Dirt is all in my tank!

How do you keep the dirt down. I have only 1 inch of dirt with about 2 inches of gravel and the dirt is slowly bubbling up at some points and when I push the dirt down it goes all over my tank...what should I do?

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Permalink Reply by Robert Jango on September 3, 2012 at 2:26am

Obviously a lot of your dirt is lighter than water - probably pieces of decayed wood or vegetation. This is to be expected. When you first put dirt in your tank you have to soak it and let the lighter components rise to the water's surface. Skim this flotsam with a net and discard it. Repeat as necessary. When you stop finding dirt at the surface you'll probably have about half the dirt you started with. The dirt left in the tank can now be called "mud" and is ready to cap.

Whatever wants to float will float. Just net it and throw it away.

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Permalink Reply by matt weber on September 9, 2012 at 2:21am

Robert is correct, but also dont push it down, at the most just use a skewer to poke into the dirt slightly. Its also some gases in the soil trying to escape. The soil will resettle under the gravel over time, you just have to be gentler on your approach.