# Aquarium Soil Suggestions...



## FinnDublynn (Feb 27, 2015)

SO.... Since I have so many awesome tanks right now, and I have SO MANY POSSIBILITIES, and because I love trying new things and learning new things...

I REALLY want to try a soil based tank. See what I think about it!!

I want suggestions on the best soil to use... I know someone mentioned an organic Miracle-gro or something like that once, and then there's the Carib-Sea Eco-Complete but I can't tell if that's an actual SOIL or not, and there's the flourite which is def not SOIL... then there's like 30 other brands like API and I just want to know who uses what!! And Why!! So I can make a better informed choice!! 

And if I did a capped soil, is it better to use a finer sand like the Tahitian Moon sand I currently have, or something with a coarser grade? Or even something like gravel or....???


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## Aqua Aurora (Oct 4, 2013)

Eco Complete is not a soil, its an enriched substrate (no cap needed)... think of it as a small gravel/lava rock soaked in ferts that will slowly leech out of it over time. There is also one called amazonia I think from ada. These are food ones to use for very short rooted plants like dwarf baby tears as it makes it easy for them to get nutrients. Thought not technically a soil these enriched substrates do leech some ammonia when initially put in a tank. No personal experience with these products, too expensive for my tastes.

Miraclegro Organic Potting Mix (MGOPM) is what I and a lot of others have used for a soil. Best to cap these, personally I prefer sand but I keep mts to sift it. Gravel doesn't have as much issue with compacting and getting aerobic gas bubbles but you need a thicker layer of gravel to keep soil down. The larger the gravel the large the gaps between it and more easily soil comes up through it.
MGOPM has a lot of wood in it, I sift it out with window screen but you do not have to.
Look up Walsted method tank setups on youtube with "miraclegro" in the key word search. There is one man that does a good detailed prep and set up guide, lot of info.


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## FinnDublynn (Feb 27, 2015)

Sweet!! Thank you!! I'm putting this on a non fish tank... So I'm not too worried and ammonia leeching


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## FinnDublynn (Feb 27, 2015)

OK... my middle name could just about literally be changed to 'pointless overkill'... So call me by name if you need to... 

Is there any advantage to mixing the miracle gro soil and the eco complete substrate? Or layering the two? Either starting with the eco complete, layering on soil, then capping with my sand.... Or just capping the soil with the eco complete, or is that just like adding butter flavoring to butter?


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## Aqua Aurora (Oct 4, 2013)

FinnDublynn said:


> OK... my middle name could just about literally be changed to 'pointless overkill'... So call me by name if you need to...
> 
> Is there any advantage to mixing the miracle gro soil and the eco complete substrate? Or layering the two? Either starting with the eco complete, layering on soil, then capping with my sand.... Or just capping the soil with the eco complete, or is that just like adding butter flavoring to butter?


Putting both together will greatly throw the balance off between nutrients, light, and co2-you'd have way too much nutrients and need super high light and cranked up co2 system (excel would not cut it). Stick with one of the other.
Another advantage to eco complete over soil based that I forgot to mention: you can rescape your tank without issue-yes you'll get mulm kick up but some siphoning will fix it. In a soil based tank you get a nightmare mess if you try to pull out a well rooted monster like sword, val, bulb plant who's roots could spread across 1/2 the tank in a few months in soil. My bubble bowl tank (soil with sand cap) I rescaped when I preped for Magnus (use to house shrimp).. pulled up some pygmy chain sword that had been in there 6 months.. roots were so long and pulled up SO MUCH soil I had to remove and redo the soil and sand cap completely x.x


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## FinnDublynn (Feb 27, 2015)

This is good to know...


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## meuhler1215 (Aug 13, 2013)

I just set my 29 gal up as a soiled tank...I think it's gonna be awesome but it is a mess right now. I used Miracle Gro Organic and capped with black gravel. I like the black gravel and back for planted tanks. Makes everything pop well. It is quiet a mess though. I'm still waiting on the arrival of the rest of my plants and once those are in won't be touching the tank after. Don't get discouraged if it takes a while to clear up. Mine took time and patience.


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## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

Have you thought about using ADA aquasoil? It rarely seems to get a mention on this forum, but there is a reason it is so popular with planted tank enthusiasts, and it's not just because of the brand name. 

ADA Amazonia contains the most nutrients, but it also leeches the most ammonia. However, if there are no livestock, this is usually not an issue, provided you don't let the ammonia get so high it starts to adversely affect your plants. 

ADA aquasoil also has the benefit of being much more aesthetically appealing than soil, and doesn't need to be capped.


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## FinnDublynn (Feb 27, 2015)

I had seen that on Amazon with some amazing reviews... I had considered it, but i hadn't had any "personal" recommendations for it. I'll have to look into it more!

Thanks for everyone's suggestions!!

I might have to stick with the Carib-Sea eco-planted because that's available in town... and unless I can get something on Amazon Prime and get the free shipping, sometimes, especially when it comes to "20lbs of substrate!!" shipping gets EXPENSIVVVEEEEEE to Alaska...

its the ONLY reason I haven't purchased a sweet baby from Aquabid... to ship from the lower 48 to me? Is between $70-90


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## FinnDublynn (Feb 27, 2015)

Wait.. just looked it up... it wasn't ADA... 


What I saw was THIS


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## MadtownD (Aug 29, 2014)

Everything has trade offs. Non-dirt is easier to rescape, but then you have to think about fertilizers carefully. Also, the soil naturally produces CO2. You might find it helpful read the natural planned tank sticky at the top of the forum. I'm in the planning stages for a miracle gro sand cap tank, personally, but there are advantages and disadvantages to each.


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## FinnDublynn (Feb 27, 2015)

MadtownD said:


> Everything has trade offs. Non-dirt is easier to rescape, but then you have to think about fertilizers carefully. Also, the soil naturally produces CO2. You might find it helpful read the natural planned tank sticky at the top of the forum. I'm in the planning stages for a miracle gro sand cap tank, personally, but there are advantages and disadvantages to each.


I have read it. I just like getting as many suggestions and opinions as possible.. I like trying new things and before I try it, I always research it to death. The sticky is great, but it gives one way of doing it, and I like getting 10 ways to do it so I can decide which works best for me, get the pros and cons and figure out which cons I can and can't work with, etc.  I like going in with an arsenal of knowledge!!


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## Aqua Aurora (Oct 4, 2013)

If you are interested in soil based look up "Walstad method" on youtube-there are a lot of informative vieos on what to look for and avoid when buying soil and how to prep the soil/set up the tank.


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## FinnDublynn (Feb 27, 2015)

Someone suggested that already, actually. Was it you?? Hm... either way.. I have a video bookmarked.


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## SplashyBetta (Jul 28, 2014)

I see you've already gotten many replies, but I figured I'd throw my thoughts out there anyway :-D

I have a 1/2 gallon shrimp tank that has Miracle-Gro potting soil with a black sand cap. The soil is a little messy, especially if you don't strain out the wood chunks (I didn't), but I think it gives the tank a certain 'natural' look. 

I recommend a soil:sand ratio of 1.5-2":1"


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## FinnDublynn (Feb 27, 2015)

ALWAYS willing to get more information!!! Thanks!!!


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## FinnDublynn (Feb 27, 2015)

Picked up a bag of Eco-Complete today!! 
I really want to do a full on soil tank, but I think I want to try that later in a spare 5.5 gallon incase I mess up BAD I'm not doing it in one of the boy's tanks, so I thought the Eco-Complete was a good happy medium... for sure, it'll help nurse some of my poor plants back to health if they're not too far gone.

I want to put it in one of my 20 gallon tanks, but the one bag won't fill it very deep and they suggest a deeper layer of it.. I'm wondering if I shouldn't "cap" it with sand like I would have done with the soil to keep it deep enough, or just put it in the 10gallon tank. At $35 for the bag, I can't really afford to buy a whole bunch of the stuff.


BTW... What is the difference between the Eco-Complete and the FloraMax??? I was able to find enough to tell me that the Eco-Complete is the better choice so I was like, 'Fine by me!!" but I never actually got the answer on what the difference is. Also, the difference between those two and the Flourite... And is there any benefit of using two of them together?


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## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

I don't know about the first two, but I believe Seachem Fluorite is actually an inert substrate. It's real benefit being its Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC)/its ability to capture nutrients from the water column. 

The Seachem website, and a quick Google search suggest that it does contain iron and other trace minerals (but not macro nutrients), but then I did read that perhaps these are not in a form that is able to be utilised by the plants.


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## FinnDublynn (Feb 27, 2015)

So, perhaps mixing the Flourite with the Eco-Complete might be better than adding sand to my Eco-Complete, since it'll help disperse the nutrients better???


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## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

I don't really know. This definitely isn't my area of expertise. 

I wonder if it would be better to put a layer of laterite under the Eco-complete instead of the Fluorite. 

Is there any reason you want to mix the Eco-complete with another substrate? Looking through Google images it doesn't seem to need a cap.


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## FinnDublynn (Feb 27, 2015)

Mostly because they suggest a deeper depth, but I want to use it in my 20Gallon Long, and the one bag won't be deep enough and I can't afford to spend another $35 getting another bag... lol


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