musicmarn1
Aquarium Advice Regular
Hey Guys ! so happy to see this thread here, i have been on a QUEST all out, to do an heavily planted 55g (which seemed so big only 2 months ago and now is just holding me over until i get a much bigger one hehe) with dirt.
It was reading this forum that turned me onto Dustinsfishtanks on you tube ( or fishtanktv.com) who taught me so much about dirt !! the way he does it is just incredible to me, miracle grow organic potting soil, red clay broken up into small peices, about 1 lb per 20 gallons couple of extra additions depending on the plants he is growing and lighting etc and then topped with a good layer of gravel, about just over an inch deep of dirt for me, saved me hundreds of $$$ on substrate i was going to mail order !! and its BETTER he has a sick recipe with more in it than that you can get off him, which he is comparing to the highest quality ADA soil you can get - he is doing a journal of a tank with 50/50 his dirt recipe and the worlds leading dirt master's hehe so i cant wait to see updates of how that works.
Anyway i was so pumped to get the dirt feedback, i have a planted tank with gravel and diy co2 and dry ferts but its not the planted jungle i dream of and already i can tell the 55 is going to be amazing (how do i do a journal, where do i post that? and ill show you as it goes)
after 3 months you add root tabs and after 6 months co2 if the plants beg for it, but its so low tech in the meantime - i think i really only need 2 t5HO bulbs but i did decide to get a new hood with 4 so i can do 2 pink 64k is it? bulbs and 2 t5ho. so i can have plants galore !
im going to run this for a month and get it just right before adding the fish, which i hope will be discus. so im going to get really really comfortable with keeping the plants happy first.
Im so grateful for this site and for plantedtanks.com AND especially to Dustinsfishtanks free you tube videos and his store where i bought my lights, i was so confused on lights i was going to get the wrong thing and loose all those plants i just ordered ! i almost got all led lights but for this kind of tank it makes more sense to do it this way.
But yeah the CEC being higher in organic substrate and you can make the plants so happy by adjusting it as needed, that shows in the low tech way dirt planted tanks often run !
and thanks to Diana Walstead for bringing that book to the world
im glad we have people to break it down and make it simpler for us ! at least whilst im still learning, ill get there.
It was reading this forum that turned me onto Dustinsfishtanks on you tube ( or fishtanktv.com) who taught me so much about dirt !! the way he does it is just incredible to me, miracle grow organic potting soil, red clay broken up into small peices, about 1 lb per 20 gallons couple of extra additions depending on the plants he is growing and lighting etc and then topped with a good layer of gravel, about just over an inch deep of dirt for me, saved me hundreds of $$$ on substrate i was going to mail order !! and its BETTER he has a sick recipe with more in it than that you can get off him, which he is comparing to the highest quality ADA soil you can get - he is doing a journal of a tank with 50/50 his dirt recipe and the worlds leading dirt master's hehe so i cant wait to see updates of how that works.
Anyway i was so pumped to get the dirt feedback, i have a planted tank with gravel and diy co2 and dry ferts but its not the planted jungle i dream of and already i can tell the 55 is going to be amazing (how do i do a journal, where do i post that? and ill show you as it goes)
after 3 months you add root tabs and after 6 months co2 if the plants beg for it, but its so low tech in the meantime - i think i really only need 2 t5HO bulbs but i did decide to get a new hood with 4 so i can do 2 pink 64k is it? bulbs and 2 t5ho. so i can have plants galore !
im going to run this for a month and get it just right before adding the fish, which i hope will be discus. so im going to get really really comfortable with keeping the plants happy first.
Im so grateful for this site and for plantedtanks.com AND especially to Dustinsfishtanks free you tube videos and his store where i bought my lights, i was so confused on lights i was going to get the wrong thing and loose all those plants i just ordered ! i almost got all led lights but for this kind of tank it makes more sense to do it this way.
But yeah the CEC being higher in organic substrate and you can make the plants so happy by adjusting it as needed, that shows in the low tech way dirt planted tanks often run !
and thanks to Diana Walstead for bringing that book to the world
im glad we have people to break it down and make it simpler for us ! at least whilst im still learning, ill get there.
