# soil won't settle?



## homegrown terror (Aug 6, 2012)

i'm TRYING to set up a two gallon NPT jar. so far all i have is soil and water (the soil is Miracle Grow Organic potting soil) and it won't settle. i laid it in about 1.5 inches deep, and it looks like about 90% of it is floating on the surface of the water. how long should i wait before considering it a lost cause?


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## kfryman (Nov 7, 2011)

What do you mean it is floating? Soil is going to float... Unless you had it mineralizing beforehand. You shouldn't have put water in yet to tell you the truth, cap first, then add water. Now you just gotta wait till the soil sucks up the water XD


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

uh... did you cap the soil....?


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

Correct.....You either need to add a sand or small diameter gravel on top of the soil or lower the water level to about a quarter inch above the soil and leave it like that for a week to 10 days.

Have you already planted it....if so, lower your water level to an inch or so and top the soil off with some sand or small diameter gravel (_the cap is half as much as the soil layer_)-Refill trying not to disturb the substrate-Net any floating soil and remove. You might need to make a couple of 50-75% water changes until the water clears. It is important to have the water clear for best light penetration to the plants.

Can you post a pic.....


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## LadyVictorian (Nov 23, 2011)

<.< It's okay Terror I made this mistake once as well when I had salamanders xD. I made the wet half of their tank into a mud pit or dirty water and had to wait for it to settle before I could plant their swampy water plants. It should settle eventually it may just take a while.


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## babystarz (Aug 3, 2012)

Did you remove the sticks/wood pulp from the potting soil? I usually wet down a big bucket of Miracle Gro Organic Potting soil and squeeze the mud out of the sticks and throw the sticks out. It'll seem like you're throwing away a lot of it, but the heavier mud sinks to the bottom and will take less time to settle (and if you think you've gotten all the mud from the bottom, wait 10 minutes and you'll discover there's more). Plus it'll help avoid ammonia spikes from the decaying wood. Also as others have mentioned, a sand cap is a good idea; the mud won't stir up when you plant things this way.


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## homegrown terror (Aug 6, 2012)

well i just drained the jar and added a gravel cap. there's a little bit floating at the top, i'm gonna let as much sink as possible, then net the rest. luckily i was smart enough to not plant anything yet, i'm waiting till tomorrow for that. as it stands now, it's a bit murky but it's at least ten times clearer than before. i'm gonna do a 75% change in the morning, and tomorrow afternoon i'll be planting some hornwort, wisteria and primrose, as well as a pothos if i can find them this time of the year.


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## homegrown terror (Aug 6, 2012)

as you can see, after two back to back 50% water changes, things are looking a LOT nicer in there. so far all i've got in it are a terracotta pot, a driftwood branch, an emerged dracenia and some anubias clone shoots. picking up the stemmy crop plants this afternoon, and then the heater and finally a betta as the fertilising "farmer" for our little plant farm!


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

oh I used to have a jar like that it was virturaly substrateless because I have just enough to cover the bottom and didnt actually plant anything in the substrate...


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## homegrown terror (Aug 6, 2012)

aokashi said:


> oh I used to have a jar like that it was virturaly substrateless because I have just enough to cover the bottom and didnt actually plant anything in the substrate...


haha i think we've got the same exact jar (is it a 2-gallon jar from walmart?) mine's only that sparse till this afternoon. by this time next month i'm sure you'll not even be able to see Godric in there for all the planty goodness growing all around.


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

homegrown terror said:


> haha i think we've got the same exact jar (is it a 2-gallon jar from walmart?) mine's only that sparse till this afternoon. by this time next month i'm sure you'll not even be able to see Godric in there for all the planty goodness growing all around.


mine was a 1 gallon. I dont trust the glass o hold in all the water in a 2 gal XD
but yes, you can grow a forest in these


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## homegrown terror (Aug 6, 2012)

aokashi said:


> mine was a 1 gallon. I dont trust the glass o hold in all the water in a 2 gal XD
> but yes, you can grow a forest in these


haha it's already growing! just got back from petco with enough plants to fill it to the brim! several people on walmart.com did customer reviews saying they'd used it as a fish tank (one for a goldfish....ugh, people) so i'm fairly confident it'll hold water.


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## Destinystar (May 26, 2012)

Those are so awesome looking, I think I will give one a try this Spring. What about light do you just sit them where they can get some sunlight though a window ?


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