dirting a tank soaking dirt in a bucket?

hi i am about to dirt my 55g i was wondering could i soak my dirt in a tub for a week changing to water often to eliminate the excess nutrient stage allowing me to add it to my tank when i am ready and being about to add my fish back in under a day????? Thanks for your reply's

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Permalink Reply by Peter on December 27, 2013 at 12:46pm

U could do that but ur going to still have to wait to add ur fish because ur tank still has to be cycled. U would have just removed some of theexcess nutrients by soakjng dirt in a bucket. If u want to add fish day 1 to dirted tank ull have to do wc daily or every other day to keep fish safe from ammonia spikes. Good luck

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Permalink Reply by jett on December 27, 2013 at 8:26pm

so its a bad idea as the dirt will lose nutrients and become less affective in plant growing? I cant tell if thats a good thing or a bad thing.

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Permalink Reply by jett on December 28, 2013 at 8:54am

the lack of responses on here is outstanding

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Permalink Reply by bryce thibodeau on December 29, 2013 at 12:03pm

When u first fill a tank it takes about a week for the first set of spikes to start die down. Regardless of what else u have in the tank. My recomendation is to set it up turn oon ur filter and let it set for a week or more if u can. If not u should do large water changes at least every 3rd day.

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Permalink Reply by DePreston on December 30, 2013 at 9:44am

I have a reply, why dirt a tank? I have been using a natural gravel about 5 inches deep in all my tanks for 40 years. ( The same gravel) I have plants by the bushel in there now, fish are reproducing like crazy, my water chemistry is spot on excellent, I have a HOB, a Marineland 503, a UV sterilizer, and under gravel filter with 2 power heads and everything works great and not a speck of dirt in there. The stories I read about how much trouble it is to dirt a tank makes gravel sound so much better to me. How would I vacuum the dirt without raising so much material into the water? With gravel, nothing is spread into the tank, it is sucked out. Maybe I am missing something but I have had tanks far longer than some of you have been alive. Clue me in.

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Permalink Reply by 377ovmluf15ik on December 30, 2013 at 1:04pm

The point of a dirted tant is so dat u can do plants =P An under-gravel filter and vacuming ur substrate isnt 4 plants alot ^.^

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Permalink Reply by DePreston on December 30, 2013 at 9:32pm

I have had plants in a gravel filled tank with an undergravel filter since I started having aqariums 40 years ago. My plants are doing great, To me dirt is just too much trouble. But that is just me.

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Permalink Reply by J on December 30, 2013 at 10:42pm

I don't think he's asking if dirt works but how to limit the chemistry spikes. Have you ever dirted a tank with a shallow amount of dirt under an inch with nice thick cap? Also it looks like your keeping the most basic of plants Preston...

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Permalink Reply by DePreston on January 4, 2014 at 8:32am

I have 6 different plants in there now and they all seem to be doing well. I vacuum the tank every 2 weeks and do a water change then of about 75% in a 90 gallon tank. It is simple for me and if it weren't I would bother having a tank. It is just a large screen TV for our cat.

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Permalink Reply by hoyttt on January 2, 2014 at 5:05pm

no its not we just dont want to answer you.

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Permalink Reply by J on December 30, 2013 at 4:37pm

yes that will help, look up mineralized top soil its pretty much breaking down the nutrients into forms that are directly usable by the plants, main thing is that you dont really need to get the soil all that wet and also you need to introduce nitrifying bacteria such as those in your current tanks filter.

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Permalink Reply by George Barrett on December 31, 2013 at 12:42am

for my last couple dirted tanks I have soaked my dirt for up to 2 months prior. what I do is guesstimate how much I am going to use and put that into a 5 gallon pail. next time I do a water change ill sipon out some water from a cycled tank and stir it up get it nice and wet. not to wet but enough that you can take a hand full and squeeze water out. put a cover on it and let it sit check on it from time to time. you will see it start to bubble after a while. this mean that the "breaking down" process has begun. this will cut down on your ammonia spikes but if you value your fish by no means put them into the tank before 2 weeks. when I acclimated my fish it was a few at a time and after a week straight that the tank tested ok. be careful and test often. don't put your lights on full bore for a couple months until your plants start to really take off. this will prevent algae issues.