# Potting soil VS Mineralized soil



## Draginduster (Jun 27, 2008)

I guess this is aimed toward the more advanced aqua people (Diana, this means you  ). I have been working on a high tech tank and was planning on using Mineralized soil. I have not read Diana's book yet (it's still in the mail) so I don't know the full story on the choice of potting soil; be it a specific reason or that mineralized soil had not yet been concocted. So the question is, would Mineralized soil be a bad thing in an El Natural?

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/...-mineralized-soil-substrate-aaron-talbot.html ---Link to the mineralized soil hubbub.


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## Alex123 (Jul 3, 2008)

I haven't tried it but I will guarantee I would try mineralized soil on my next tank setup. It seems pretty simple enough and supposed benefit of speeding up the break-in period...a win win to me. I don't think Diana's book ever mentioned it though.


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

Yes, you can use the mineralized soil in a low-tech setup as well.


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## colinsk (Dec 29, 2008)

I read through that thread and it should work just fine. Make sure there are no fertilizers in the starting soil. We all seem to doctor soil just a little. I did not have a break in peroid in my tank but I also had lots of very fast growing established plants from the start.


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## prBrianpr (Nov 18, 2007)

+1 mineralized soil, I always use that with clay. The top soil is like mineralized soil only that the top soil need to pass the process in the aquarium and the mineralized soil is stablished from the first


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## Draginduster (Jun 27, 2008)

Awesome guys, thanks! I think I will go that route.


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## Forgotten Path (Apr 3, 2009)

Hmmm...
I just may be using this technique as well.
Thanks for bringing it up!


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