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1st Journal - My first dirted Tank, 6 gallon

1K views 4 replies 2 participants last post by  Cyianara69 
#1 · (Edited)
Didn't really know what I was doing, but since I had an extra 6 gallon tank, I decided to try my luck on putting together a dirted tank. When I first started (end of Feb of 2012), I had not found this site yet so my only guidance was basically from fishtanktv.com. At this point, I still experimenting with this tank but I've gotten to the point, where I may break down the tank and start over.

I need to replace the dirt that I used since it was from garden that my daughter uses for her own gardening fun. I'll probably replace the filter, remove the top and replace with an acrylic sheet so I can change the lighting for this tank. While I'm breaking down, I need to fix the acrylic since its got some major scratches.

Plus I really need figure how I want aquascape this puppy.

Here is a month long progression of my 6g dirted tank.









 
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#2 ·
May 1st Update:

Still really can't decide what I want to do with this tank. I'm thinking I'm going to need to change the top of this tank since I'n not really sure if the 12 inch flourescent light is going to be strong enough to put in high/med light plants in this tank. I did snip off the baby sword off the runner and planted into another tank. The micro sword ain't doing squat but at least it didn't melt and the anacharis isn't doing as well as they are in my other tanks. This may be due to where I have them in the tank, just right underneath the filter, since the filter sits above the tank, I'm think it's blocking the light, again light issues.

I'm thinking I have a potastium shortages in this tank as the leaves on the wisteria started coming up with all sorts of little itty holes. I have started dosing this tank with Flourish, Excel and Potastium.

There are basically 5 fish in thank, 2 Platies and 3 Male Juvinile guppies. My daughter likes to feed this tank and she has basically overfed the fishes as the bladder snail population has exploded in this tank. Since there are only 5 fish in the tank, I planning to break it down, replace the filter, change the dirt (very old dirt, straight out of my daughter's 3 year old garden in the back yard) and gravel (something finer).

 
#4 · (Edited)
I think it will be easy once you change out your substrate. I personally like the finer gravel, or even pool filter sand works extremely well and its cheap. Have you decided where you are going to get your new dirt from? Did you add anything to the dirt when you set this up originally?

Here is a thought: bamaplants.com sells mineralized top soil by the bag for 5 bucks. They say it is enough to do a ten gallon tank, and it's a 3 lb bag. It also has dolomite and potash in a separate bag to be adding upon installation. Shipping is as cheap as he can ship it to you. I have not yet used his, but I have just ordered some and this is to convert my last planted tank to a dirt planted tank. I use pool filter sand as my cap and it holds fairly well. My bottom feeders like it too.

Try and locate a focal point piece for this tank and work from there around it. You could always check out other members tanks for inspiration...
I am sure that it will turn out to be a great tank, you have already completed the best step, locating this forum for help!

Good luck and I will keep up with your progress
 
#5 ·
I also like the finer gravel, I like the black gravel for some odd reason. When I put this tank together, I didn't feel like buying new gravel at the time and the only thing that I had laying around was the big gravel that we used for my daughter's gold fish tank. You can see the wasted food on the black gravel ...as for the soil, I haven't decided.
 
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