# What if you didn't sift the dirt?



## Paradise fish (Aug 27, 2017)

Hey guys. From other recent comments I found out that you're suppose to sift the dirt to pick out all the wood chips. Well I didn't know this and I just added the whole mixture. What would happen to my tank now? Will I need to redo everything? I have a inch of river rocks that holds everything down pretty well.


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## DutchMuch (Apr 12, 2017)

I would re-do it... 
The wood will float initially, leach Constant tannins, soften your water, and degrade over time causing flux. in parameters.


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

If you don't want to tear down the tank and start over, eventually the wood will water-log and stop releasing tannins. But be prepared to do many, many water changes before that happens.


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## Skizhx (Oct 12, 2010)

In my experience the biggest problem with leaving the wood chips in is that plants will root around them. In itself this isn't a big problem. If you ever need to uproot/replant anything you might end up making a bigger mess than you would have had there not been chunks of wood tangled in the roots though.

Otherwise never noticed much difference. I usually put driftwood in my tanks anyways so can't comment on tannins.


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## Z1234 (Oct 25, 2016)

Skizhx said:


> In my experience the biggest problem with leaving the wood chips in is that plants will root around them. In itself this isn't a big problem. If you ever need to uproot/replant anything you might end up making a bigger mess than you would have had there not been chunks of wood tangled in the roots though.
> 
> Otherwise never noticed much difference. I usually put driftwood in my tanks anyways so can't comment on tannins.


I'd also not over worry this as long as water clarity and quality is reasonable. Think of it you have some sloooow release CO2 nutrient in your substrate.


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## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

I don't think you have to get every single wood chip out. The large particle size slows down decomposition in the substrate. That's not always a bad thing. 

I wouldn't tear the tank down. Your plants and time will tell eventually answer your question--better than I could. 

Here's a photo I took while sorting out my potting soil for my shrimp bowls. Because I was dealing with such a small "tank" and tiny amount of soil, I was pretty methodical about removing chips. For a large tank, though, it wouldn't matter so much. Plant roots will find areas of nourishment in between the chips.

Also, you can use charcoal in the filter to remove the tannins.


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## CricketMclean (Sep 12, 2017)

dwalstad said:


> I don't think you have to get every single wood chip out. The large particle size slows down decomposition in the substrate. That's not always a bad thing.
> 
> I wouldn't tear the tank down. Your plants and time will tell eventually answer your question--better than I could.
> 
> ...


 what do you do with what you've sifted out?


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## Skizhx (Oct 12, 2010)

You can do anything you want with the stuff you've sifted out.

I usually throw it into soil for houseplants, since we're not supposed to throw wood out for compost here.


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## lake_tuna (Mar 18, 2010)

I've done Walstad tanks with unsifted soil. It never caused any issues, but it did leach out a lot of tanin and nutrients. I had frogbits that had roots several inches long during cycle, and the tank's water eventually became clear after several month.


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## Maryland Guppy (Mar 5, 2015)

Purigen can be used to remove tannin if you don't like the tea colored water.

Use care when uprooting any plants.
If you breach the cap lots of stuff floating around in the water could occur.

Even bagged topsoil contains a fair amount of wooden matter.
I would recommend sifting and then soaking for the future.
All floating matter can be removed with a net.


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## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

Maryland Guppy said:


> All floating matter can be removed with a net.


Very good! I have spend time sifting out perlite balls from a potting soil substrate. It's a good exercise in hand-eye coordination.  (I wouldn't discount a good potting soil, because it contains perlite balls.)


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## Maryland Guppy (Mar 5, 2015)

dwalstad said:


> I have spend time sifting out perlite balls from a potting soil substrate. It's a good exercise in hand-eye coordination.


That sounds like the PITA way to remove the perlite material.

Bucket, water, soil, stir, and net the mess.

For those interesting in screening any soil.
Home Depot and or Lowes sell a gutter guard material that is basically galvanized metal lathe.
The cost is less than $3 for a 30" piece about 5" wide.

I have framed an actual piece of metal lathe with wood to screen larger quantities.
100 pounds at a time or I don't bother.

There is also a lot of rock contained in the topsoils and potting soils the screen will also catch.
Maybe they all heavy up there bags to make the weight, who knows.

Depending what plant in the US manufactured the potting soil also determines what type of manure or poultry litter they include.

Organic potting soils IMHO who cares.
All the same junk gets added in the end.
Animal litter, fertilizer pellets, rock, peat, mulch, etc....

Note: Always make sure no insecticides are listed in the contents.

Also: Avoid the moisture retention products. It is a similar pelleted product like diaper material.
Retains water for long period of time with high volume rate. Could be the sponge of disaster.


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## Paradise fish (Aug 27, 2017)

Thank you everyone for the reassurance. I did experience a lot of tannins but I have a large piece of bog wood in there so I thought it was from that. 

I have a decent amount of activated carbon in there for the trace amounts of tannins. I don't use Purigen because it absorbs nitrogen from the water, depriving it from the plants in the long term.


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