Starting a New Dirted Tank

Hey everyone, i'm going to dirt convert my 22gal tank. There are just a few things i'm unsure about and a few things i need to ask.

Does it matter if the dirt has peat in it?

The two types of dirt i'm looking at are these:

The first one says that it is for Hydroponics. Correct me if i'm wrong but doesn't that mean that it is for growing plants without the use of soil? That is what confuses me with this dirt.

Which of the two would be better for me to use in my tank? I understand that Miracle Gro is the preferred but i cannot find anywhere online to buy from (I live in the UK).

I would like to use clay in the tank - can i use any old type of clay?

Are there any other minerals that i should add to the dirt? Such as iron? If so, can you please tell me what is the best way to do so? e.g where to buy, amounts to use.

Finally, would it be a good idea to mix sand with the dirt? What amounts (ratio) should i use?

I understand there are a lot of questions, so it's ok if you can't answer them all. An answer to just one of the questions would be well appreciated!

Thanks in advance.

Regards,

Callum

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Permalink Reply by Christopher Alner on August 3, 2011 at 10:56am

Ok I'll do my best dude.

Dirt - I'd chose any organic compost, but I had issues finding ones that didn't have add ferts, or atleast clearly didn't have ferts. I managed to find some aquatic compost. (see my conversion vids - Part 2 - for more info) This stuff can be bought in garden centers, and I know B&Q do a version as well. However I've only used the one brand so can't speak for any of the others.

Clay - If you get the aquatic compost, it may have clay in already (see my vid) Or you can try and get hold of the clay Dustin uses in his videos. On other option (quiet a expensive one though) is to get the JBL balls - http://www.jbl.de/en/aquatics-freshwater-products/detail/2346/jbl-t...

Break them up as best you can and add them in. However this isn't red clay so may lack the Iron content - if so you can add laterite which is a end product of erosion on tropical rocks - http://www.aquatics-online.co.uk/addtobasket.asp?skid=507

Peat - the compost I use also has peat mixed in. If it hadn't had it pre mixed in I wouldn't have bothered adding it I don't think. So you can add peat if you like, but it can make the water acidic, which leads me on too....

Coral Sand - Has a large calcium content so can balance the effects of the dirt lowering your PH, this is particularly important if you add peat as mentioned above, but dirt will lower your PH regardless. My water comes out of the tap so hard you can stand a spoon in it, so I didn't add the sand.

Hope that helps!

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Permalink Reply by Christopher Alner on August 3, 2011 at 11:17am

One last point - The key thing with this in my experience is that you what ever you put in, cap it properly with sand or gravel or your ammonia reading will sky rocket and you'll get all sorts of issues such as algae, plants melting due to overload of nutrients and even fish dying.

You want the nutrients in the substrate, not the water coloumn!