# To use Soil/Peat/Leonardite or not to use it?



## Harry Muscle (Oct 17, 2007)

I'm setting up a 5G nano low tech planted tank. My previous tank used to be a 55G low tech tank where I followed Tom Barr's non CO2 method pretty close and things worked out quite well. The only thing that was annoying was the yellowing caused by the fact that I used leonardite.

Since the 5G is gonna have similar plants, etc. I'm thinking of more or less sticking with the same method of doing things, the only thing I'd like to get rid of is the yellowing of the water.

So I'm wondering ... what would be the result if I didn't use leonardite (or peat or soil)? According to Tom's article (http://www.barrreport.com/showthread...on-CO2-methods) it provides a source of carbon for the bacteria that live in the soil, thus allowing them to reduce the oxygen content in the soil and allow better nutrient exchange between the soil and roots. Would the "crap" in the gravel of an established aquarium be an alternate source of this carbon? What else could I use to provide this carbon source (that won't yellow water) ... or do I even need it?

Thanks,
Harry

P.S. The gravel that I will be using is black fluorite.


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## El Exorcisto (Aug 10, 2006)

Nope, the dirt is what makes the magic... Run some carbon when your water gets yellow, it'll pull out the tanins.


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## Philosophos (Mar 1, 2009)

If you want to do an El Natural style tank, it'd be organic choice potting soil or mineralized soil.

For other methods, it's really pretty open as to what substrate you use. No nutrients in the substrate means you must rely on consistent dosing. Putting nutrients in the substrate means either the challenge of using a layered substrate or the cost of something like aquasoil.

ORP in sediment is something relatively undiscussed within the hobby. It's something I'm trying to learn slowly, purely for that reason. Tom spends a lot of time focusing on it, and if you post in reply to him you'll probably get a good answer.


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