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| Aquatic Plants Discussions about live plants in your aquarium |
09-11-2005, 12:46 PM
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#1
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Fishy Member
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: northern California
Posts: 35
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aquatic planting soil?
i was at orchard supply hardware (OSH) yesterday and i found a product like this. could this be used as a bottom layer of substrate in a planted tank? is this what people mean when they talk about "sterilized topsoil"? gracias in advance.
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09-11-2005, 01:46 PM
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#2
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Aquatic Naturalist
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Dayton, Ohio
Age: 37
Posts: 14,961
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I don't see why it wouldn't work, though I have never used it myself. It may be a little light so you might have to cover it with a 1 inch layer of something heavier (like flourite).
__________________
For in much wisdom [is] much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.

Member of the AGA (Aquatic Gardner's Association)
Member of the IBC (International Betta Congress)
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09-11-2005, 06:17 PM
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#3
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Fishy Member
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: northern California
Posts: 35
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okay, i'll think i'll try it with some flourite then. but (excuse my ignorance) what's topsoil? and where might i find it?
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09-12-2005, 10:19 AM
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#4
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Aquatic Naturalist
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Dayton, Ohio
Age: 37
Posts: 14,961
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I wouldn't use topsoil in an aquarium.
__________________
For in much wisdom [is] much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.

Member of the AGA (Aquatic Gardner's Association)
Member of the IBC (International Betta Congress)
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09-12-2005, 06:57 PM
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#5
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Shark Bait
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Sacramento
Age: 24
Posts: 84
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Just to let you know, I set up a pond for my father at his house using a sililar product to the one that you mention. The water lilies that he has in the pond are doing phenominal.
__________________
God has a sense of humor. Want proof? Just go to Walmart and look at people.

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09-19-2005, 03:56 AM
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#6
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Cambridge, UK
Posts: 861
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I have several tanks (3) set up with a soil + gravel substrate. This is 1" soil covered by 1" gravel. In my first tank I used for the soil 100% sterilized topsoil. This is available from garden centers and DIY shops and is exactly what it says -- topsoil that has been sterilized (I guess, baked) to get out germs and to kill weed seeds. It's very cheap. However, I found that it has too much organic matter for me: the water in my tank was quite yellow for a long time and I had huge problems with algae. Both of these problems are much less, 7 months after I started the tank. For my next tank, I used for the soil 50% sterilized topsoil and 50% aquatic soil, which is the sort of stuff you found at orchard supply hardware. This has been an amazingly successful tank: the water is only a bit yellow, not too bad, and although I did have a fair bit of algae for the first couple of months, now there's very little algae. So a couple of weeks ago I redid an old tank of mine using 50% topsoil, 50% aquatic soil, and this is looking OK so far: some yellow water, some algae, healthy fish and healthy plants, which is what I would expect.
For the 1" of gravel on top of the soil, I use small gravel (meant for alpine plants) from the garden center.
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09-20-2005, 01:16 PM
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#7
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Junior Member
Join Date: Sep 2005
Age: 31
Posts: 4
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Sounds easier to just dump a bag of eco-complete in..
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09-20-2005, 01:18 PM
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#8
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Junior Member
Join Date: Sep 2005
Age: 31
Posts: 4
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Originally Posted by azn1stknightsou
Just to let you know, I set up a pond for my father at his house using a sililar product to the one that you mention. The water lilies that he has in the pond are doing phenominal.
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How exactly is that 10gallon tank of yours set up? You do know you've got about 30 gallons of fish, not including the turtles (very messy) in there, right?
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09-20-2005, 03:22 PM
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#9
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Aquatic Naturalist
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Dayton, Ohio
Age: 37
Posts: 14,961
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Originally Posted by teitoku
Sounds easier to just dump a bag of eco-complete in..
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For a 10 gallon, yes. For a 75 gallon, it can be very expensive.
__________________
For in much wisdom [is] much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.

Member of the AGA (Aquatic Gardner's Association)
Member of the IBC (International Betta Congress)
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09-21-2005, 03:05 AM
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#10
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Cambridge, UK
Posts: 861
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Originally Posted by Simpte
For a 10 gallon, yes. For a 75 gallon, it can be very expensive.
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You beat me to it! Simpte's hit the nail on the head. Soil + gravel is a very low cost way of getting a substrate that grows plants well. If you have the money, by all means get the Eco-complete.
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