# Finding Appropriate Soil



## Velvetdragon (Mar 17, 2007)

Well, I have everything I need to set up a home for a new betta. Tank, heater, testing kit, fish medicine cabinet, gravel, beautiful piece of driftwood, water conditioner, and so on. All I need to do is buy the soil, the plants, and plant it!

... Finding appropriate soil is way harder than I expected. All the soils everywhere I've looked have had either manure, fertilizers, perlite or wetting agents. Sometimes all of the above. And I noted some people advise against peat because it would create a more acidic environment, though I am intending to house a betta, so this may not be as big a problem. What about pumice? Does it float and cause problems the same way as perlite?

So where can I find appropriate soil? I am so eager to set this up and this is very frustrating. I am in Portland, OR. If someone can tell me a store and a brand to buy, I would be grateful. Even if someone can point me to something to buy over the internet!

I am more concerned about the health of my fish than the plants. I really don't want to scrap the NPT idea though, I love the lush jungle look!


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## mistergreen (Mar 3, 2007)

Bettas like it a little acidic.. I had trouble looking for soil too.. You'd want to look for top soil.. They don't put ferts in that.. And maybe african violet potting soil too.


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## 01krisp10 (Feb 18, 2007)

Hey, I'm in Portland as well! I found TurfKing Potting Soil at Fred Meyers... yeah I know, but its pretty much what everyone says you need. I checked with the oregon guide to soils to make sure there wasn't animal by-products in the mix and it doesn't have them. I wouldn't worry about peat that much as long as its not the main ingredient and pumice is ok as well, though a few pieces may float.

I will be setting up my tank this weekend. If you can wait, you can see if mine is a success or not first.

Check my journal for the ingredients and how I'm setting mine up.

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/el-natural/38079-my-20h-npt-attemp.html


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## bpimm (Jun 12, 2006)

I have heard several people say they found good cheap topsoil at Lowes, Personally I just dig up some soil or scrape up the mole hills in my yard. I'm across the river in Washougal.

Keep us posted

Brian


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## cs_gardener (Apr 28, 2006)

I'm in Salem and I've had good luck with generic top soil (not potting soil) from Fred Meyers and Lowe's. I've found the cheap potting soil to have too much wood in it. The longest tank set up with top soil is over a year old and doing well.


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## TeutonJon78 (Nov 10, 2004)

The Home Depot in Jantzen Beach carries the EarthGro topsoil that I'm using. It is a little high in floaty bits and twigs, but no manure and no wetting agents. Plus, a 20lb bag is like $2.50. Only the topsoil is free from additives though, not their other products.

I'm currently using it now and it working very well, but I did "rinse" it first. You can check out my other threads.


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## newbie314 (Mar 2, 2007)

I'm using top soil from Lowes.
No fert.s in it.
Seems to contain composted wood.
There is some small wood slivers. A little bit of floating stuff.
I do think it is adding the Tannin in the water (but then I have a brown background so probably doesn't matter much).

Comes in a red bag. Meant for simple top soil for like evening out the levels of the lawn.
Buy some and you can use it for around the garden


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## Velvetdragon (Mar 17, 2007)

Thank you everyone! They didn't have it at my local Fred Meyer, but I'm going to head to the local Lowe's/Home Depot (they're next door to each other, very convenient) tonight or tomorrow. If they don't have it there, I'm off to Jantzen Beach. ;D Thanks for the specific brand recommendations, that makes it a lot easier for me (I'm paranoid about doing something wrong, heh).


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## dirtmonkey (Mar 12, 2007)

*Black Gold "Coco Blend" *from Fred Meyer works perfectly for me. It uses pumice instead of perlite, and not much of that. It says it also contains earthworm castings, but that must be already decomposed or very little- I've never had a big ammonia/nitrite spike from it like I do when I add fresh garden compost.

Also the leachate from the coconut coir dust in it is said to promote plant growth. Coir dust has more nutrition and less acid than peat (which is also in this stuff), and tends to stay more granular and open.

Anyway, works for me.

-edit- check the ingredients in case it's changed since I got mine- mine says right on the front, "Canadian Sphagnum peat, Coco Fiber (Coir), Earthworm castings, Pumice". I'm currentlu only running small containers in the el natural mode (1/2 to 1 gallon), other tanks right now are waiting for an upcoming move to get set up.

Vincent


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## Muirner (Jan 9, 2007)

At home depot i found "Jolly Gardner Top Soil" it was i think $2 for a 50 LB bag.


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## Red_Rose (Mar 18, 2007)

Would it be bad to mix peat in with the soil? That would help make the water more acidic for those who have harder water.


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