# [Wet Thumb Forum]-too much soil in my tank



## nativeplanter (Jan 27, 2004)

OK, so I got a little overzealous setting up one of my tanks (35 gal) a couple months ago, and I put in about 2" of topsoil on the bottom under the sand (instead of the recommended 1"). So now I'm getting a bit of hairy algae and green water. If I let this substrate sit for a while and just keep changing out the water with DI water will this eventually clear up? Is there anything I can do to speed up the breakdown/leeching process? I'd really, really rather not tear it down again.

This tank:
35 gal
2" topsoil on bottom
1/2-1" play sand covering
3 36" t12 fluorescents 
lights on on from 8am to 1pm and 4pm to 10pm.
Vallisneria americana
Saggitaria isoetiformis
Ludwegia palustris
Mayaca fluviatilis
Brasenia schreberi
Hydrocotyle verticillata
Micranthemum umbrosum
Bacopa caroliniana
Potamogeton pectinatus

Thanks for any comments/advice!

-Laura


----------



## nativeplanter (Jan 27, 2004)

OK, so I got a little overzealous setting up one of my tanks (35 gal) a couple months ago, and I put in about 2" of topsoil on the bottom under the sand (instead of the recommended 1"). So now I'm getting a bit of hairy algae and green water. If I let this substrate sit for a while and just keep changing out the water with DI water will this eventually clear up? Is there anything I can do to speed up the breakdown/leeching process? I'd really, really rather not tear it down again.

This tank:
35 gal
2" topsoil on bottom
1/2-1" play sand covering
3 36" t12 fluorescents 
lights on on from 8am to 1pm and 4pm to 10pm.
Vallisneria americana
Saggitaria isoetiformis
Ludwegia palustris
Mayaca fluviatilis
Brasenia schreberi
Hydrocotyle verticillata
Micranthemum umbrosum
Bacopa caroliniana
Potamogeton pectinatus

Thanks for any comments/advice!

-Laura


----------



## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

Hi Laura,

If the algae isn't too bad and your plants are truly growing, I would just be patient. As I wrote in my book, any submerged soil goes through an unstable period where you may get a little algae for several months. My 45 gal had a little algae for almost a year but now its fine (its posted in the "Picture Gallery"). 

So I woulbe patient. A little algae for a few more months should not be that big a deal. 

In the meantime, you could try to establish a colony of floating plants or let some of those stem plants you have grow emergent. 

I'd stop changing water unless the green algae is so bad that you can't see through the tank; changing water doesn't help that much long-term. The only thing that will really help is to get your plants growing well or find species that really take off in your tank. 

If you are adding DI water (do you mean distilled?), you could be making things worse. Plants (especially Vallisneria) need the calcium, magnesium, potassium, bicarbonates that comes in tapwater. Make sure that the GH in your tank is above 8.

If you can't get some floating plants (they need good light), you could temporarily remove one or two of the lights.

Hope this helps. If you've got more questions, write back. I hate to see anyone have to tear down their tank.

Diana Walstad


----------



## nativeplanter (Jan 27, 2004)

Thanks for replying Diana!

The green water has gotten pretty soupy, so I'm doing water changes. I'm not adding distilled water. I have access to real deionized water. The phosphorus in our tap water here is high due to agriculture. Whenever I'm lazy and use that in any tank I get this HUGE green water outbreak.

I add some "R/O" right to bring the hardness back up a bit, but the fish I have in that tank require really soft water (Enneacanthus gloriosus). The vals seem to be happy as clams, however.

I'll throw in some Salvinia in the short term. It's not native, but at least it's easy to remove when no longer needed. I may also add some Ceratophyllum for a while.

Thanks again!

-Laura


----------



## imported_Piscesgirl (Feb 19, 2004)

This probably has nothing to do with it -- but are you perhaps using a declorinator product with water that doesn't need declorinating? I have well water, and was using a declor product daily (I did small daily water changes in this tank, it's a quarantine tank) and I had an awful case of green water that wouldn't go away. Well, one day I said forget the declor because I don't need it (I was thinking it would guard against any potential "harmful metals", and lo and behold, water started clearing up -- gone within a few days!


----------



## nativeplanter (Jan 27, 2004)

Hi Piscesgirl,

I'm not adding dechlorinator, but that is a good thought. I wonder what was in your dechlorinator that made for a problem?

-Laura


----------



## imported_Piscesgirl (Feb 19, 2004)

I'm not sure, but I guess maybe just that there was no clorine or cloramine or heavy metals for it to bind to?


----------



## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

> quote:
> 
> Originally posted by native planter:
> Thanks for replying Diana!
> ...


Hi Laura,

I hope that you've seen my letters in the "El Natural/Softwater fish in Hardwater" folder. Bottom line: I would not assume that your softwater fish would do poorly if the water was moderately hard.

Both deionized and distilled water would have very little (if any) calcium, magnesium, and potassium. These are important plant nutrients; your plants may not do well without them and your fish would most likely not be harmed by their presence. Therefore, I'm glad to hear that you are adding the "R.O. Right" (I assume that this product contains some calcium, magnesium, and potassium?).

I've had very little experience growing aquarium plants in softwater, but other hobbyists I know have gotten very poor plant growth in softwater, even with a soil substrate. Only when they added some hardwater nutrients did they get decent plant growth.

Diana Walstad


----------



## nativeplanter (Jan 27, 2004)

Hi Diana,

I have been following the posts in "Softwater fish in Hardwater". Just posted another note to it. It sounds like for certain fish (like the Enneacanthus) I may have to just restrict which plants I can grow with them. Recommendations I have read for this fish indicate a hardess of less than 1. I tested the water I got them from, and hardness was undetectable. I'm assuming that I can probably raise hardness to 2 or 3, tops, so I'll probably stick to plants that can do well in soft water for that tank. There is Brasenia in there, which seems to be doing quite well, as is the Mayaca. Guess I'll just keeps the Vals in my stream tanks.

Thanks!
Laura


----------



## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

> quote:
> 
> Originally posted by native planter:
> Recommendations I have read for this fish indicate a hardess of less than 1. I tested the water I got them from, and hardness was undetectable. I'm assuming that I can probably raise hardness to 2 or 3, tops, so I'll probably stick to plants that can do well in soft water for that tank. There is Brasenia in there, which seems to be doing quite well, as is the Mayaca.
> Laura


You do know that some de-ionized water may contain increased sodium? A water hardness kit, which only detects calcium and magnesium, would not detect sodium.

Many de-ionizers just exchange calcium/magnesium for sodium. The de-ionizer softens the water by removing the calcium/magnesium, but the water now contains a lot of sodium. So your softwater fish are now in "soft, but salty" water.

R.O. water, distilled water, are depleted of ALL salts, not just calcium and magnesium.

I don't know if the extra sodium from the deionizing process would be enough to create problems with your fish...

Anyway, keep us posted on how the plants grow in your softwater tank. I would be very interested to know how the tank fares.

Diana Walstad


----------



## nativeplanter (Jan 27, 2004)

Hi Diana,

You're thinking of a water softener. These use a resin to exchange calcium and magnesium ions for sodium ions (the resin can be recharged by soaking in a salt solution). Deionized water uses a resin which exchanges hydrogen for other ions. R.O. water removes ions by forcing the water through a membrane. In my case, I use the DI water to remove excess phosphorus, since we already have soft water here. I have to add back in some amount of calcium, magnesium, and sodium even for the soft water systems.

However, I don't think that water softeners would create fish problems from the excess sodium. These would be the standard filter resin pillows that people use in discus tanks and the like. To remove only hardness, this is a far less expensive option. But it won't remove phosphorus.

I'll definitely keep you posted about the softwater tank! I'm just as curious as you to see what will happen.

-Laura


----------

