[Tiger15]

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]

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

 

[Tiger15]

I think the idea is you're replanting into the capping substrate that doesn't make a mess, and roots grow down to the dirt in their own time and still benefit. Yes biggest rooters will root through the bags but that's ok, you can trim those roots when you're pulling them up or switch bags out later on..... a hassle but much less than taking out loose dirt..... They're not going to just 'rip up' the bags, they get embedded, if you don't rip them out there's still much less mess than with loose dirt.

What didn't you like about the dirt bowl? Just the mess of replanting? Was your dirt capped?

The dirt is capped but over time, the dirt migrated upward mixed in with organic waste that becomes inseparable. Other than messy in replanting, soil nutrients has depleted over time, plant health declined and algae returned. Since water column feeding becomes necessary, it makes no difference to just replace with inert substrate.

 

[Tiger15]

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.