# New to Dirted Tanks- Help!



## hambone870 (Feb 13, 2013)

wood will break down but not quick

you will have to keep up with the water changes for a couple weeks as the wood and dirt leaches 

use you siphon to suck up the chips and escaped dirt

lots of people screen out the wood before adding Miracle grow to tank, me i just rip open the bag and pour it in


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## SunDevil76 (Jul 24, 2013)

hambone870 said:


> wood will break down but not quick
> 
> you will have to keep up with the water changes for a couple weeks as the wood and dirt leaches
> 
> ...


Yeah i've heard about people doing that. In hindsight I definitely would have taken the time to do that. Newbie mistake. Thanks for the input, i'll definitely try to siphon out some of the grimey stuff.


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## hambone870 (Feb 13, 2013)

SunDevil76 said:


> Yeah i've heard about people doing that. In hindsight I definitely would have taken the time to do that. Newbie mistake. Thanks for the input, i'll definitely try to siphon out some of the grimey stuff.


i use just the tubing for the siphon and not the actual larger siphon head, gives you more control and less risk of the siphon emptying back into the tank and knocking the dirt back up


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## Tzac (May 18, 2013)

I soaked my mgopm in a bucket for a week before assembling my tank and had no issues with floating bark. You will need to water change every day for awhile but it will clear up.


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## hambone870 (Feb 13, 2013)

i dont think sundevils bark is floating, i think it just made its way on top of the cap


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## SunDevil76 (Jul 24, 2013)

hambone870 said:


> i dont think sundevils bark is floating, i think it just made its way on top of the cap


Its doing both haha. But I skimmed whatever floated to the top, and I used your method of using the siphon hose to suck up whatever was on top of the cap. It worked great! But it revealed the spots where the water pushed away the cap so I will have to fill those back in with the sand and eco complete. Thanks!


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## hambone870 (Feb 13, 2013)

Don't let the siphon steel your cap make sure you use your thumb to stop the intake of the Eco and sand up the hose


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## SunDevil76 (Jul 24, 2013)

Cool, good to note. Just in case I do miss some of the dirt, will that affect my ammonia levels or be harmful to fish in another way? Or will it just break down over time once the cycle is complete?


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## I3raven (Jan 30, 2013)

SunDevil76 said:


> Cool, good to note. Just in case I do miss some of the dirt, will that affect my ammonia levels or be harmful to fish in another way? Or will it just break down over time once the cycle is complete?


The exact same thing happened to me, I ended up restarting the whole tank and throwing away all the gravel and dirt because the mulch chips started to grow white fungus that won't go away and my fish started to die rapidly. I think it was ammonia that killed them, but I didn't have a test kit. I think the white fungus started to grow because it was on the surface of the gravel. Next time, I recommend you use a sifter to sift out the large mulch chips and allow the dirt to pass through the tiny holes. You could also use a grinder or a blender to crush the mulch chips into small particles you could add to the dirt. I hope the mulch chips don't grow white fungus...


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## dprais1 (Sep 12, 2012)

I've use mgopm is a few tanks. The only time I ever had an issue is when I presoaked the dirt/mix. 

I think the issue arises that the cap sinks into the soft saturated soil and mixes
-kind of similiar to stepping into mud, it doesn't just get on the bottom of your shoe.

if it is dry then the cap just sits in hard dry 'ground'. no where to go and then very few debris in the tank. this is why it is also recommended to try and compact the underlayment before you cap


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## King of Hyrule (Apr 29, 2013)

I filtered the wood out of the dirt with a kitchen strainer. It does a great job. I filled the tank with DRY dirt. Followed that by using a spray bottle to wet the dirt to the saturation point. I compressed the soil, with a wooden spoon, to squeeze out the air - but not to hard.

I poured my Eco-complete (and its water) into a 5 gallon bucket. I scooped out the eco-complete with a small measuring cup (1 cup), and slowly covered the dirt. Once the Eco-complete was covering all the MGO, I scooped out the water, and slowly poured into the tank. 

This took a long time - however, its was cleaner than my earlier attempts create a dirt tank. 

I'd either commit to having little wood chips in your water, or try adding more eco-complete (very slowly) to seal off what you've already done. 

My work tank is a mess, I learned a lot about setting up a dirt'd tank. I left the small wooden bits, there as I used natural gravel. The wood in facts make the tank seem more 'natural'. I worked hard setting up home tank (29G) tank, with a beautiful all black substrate, only to have my dwarf puffer, litter it with empty snail shells. Can't win, just pick your, so you can live with the results.


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## dprais1 (Sep 12, 2012)

Let me add that I _THINK_ there is a world of difference between soil and potting mix, never used soil though. I wouldn't even consider pre-soaking soil first after the disaster the mix created.

--although for MTS I made that in to a batter put in tank and then let it dry overnight. again a firm surface to prevent the cap from sinking. 

maybe adding clay to soil, mixing well and letting it dry a bit in the tank until it firms up before capping might work. but that is quite a bit different than just pre-soaking


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## SunDevil76 (Jul 24, 2013)

Good to hear the different viewpoints and perspectives, as well as some expieriences similar to mine. Yesterday and today when I did my water changes I made sure to siphon out most of the crud that settled on top of the dirt. It looks much better and my water looks much clearer. After I made sure to clean most of the dirt/wood chips, I added maybe another 1/2"-1" of Eco Complete and inert black aquarium sand to the parts that needed it. My last question is that now that I have added more depth to my cap, are there any issues I need to be aware of concerning that? I have heard issues of caps not being deep enough, which usually results in what I just went through. Is there anything wrong with having too deep of a cap?


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## _FC (Apr 28, 2012)

I poured it in no filter. Just made sure that I packed it down so it's compressed. 

Nothing wrong with a deep cap except you will have to stick your plans all the way down

I have a 4 inch cap here









Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk 2


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## tetra73 (Aug 2, 2011)

I don't find that it is necessary to have dry dirt for the cap to work. I am using the Miracle Grow Organic Garden Soil with manure.  It was my mistake but I didn't think it would be a problem. I screened out a lot of the larger chunks until my dirt is very fine in texture. Then, I rinsed it. This process would further allow more wood chips to float to the surface. I scooped them out. Then, I poured all the dirt to a container and to let it sit for 3 days. Why? Not sure since I was waiting for some parts and plants to arrive. I see no hurry. During this 3 days, I mixed and stir the soil until it looks and feels like mud. I added some red clay too. Then, I just dumped the soil to my tank. Put in my hardscapes. Then, capped it with some fine gravels. Some sections are less than 1" too. 

The low tech 20g long took about 3 days to clear, after 3 consecutive 70% WC. I am using purigen and a sizable bio medias. On the 4th day, it was crystal clear. The high tech 40g, which was converted to dirt only 1 week after I was done with the low tech tank, took about 5 days. Using purigen and a sizable bio medias. 

Here is my 20g L low tech dirt tank:









Here is my 40g high tech dirt tank:









On both tanks, fish were added 3 days later.


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## dprais1 (Sep 12, 2012)

So maybe it is that anyway will work. 
But the effort of cleanup afterwards varies. 
With my cleanest setup I put fish in the same day with no losses, using cycled filter.


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## King of Hyrule (Apr 29, 2013)

SunDevil76 said:


> ...I added maybe another 1/2"-1" of Eco Complete and inert black aquarium sand to the parts that needed it. My last question is that now that I have added more depth to my cap, are there any issues I need to be aware of concerning that? I have heard issues of caps not being deep enough, which usually results in what I just went through. Is there anything wrong with having too deep of a cap?


Eco-Complete can be a PITA to plant in. Often tanking two hands, tweezers and practice. I find myself using my "Driving Words" when trying to work with the stuff. Some shallow rooted stuff takes while before its locked in. Other plants, dig deep into the MGO, and will there for the long haul. 

Push and twist works well while inserting some plants, other need to have Eco-Complete, pushed over them to hold them place. 









Notice the dead snails (shells) in the lower left hand corner. The work of my dwarf puffer.


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