# el natural experiment



## kleankord (Mar 29, 2010)

I jumped into the aquarium hobby without stopping to think about cosulting with forums first, and bought everything pretty impulsively. This resulted in all my plants in my 70 gal being planted in just sand.

Now I'm interested in the el natural way of doing things, ordered my Walstad book last night, and I've set aside a 10 gal to experiment with and I have a couple of questions.
1) Do I let the substrate soak for a week or so? or plant same day?
2) It's a 10 gal with an 18watt lamp, next to a window, will that suffice?
3) Do I need to get a filter? I think the whole point is not have one in the future, but I need something in the meantime?


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## baos (Jul 3, 2009)

Filter may not be necessary if you have enough plants. But you must circulate the water. And pay close attention to oxygen levels in your tank if you plan to put fish in it. A bubbler could be required.


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## Diana K (Dec 20, 2007)

1) depends on the substrate. Most can be planted the first day, but the substrate may go through some sort of cycle growing microorganisms that could take a month or so. This would delay adding fish, shrimp or other livestock. A test kit (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate) is most helpful here. 
2) Sounds pretty good. Just make sure the tank does not get too hot when the sun comes in. Many of my tanks are roughly 2 watts per gallon and a nearby window. 
3) My tanks have always needed some sort of water movement. So far, most of my tanks have used external filters (canisters and HOB, mostly) though I did use air powered box filters many years ago. (before plants)


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## aquabillpers (Apr 13, 2006)

As Diana K said, whether or not to soak depends on the substrate.

If there is a fair amount of organic matter in the soil, it will produce ammonia until the organics decompose. There might also be things in the raw substrate that you don't want in your tank.

A week of soaking, with water changes, should take care of the ammonia problem, and you might be surprised at the stuff that floats to the top during the soaking period.

Soaking eliminates some variables, but people do use soil right out of the bag, too.

Good luck.

Bill


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## kleankord (Mar 29, 2010)

soak.. just the soil? I just bought top soil today and then was using a playsand layer above it. do I soak the combination or the soil first? I will be washing the sand before putting it in the tank too.


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## goldier (Feb 13, 2010)

The typical way of El Natural is to put the top soil in the tank, top with sand or gravel, put in plants, add water, and floating plants. Then change the water a few times until nutrient leaching is diminished. In the meanwhile, you tank may look unsightly because of algal bloom, and the plants may be covered with algae. I would do slightly differently – soak the soil in a bucket and change the water few times until the nutrient leaching subsides (you can also remove unwanted stuff that floats in the bucket), then put that soil in the aquarium, top with clean sand, and do the planting. Water change would be less frequent or not needed for an extended time. It would be less algae problem in the aquarium when the soil is washed off the extra nitrogen and phosphorus before it is placed in the aquarium. Less stress on plants and fish. The plants have a better chance to grow without algae covering their leaves during the initial setup.


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## Big_Fish (Mar 10, 2010)

here's a step by step.... 
Courtesy of the GWAPA 

http://gwapa.org/wordpress/articles/mineralized-soil-substrate/


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## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

kleankord said:


> I jumped into the aquarium hobby without stopping to think about cosulting with forums first, and bought everything pretty impulsively. This resulted in all my plants in my 70 gal being planted in just sand.
> 
> Now I'm interested in the el natural way of doing things, ordered my Walstad book last night, and I've set aside a 10 gal to experiment with and I have a couple of questions.
> 1) Do I let the substrate soak for a week or so? or plant same day?
> ...


Soil that has been well-composted probably doesn't need to be mineralized. Composting is the same thing as mineralization, so you can let the manufacturer do it for you. Composted material has a lovely, earthy fragrance. If you smell cedar oil and/or pine tar, use it for the garden but not in a tank.

I use Miracle Gro Organic Choice Potting Mix. It seems to be well-composted. It also is not fertilized with chemicals, so it has a nice, low NPK (0.1, 0.05, 0.05).

Other items sound like you're on the right track. My book will fill in some of the other details.

Good luck!


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## kleankord (Mar 29, 2010)

I have about 20 lbs of lowes hardware store top soil soaking in the garage. it looks like clay/mud.

while I was in my garage I saw a bag of miracle gro choice potting mix but it didn't say organic, will it be better than the bucket of mud?

I'm skeptical about the top soil I got. it was 1 for a 40 lb bag and is a bright red brown color. ill post pics tomorrow, but any more incite?


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## aquabillpers (Apr 13, 2006)

Either would be fine.


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