# River Loam?



## bpimm (Aug 2, 2007)

Tom, in another thread you wrote:



plantbrain said:


> River loam is far more natural and more effective than topsoil, which is rarely organic. Need a river and decent clean place to collect it though.
> 
> It's already mineralized and has the bacteria.
> 
> ...


I have a stream running across my land, I have probably 600' of stream on my place and the spring is about 100' off of my property. the land has a heavy cover of trees and loamy soil, there are areas that are flat and the sediments grow great Skunk cabbage. Would you put this sediment in the same class as river loam? Do you think it would work in a tank?

Most of my tanks have my native topsoil for the substrate. how would the stream silt differ from the topsoil?

I have been thinking of trying it in a tank for quite a while, just haven't done it yet.

Thanks
Brian


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## demosthenes (Aug 23, 2008)

whats river loam? sounds like an awesome substrate. there are many rivers near where i live, where can i find it?


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## OverStocked (May 26, 2007)

demosthenes said:


> whats river loam? sounds like an awesome substrate. there are many rivers near where i live, where can i find it?


Google much?


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## octopus44 (Apr 23, 2007)

over_stocked said:


> Google much?


Aren't we pleasant.

Did you try googeling river loam? It doesn't bring up very much useful information. Demosthenes was asking a simple question. There is no need to be a jerk.


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## OverStocked (May 26, 2007)

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/loams
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&client=opera&rls=en&hs=nXw&q=loam&btnG=Search
http://encyclopedia.farlex.com/loam
http://www.hort.purdue.edu/ext/loam.html
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/loam
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loam

I'll stop there. My point is simple. Before you ask a simple question, TRY to find the answer yourself.


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

Coming here and asking is an excellent way to find answers. :thumbsup:

bpimm - I think that the composition of the 2 you are conidering would probably vary quite a bit from area to area. I think you should try it out and let us know how it works!


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## octopus44 (Apr 23, 2007)

Regardless of whether or not your point is simple there is no need to be rude. I'll stop now so as to not hijack this thread.


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

go for it... it'll be a nice experiment. River loam sounds like it has less organic matter than regular topsoil. Which is a good thing since topsoil can go anaerobic sometimes.


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## demosthenes (Aug 23, 2008)

haha sorry guys. im kinda lazy. plus, a lot of the info you find by googling stuff is stupid or wrong anyway.


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## OverStocked (May 26, 2007)

demosthenes said:


> haha sorry guys. im kinda lazy. plus, a lot of the info you find by googling stuff is stupid or wrong anyway.


Sorry, I shouldn't have been so abrubt. This is a great place with great info. Sometimes we get sick of the "same" questions over and over. Yours was certainly not one of those recurring questions and it did not deserve the answer I gave you.


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## hooha (Mar 14, 2004)

I would suggest sun-drying it out well before placing it in the tank. If you put it in 'wet' who knows what will end up in your tank - larvae, hydra, etc.

But I agree - go for it, and then let us know


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## Green Leaf Aquariums (Feb 26, 2007)

Sounds like an excellent source for planted substrate

Oh! Be sure there are no livestock no where near your property, if so you may want to consider other sources..


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## bpimm (Aug 2, 2007)

Definitely going to give it a shot, 

Hadn't thought about drying it, probably not a bad idea. I might screen it also to get any chunks out and that would work a lot better dry. 

The only animal life around is wildlife; Deer, Elk, Bobcat, Cougar, Bear etc.

I don't think the concentration of animal waste will be very high. this stream used to be a water source for several of the down stream neighbors, I don't think anyone is using it anymore.

I'll post up how it works when I do it.

Brian


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

Be careful with what you get from outside. There are probably some bugs living in the dirt. One might bite you. Where gloves, put in a bucket and pour bowling water over it. One person, rs79 at aquatic plant central, didn't do this and got a nasty bite. Thus passing his experience on.


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## psybock (Jan 12, 2007)

Check the pH of the water though. I took some sand from a local canal going to use it in a swamp biotope for some fish I caught in a local swamp/slough/slow moving creek. The pH of the blackwater area was below 6, the canal pH was 7.6+ of course it also has limestone in it...so check beforehand...

Kevin


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