Floating Soil

Hello board! First time posting here, been following Dustin's fishtank videos for a few months now and finally starting to get my new 180 setup!! (soo jacked)

Anyways, I'm going for a planted dirt aquarium(obviously), I went out and bought probably 150 lbs of Miracle Grow Organic's Choice soil. I filled the tank with a good 2 inch layer of soil and filled the tank with about 4 inches of water. Now I havent put the gravel down yet, but it appears about half the soil if floating in the water. I just wanted to make sure this is normal before I start putting the gravel down to make sure I minimize getting soil ontop of my gravel. Any tips or advice would be appreciated!

Thanks

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Permalink Reply by Freshtadef on May 3, 2012 at 8:21am

You still have dry pockets mix the dirt around and add some more water. Post pics of your progress.

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Permalink Reply by Peter on May 3, 2012 at 4:43pm

Jus cap the dirt it should eventually settle down to the bottom and what doesn't settle gets removed by water changes and the filter

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Permalink Reply by MarkC on May 21, 2012 at 4:27pm

I just wanted to let any other total newbies out there that might run into the same problem, just follow dustins and the nice members of this forum's advice and it will work out perfect! Here my 180 about 1.5 weeks in, water is totally clear and looks great. Im getting my first shipment of ~80 plants on friday.. Ill keep you guys posted. Thanks for the help!

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Permalink Reply by Peter on May 21, 2012 at 5:41pm

Tanks looking good cant wait to see the updates of it planted

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Permalink Reply by Clayton on March 10, 2013 at 10:03pm

Nice, I have a 180g with African chiclids and a decent plant coverage. I run co2, but I am stoked to do this dirt!

When you plant the plants, how can you prevent the dirt from coming up?

Also when is the soonest you could put fish back in after the dirt conversion, I'm hoping same-next day.

Looking fwd to seeing ur setup post plant Mark.

Peace