# so i dirted my tank thursday!



## gmb225 (Mar 11, 2015)

another pic with the flash off. maybe it will look better.


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## strangewaters (May 13, 2015)

Sounds like how mine started out when i used mgoc. All my stems turned to mush and died. Changed it to only black diamond and osmocote tabs and new plants are doing well. 

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## strangewaters (May 13, 2015)

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=880681

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## Midnighttide102 (Oct 2, 2014)

U can't beat dirt I have a 30 gallon dirted tank and plants grow great there's no doubt dirt grows plants


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## Blackheart (Jul 5, 2011)

Pretty cool tank. I would definitely like to dirt mine, but sadly I will have to re-home all my fish so I'm not sure if I want to or not. But plant growth-wise I'm sure it would be great.


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## Wilderman204 (Mar 5, 2015)

Try stargrass for foreground. It grows very fast . Its a stem plant,likes to spread and can make a nice carpet with trimming, and replanting cuttings. And it loves dirt!
Don't forget to add something like MTS to help agitate the substrate, and prevent totally anaerobic conditions. If they start to overpopulate add some assassin snails, they dig too. Blackorms are great for your tank, but your fish would likely eat them all. Those swords massive root systems will help, some crypts would be good too.
Did you add an iron source to your dirt? Like laterite or red clay?


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## gmb225 (Mar 11, 2015)

so today is day 3. had to do 2 50% water changes cause the water was very brown. tannis i guess? i am seeing a lot of melt down on some of the plants. is this normal? i have put iron tabs in the sand a couple weeks ago. anyway the melting of some of the leaves is a bit concerning! water perim all look good. i guess cause of all the water changes.


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## xmpjx (May 31, 2015)

Hey! I am also on day 3, second dirted tank for me. 
Melting is normal, a lot of my plants are starting to look pretty bad. I expect them to get a lot worse but I can see a very small amount of new growth, so I'm not worried. My first dirted tank I used miracle grow organic choice, it's been up for about 4 months now still lots of tannins and brown water, clear, but brown. 

My aquarium that's on day 3 has crystal clear water (so far, fingers crossed this continues), I used organic black earth with a small amount of miracle grow in this one. I did soak and dry the dirt for a few weeks prior to setting up and got all the floating wood and large sticks out. So far I am much happier this time around. 

Good luck with your tank!!


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## gmb225 (Mar 11, 2015)

Wilderman204 said:


> Try stargrass for foreground. It grows very fast . Its a stem plant,likes to spread and can make a nice carpet with trimming, and replanting cuttings. And it loves dirt!
> Don't forget to add something like MTS to help agitate the substrate, and prevent totally anaerobic conditions. If they start to overpopulate add some assassin snails, they dig too. Blackorms are great for your tank, but your fish would likely eat them all. Those swords massive root systems will help, some crypts would be good too.
> Did you add an iron source to your dirt? Like laterite or red clay?



i bought 20 * True Dwarf Sagittaria for my forground plants. should be here this week!*


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## gmb225 (Mar 11, 2015)

Wilderman204 said:


> Try stargrass for foreground. It grows very fast . Its a stem plant,likes to spread and can make a nice carpet with trimming, and replanting cuttings. And it loves dirt!
> Don't forget to add something like MTS to help agitate the substrate, and prevent totally anaerobic conditions. If they start to overpopulate add some assassin snails, they dig too. Blackorms are great for your tank, but your fish would likely eat them all. Those swords massive root systems will help, some crypts would be good too.
> Did you add an iron source to your dirt? Like laterite or red clay?



what is mts?


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## xmpjx (May 31, 2015)

Malaysian Trumpet Snails


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## gmb225 (Mar 11, 2015)

xmpjx said:


> Malaysian Trumpet Snails



where can i get some? never seen them on sale here.


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## grizzly_a (Sep 9, 2014)

They pop up under the FS/RAOK subforums from time to time.


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## Wilderman204 (Mar 5, 2015)

Are you seeing any bubbles rising from the substrate yet? Good idea to poke the substrate with a chopstick or something to release the gasses building down there for the first month or so. Wouldn't want it to build up and burst through the sand like a dirt bomb. 
Just kill the flow in the tank, and do it before water changes... Because it will make a mess.


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## gmb225 (Mar 11, 2015)

got my forground plants in.


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## Mariostg (Sep 6, 2014)

Looks like a good start.
Is it amazon swords you have in left and right corners? And center off to the left?


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## gmb225 (Mar 11, 2015)

Mariostg said:


> Looks like a good start.
> Is it amazon swords you have in left and right corners? And center off to the left?



yea and they are growing like crazy. may out grow the tank. have 2 banannna plants growing stems to the top of the water to.


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## Mariostg (Sep 6, 2014)

gmb225 said:


> yea and they are growing like crazy. may out grow the tank.


May outgrow? They will burst it LOL. Kidding, but you will need an alternate plan. One amazon will easily occupy half the tank. I have one in my 75 gal and it occupies a third of it. And that's only because a little too much against the left side.


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## gmb225 (Mar 11, 2015)

if it gets that crazy can i trim them back? i dont seem to be able to propagate them like other plants. i broke off a leaf and stuck the stem in the gravel but it died?


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## Mariostg (Sep 6, 2014)

Well, they are not stem plants, therefore they don't propagate like so. I have seen a couple of threads here where it is said in can be split at the base. But that would be rather messy. Swords apparently shoots babies. It never happened to me. I had it for almost a year.

I read the root system get huge. It will fill a tank bottom. I wish I could see under my tank .

I believe you can trim by removing leave. But if you cut a leaf in half, it won't grow back.


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## gmb225 (Mar 11, 2015)

well its been 2 weeks now. the amazon swords have grown a lot of new leaves. the oak leaf plants had a lot of die off and stem rot. the true dwarf sagitaria have had some die off. ive added more fish and doing 50% water changes every 3 day. all is going well so far no fish loss. the water changes gets rid of the tannis. gettting ready to do the diy co2 system!


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## gmb225 (Mar 11, 2015)

3 weeks today. i had one cory cat die. all other fish are fine, even 2 gbr so the 50% water changes every 3 days is working. I don't have any test kits so i don't know what the water is doing. I have seen 6" of growth in my amazon sords. my lily bulb plants, and banana plants have grown stems with leaves to the top of the water. I found a thread for diy co2 and plan to do that next month. already have 4 empty 2 liter bottles and 1 v8 splash bottle ready. gonna run it into my aquaclear 70 till i buy a internal reactor. so ill settle for that for the next few month tilll i got the money to buy a real co2 system. I was going to go with GLA but co2art is selling a dual stage reg system for 180 minus the bottle. So i might go with them?


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## gmb225 (Mar 11, 2015)

so now i have a ich out break! if i run the temp to 86 degrees slowly will that bother the plants at all?


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## gmb225 (Mar 11, 2015)

pic after 3 weeks growth...


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## philipraposo1982 (Mar 6, 2014)

I would set the heat up to 87. Slowly. Plants will be fine if your not using salt. I did the same.with a betta I rescued, turn it up.to 87 and left it there for 2 weeks. Ich was never bad with him but he was clear of it only after 3 days and the rest of the two weeks was to ensure everything was dead.


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## gmb225 (Mar 11, 2015)

*5 weeks after.........*

so this is 5 weeks after dirting my tank....im sorry i did it...i feel like starting over...sure is not a replacement for co2! only the amazon swords and lilly bulbs grew to the top of the water. next ill do a diy co2 for a while...till i save the money for co2. but i regret dirting the tank and lost 2 fish and 1 was a gbr! my opinnion is dirting a tank is a mistake and not a replacement for co2! by the way some plants are covered with bga and bba! no answer to co2 which i hope is my answer!


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## xmpjx (May 31, 2015)

Tanks are about balance. Dirt provides nutrients (and lots of them) to the roots of plants but nutrients are only one part of the equation. Some nutrients do end up leaching into the water, without light and other things balanced then algea moves in. I've never read anyone claiming dirt to be a replacement for co2. There are ways to make the most of the co2 available in the aquarium which builds up while lights are out. Some people turn the lights off for a few hours in the afternoon for this reason. Adding co2, either diy or pressurized, along with lights and nutrients to match will allow plants to grow faster but they also use nutrients faster. This leads to dirt not lasting as long as it could in a "low tech" aquarium. 

Sorry you feel dirting was a mistake







there are ways to make it better though, for the algea you could use seachem excel (some people use it not only as a carbon source but as algea control) or black out the aquarium for a couple days (plants won't be harmed) then try your running your lights less time than you are along with some manual algea removal. I would suggest getting some test kits so you can see what's going on with your water. 

Good luck, enjoy the learning experience, and have fun!!


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