Backstory, my parents wanted something interesting in their entryway that was both non-obstructive in the smaller room and also nice to look at. I suggested a 55gal and they were all for it. I wanted to make it as low maintenance as humanly possible, just a lazy tank with a few colorful fish and chock full of plants. The other goal was to do this as cheaply as possible.
I came to the conclusion that I would scrape together a bunch of old equipment from other tanks that have been torn down and put it all together. The other issue was substrate. After lots of reading I found that Miracle Grow Organic Potting Soil was a great option, and since miracle grow is actually discontinuing it, I got two bags for half their normal $10 cost at my local Home Depot.
So I went about putting everything together and scaping it to my liking, lots of salvaged driftwood in the center to pull visual interest, and voila, before the tank had any water touch it I was in love. But then I added water. Now I am having a tremendous amount of doubt. The tank is cloudy (yes, normal, I know) but the worst part is that if I do anything at all, the soil explodes into dust in the water column. On top of that it is EXTREMELY soft. Like, turns to dust when I touch it and feels like a big pile of ash. So I've decided that the best way to go would be to drain and cap it.
My question is this: what should I be capping with? The tank has only been set up for a few days and I did begin a fishes cycle but only just a short while ago. I have a handful of plants (what I believe to be a mislabeled lily/pennywort and a few mermaids, not amazing choices I know but I'm loyal to my LFS and it's what they had) but that's about it. I was thinking pool filter sand. I really want to minimize cloudiness and instability. My first thought is to do the following:
1. Drain tank as much as possible, probably not my biggest concern getting it all out as there is nothing beneficial in the tank right now and nothing I need to be highly concerned about keeping alive.
2. Remove about half of the dirt. Further reading has informed me that gases build up in the decaying organic matter and can make it unstable for a long time. I want the benefits of the potting soil but really not as much of the hassle.
3. Cap with a small sized gravel and scape to my liking, nice hill buildup in the back and a sloping front.
4. Add a layer of floramax/laterite/some clay.
5. Cap with pool filter sand.
6. Refill tank (carefully) and wait for cycle to start itself again.
Thoughts? Concerns? I think I can get away with this because I haven't actually planted/cycled/stocked the tank at all yet and I really want to make this easy for my parents when I'm not around. It's also running with an internal filter on one end and a fairly gentle powerhead on the other to help push the water column. Will the dirt still be beneficial under all those layers? I'm trying hard to improve clarity as the driftwood is definitely going to leach tannins.
I came to the conclusion that I would scrape together a bunch of old equipment from other tanks that have been torn down and put it all together. The other issue was substrate. After lots of reading I found that Miracle Grow Organic Potting Soil was a great option, and since miracle grow is actually discontinuing it, I got two bags for half their normal $10 cost at my local Home Depot.
So I went about putting everything together and scaping it to my liking, lots of salvaged driftwood in the center to pull visual interest, and voila, before the tank had any water touch it I was in love. But then I added water. Now I am having a tremendous amount of doubt. The tank is cloudy (yes, normal, I know) but the worst part is that if I do anything at all, the soil explodes into dust in the water column. On top of that it is EXTREMELY soft. Like, turns to dust when I touch it and feels like a big pile of ash. So I've decided that the best way to go would be to drain and cap it.
My question is this: what should I be capping with? The tank has only been set up for a few days and I did begin a fishes cycle but only just a short while ago. I have a handful of plants (what I believe to be a mislabeled lily/pennywort and a few mermaids, not amazing choices I know but I'm loyal to my LFS and it's what they had) but that's about it. I was thinking pool filter sand. I really want to minimize cloudiness and instability. My first thought is to do the following:
1. Drain tank as much as possible, probably not my biggest concern getting it all out as there is nothing beneficial in the tank right now and nothing I need to be highly concerned about keeping alive.
2. Remove about half of the dirt. Further reading has informed me that gases build up in the decaying organic matter and can make it unstable for a long time. I want the benefits of the potting soil but really not as much of the hassle.
3. Cap with a small sized gravel and scape to my liking, nice hill buildup in the back and a sloping front.
4. Add a layer of floramax/laterite/some clay.
5. Cap with pool filter sand.
6. Refill tank (carefully) and wait for cycle to start itself again.
Thoughts? Concerns? I think I can get away with this because I haven't actually planted/cycled/stocked the tank at all yet and I really want to make this easy for my parents when I'm not around. It's also running with an internal filter on one end and a fairly gentle powerhead on the other to help push the water column. Will the dirt still be beneficial under all those layers? I'm trying hard to improve clarity as the driftwood is definitely going to leach tannins.