# Backyard Soil Mineralized?



## Byronicle (Nov 8, 2009)

I was reading AaronT's thread about "How to Mineralize Soil Substrate" and I was wondering whether my lump top soil that has just been sitting around in my backyard for the past few months would be already mineralized to skip the long process of drying then resoaking? The purpose of mineralizing the soil would be to add beneficial bacteria to the substrate but I was hoping this soil would already have beneficial bacteria since it has been going through the drying and resoaking process because our weather has been crazy, and I mean raining one night and hot and dry the next, and with all that being said wouldn't this be just mineralizing the soil?


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## davemonkey (Mar 29, 2008)

In my opinion, yes. Your soil is naturally undergoing natural mineralization as it is exposed to weather. You still want to pick out any big organic bits (grass, roots, leaves, wood chips... ) though. 

I have used such soil and still found it to be beneficial to put the soil in your tank (prior to set-up) and wet it somewhat and let it sit for a few days, stirring every day. One tank I did this in, the other I did not and the later had some green water problems for a couple months.


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## f1ea (Jul 7, 2009)

I've mineralised only once and i got green water (but that tank got some serious sunshine). From then on, i have never mineralised again. I think, if you're using a suitable soil* to begin with and set up your tank carefully, it all depends on light intensity and initial plant mass.

If you start with enough stem plants, i dont think you really need to mineralise. There's plenty of cycle-bacteria in soil anyways, mineralised or not (unless it has been sitting in anaerobic conditions for a while). 

Also, mineralising reduces the ammount of CO2 your soil will produce. If you're planning to inject CO2, its ok to mineralise; but if you're counting on some CO2 coming from the soil then its better to use the soil as it is.

* "a suitable soil" is one that does not contain excessive fresh organic matter, ferts, chemicals etc.


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