Should I treat used aquasoil from someone else?

[ramtsi]

Hi,
I'm planning to rescape my tank with new substrate system which include crushed basalt rock (not the pourus kind) as a base layer, covered with a used mix of aquasoil, sand and deponit, and a capping layer of pool sand.
Is there a way to disinfect the used mixed substrate? It is from a fellow enthusiasts tank that had no disease in it.

Cheers.

[Colin_T]

If you want the aquasoil for plants, it won't be any good if it's been in water for 6 months or more.

Mixing substrates gets messy and sand tends to drop through the other stuff. Before long you have a mud pie at the bottom. You are better off just using one type of substrate and sand or fine gravel with some aquarium plant root tablets is normally sufficient for sword plants and Crytocorynes. A liquid aquarium plant fertiliser will feed all aquarium plants.

If you really want to use secondhand mud, you can sterilise it by putting it in a tray in the oven at 100C for 30 minutes. You can also put it in a pot of water and bring it to the boil, then turn the power off and let it sit for 10-30 minutes.

Getting the substance to 60C for a couple of minutes will kill virtually anything on this planet.