Minerilized top soil. As substrate

[Loach23]

Ok I'm looking to do a top soil substrate for a planted tank I cant afford to buy 10 bags of Eco complete at $35 a bag. I want this. Help me out. I read a article where a guy uses top soil soaks it then let's it dry and repeats this process a few times then adds clay and gravel on top. What do u think

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[Loach23]

Buy the way this is for a 120 gallon tank 48" long 24" deep by 25" high

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[Loach23]

This is for a 120 gall in tank.

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[BigJim]

I've seen really nice tanks with with mineralized top soil. It's a bit messier than EcoComplete, but the results speak for themselves.

 

[Loach23]

You know about mineralizing top soil? I read that you have to soak it in water then lay it out to dry then repeat this procces 3-4 times. And then add clay or something.. Do you know a different way? and is that grass that they plant or some kind of plant in the pic

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[BigJim]

I've read about mineralized top soil in aquariums. I've got long term plans to set up a huge tank and I've researched cheap, effective substrates a bit. How-To: Mineralized Soil Substrate, by Aaron Talbot - Library - Aquatic Plant Central This link gives a pretty good explanation of how to mineralize top soil. His tanks look awesome.

The grass in the picture is probably dwarf hairgrass and maybe blyxa japonica. You'll need high light, CO2 injection, and lots of nutrients to achieve the carpet look.

 

[Loach23]

Yep that's the article that I read. The carpet look is definitely the look Im looking to go for. Never tried to so I'm trying to do the most research possible. How do you clean the tank do you use a siphon and just run it along the carpet or just water changes.

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[BigJim]

I'm actually in the process of growing a carpet for the first time using glosso. I'm planning to clean it like I clean the bottom of the sand tank: Swirl the vacuum around near the top of the substrate and suck up whatever gets stirred up.

 

[mfdrookie516]

I had a not so great looking carpet of HM in a 10g low light tank. It didn't do so great, as it looked more like shag carpet with hair spray. See pic below... I just vac'd it the same way as sand. I stuck the gravel vac down and pressed on it a little. It would pull up some brown gunk for a second, then I'd move on.

 

[Loach23]

Carpet is the way to go. You ever see any of takashi amano's work. Stuff looks amazing

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