# New tank - Soil and Muddy Water - pls help



## finsrite (Mar 28, 2007)

My son set up a 10 gallon tank on Sunday. Wanted to do planted and since I just read the soil substrate chapter in Walstad's book I told him to use soil. He looked for pond soil at Lowes, but found plain potting soil that the salesclerk told him did not contain vermiculite. Well, so much for that, because it did have vermiculite. At any rate, he decided to use it anyway, 1" of soil, added water and ended up with a mess. We thought it might settle if he waited a few days. No such luck. He turned on the filter today to see if that would help but he said the filter media is now brown and so is the water - still. And bits of vermiculite throughout. Should he have put the soil in dry and topped with gravel before adding any water? Is there any way to resolve this now, short of emptying it out and starting over?


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## aquabillpers (Apr 13, 2006)

I think it would be best if you and your son discarded this first attempt and started over.

My first soil-based tank didn't get muddy but just about every kind of algae eventually grew in it. A complete mess! My mistake was to use an enriched potting soil for the substrate.

I suggest that you and you son get a bag of the cheapest top soil that your local store has. It should have no additives. Then get some 2mm - 3mm quartz sand/gravel, often sold as "blasting gravel" or "builders gravel."

It would be best to soak the top soil for a week or two with a few partial water changes, but that's not absolutely necessary. Put no more than an inch of the soil into the aquarium and cover it with an inch of gravel. 

Ideally you would add a (very) little peat to the bottom and some mulm before you added the soil, but that's not absolutely necessary either.

If you do this you will have very little cloudiness.

Next, plant as many plants as you can fit into that tank.

You are off to a good start - you and your son are working on a neat project.
Lots of luck!

Bill


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## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

finsrite said:


> Should he have put the soil in dry and topped with gravel before adding any water?


Yes. You need to add water very carefully to the dry soil and gravel layers. Here's a wonderful step-by-step with pictures on how to do it.

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/el-natural/26390-6-gallon-hex-npt.html

You'll need to start over. The soil you chose may be just fine; it was just handled improperly. I would do a "bottle test" first with this soil. Just add the soil, then gravel and then water to a glass bottle. You need to use something that keeps the water from stirring up the gravel layer. I layer the gravel with a little piece of aluminum foil. Let the bottle sit overnight. Done right and assuming the soil is okay, the water should be almost crystal clear the next day. Only then should you consider using this soil for your 10 gal tank.

Working with soil takes a little practice. A bottle test will help speed the "learning curve".

I have never soaked the soil in water beforehand.

It shouldn't be that hard to find a decent soil. The most inexpensive soil is usually the best-- less added fertilizers and chemicals.

Hope this helps!


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