125g Planted Build Thread

[Marconis]

Excited to see this. We should start a dirt forum, lol. Unfortunately my potting mix is still sitting in my Jeep.

 

[mfdrookie516]

Picture time...

And, if you can tell... this is the dirt on top, water on bottom... I'm in the process of trying to reverse this... haha

 

[Joyler]

Nice mud pie!! That is any little kids dream Awww....to be 5 again

 

[Marconis]

Have you stirred it? You're supposed to add dirt, water, stir, water, stir, water, stir, let it sit and then add substrate to weigh it down.

 

[daileene]

ohhhh mud pie....hehe....

but i think i will agree with nick...

 

[mfdrookie516]

Have you stirred it? You're supposed to add dirt, water, stir, water, stir, water, stir, let it sit and then add substrate to weigh it down.

yeah, i've stirred it, i've patted it, i've tossed it, i've turned it, i've done just about everything dr seuss could write about. I guess what I'm going to do is stir it again tonight, let it soak all day today and tomorrow, then drain it and add some sand on top tomorrow night. What gets me is that the guy (dustin) has a couple tanks with just dirt, no other substrate on top. I definitely want to add sand, but seems like it ought to stay put without.

 

[Marconis]

Lol @ the Dr. Seuss thing.

Yeah, I noticed that he had no substrate on top. In my opinion it looks better...if you can get the Organic Choice to stay put on its own, definitely let me know.

 

[Averageprodigy]

Lol @ the Dr. Seuss thing.

Yeah, I noticed that he had no substrate on top. In my opinion it looks better...if you can get the Organic Choice to stay put on its own, definitely let me know.

I'd have to go with Marco on this... If you've gone to all the effort keep it just dirt it will eventually settle

 

[Marconis]

Well, there's no guaranteeing that it will settle. I am almost certain the whole point of substrate is to keep it down. I'll have to look at Dustin's tank again and maybe ask him.

I really hope you can keep it settled...nothing more natural than plain dirt.

 

[mfdrookie516]

If it doesn't settle, I'll figure out something! My lights just shipped today, and my heater won't be here until probably friday or monday. I've got plenty of time to let it do its thing. You'll notice that there's really not any dirt in it. It's more like compost type material. Interesting stuff.

 

[fort384]

It's more like compost type material.

So it's like you collected all of my advice, ground it up, and put it in the bottom of your tank?

 

[mfdrookie516]

Yeah, something like that.

 

[Marconis]

Hahaha.
I'm going to see the texture of the mix tomorrow.

 

[mfdrookie516]

It reminds me of mulch. Not quite what I was expecting. You'll also have to break up all the little clumps. Let me tell you from experience. This is much easier done BEFORE you put water on it!

 

[Marconis]

Thanks for the advice, I'll keep that in mind.

 

[Jason7894561230]

Massive peice of driftwood there lol
Anyway, how is this going to work with the dirt thing. Like with the water being dirty or not?

 

[Marconis]

You actually do have to weigh it down with substrate. The dirt will be too loose. You will most likely have to do a few water changes to get rid of any loose dirt that came up.

 

[meegosh]

Very interesting choice in substrate. I'm curious to see how it will work out for you. Are you going for a new look, fish under the soil and plants on top of water?!? Just kidding! Hopefully that stuff soaks up some water and sinks for you.

 

[Jason7894561230]

Yeah me too and i am really excited to see how it turns out

 

[mfdrookie516]

Are you going for a new look, fish under the soil and plants on top of water?!?

What? You've never heard of float beds?