Ummmm...Experience with dirt tanks anyone?.......

[Elyse]

Has anyone attempted.... a dirt tank? (soil under the substrate...)

Did you succeed? Or fail miserably?

Annnnnnd........did you get MOULD like I have on the drift wood.......

OK!! --- I'm trying to create a 30g dirt tank...
I was following Dustinsfishtanks on youtube....

I have one lonely 7'' Discus, I've has her for over a year now. She's been imprisoned in a white 15g square bucket for three weeks... she's healthy, but...possibly insane at this point, staring at white walls...

I'm afraid of putting her back in the aquarium.
Upon building the dirt tank I filled it with water and drained it several times, and because the water was clear I put her in. Two hours later I find the water tea color and my poor fishie gasping for air and with INSTANT fin rot and covered in white slime!

I put her in the bucket with melafix, and she recovered just as fast.

I've been draining and filling the aquarium for three weeks, and the tannins and such from the underlying soil has almost completely cleared.

I've noticed when I refill the tank, the driftwood will be covered in what looks like white mould, but it goes away after a day...and there is some sort of fluffy mould on another piece of drift wood, I don't know if this is actually mould or a type of algae...with all this extra nutrients...I've had this driftwood for over a year, and now it looks as if I took it out of a river.

I tried to create a tank that more closely resembles what you would see in nature...but oh ya....in nature, things rot...

I'm now dousing the tank water with melafix and promafix.....

Has anyone had success with a dirt tank?

Peace,
Elyse

[TURQ64]

The slime coat issue is from the difference back and forth in water parameters..That's the only part of this post I'll touch on..the rest seems like painting a target on one's arse....

[Aznman1]

+1 Turq64

[mrblah00]

I've setup planted tanks with potting soil under sand. I usually just use supersoil brand organic potting soil and top it with Pool filter sand. You need to make sure that you get one with no ferts added to the mix. The moldy looking stuff on the drift wood will go away after a bit. I set up a 135 gallon tank this way a few years ago, about 6 months ago i cleaned all the plants and soil out and am running it bare bottom as it's easier to keep clean. Good luck.

[DiscusOnly]

My 5 gal CRS tank is set up with worm casting on the bottom and black sand subtrates on top. I also mix in potting clay with the mixture. My friend gave me the instruction for setting it up. I originally was going to set up a 90gal tank this way 2 years ago and am I glad I never did it. It worked great for my 5gal tank but it's very messy. I would not do it if you are doing lots of WC or going to touch the subtrates.

[x2h]

i have had success with dirt in pots covered with sand and the swords love it. that way it's much easier to replant or rescape or do WC etc. if you want to try dirt tank make sure you mineralize the soil first, otherwise the organic C/N/P will cause a lot of algae. the mold on the driftwood is normal especially if the wood is new. it goes away eventually. good luck with your experiment (it sounds like an expensive one) and let us know how it works!

[Moon]

That poor discus is going through hell while you are fooling around with water and dirt. Give the discus to someone who can care for it properly. Then go ahead and do your dirt thing.
JMO

[kent1963]

I once did a dirt tank experiment but it was intended to be a plant only tank. It actually went quite well and I did eventually put in a tire track eel. I don't think theres any way you could have discus in such a brew however.

[Pardal]

First it all
I am not a planted tank expert, but 12 year ago when I change from breeding angels to Discus and I was a newbie on Discus, did one of the newbies mistakes grow out discus in a planted tank, this was working good for a while , but once the underlayer got disturb during the frequent water changes. It became a mess as the algae flourish, and the plants and wood got nasty.
If you want to keep Discus with plants although it can be done required a lot work and among many other things one is it has to be adult only and try to resist the temptation of stocking and a more natural resembling or live food is a most to minimize waste and impact on the close system. but I think you may new this already.
If you want to give a natural look , place a thin layer of pool sand or any inert (not alkaline buffer) sand that could alter your ph. with wood and even so your wood might get some of the mold whites thing grow when is new , this is not harmful and it will go away, but since is not aestheticaly one thing that work for me is I took it out and rubbed with table salt and washed and this accelarate the process of aging the wood.
Bottom line , If you put dirt or anything similar even if you put gravel or sand on top, it will be really hard not to disturb it , once you stir every thing up is almost uncontrolable, and if you put a thick layer to avoid disturb the bottom you will get anaerobic bacteria growing , with the corresponding sulfide compounds.

[Parrish]

I have a spare 55 gallon tank on by back patio that has turned into an experiment. It has 2" of topsoil with a variety of Swords, Valsineria, floating oxygenating plants, etc. It started as a quick place to throw plants to grow or recuperate. It now has a healthy population of RCS and Endlers guppies. It an overgrown aquatic jungle. I do not recommend this, but I am experimenting with my plant skills. I will probably end up transferring the shrimp and guppies to more proper environments the next time I change out the plants.

[pcsb23]

Has anyone attempted.... a dirt tank? (soil under the substrate...)

Did you succeed? Or fail miserably? A few times and as for success or failure I'll let you be the judge ...

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?50167-One-of-my-display-tanks&highlight=

However, it is worth pointing out that at that time had an awful lot of experience with all types of planted tanks and also a lot of experience with discus ...