thinking on dirt

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I have dirt covered in flourite dirt is easy its really not as hard as some people on here make out


I don't think anyone said that adding dirt was hard, it's just prone to issues like algae blooms (unmineralized). Dirt is also extremely light, so it clouds the tank easily when it is stirred up. If it's capped properly it shouldn't get stirred up often but still, if someone gets the urge to rearrange or has digging fish then it makes for a big mess.

Adding ecocomplete or floramax costs more initially but while it is still new it behaves very similar to gravel substrates, so it's more user friendly, especially to someone who is still new to the planting thing and will likely be moving things around a bit.
 
Actually a lot if people said its not for beginners well I would disagree because its very easy, as for the algae blooms its very easy to keep on top of,
 
Keeping on top of algae blooms isn't in my definition of easy, personally.

I agree that doing dirt is not ideal for beginners unless they know what they are getting into. I don't recommend it for the same reason I don't recommend high light and pressurized co2 to beginners either, most people want to keep it as simple as possible, especially when they don't know what they are doing initially.

You can add floramax or ecocomplete straight into a tank, no rinsing or anything. Don't like how it looks? You can shift it to one side, take some out, add some in. Don't like the aquascape? Pull all the plants up and plant them where you want. Try doing that with a dirt substrate, it's not pretty.

I'm not anti dirt at all, I advocate for mineralized topsoil all the time, most of my tanks are dirt, heck I even put together kits for it for a while, but I'm very cautious to recommend something to new planted tank people when I've seen many driven away in frustration because they didn't know what they were getting into.
 
jetajockey said:
Keeping on top of algae blooms isn't in my definition of easy, personally.

I agree that doing dirt is not ideal for beginners unless they know what they are getting into. I don't recommend it for the same reason I don't recommend high light and pressurized co2 to beginners either, most people want to keep it as simple as possible, especially when they don't know what they are doing initially.

You can add floramax or ecocomplete straight into a tank, no rinsing or anything. Don't like how it looks? You can shift it to one side, take some out, add some in. Don't like the aquascape? Pull all the plants up and plant them where you want. Try doing that with a dirt substrate, it's not pretty.

I'm not anti dirt at all, I advocate for mineralized topsoil all the time, most of my tanks are dirt, heck I even put together kits for it for a while, but I'm very cautious to recommend something to new planted tank people when I've seen many driven away in frustration because they didn't know what they were getting into.

I agree you can't pull all the plants up and if you was the person who does I wouldnt recommend dirt but I love the stuff :)
 
I know someone that managed to kill a bunch of his fish after an ammonia spike from his dirt.

The problem is that people think that dirt is some kind a miracle substrate (which is is promoted as by some), put it in, but don't actually know what they're doing. Muscle cars, remember? Suddenly they have nutrients in their tank whether the want them or not, and don't plan appropriately.
 
So fishtanktv was mentioned as a resourse... But what is in everyone's oppinion the best read on how to start a dirt tank, what to watch out for and so forth?
 
If you go dirt, I suggest going with a mineralized topsoil substrate. The process basically removes the organics from the soil and incorporates some other minerals to give a more balanced nutrient-rich material. There's a few writeups for it on different sites, I guess I should take pictures next time I do one and put one here as well.
 
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