I have a dirted tank, didn't use Organic Miracle Grow, I use Just Natural Organic potting soil. But the principle is the same. You need the soil, I used about an 1-1/2 and then you need another substrate to cap it with. I used Eco-complete, but you can use sand, fine gravel, Eco, or a number of other one's available. You will need to add your soil, some people who use Miracle Grow pick out the big pieces but I used the soil as is, its your choice. Next slowly add water over soil until you just have enough water to cover it. Your soil needs to sit and absorb water, Miracle Grow takes alittle longer to water log than the brand I used, as it water logs you need to keep compressing the soil. You want to smash it down and get all the air out. I don't know how long this will take with Miracle Grow as it is a lighter soil mix (the one I use is very heavy and only took a very short time to do the step above. Once your soil is for sure compacted and completely wter logged, the next step will be to add your cap layer. I used about an 1-1/2 inches of Eco to cap. This thick of a layer allowed me to plant mostly in the cap layer without having to get into the soil and make a mess in the water column. Plus it keeps my loaches from every rooting down to the soil layer, which would make a mess. After you have your soil capped you need to find a plate, bowl, something to put on your cap layer so you can fill you tank water "slowly". Pour your water on the plate so it gently fills the tank without disturbing your cap layer. This is very important so do it slowly and don't mess all your work up. Then comes the fun part... you will need to empty and fill the tank several times (I emptied and filled mine for 7 days, once a day, because my organic soil leeched tannins quite heavily). You want your final water to be clean without any floaters or general mess from dirting the tank. I also ran my filter duing this phase. No lights. Once your water looks good then you can plant. Preferable have all your plants ready to go and try to plants with as many plants as you can affort, in this instance more is better. Once planted, be sure to run your lights and filter. Then watch your water readings. I would suggest getting an API mater test kit so you can monitor you amnonia, nitrite, and nitrate. My cycling went very fast. Just so you know you will get diatoms really fast so don't freak out. It happens in new tanks and will go away once the silicates in the water are used up. I had a Bristlenose Pleco already and was able to add him 2 or 3 days after I planted because my cycle was done. He took care of the diatom issue. Even though you have a nutrient rich substrate you will need to look into some fertilizers for your water. Don't worry about any root tabs, you won't need any for some time. I dose with dry fertilizer, PPS-Pro method, that I get from Green Leaf Aquariums. But to start a good liquid fertilizer system like Seachem Flourish might be the way to ease into ferts. Also a good liquid carbon such as Flourish Excel will help with plant growth. Excel can melt Val"s if you get any (although I have Corkscrew Val and have never had any melt issues). That's about it... how this helps and good luck.
