Is it too late

[Dreamwallaby]

After reading some other threads I am thinking I should have used organic miracle grow on the bottom of my tank and then capped it with the gravel. Will it completely screw up my tank and fish if I emptied the tank water into buckets, scooped out the gravel and laid the dirt?

 

[Dreamwallaby]

Nevermind, found another thread addressing this

 

[BBradbury]

Changing out Substrate

After reading some other threads I am thinking I should have used organic miracle grow on the bottom of my tank and then capped it with the gravel. Will it completely screw up my tank and fish if I emptied the tank water into buckets, scooped out the gravel and laid the dirt?

Hello Dream...

You won't mess up anything if you change out the substrate. It'll take some effort, but you can remove the gravel and water and put down the Miracle Gro. Make sure the gravel on top is deep. Using Miracle Gro an be very messy if you're not careful. The Miracle Gro is good stuff, but the fertilizer doesn't last indefinitely.

B

 

[Rivercats]

If you decide to do organic soil but sure you get the Organic Potting Soil, don't get the Organic Potting mix. Potting mix has inorganic ingredients that you don't want in your tank. If you can't get Miracle Grow any Organic Potting Soil will work. I use Just Natural Organic Potting Soil from Lowes. It has worked great in my 220g. Another thing you need to read up on what to expect in the first few weeks of having a dirted tank and the correct proceedure on how to do it. I use an 1-1/2" of Organic Potting Soil with an 1-1/2" of Eco-complete as my cap. You don't want to cap too deep. You can also use sand or gravel to cap with but using a commercial substrate is actually better IMO because it has a high CEC (cation exchange capacity) which means it can absorb nutrients from detris and from the water and store them for use by the plants.

 

[Dreamwallaby]

Yeah, I think ecocomplete is better than the MG and will probably go that route

 

[Rivercats]

Changing to just Eco-complete will be much easier than trying to dirt a tank that is already stocked.

 

[Rlavassor86]

I recently changed to Eco complete in my established tank and it went pretty smoothly. Was definitely worth the effort. My plants are all growing nicely, except for the ones my angels are eating lol.