# Any pitfalls with a dirted tank?



## Aplomado (Feb 20, 2013)

I'm going to help a coworker set up a planted 10 gallon. He wants to try a dirted tank with miracle grow organic potting mix, capped with sand.

I've never done one of these. Any pitfalls to be aware of?

Thanks.


----------



## Mojo028 (Jan 25, 2013)

I just converted my fry tank, and I'm in the process of starting a 29G dirted. I got to say the only thing that sucks is the constant water changes in the first week.

Other than that everything has been great, I put my fry back in after a week and a half and they are doing great.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S3 using Tapatalk 2


----------



## jeepguy (Jul 24, 2013)

I had no problems with MGOPM. Had shrimp in the tank within two days and not one died. Haven't tested the water but tank is zero tech. Other then the work to sift it and a little mess anytime u move or plant something it's working fine for me.


----------



## VJM (Feb 9, 2013)

+1 to no issues from the beginning. Here are my tips: 

1. 1" of dirt, capped by 1-1.5" of sand is PLENTY. I have issues with thinner caps, because I move things and am kind of clumsy, so I break the cap if it is thinner. 

2. I am a dirt sifter. If you don't sift, and you move anything, you will get chunks of wood on your substrate. They are a pain in the neck to get rid of (clog the vacuum, tedious to remove by hand, unsightly, etc.). Some folks feel the extra organics from the wood bits is crucial to keeping the tank running longer. Up to you. 

3. put the dirt in, and mist it with a spray bottle. Pat it down lightly, and then gently add your cap. You are trying to avoid mixing cap and dirt at every step. 

4. Once you are all capped, put a plastic bag on top and fill VERY gently to about an inch above the cap. Again, avoid breaking the cap. 

5. Plant away. 

6. Put the plastic back on and fill the rest of the tank VERY gently. 

7. For the first few weeks or so, depending on how heavily you plant (and with what), you may get gas bubbles from the dirt. If they "volcano" they will mix the dirt and cap. To avoid that, poke the substrate thoroughly with a chopstick or skewer every day or so. It will offgas and that's that. Carpeting plants like hairgrass, or plants with lots of roots, will really decrease the gas pockets. 

8. My heavily planted tanks have had zero ammonia always (they did cycle, just silently), while my sparsely planted tanks had a full cycle with ammonia showing up. YMMV, so don't go adding any fauna until you know the tank is stabilized. 

Hope this helps! Dirt tanks are awesome, and inexpensive!


----------



## jeepguy (Jul 24, 2013)

Yea. My dhg is spreading much quicker in MGOPM as well. I don't use excel and it gets maybe three hours of direct sunlight. Within 30 minutes of light my hairgrass and bacop start to pearl, albeit slowly, but they do. With just MGOPM and sunlight. I want to switch my main tank too but dreading it at the same time.


----------



## thelub (Jan 4, 2013)

You must resist the urge to go deep with your dirt. Like they said, no more than 1-1.5" of dirt. Good sand bed to keep the dirt from floating. I would suggest mixing in some perlite or vermiculite in the soil to keep it a little porous.


----------



## puopg (Sep 16, 2012)

IME, dirt is nasty and anytime you uproot plants, you can very easily cause dirt to come up and its not pretty on sand. I used once this super white sand that looked awesome initially, but then i realized that i didnt put enough to cap the dirt and it just woudl leave bits over teh nice clean white sand. Definitely don't use too much dirt and cap well.


----------



## VJM (Feb 9, 2013)

It is a difficult learning curve when you need to uproot things. I find that if you go suuuuuupppppeeerrr slow, you can kind of ease things out without too much disturbance. Anything that pulls up dirt, just dump some more sand on the break and vacuum up the dirt particles. 

Also, a darker substrate is recommended if you want things to look more pristine. I don't mind some grub.


----------



## Jnad (Aug 17, 2012)

When replanting you could cut the plant/roots and leave the roots in the substrate. The decaying roots is good for substrate and plants


----------



## jeepguy (Jul 24, 2013)

Jnad said:


> When replanting you could cut the plant/roots and leave the roots in the substrate. The decaying roots is good for substrate and plants


I like that. Great idea.


----------



## roadmaster (Nov 5, 2009)

Two inches of dirt,two to three inches of sand work's for me ,and allow's good root growth for swordplant's which can as they grow develop impressive root structure.
stem plant's don't need much to anchor themselves but sword's and crypt's do better for me with deeper substrate.
I sift all of the wood bit's out of Miracle Grow ,with not too fine mesh screen, stapled to square, consisting of two X four's about two feet by two feet.Never used to do this, but really did not care for the wood pieces that came to find their way to the surface.
I placed a layer of "special kitty " plain ,unscented cat litter (Walmart) on top of dirt before capping to help hold nutrient's for longer.
Am pleased with the result's.


----------



## jagerlite (Dec 14, 2011)

Not trying to hijack thread but can some one PM me about how to start a tank journal? I couldn't fin it in the FAQs.


----------



## Rhodophyta (Jul 16, 2010)

Here's my opinion/experience.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20131004055724AABt6gn

If it's a whole tank, the foam block technique works great.


----------



## KennyCurfman (Jun 9, 2013)

I used 50/50 marsh mud from the Ninnescah River area and Flourite for the base, then sand, then more flourite. Kinda messy at times still. I had to replace my filter with a 300GPH canister to keep it more clear. Give it time to set up and cycle (some say a month). Otherwise your gonna have some mud bubble out (still might have a little around the plants, just not as much). Here is a pic of my tank: 
https://mail-attachment.googleuserc...993&sads=nWq49C6PtFnwJqrA6RwRDR5ugSU&sadssc=1


----------



## Andi (Feb 6, 2008)

My first soil substrate tank was planted over 5 years ago. I started with clay kitty litter w/o additives in a thin layer. Tanks I tried with the clay above the soil would turn the water cloudy if disturbed. I used cheap bagged garden soil w/o any ferts. I removed only the large wood. I agree with 1-1 1/2" soil, although experiments with deeper soil had no adverse results. The thick soil doesn't look as nice through the glass and the added head room for leaves is better, in my opinion. As others have mentioned, don't skimp on the sand cap! I avoid transplanting of plants that spread through runners. I simply cut sprouts just below the surface of the sand. I now bury containers to plant plants that spread by runners. After about 4 years I started needing to supplement with root ferts. If you want to propagate plants that multiply by runners on a regular intervals, I recommend using something like Eco Complete.


----------



## xmas_one (Feb 5, 2010)

IMO dirt really only makes sense if you're doing a big tank on a budget. It's kinda silly to do anything under 60 gallons with dirt. Just thow some aquasoil in there and call it a day. Biggest drawback for me was the dirt pretty much going inert after about a year in my 90.


----------



## Mxx (Dec 29, 2010)

To keep dirt and sand separate, I put in the dirt, put in 1/2-1/4 inch of sand, and then put down large sheets of rigid plastic knitting mesh. And then I capped that with an inch of sand. The mesh keeps me and any plants from digging down to dirt level, and keeps the dirt screened below.

Plants might root into it but I can either just rip or cut those out leaving water roots in place that don't come out if I need to take them out. But the mesh helps strain and clean the roots that do come up and out. 

Dirt is the best IMO for the very best plant growth and ecosystem health, so you can't beat that. 

In my next tank I'm going to put a line of perforated airline tubing in place under the dirt as well, so if the dirt ever does get exhausted of nutrients then I'll just recharge it with a shot of comprehensive liquid fertilizer.


----------



## newbieplanter (Jan 13, 2013)

Just make Shure u take out as many little sticks n chunks of wood as u can find out the soil before u put it in the tank and use a canister filter for water filtration.


----------



## Virto (Dec 6, 2012)

MGOPM under sand is great - I'm running it in my new 46 bow now, and I've done MGOPM under gravel before. The plants love it but it does contain quite a bit of wood chips and twigs, so sift it to minimize stuff that will break free and float down the road.

I wet the dirt until it turns to mud and then pack it into the tank, and cap on top of that with well rinsed pool filter sand. Try to make sure the dirt isn't TOO wet, or water will pool on top of it and make it a little more irritating to cap. Add at least as much cap as you do dirt, ie, 1 inch of each.

I've used the plastic bag method for filling a sand tank, but you can also put a bowl on top of a saucer and fill that way, with the water on trickle. Let it take its sweet old time.


----------



## Ziggy (Sep 2, 2011)

Man I want to try dirt so bad in my 8Gal and forgo the whole CO2 thing. I DREAD planting/replanting though....


----------



## tattooedfool83 (Mar 15, 2013)

Ziggy said:


> Man I want to try dirt so bad in my 8Gal and forgo the whole CO2 thing. I DREAD planting/replanting though....


It's not that bad man. I've had little problems with it


----------



## VJM (Feb 9, 2013)

I have actually gotten to be Ok with replanting and moving stuff. You just have to be gentle and sort of ease the roots out, then toss some more cap material on the spot where the plant was. A vacuum with airline to clean up any spilled dirt partciles, and no one is any the wiser.


----------



## newbieplanter (Jan 13, 2013)

Ziggy said:


> Man I want to try dirt so bad in my 8Gal and forgo the whole CO2 thing. I DREAD planting/replanting though....


Just do it, it's not bad if u put more of a cap on the dirt. Another thing is dont let your plants sit for too long unless your trimming them. The only fall back I see is when u wanna get rid of something completely it will have a dirt rootball like as if u plant in a garden so it will pull up a lot of dirt an cloud the tank but the filter should clear it, then u have to clean the filter. That's what I mean by letting the plants sit for a long time. I just went through it yesterday with my 5gal tank had to put tha fish in seperate tank it was sooooo cloudy but I was doin away with every plant I had in there and one came up with a very big ball of dirt so it was cloud city I had to do a water change n clean tha filter but the fish were hanging on through it tho. I do like dirt better than anything and I have a tank with sand, one with amazon soil, and one with floramax. Dirt it tho.


----------



## thelub (Jan 4, 2013)

Jnad said:


> When replanting you could cut the plant/roots and leave the roots in the substrate. The decaying roots is good for substrate and plants


This. Most plants will regenerate from clippings. That's how almost my entire tank started out.


----------



## crawdaddy (Apr 16, 2009)

Has anyone tried using a heater cable buried in the dirt?

What is YMMV, MGOPM?


----------



## thelub (Jan 4, 2013)

Never personally tried burying a heater cable

YMMV - 'your mileage may vary'

MGOPM - Miracle Grow Organic Potting Mix


----------

