# Compost Pile



## Bacon (Jan 29, 2013)

Hi I'm new to the form; first thread.

I read AronT's post about mineralized topsoil and it had me thinking about using the soil beneath my compost pile along with a sand cap as a substrate. Planning on going with a heavy planted tank(Haven't decided on the plants yet) including shrimps and smaller fish (Danio sized)

My Aquarium:

Size: 55 Gallons
Filtration: Marineland c220 and Magnum 350 (Water polish filter)
Pressurized Co2 system (#10 cylinder with regulator and bubble counter)
Lighting: 2 48" 54w T5 HO bulbs from Giesemann (Aqua Flora and Midday Sun)

My Compost Pile:

Running for almost eleven years.
Dimensions are about 8' x 6' x 8'
Materials placed in: food scraps, vegetation from garden, feathers and sawdust from birds, dead animals (Pigeons, ducks, turkeys, and chickens; never any wild animals), grass clippings, and leaves.
No chemicals have been placed into the compost pile to my knowledge.

Additionally I have a bag of Seachem Fluorite red. I'm guessing since it is clay based and red that it contains much iron, correct me if I'm wrong. Planning on crushing it into dust and mixing with the soil.

So my question comes to: would using the soil beneath my compost pile (after refining it of course) be an excellent source of nutrients for my setup?


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Mar 7, 2008)

Hi Bacon,

By 'no chemicals have been placed into the compost pile' would that include the vegetation and grass clippings? For example crapgrass killer or insect/disease control used on plants that were composted?


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## Bacon (Jan 29, 2013)

Seattle_Aquarist said:


> Hi Bacon,
> 
> By 'no chemicals have been placed into the compost pile' would that include the vegetation and grass clippings? For example crapgrass killer or insect/disease control used on plants that were composted?


Hi Seattle_Aquarist,

I have never used any chemicals on my lawn or garden for insect/disease control.


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## JeffyFunk (Apr 6, 2006)

As long as you are using 'soil' and not 'compost', there is no reason not to use it for making mineralized soil or for using it as is. The whole point of using top soil and mineralizing it is to REMOVE all of the easily decomposed material from the soil and create a more consistent substrate material for your plants. Many of the potential problems with using soil as a substrate are the result of having a variable starting material (esp in terms of organic matter) - mineralizing helps to remove that variability. 

This is actually very different from regular gardening where the mantra is usually add more organic matter to your soil in the form of compost. Incorporating compost into garden soils also has the effect of adding nutrients and creating a more... 'loose' structure to allow for microbes and worms and bugs and stuff to help aid on decomposition and increase air circulation in the substrate. Air, as far as i know, is not needed in the substrate and the aquatic plants have evolved to protect themselves from potentially anaerobic substrate conditions anyways.


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

Bacon, welcome to APC!

Your compost pile sounds like mine. I've never used my own compost in a tank (too coarse and inconsistent), but a neighbor produces high quality compost and I have used that. When I use compost, I soak-and-drain or mineralize it first, then mix it 50/50 with a high cation exchange capacity (CEC) material like Safe-T-Sorb.

As Jeffy points out, compost is often too rich for use as an aquarium substrate. You are planning to use a soil/compost mix from the bottom of your pile, so this should be less rich. His advice to mineralize the mix first is a good idea.

You will find an extended discussion of this in El Natural in the sticky thread "Suitable soils for the Walstad method". I know you aren't planning a Walstad tank, but the comments on soil apply.

Fluorite Red does contain iron, and has high CEC, so it would be a good additive to the soil/compost mix. You don't need to crush it.


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

It could work, but this is really more of an el natural approach than a mineralized soil approach. When gardening with compost it is typically mixed into the soil. The soil is really what you want to use for MTS. 

I would follow Michael's advice if you want to try it as I have no experience using compost in a planted tank.


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## Bacon (Jan 29, 2013)

Thank you all for the advice, after the temperature raises outside (I live in Eastern Pennsylvania), I will begin collecting the soil for the mineralization process. 
Will also post pictures along the way and come back to show the success, or (hopefully not) the lack of, in the future.


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## jamesbarr (Feb 24, 2013)

In my walstad I used worm compost (from my worm bin, and made up totally of vegetable waste and egg shells) that was totally unwashed prior to using it, or mineralized. Im willing to say that this tank is doing really well for me. I did have to do daily w/cs until just recently and Im still testing my water parameters daily for now. On the plus, I had little die back 

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/...3-starting-up-walstad-20gal-3.html#post651571


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