Miracle Gro

Most dont wash it from what I've read. Diana Walstad's book recommends just dumping it in and going from there. But you cant add fish right away due to the ammonia spike from fresh miracle gro. Some people say you should let the soil dry out completely first before adding it, as this lets some of the ammonia... I dont know, evaporate? It makes some of the ammonia dissapear somehow.

I washed mine though. Using the mineralized topsoil method. (I was reading so much nonstop about mts and natural planted tanks and got confused about which was which, and was a month into it before I realized I started with the wrong soil type.) I let it soak for a few days, scooped off the floaties, then let it dry out for a few days. I repeated this three times. Then I screened out the big chunks of wood. Mixed in some clay powder, wetted it with water from a dirty filter and mixed in a bunch of mulm from an established tank. Topped with fluorite black sand.

My results were fantastic. No issues with clouding, or the water being yellow, no ammonia spikes during the first weeks, no fungus on the soil cap, nothing ever floating up from the soil even if I move things and replant. My plants exploded to the point were 2 months ago I had 2 small bunches of hairgrass, 3 swords, and 2 bunchs of water wistera, and today I just had to cut and throw out huge handfulls of plant matter just so my fish have some room to swim.

I think I went overboard, but Im really happy with the results regardless.

aquatic serenity said:

again - whats wrong with the mgocpm ???

Click to expand...

I mineralized my MGOPS. When i did i found that at least 1/3 of the contents of the bag was either bark chips, tiny sticks or some other unidentified debris that floated up during the soaking phase. There is a ton of organic matter in there.

ALso, i am experiencing higher nitrate levels in my tank. I have since day one. Its been as high as 120ish but mostly averages in the 60's.

On Sunday i do a 50% WC, and 24 hours later the nitrates are 25is. 48 hours after the WC 30-40, and they go up each day by 10 or so.

I DO NOT DOSE any KNO3 either.

So someone, a whole lot smarter than i, said:

"To be honest I have used a couple of potting soil mixes for many years and had no real problems until I tried Miracle-Gro.
Miracle-Gro potting soil is a bigger problem than most apparently, because it uses some synthetic petroleum based substances that seem to resist mineralization, this is probably why they get such excellent results in the terrestrial gardens"

And that this could be the cause of my high nitrates.