# Soils that don't need remineralization?



## growingwonders (Feb 12, 2010)

I have been reading and reading and the processes seem straight forward enough, as does the reasoning why it all works so well, but........
It is winter here and I would like to eliminate the need for remineralization, if I could. Could one not just purchase humus or use peat moss, even dig the soil up, just under the leaf mold, in a forest and flush it with water until is runs fairly clear? If one of those are suitable, instead of clay, could one not mix in laterite and then cap it all with pool sand? I really like the advantages of this method, but it would be impossible to remineralize top soil, at present. Are there any available soils that do not require this process, at all? Also, how long does such a tank typically take to cycle? I realize this will depend on many factors, but I am looking at setting it up, adding plants, then 10, small tetras, let stabilize, then more of a similar bioload, let stabilize, and so on, until I have it stocked. I am so excited to be setting up a new aquarium. Thanks guys!


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

I think people tend to over complicate soil preparation. I certainly did when starting out, trying to find out the optimal order I should lay down peat, carbon, clay and soil.

In reality it is much simpler than this. Just buy soil that is not made of compost or enriched with artificial fertilizers. These will rot and leach into your tank. Mineralization can make these super-nutrient rich soils ok for tank use, but if you start with a fairly normal low organic soil then you don't need to do anything fancy with it at all, just put it in the tank and cover it with pool filter sand and plant, same day no prep work needed.

I have used Scott's premium topsoil from Home depot ($2 for 50# bag) many times with great results. I recommend this soil, or a similar soil. Do not buy miracle grow soils, compost soils, etc.

You do not need to add clay to the soil, laterite, peat, carbon, etc. its all just a waste of time. Treat it the same way you would when planting house plants. You don't add clay and carbon layers to that soil do you?


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## qwe123 (Jun 15, 2011)

A lot of my planted tanks, I just bought Miracle Gro Organic Choice Potting Mix, put it in the tank, capped it with sand or gravel, planted and started the tank up. Whether or not there's an ammonia spike depends on how many and what kind of plants I start out with.

Have also done this with dirt I dug up from the yard...

This may not be the best method, but it has worked for me, and the tanks have been running for months, with my 5 gallon running for a couple years now.


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## growingwonders (Feb 12, 2010)

Thank you both. I think I will just dig up the forest soil, then. I thing this soil is probably similar to sediment, in tropical river bottoms and marshes, where the plants are growing, in nature. I will just cap with pool sand.


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## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

I have had good luck with many soils, and I didn't mineralize them beforehand. Whether they work or not may depend on soil depth, gravel depth, water chemistry, the plant species, etc. The main problem was of my own creation, that is, trying to make the soil more fertile, by adding fertilizers, laterite clay, etc. I didn't realize that ordinary soil is plenty fertile for plants in an aquarium.

For those people that want to mineralize their soils, I would consider the Dry Start Method, as described by Tom Barr. This method not only mineralizes the soils for 6-8 weeks, but also gets plants growing at the same time. I used this for delicate plant species in two tanks, and it worked quite well. I describe the setup in an article, 'Small Planted Tanks for Pet Shrimp.' The article can be downloaded from my book's website: http://www.atlasbooks.com/marktplc/00388.htm


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## Spudgunman (Jan 11, 2014)

I have zero experience here, however my experience that is very little tells me that buying soil was a waste of time. I just dug some compost out, then dunked it in a water bath - which was helpfull as it removed some random floating stuff, like worms.. also putting it in the water and fully mixing it up nicely created sediment layers, specifically removing some trash that is now part of most forests. 

I found just "washing" the soil in a water bath to be beneficial, there is that tricky part of still needing to drain the water. 

but as mentioned its plants and dirt, nothing high tech is needed to grow plants.


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## growingwonders (Feb 12, 2010)

I really do appreciate the reply. I have always been too timid to try an actual soil layer, in my aquarium, but I ant to grow some heavy root feeders and I like the elimination of constant additions to the water column. While my set-up will not exactly replicate your methods, I am taking much from the information I gained, reading the many post, under this category. I enjoy the planning phase of aquarium keeping, almost as much as the execution. It is nice to be engaged, as with many things in life, the journey is more important than the destination. Of course, I want a nice aquarium, with healthy fish and plants, so the journey has to stick a clear path.
Diana, can you elaborate on the problems you had, when trying to enrich the soil, with additives and laterite? I was planning on mixing some laterite in, since most advise using clay, as an iron source. Since I am omitting the clay, would it not be advisable to use laterite , in the soil layer, with some turface? I wasn't going to add any other fertilizers or nutrients, but figured the iron content may not be enough in woodland soil. I feel so privileged to have such wonderful advice, from this group.


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## GadgetGirl (Sep 25, 2013)

Zapins said:


> I have used Scott's premium topsoil from Home depot ($2 for 50# bag) many times with great results. I recommend this soil, or a similar soil.


I have just moved and I am restarting my Walstad aquarium. I bought 3 bags of this stuff and I am in the process of soaking and draining. Even after skimming all the floaters, I am left with a lot of mulchy stick-like stuff at the bottom of the buckets. (I have a test jar capped with my sand of choice. Looks good so far after one day . No tannins.) Did you notice the same thing?

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## pandragon (Jul 10, 2014)

I used cheap red bag earth gro you can get from walmart or homedepot, maybe it was lowes--I can't remember. Anyways, I gave it a few rinses and dries over a week and it was fine, I probably didn't even have to rinse it so much. I wouldn't add fish immediately though because there was plenty of nitrogen in it to cycle the tank without rinsing it, after rinsing/drying ammonia never got above .5. I have never been able to get plants to soak up every last bit of ammonia by themselves (even though, theoretically, ammonia is more readily available and processes faster through the plants stems, leaves, etc.), but they have soaked up the nitrates well.

You can always do a test jar and test the nitrogen levels and observe the plants for nitrogen burns to see if you want to mineralize or not.


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## AKnickolai (Nov 30, 2007)

The best dirt tank I ever have used dirt from the ground. Just dig down a few feet until you are through the peaty top layer and reach the clay like soil (probably has a red/brown/green color to it depending where you live) and you're good to go. Mix in some humus, activated carbon, Osmocote, azomite, and a high CEC material (like Turface or oil dry) and cap with dirt you're good to go. This doesn't require any mineralization and provides a great base of nutrients. I created this recipe from what I've read on this forum and Ukamikazu's EHS recipe that is posted over on http://www.aquaticplantenthusiasts.com/

This combination has been nothing short of amazing in my eyes. Even with the known 3-5 year lifespan of a dirt substrate, these tanks are so much more stable and easy to maintain than a tank kept going via EI or PPS (I've tried both for at least 1 year trials in 40G breeders). I use CO2 and medium light in my dirt tank, so I push it it pretty hard and will likely consume it closer to the 3 year mark. Not such a huge deal, because I'm usually ready for a big re-scape by then anyway.


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## pandragon (Jul 10, 2014)

That would be great if your dirt is healthy. I nearly killed everything using dirt from outside, I think most of it was cement dust, no peat layer, nothing but crap left over from building the house, leveling ground etc.


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## arul (Mar 11, 2014)

For my 10 gallon tank, I used 1" Scotts Premium topsoil from Lowe's, and 1" to 1.5" of black diamond blasting sand. I didn't mineralize the topsoil. It seemed to work out fine, though it took longer than expected.


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## GadgetGirl (Sep 25, 2013)

One inch Scott's Premium topsoil, 1 inch Flourite black sand. Drained and rinsed 4 times, no mineralization. Day 2. Seems OK!

Edit: Day 3. No ammonia yet.










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