# Help with my switch to soil!



## aemaki09 (Oct 23, 2012)

Finally making the switch from clown-puke gravel over to an NPT! 

I've been wanting to do this for a longgg time now, but I finally just got enough of everything collected to be able to get it started.


Here's my question.
Should I rinse the soil like I will with the sand? -OR- Should I just pick out the large clumps in it, maybe dampen it a little, and do it that way?


I ended up going with both organic potting mix and organic top soil, I figured that I could just mix the two together and that way I could stretch the use of it out.
I also went with black diamond sand blasting sand, 30/60 grit, which says "fine" on it, so I'm hoping it'll be fine for the cories.


If anyone has any advice on how to make this switch as fast as possible, please let me know!


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## lilyth88 (Mar 15, 2012)

I did not rinse my soil, but I did sift it. Simply picking the larger bits won't get everything out.


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## CrazyDiamond (Feb 20, 2013)

My soil was 98 cents a bag and full of crap, I would recommend sifting it lol I had chunks of mulch, plant roots, rocks . . . some stuff that remains unidentifiable  but it's worked fine for me so far. I use it in my grow out tank, so no fish in that one ^^


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## Sea Dragon (Mar 20, 2012)

Clown puke gravel is a huge pet peeve of mine xD Glad you're converting!

I sifted my soil, but I didn't rinse it. If you cap properly and pour in the water super carefully, there shouldn't be much use in rinsing (I imagine it would be a pain in the butt to do so anyway lol)


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## aemaki09 (Oct 23, 2012)

Thanks.
What is the best method for sifting it?


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## tekkguy (Jan 28, 2013)

aemaki09 said:


> Thanks.
> What is the best method for sifting it?


A regular kitchen strainer - the plastic ones. The smaller the holes, the better. It's the larger stuff that floats. Get one at the dollar store, and keep it for dirt in case you ever decide to do another.


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## aemaki09 (Oct 23, 2012)

Thanks!


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## OrangeAugust (Jul 23, 2012)

If you have a sand cap you won't need to sift your soil because sand on top prevents anything from floating.
I just dumped my soil in and then put the washed sand on top of it.


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## tekkguy (Jan 28, 2013)

OrangeAugust said:


> If you have a sand cap you won't need to sift your soil because sand on top prevents anything from floating.
> I just dumped my soil in and then put the washed sand on top of it.


The larger organic pieces that you don't sift out will rot, and cause issues later. They should be sifted to get the soil as clean as possible.


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## aemaki09 (Oct 23, 2012)

I just need to rant about this sand rinsing! It's such a pain! I've got 1/3 of a 5 gallon bucket filled with sand, then got the hose out and have been using the nozzle on full blast to get everything stirred up, then pouring it out and doing it again. I've literally rinsed this stuff like 15 times and it still doesn't look clear enough. Giving up for today.

Hopefully tomorrow I can get the rinsing finnished, then can start on the soil. 

I knew it was going to be a lot of work, but I didn't think it'd be this bad! Had I known, I probably would have just spent the money and went with one of the other plant substrates.


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## tekkguy (Jan 28, 2013)

Just stick the hose down into the sand in the bucket, and let the bucket run over for a while. Keep it swishing around, and don't keep the water on too high, but just the overflow will rinse away the small stuff.

Next time try pool filter sand ... it requires almost NO rinsing!


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## Sagat (Dec 13, 2012)

I didn't rinse or sift. While it's true that the sand cap will keep everything down, the trumpet snails you put in to churn the soil will cause some pieces to rise to the surface... 



tekkguy said:


> The larger organic pieces that you don't sift out will rot, and cause issues later. They should be sifted to get the soil as clean as possible.


What issues have you experienced? Everything I've read has indicated that that decomposition serves to feed the plant.

I rinsed my sand about 3 times before I stopped. In the end, I ended up with way more stuff in the water column from my driftwood than I did from anything else. Since you'll want to change the water frequently at first to keep the water quality good for your fish, I wouldn't sweat a little cloudiness.


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## lilyth88 (Mar 15, 2012)

tekkguy said:


> The larger organic pieces that you don't sift out will rot, and cause issues later. They should be sifted to get the soil as clean as possible.



This.


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## tekkguy (Jan 28, 2013)

The decomp does feed the plants ... but the larger organic material not only floats, it can cause huge changes in the chemistry ... spikes in ammonia, serious gas bubble issues, etc. It's just better to sift it out is all I'm saying!


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## CrazyDiamond (Feb 20, 2013)

Decomp = ammonia, makes sense to me, besides who wants all the lumps and stuff in the soil? My mother loves potted plants and of course we don't sift the potting soil when putting new plants in but after a few heavy rains flood the pots, all those decomposing organic lumps and what have you that we would rather not have in the tanks, really make a stink >.<


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## aemaki09 (Oct 23, 2012)

Yeah, had I not wanted black sand I would have gone with pool filter, if I could have found it anywhere. Other than TSC who had the black diamond, the only other sand I could find was play sand.

But your idea sounds much better than mine! I'll just put the hose without a nozzle in there tomorrow and hope that'll be enough.


With the soil, I think the most I'll do is go through it when I am putting it in the tank and remove any big pieces that I see. I don't mind if there's some small ones here and there.


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## OrangeAugust (Jul 23, 2012)

tekkguy said:


> The decomp does feed the plants ... but the larger organic material not only floats, it can cause huge changes in the chemistry ... spikes in ammonia, serious gas bubble issues, etc. It's just better to sift it out is all I'm saying!


Ooohh, ok. Well, too late now. I'm definitely not re-doing it. My soil didn't have big pieces in it anyway. The biggest pieces of bark, etc are about the size of a kidney bean.


And about rinsing the sand, I got play sand, too, and it was a pain in the butt to wash it. But I realized that after about the 5th time dumping the bucket, even if it was a little cloudy, it settled fairly quickly. I had more problems with rocks turning my water orange and then driftwood making my water look like tea, and then accidentally getting the sand all stirred up and causing a ton of soil to come up and get all cloudy than I did with the sand making my water cloudy. Now I've got bacteria bloom so the water is cloudy and the driftwood is starting to make the water tea-colored again, so it's kind of frustrating. Emptying and refilling a 55 gallon tank is a pain in the arse.


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## Nothingness (Oct 11, 2012)

tekkguy said:


> The larger organic pieces that you don't sift out will rot, and cause issues later. They should be sifted to get the soil as clean as possible.


 +1 to this. Sift your soil to avoid problem in the future


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## CrazyDiamond (Feb 20, 2013)

I've learned a lot from this thread and want to make the switch as well, thanks guys xD


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