Comment by seth roach on January 12, 2013 at 10:19pm

haha an interesting issue brought up here thank you.....i not sure what anyones else does but lately i have been putting small balls made of a 1:1 ratio clay:osmocote which seems to replenish my dirt with the right or close to the right amount of nutrients, however this brings up an interesting question i am interested to hear about hear on fishtankTV i know you often hear about bacteria in your tank that helps with filtration but id like to bring up the point many of my land planting people bring up that bacterial growth in soil is also important in dirt, which makes me think how do aged tanks with more developed bacteria cultures fare against a start up tank usually the start up tank sees half the growth which makes me concerned and interested in the bacteria that is helping our plants do so well...just a though i figured id throw out there...?

Comment by alex9j4m on January 13, 2013 at 1:01am

       You have a great point. I wonder the same thing, maybe you could have the nutrients of new soil with out loosing your bacteria from your old if you where to re-dirt your tank maybe instead we would mix half of our old bacteria filled soil with half of new soil??

       I really like the results of dirt and i dont mind doing the re-dirting process except for the fact that every year or two I will have to destroy my aqua scape..

Comment by Joe Hays on January 13, 2013 at 11:18am

I just purchased a new bag of MGOPM yesterday to put in a new tank I'm setting up.  Right on the front of the bag it says "Feeds Plants Continously for Six Months".  I have other dirted tanks, and I'm beginning to think the dirt might lose a lot of it's nutrients after a period of time like this.  Although I think Diana Walstad would argue otherwise.

Comment by GSP on January 13, 2013 at 12:14pm

If DW would argue that, it would be argued in her book, Ecology of the Planted Aquarium: A Practical Manual and Scientific Treatise for the Home Aquarist, Second Edition [Diana L. Walstad]. Which anyone with a dirt tank should have, and anyone whom is thinking of a dirt tank should acquire.

As far as you bag of dirt saying that it "Feeds Plants Continuously for Six Months", this is in a terrestrial setting I'm sure. In the Aquarium all you dirters seem to do is change the water, which is removing the "feed" from the soil so that it doesn't make the water excessively toxic.

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