Hi, I'm wanting to put some potting soil in my 20g, then cap it with pool filter sand. What brand/type of potting soil should I use that won't harm my fish/shrimp?

need more info please:


20 high/long
is it cycled an existing setup or brand new
what fish what shrimp
what is the feed water RO or tap
if tap what parameters is it?

what do you want to achieve with this tank

CO2
high light

low light?
many possibilbilities
how deep do you want to go with soil?
anaerobic?

20L, existing setup, (20 RCS, 1 vampire shrimp, 1 sunset gourami, 6 albino corys), tap, very hard and 7.2PH, meant for just growing some easy plants, no co2 but high light, wanna go with maybe 1” of soil and 1” of sand. thanks

Literally any dirt will work, but your best bet is to turn the bags over and read the back contents and look for the one with the least amount of nutrients. Ones where the nutrients is from natural sources is also greatly preferred. This will all vary by region and store so you should just go look at one or two hardware/garden centers to find what you need.

You will need to completely drain the tank before adding the dirt though, you probably know that but if not, well.. you do now 😉

High light without co2 is a bad idea though. You can do low to the lower end of medium though and you should be ok. You will still need to dose fertilizer in the medium and long term if you want to be successful though.