# Waterlily clay



## morphriz (Oct 24, 2005)

Hi all,
when shopping for soil, for pots for once , i found something called "Waterlily Clay". It read that it was 100% clay used to absorb nutrients since that is what waterlilies like. This must be tried out in a tank!! Do you think it should be used instead of soil under gravel, below soil under gravel, below or above soil no gravel or as is?
cheers 
Mattias


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## flagg (Nov 29, 2004)

morphriz said:


> Hi all,
> when shopping for soil, for pots for once , i found something called "Waterlily Clay". It read that it was 100% clay used to absorb nutrients since that is what waterlilies like. This must be tried out in a tank!! Do you think it should be used instead of soil under gravel, below soil under gravel, below or above soil no gravel or as is?
> cheers
> Mattias


Interesting... I think, though, that I remember people posting that clay mixed with soil is generally a bad idea. I could be wrong, however. I'm gonna try to find that thread...

-ricardo


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## stepheus (Jun 13, 2006)

I've never tried using clay in aquariums personally but I have thought of using it sometime ago, when I was looking for a cheap substrate to grow my plants. However, after much research on it, I've refrained myself. 

A thin layer of Red clay, is especially good for providing Iron for the tank's lifetime. That is if you have a layer of stagnum moss to host bacteria to turn the Iron into a ferus state, to enable the plants to benefit from it. The dead moss will leech tannins which will color the water on the side note...which is a minus point. There is a thread somewhere in this forum, where clay was used as substrate. The results werent that pleasent until a lot of conditioning was done.

Other types of clay are used when the aquascaper wants to retain/trap a certain amount of fertilizer at the subtrate level - for heavy root feeders. Even so, the layer of clay must be minimal as clay is very bad when it comes to aeration - bad for most plants except lotus and lilies, good for anerobic bacteria...which is bad...lol.

I would suggest OLD garden soil that you dig up from your garden instead. I've been using old garden for a while now, and it has proved itself as a very desirable substrate. It so desirable that I am going to tear down another tank to restart it with old garden soil. When old I mean soil that has been used for growing plants for years...not soil from nurseries. As old soil, the fertility level might run out really fast. Thats where fert tabs come in, homemade or fert tabs that were bought. Mine has been running for close to a year now, and the plants havent been showing any sign of decline though. I would presume to the occasional drips and tabs of fert has been useful.

Do search online for how to condition garden soil to be used for aquarium. What I remember doing was to dig up the soil and leaving it in the aquarium, submerged under water to let the tannins from whatever organic material to leech out first. Do a few water changes and a week later, taadaa, its ready. You can drain out the water and make mounts or change the layout of the substrate if you want. Just be careful when you pour water to fill the tank, like every other type of substrate, it can cloud up water. Otherwise, the water in my tank that has been using garden soil has been crystal clear. I dint even bother capping the garden soil with a layer of gravel.

My only experience with clay as substrate is with the several cisterns of haevily growing medium sized to giant lotus plants which a growing tremendously quick. The water is clear and the plants are healthy, but conditions in a cistern and conditions in a aquarium is very different. 

If you want to get a clay based substrate tank, for the sake of experiment, I am all out to support you. I will be very happy if my assumptions and research is debunked. More than happy really  :biggrin1: 

Good luck! There might be parts where I am wrong, but hey I would like to listen to the opinions of others too! Keep posting


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## Peter66 (Aug 18, 2006)

morphriz said:


> Do you think it should be used instead of soil under gravel, below soil under gravel, below or above soil no gravel or as is?
> cheers
> Mattias


If I remember correctly, the problem with mixing clay and soil is that the soil contains peat witch turns the substrate acidic and causes the clay to release nutrients (iron) faster than it should. This could lead to iron poisoning and algae bloom. I would do a bottle test with some plants to see if the lily clay works. This way you can check out the different setups without risking your main tank. Maybe you could compensate with dolomite to counter the acidity of the peat.
I'm about to convert my tank to an NPT using Pond Soil. I tested a few other soils, but the pond soil was the only one who passed the bottle test with flying colours.


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## schaadrak (Aug 18, 2006)

It could be a grey clay and/or clay pellets that have been fired, like LECA.


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## morphriz (Oct 24, 2005)

No it's a reddish-black dust with varying grain size. It's absolutely free of nutrient additives so it might actually be a cool idea. Will try it for my next tub and report back!
cheers
Mattias


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## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

A pure clay that doesn't have any organic matter might work fine for water lilies but not for submerged plants in the aquarium.

Water lilies get their CO2 from air, so they are not usually limited by water CO2 (carbon dioxide). Thus, this clay might work great for them--- and other emergent plants.

In contrast, submerged aquarium plants get _all_ their CO2 from the water.

The decomposition of organic matter in soil releases CO2 into the water for submerged plants. That's why people that use potting soil or soil with a little organic matter (kitchen compost) can get such good plant growth. It's like natural CO2 fertilization.

Your water lily clay may have some organic matter, but I would suspect it doesn't have much. Water lilies just don't need it.


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## morphriz (Oct 24, 2005)

Hi Diana,
thanks for your answer. (And all other answers as well). How about putting the clay below a layer of soil? Binding metals etc.
cheers
Mattias


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## Patchy (Jun 3, 2005)

Clay isnt all that bad, is it? My tank has a good layer of laterite clay (same thing right?) with good layer of mulm and peat underneath, obviously capped off with some gravel. As long as i have plants growing the substrate dosent become anaerobic (especially the swords). I dont think the acidic properties of organics have purged the laterite of its iron as this tank has never gone through an iron bloom nor has iron ran out in this tank. My logic is the laterite/clay traps the nutrients and organic matter is needed in the mix for more nutrients and another source of carbon.

So wouldnt the lilly clay work with some mulm or peat underneath to up the carbon?


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## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

While I'd still advise hobbyists to try to keep things simple, I realize that there will always be a continuous quest for the "perfect substrate".

The layering of one soil on top of the other would probably work fine. Keep us posted.

I made the mistake of _thoroughly_ mixing the laterite with the potting soil. The clay particles were, thus, in very close contact with the potting soil's acidic peat.


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## morphriz (Oct 24, 2005)

Ok,
I'll try this in my next test tank then: 1cm clay, 2cm potting soil(for cacti and succulents) and 2cm fine gravel. If that works out I might try it with sand on top and w/o topping altogether. I'll post my results!
cheers Mattias


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