Hello all, I have recently decided to convert my gravel community Tetra tank into a fully planted aquarium. I've been in the hobby for many years and I recently decided to try a planted tank. Got myself a 10 gallon and added bdbs with root tabs. It has went pretty well so far. Only had one algae outbreak which has been under control for about 2 months now. 3 weeks ago I purchased a Fzone diy c02 system (citric acid and baking soda) to see how my plants would respond.

After 3 weeks, the plants aren't exploding like I thought they would but are doing pretty well.

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I bought the background stem plants from Etsy and they never listed what was sent. (Any help on the name of those plants would be appreciated)

Ok back to to the subject at hand. I've been looking at doing the 75g in organic potting soil capped with bdbs. Not necessarily the Walstad method because I plan on using a canister filter and co2 with 25 or so small Tetras.

What is your experience with the capped organic potting soil tank? Pros and cons? Thank you for your input!!

Some people enjoy dirted tanks, personally I've sworn them off after doing a couple. The problem is that dirt releases a LOT of nutrients. Those nutrients have the tendancy of throwing your tank out of balance and causing some really nasty algae outbreaks, much worse then in other types of setups in my experience.

Alternatively you can use aquasoil and cap it with sand/bdbs and get the same effect as a dirt tank but without the downsides caused by dirt.

OR you can just use a straight inert substrate like sand or bdbs and then fertilize your tank normally with a liquid fertilizer (which after years of trying the other two methods is now my preferred method by a large margin).

 

I've done three tanks in capped dirt--the largest 65 gallon. Mine are sans CO2. The biggest thing I have learned is the 8 week adjustment the dirt goes through as it transitions to continual immersion. After that, your plants will start responding favorably. During these first two months, don't stress the algae. Just do your extra water changes and keep the lights lowered. It will even out. The only other tank I have grown plants in is completely inert gravel with root tabs--setup for about 2+ years. My plants--especially my crypts--grow awesomely in the gravel. I find I still need root tabs in dirt and am waiting for the same happy explosion of crypts in this dirt (set up since Jan 1). They're strong, but not "exploding" like my gravel tank. After doing dirt in two 10 gallons and a 65 gallon over the last 6-9 months, I have decided I will probably not continue with dirt; my next tank will be some sort of aqua soil. But you're ahead of me; you're doing CO2! That'll will be next big learning curve.

Just fyi: these aren't show tanks. I am completely in the learning stage on what plants grow best in my weird water. Lol

 

Pros: major bragging rights

Cons: It's probably the hardest type of tank to run and keep balanced.....

I'm looking into doing some weird substrate things, and personally I would like to see more oddball substrates here on the forum. But lots of people who have worked a lot with dirt have said 'yeah thanks but never again'.

 

I personally wouldn't try a dirted tank as a beginner or semi-beginner. Go with an inert planted substrate like flourite or regular old pool sand or aquarium sand. You will have far more control with water column dosing than a dirted tank or a rich substrate. Far easier to manage as a beginner.

If you want to try a rich substrate, try something like amazonia, fluval or tropica aquasoils. They are purpose built for planted aquariums and you won't have to deal with decaying matter in your tanks. They are more work than an inert substrate though, one more factor to deal with, and they do get depleted over time.

IMO the most straightforward way to start with high light high tech is with a simple substrate and water column dosing. You can grow the vast majority of plants. You can always add root tabs if you want to try a particularly greedy root feeder.

 

In my opinion, doing the dirt could be a right of passage. It is too messy for my liking. Leeches tannins, makes a mess when you move rooted plants around, and can cause algae blooms. It grew my plants well for about 9 months and then they sort of plateaued. Some people swear by it, I do not.

 

I've done a few dirted tanks, and they worked really well for me. I planted very heavily straight from the start (stuck to fast and medium growers, mainly crypts, hygrophila and helanthium + floaters) and kept the light on low to mid strength. It can definitely turn into a mess when (re)moving plants.

 

I've done a few dirted tanks, and they worked really well for me. I planted very heavily straight from the start (stuck to fast and medium growers, mainly crypts, hygrophila and helanthium + floaters) and kept the light on low to mid strength. It can definitely turn into a mess when (re)moving plants.
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I have done the opposite. I’ve replaced my 3 year old dirt substrate tank with inert substrate. The biggest con is that dirt tank is dirty. Every time I replant, dirt kick up and cloud the water for a while before settling. Its not possible to distinguish so as to siphon off organic waste from dirt in water change. When the nutritional value of dirt substrate expires, it’s necessary to dose the water column so there is no difference from having inert substrate to begin with. All aquatic plants can uptake nutrients from the water column, so having rich substrate is not essential to healthy plant growth. It’s difficult to balance a dirt tank to begin with and it can also deteriorate over time after balancing.

 

@Tiger15 Oh, definitely. You can get just as lush of plant growth in inert substrate as in dirt, all my current tanks are inert ('cept some jars, hah), with occasional root tabs & water column dosing.

 

One tip for keeping dirt under control is putting it in mesh bags under an inert cap. Another is just always cutting plants at substrate instead of pulling up roots, I know a guy who runs crazy nutrient rich substrate and that’s what he does to avoid polluting his water column

 

That’s impractical as heavy rooters will penetrate Into mesh bag and tear the fabric apart. Cutting plants at the surface works with stem plants only but still won’t eliminate replanting into dirt that makes a mess. Stems require replanting often and won’t be practical.

I'm thinking the same way, setting up an experiment 1 gallon jar Much safer than risking my 29g

I’ve experimented with dirt in 1 gal bowl for 3 years. Glad that I didn’t try it with my 75gal that would make a huge mess. I recenty converted my dirt bowl with crushed lava rock substrate and can’t be happier. Epoxy coated sand any good

 

Thanks for the experienced knowledge guys! I think I will just go with the bdbs and tabs for now. Might make sense to try it on a nano tank at some point but not jump right in on my 75. Especially with me still being a PT rookie. Really appreciate the advice!

 

I'm thinking the same way, setting up an experiment 1 gallon jar Much safer than risking my 29g

 

This has been really interesting to read. When I started my first planted aquarium I had no luck growing plants until I made a small (about 2 gallons) tank with dirt (from my yard) on the bottom, sand, and some rocks on top. My dirt 2 gallon tank started slow but in a few months it really took off. Since then I have built two larger tanks (10 and 20 gallons) the same way and I have had good results with no algae or balancing problems. My tanks are low-tech, I do not replant, and under 25 gallons. I guess if you want to do a cheap small low-tech tank, dirt is fine.

 

But how long have you set it up.

My 1 gal bowl did well initially . The dwarf hair grass spread out rapidly to form a lush carpet within months, and there was minimal algae. But after 1.5 year, I noticed decline and thinning of the DHG, and algae invasion began. I started to dose nutrient rich water from my big tank but didn’t help. So I began to replace and replant with Rotala in bare spots that held better, but algae remained persistent. There are ideas on how to replenish substrate nutrients and soil, but I chose to replace with inert substrate to see how it goes.

 

Pros: If you like the color of dirt, can't beat it.

Cons: Everything else.

 

I do it all the time. I pucker really bad at putting out $60 for a bag of substrate.

If you do it right you will NOT get dirt into the water column. I soak the dirt and make a thick mud. Pack it into the bottom.
Cap it with an inch or more of fine grain sand type substrate. Black diamond works fine.

You have to be a little patient, you will get a big ammonia spike. But I just did a little 8 gallon a month ago and put cories in right away. I used Stabile and Prime and they all came through it.
Plants really took off and I had to trim after a month. You can tell when the roots hit the dirt, the plant just takes off!

 

Yeah, but in a month, or four, or ten, there are no more native nutrients left in the dirt and you're in exactly the same place as someone who used a non-nutritive substrate, except they have nice, practical sand or fine gravel and you've got densely packed inert mud.

 

I've had a few different tabk setups, I really enjoyed the 2 inches gravel with another 3 to 4 inches of sand. Add water movement and all that excess sand helps filter nicely.
I found that if you have dirt substrate, I'd keep mystery snails too. They're great at cleaning dirt for you.
I'm also a fan of creating ways to do the least amount of water changes. Adding new water for evaporation. And no chemicals, except for a biostart for starting the cycle.

 

I have been doing dirt tanks for over 35 years. I now use organic top soil instead of potting soil because over the years companies started using less and less dirt and more mulch. Today potting soil is about 95% mulch and 5% dirt by volume.

I use a combination of organic top soil and Rightwell Aquatics FlorinBase Laterite Powder (30 grams per gallon). I put 1 to 1-1/2 inches as the bottom layer and top it with 1 inch of gravel. I fill it with water and run it with a HOB filter for at least a week with no fish or plants, rocks and drift wood only. I usually do 1 or 2 water changes during that week. By the end of the week the water should be pretty clear. I then add Fritz Zyme 7 Live Bacteria and plants and run my LED light on low for 2 weeks. All this time I test the water every couple of days. After 3 to 4 weeks if the water is good I add fish. After a week with the fish I start slowly increasing the brightness of the light. Between using this method and nerite snails I usually do not have much issues with algae.

I have tried all the commercial plant substrates and have not had as good of results as I had with dirt tanks.

My biggest problem is keeping the plants pruned back. It always seems that one type of plant will try to take over the aquarium.

It took several years of experimenting to get to where I am currently. Just because this way works for me doesn't mean it will work for others. I have tried other hobbyist's "recipes". Some I had luck with, some I did not.

 

I have tried all the commercial plant substrates and have not had as good of results as I had with dirt tanks.

I assume your not running co2. A good dirt mix will generate some co2 above what occurs naturally so you have the potential for better results with dirt than with other substrates.

Nevertheless it's fine if your mostly planting, but dirt is not aquascaping friendly no matter how you look at it, so that precludes it's usefullness for many.

 

8 week old dirted 8 gallon

 

11/2 year old low-tech, inert substrate, no root tabs

 

A bit dirt is better, if not overstocked.
Dirt tank run better of too cleaned tank, because every time clean the tank you broken balance.