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Permalink Reply by Bob Fletcher on December 11, 2013 at 1:59am

Qualifier: I have never put dirt in a tank, so my response is based on my understanding of the properties of soil and flourite, and uses logic rather than actual experience. Flourite has a high cation exchange capacity (CEC), is inorganic, and can continuously bind and release nutrients to plant roots. Soil has high CEC as well, but is high in organic matter, which will slowly decay, and can release excessive amounts of nutrients to the water early on. If you mix flourite in with the soil, it could bind up some of the excessive nutrients that can be a problem early on, prevent the soil from compacting and going anaerobic, and release those "excessive" nutrients more slowly. If you put a layer of soil on the bottom, and capped it with flourite, the flourite would still bind excessive nutrients, but only after they had diffused up to the flourite layer. Also, a cap of flourite would not prevent the soil from compacting and going anaerobic. My choice would be to mix flourite with the soil, and cap with either more flourite, or some suitable sand or gravel.  My main tank started out with a layer of flourite, topped with gravel. After 15 years of planting, replanting, and rearranging, the flourite is pretty evenly mixed with the gravel. My plants seem to be doing quite well, and I really only get algae problems if I get lazy and stop doing regular water changes. That being said, all the talk about how great dirted tanks are, has me thinking about trying a dirted tank.

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Permalink Reply by ricky deherrera on December 11, 2013 at 5:37pm

thanks bob that do

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Permalink Reply by Peter on December 11, 2013 at 6:59pm

Mixin the sub will help but playsand tends to conpact and if the cap layer is to big and doesnt let the gasses escape ull have anerobic conditons in ur substrate. Try using pool filter sand its a lil bigger grain and doesnt compact like playsand.

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Permalink Reply by hoyttt on December 12, 2013 at 12:41am

you either cap it or dont cap it and plant it extremely heavy...

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Permalink Reply by ricky deherrera on December 12, 2013 at 6:07pm

im going to cap it with play sand or pool filter sand regardless so the issue is weather or not im going to mix the flourite with the dirt then cap with sand or then do a layer of dirt then flourite on top then sand on top of that.

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Permalink Reply by OceanLife69 on December 12, 2013 at 4:31pm

In my early experience and heavy research on the matter, I've learned that you are best by covering the dirt. On my first planted/dirted tank (just about a month ago), I put the first layer at the bottom as organic dirt, then I used Flourite, and then a cap of Eco-complete substrate. And btw, H is right, plant heavily!

Just to let you know, it has only been about 4 to 5 weeks, and my 2.5g tank is doing great! My Anubias had a brief issue there for a moment, but is all good now. Since I planted heavy, my tank was cycled in about a week. After three weeks, I added a couple of fish and more plants, even Duckweed, and I think I am safe to say now that the tank has already balanced! Good luck!

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Permalink Reply by ricky deherrera on December 12, 2013 at 6:08pm

im going to cap it with play sand or pool filter sand regardless so the issue is weather or not im going to mix the flourite with the dirt then cap with sand or then do a layer of dirt then flourite on top then sand on top of that.

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Permalink Reply by George Barrett on December 13, 2013 at 6:08pm

ive always mixed it so that no matter where the roots end up in the dirt there will be nutrients there. so id say mix it up good even maybe sprinkle a thin layer on the way bottom. on a side note of the sand ive never used play sand but in my research heard mixed things about it one problem was the heavy compaction. I do however have pool filter sand and it is used to filter a pool so it would have to be good at letting water through but nothing else like dirt for instance. so if you can find it pool filter sand is great and way cheaper than anything in the pet stores

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Permalink Reply by OceanLife69 on December 14, 2013 at 1:42am

Ricky, I have used playsand on my 2.5, but at the bottom of it I capped the dirt with Flourite, and then a cap of Eco-Complete. Thing is, that if you cap the dirt mixed with the Flourite only with the playsand, when you start planting you may stir up the dirt and it will eventually find its way into your aquarium water. Just a thoguht. Hope it helps.

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Permalink Reply by hoyttt on December 13, 2013 at 8:08pm

Put val in the left hand side.....very cool growth thing to see looks great in big areas

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Permalink Reply by ricky deherrera on January 1, 2014 at 3:03am

update update i decided to try something new i have a about a 4 1/2 inch to 5 inch substrate bed first layer is 2 inches of dirt second layer is an inch of flourite third layer is a a little shy of a half inch of dirt last layer is an inch and a half of pool filter sand wondering what your guys' thoughts are on this ?

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