes through a cloudy, not quite green water stage a few days after startup. A couple of them I've heard tell of (but not had it go to it personally) have all out green water. Be patient with it if it happens and it'll fade, doesn't last long for me.



Definitely put it on a tarp, it'll take forever to dry otherwise. Better off doing an extra cycle instead in my opinion, so you can dump more of the foamy goop off as you re-submerse it.

Oh! Don't skip sifting it - I like that it pulls out all the rocks and bits of wood, and you won't believe how it feels after, silty soft fluffy... it is amazing that is starts out as this lumpy bag of dirt, and ends up as super fine silt almost.



Torpedobarb, you could look into blasting sand, used for sandblasting.... not sure where to source the stuff though, or what colors it may have. It is also size graded though which is the big plus here - just not positive what it'll be made out of. Could also look into mixing some Flourite black sand into SMS or something? Just trying to find you options. Bummer about the 3M not being local anywhere for you.
 
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