Sean's Soil Substrate Recipe Documented

[eleontie]

You should start another thread/recipe. This is for mineralized only
Non Mineralized Jim's recipe. ( I can vouch that it works, I did the same as I did not have the luxury of a backyard )

Eugen

[krisw]

I vote jim's miracle backyard mud.

[jcali10]

Jim, do you think it will it work with dirt (cheap top soil) I bought from the Big Orange Box store?
I was thinking I could rinse that a few times and add the ingredients (clay, etc) I bought from Sean last year.

[DelawareJim]

I'd guess your substrate bubbles CO2 when disturbed? Ever any algae issues initially? (Not to say you don't have them with the mineralized soil either.) I believe Diana Walstad's method using topsoil without mineralizing too.

Not that I've seen. Of course I'm not a big stem guy so my disturbances are limited. Along with that though, I've never noted any Hydrogen Sulfide production.

Only algae issues I've ever had are Green Spot and BBA after the tank has gotten older.

Don't forget that subsoil, or B-horizon, is basically mineralized soil to start with. It's the layer underneath the topsoil layer (A-horizon) that has the organic matter. Subsoil is basically weathered rock (C-horizon). The little bit of organic matter in the subsoil is limited to dissolved organics leached from the topsoil and are leached out by the repetitive flushing.

Here's a nice little primer on soil horizons condensed from the USDA Soil Survey Manual.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soil_horizons

Cheers.
Jim

[dSerk]

I've never noted any Hydrogen Sulfide production.

Would that be a swampy/flatulent smell? I get that when I pull up anything with substantial roots.

I used untreated, unrinsed peat moss and potting soil under my gravel. I used to get a lot of bubbles from the substrate; I thought it was just trapped air from when I setup the tank. Not so much bubbling after a couple months. I had a nasty algae bloom in one tank but not the other; both substrates are virtually the same. Algae is now not bad at all... just green spot on the glass and very little of hair/thread/bba/staghorn....

[DelawareJim]

Yes. Sulfate-reducing bacteria degrade tough-to-digest materials that are rich in cellulose (your peat moss and probably compost in the potting soil) under anaerobic conditions. Rather than using oxygen, they "breathe" sulfate which occurs widely in sediment, or water rich in decaying organic material like swamps, salt-marshes, and mud flats.

Cheers.
Jim

[krisw]

Good explanation, Jim! Thanks!

[DelawareJim]

Jim, do you think it will it work with dirt (cheap top soil) I bought from the Big Orange Box store?
I was thinking I could rinse that a few times and add the ingredients (clay, etc) I bought from Sean last year.

My gut instinct says "No" since topsoil by nature has a certain amount of organic matter and is why Sean's method has you mineralize it. The cheap stuff just has less of it.

Cheers.
Jim

[dSerk]

Yes. Sulfate-reducing bacteria degrade tough-to-digest materials that are rich in cellulose (your peat moss and probably compost in the potting soil) under anaerobic conditions. Rather than using oxygen, they "breathe" sulfate which occurs widely in sediment, or water rich in decaying organic material like swamps, salt-marshes, and mud flats.

Does it dissolve into the water and hurt the flora/fauna, or is this just a nuisance? IS MY TANK GOING TO EXPLODE?!

So, your process just goes directly to where the stuff is mineralized already and you're removing organic material. The mineralizing method takes soil with lots of organics and converts and/or removes them.

More and more it seems like the substrate IS the tank. It's the only part of the system that doesn't grow new or get replaced like plants, animals, water, etc.... and nothing else is going to affect your water chemistry and thus the flora/fauna as much as the substrate. Wish I'd spent more time reading about dirt before I slapped together my tank.

[krisw]

More and more it seems like the substrate IS the tank.

This is a great quote. Substrate truly does influence a huge part of the future of your tank. Most commercial substrates are expensive up front, and require dosing throughout the life of the aquarium. Rich soil substrates require more upfront thought, planning, and often algal pain during the first couple of months, but may be more sustainable without much additional fertilization from that point on. Not to mention the little idiosyncracies like Aquasoil and SoilMaster lowers your KH, Onyx raises it. Flourite red should usually be rinsed. Eco-Complete should not.

And unfortunately, if you change your mind later, it's a pain to tear down the whole tank and start anew.

Fortunately, nearly all of these methods can be successful, it's just a matter of adjusting your methods to make them so.