ALTERNATIVES TO A "DIRTED" TANK

I have been keeping aquariums since I was 10 years old. My first tanks were small chrome framed, leaky tanks run on noisy air pumps and ugly plastic corner filters lighted by incandescent fish cooking lights, that showed off the beautiful red, blue, or lime green painted pea sized gravel, bubbling deep sea diver, flapping fluorescent clam shell, Chinese pagoda, and tiny “No Fishing” sign. After exterminating a few hundred dollars worth of fish in my algae covered ammonia concentration camps, I began reading books on how to have fish last longer than a week. “Hmmm, create a natural environment you say. Hmmm, use plants to suck up the poisonous by-products of fish waste you say”. Thus began my aquatic plant melting stage. I quickly learned to hate Cabomba and Myrophyllum with their needle shaped shrapnel. Amazon swords were the answer. They lasted a few weeks until the leaves began melting away, leaving an ever smaller version of the once majestic plant, until there was nothing left but a tiny algae covered rosette. More reading required. The next innovation was the under-gravel filter (UGF) for biological filtration, and plastic plants. The blue green or orange (not kidding) Cabomba was so classy, and the lime green Amazon sword never lost a leaf. And they never grew. And the tank never filled in. “Natural” 1960's style. One of the nice side effects of the UGF was that after a few months of sucking fish waste into the substrate, you ended up with an approximation of soil that would feed plant roots, cause the Vallisneria to actually grow and multiply, and keep that Amazon sword alive a bit longer. Eureka! Plastic plants off to the cichlid tank; real plants back in the community tank. The UGF, paired with fluorescent grow lights allowed me to finally conquer melting plant syndrome, and have a few of the easier plants actually grow and flourish.

Eventually, I began hearing rumours in pet shops and aquarium society meetings about these crazy people who, going against all the established rules of sane aquarium husbandry, were PUTTING DIRT INTO THEIR AQUARIUMS!! They claimed that they could grow really dense plantings of even the most difficult aquatic plants. SACRELEGE!! HERESY!! What were these fools thinking? Having exterminated more than my share of fish and plants, I decided to be safe and leave the dirt in the yard. So, for the rest of the dark ages before the internet, when aquarium knowledge was passed along via overheard boasting at pet shops and aquarium society meetings, or expensive hard cover books, I stuck to UGF's and fluorescent lights. Then came the internet! (Cue chorus of angels). Suddenly, I could download thousands of dollars of music, thus destroying the music industry!! Oh, and look stuff up too. That's when I discovered Flourite. For only a small second mortgage on your home, you could now cover the bottom of your aquarium, with a substrate that would hold and release nutrients to your plants, and not have any of the disadvantages of dirt. Combine this with natural looking gravel cap and a UGF, and densely planted aquascapes became possible.

I like to rearrange my tanks fairly frequently, which can be a problem in a dirted tank. I have never had the guts to put dirt into my main display tank. My planted tanks have UGFs, and a 1 inch layer of Flourite, capped with several inches of small grain natural gravel. The main, permanent filtration of my tanks uses sump filters or back of tank filters with mechanical and biological filtration. One of the main disadvantages of a UGF filtered substrate is that it takes months or even years of running with a well stocked tank, to build up enough “soil” in the substrate to grow nice plants. I usually grow easy plants in new tanks like this. It doesn't matter that the UGF gets clogged with roots, because I have external filtration. Some plants don't like having all that water flow around their roots. For these plants, in a well established tank, I will just turn off the UGF.

I know there are other good substrates out there that are as good as dirt, but just really expensive. What have you tried, that avoids the problems of dirted tanks, doesn't cost an arm and a leg, and lets you grow really nice plants?

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Comment by Peter on November 16, 2013 at 1:32pm: Tons of alternative. Flourite is a fancy name that company puts on clay. Clay is cheap u can get 40lbs for like 8$. It will do everything flourite does. U can buy it as kitty litter or oil absorbent. Dirt is basically a layer of messy ferts. So u can achieve the same results using dry ferts(ei dosing) and plain sand.

Comment by Bob Fletcher on November 16, 2013 at 2:50pm: Unlike pretty much any cat litter I have ever used, the Flourite I have does not dissolve into gooey mush when wet. It looks like small gravel shaped pieces of very porous terra cotta. It has been mixed in with the gravel of my main display tank for 14 years, and plants still grow very well in that tank. What kind of cat litter does not turn to mush in water? I would definitely like to find a cheaper source of something as good as Flourite. Some of the new high tech plant substrates have the reputation of being very effective, but grossly expensive. I am considering using small pots filled with dirt for larger specimens like Echinodorus or Anubias, but I am still too gutless to go all the way to a dirt substrate.

Comment by Peter on November 16, 2013 at 3:12pm: The reason flourite aka clay holds nutirents is because its C.E.C. Meaning it pulls nutrients in and retains them. Plain sand has no cec. But if u do ei dosing u can grow n e thing in plain sand and avoid all the mess. And wen i said cat litter i was giving examples of how easy it is to find clay u dont want it to mush and waste away get red clay pots and smash and use it or go to ab arts and craft store and buy red clay there. My point was if u just read up ur 14yrs of knowledge will make ot easier for ubto make a choice of wat substrate ur going to need depending on te plants ur going to grow. U dont need expensive flourite to grow swords. A root tab in sand will grow them fine for a long time. And fyi anubias dont need substrate if thats the plants ur thinking of using. They can grow stuck to a rock, dw or w/e.

Comment by Bob Fletcher on November 17, 2013 at 1:55am: Flourite is expensive, and I cringe at buying more, but then again, the 1 bag I bought years ago is still acting as a good substrate. And yes, we all know that Anubias don't need a substrate. That's why I grow them in new tanks where the substrate is essentially sterile. Your suggestion of smashing clay pots sounds like a lot of useless work, but buying clay from a pottery guild could be a good idea. They might even be willing to fire it for me so that the grains are solid and will not dissolve. The point of my question is to get many different ideas for substrates.

Comment by Peter on November 17, 2013 at 2:28am: Flourite has a good cation exchange capacity. (C.e.c.) so does clay. Their are diff types of clay with diff c.e.c and iron amounts. C.e.c. Is the ability to pull in nutrients and hold them. This is great for plants because wen fish poop and it decomposes the nutrients will be held by the substrate. As plans grow and roots reach out they use up these nutriets an allow said substrate to continue to pull in more nutrients. Almost like a nutrient bank. But this nutrient bank has a limit on how much it can hold. Sand has no c.e.c. But if u use root tabs which is a block of slow dissolving nutrients, or the ferts you buy at ur lfs like flourish, u can grow most n e plant with the right light. If u think thats to expensive in the long run invest in some dry ferts. Aquarium fertilizers.com its way cheaper than buying premixed ferts and its not rocket science to mix them just have to dose daily. Using dry ferts is called te ei method. Usin this method u can grow n e plant with te right light substrate does not matter. U can use neon blue gravel or sand or flourite or ecco or ada or w/e u want. Soo to answer ur question an alternative to dirt would be thing with good c.e.c. Or if ur using dry ferts i would be any type of substrate.

Comment by Robert Jango on November 17, 2013 at 10:37am: I've never used it myself, but I'm told non-clumping Kitty Litter doesn't turn to mush. Turface is another clay product otherwise known as the "infield" in baseball. I've used Saf T sorb but here in Boston its sold under a different name. Just go to an auto supply store ask for something to spread over an oil slick in your driveway. They'll show you a 40-50 lb bag of gravel - check for chemicals. It should be 99% clay and maybe 1% silica. All these products are dirt cheap. (pun intended)

Under-gravel filters were discredited awhile ago as being bad for plants, but I can't recall the reasoning. I think its interesting that you've had some success with them.

Comment by Bob Fletcher on November 17, 2013 at 1:06pm: Thanks for the info on clay and root tabs. I will have to go on an expedition in search of appropriate stuff.

Re: UGFs and plants. I use UGFs for a few reasons:

1. If inoculated with some old gravel from an established tank, the biofiltration effect starts pretty quickly, therefor no new tank syndrome. I also use old established filter material in other types of filtration in new setups for the same reason.

2. In a new tank, the UGF gives a bit of height to the substrate. Not good though if you want to use heavy rocks; they crush.

3. They are good in display tanks where you want a breeding pair of fish to look after their babies. No getting sucked into the filter.

4. UGFs suck fish waste into the substrate and over time add a "soil like" component to sterile gravel.

5. They prevent anaerobic substrate.

6. I have a bunch of them laying around.

That being said, I have found that plants with extensive root systems don't do as well in UGF tanks. They seem to have no effect on stem plants with sparse roots. Once a tank is well established, I often just turn off the UGF.

Comment by Bob Fletcher on November 17, 2013 at 1:11pm: Just thought of something else re: Anubias. I said earlier that I plant them in pots. That is only to propagate them more quickly. Once I have a nice specimen, I dig them out an put them on a rock, or something. I grow the potted Anubias in about 6 inches of water, so they end up growing above the water, where they grow a bit faster than the normal geological time scale. I am considering trying this with Crypts. I hear they grow faster if they are able to reach the surface. Worth a try.

Comment by Peter on November 17, 2013 at 2:50pm: Growing plants emersed always makes thrm grow faster because of the abundant co2 in the air. This is how most aquatic nurseries grow them. Te down side to that is emersed leaves wen submersed tend to die off right away. But dry starting a tank does help alot if ur thinking of growing them emersed.

Comment by Luke Deer on November 17, 2013 at 8:22pm: I know you want alternatives to dirt, but it has been the cheaper choice for me by far. I put organic potting mix in my tank with chunks of red clay and crushed clam shells in it. I then capped it with pool filter sand. I haven't any problems with the dirt coming up at all. I have a bunch of Malaysian trumpet snails that keep the dirt and sand nice and aerated. The plants have been loving it. The soil releases co2 into the water so I don't need to hook up co2 at all. I have a bubbler in there that gives off plenty of oxygen for the fish. Before the dirt I used play sand but the growth was slow even when I dosed with ferts. Not to mention how expensive ferts actually are. Go dirt, its worth it.