# My plants are dying! What to do?



## Victor (22 Dec 2013)

Hi, guys! My plants are facing some problems and I don't know what is wrong. So, let's go:

Tank Setup:

200 cm (lenght) x 40 (width) x 45 (height)
360 L is the total capacity but there are about 300 L water, I think.

The tank was lit by 12 PL bulbs (220 w total) by 8 hours a day. But I've changed the illumination 3 days ago, now the tank is lit by 6 x 30 w T8 tubes (180 w total) by 8 hours too. Look at the pictures:

Before






After




Last couple of weeks the water flow was only 1400 L/h by 2 canisters 700 L/h each. I've increased this flow to 5000 L/h (I've put more 3 power heads 1200 L/h each).

The problem is that my tank are infested of algae (BGA and some kind of brown algae) and plants aren't growing! My CO2 level is Always between 25 - 35 ppm, I use a 2,72 dKH water filled drop Checker and another one with 5,78 dKH and I keep both green every time. Take a look:





My Co2 is controled by a ph computer. I dose full estimative index. I've bought some chelated elements in a compounding pharmacy and a did my own micronutrients solution. These are the elements that I'm using:

1) chelated Fe (iron) 20 %;
2) chelated Cu (copper) 11,09 %;
3) chelated Mn 15 %;
4) chelated Zn 20 %;

All these above chelated by glycine.

5) H3BO3 (boric acid);
6) Na2MoO4.2H2O (sodium molybdate dihydrate);

So, I've calculated a dose to add weekly this nutrient level:

Fe: 0,5 ppm (mg/L);
Mn: 0,15 ppm
B: 0,06 ppm
Zn: 0,03 ppm
Cu: 0,014 ppm
Mo: 0,009 ppm

I add 1/3 of this above 3 times by week.

Ok, now let's go to macronutrients regime. I add weely this nutrient level (divided in 3 days):

NO3 (from KNO3): 30 ppm;
PO4 (from KH2PO4): 6 ppm;
K (from KNO3 and KH2PO4): 20 ppm;
Ca (from glycine chelated Calcium): 30 ppm;
Mg (from MgSO4.7H2O): 10 ppm;
SO4 (from MgSO4.7H2O) 39 ppm;
Na (from baking soda buffer that I did): 16,5 ppm.

So, That's it. Here are some tank and plants pictures:
















As you can see, my plants are awful! Some of them don't grow and are dying. My tank is 5 months old. Do you think I still have too much light? How about the PO4 week level, it's too high? And the water flow is too Strong? Please, any help your is welcome.

Thank you so much!


----------



## GHNelson (22 Dec 2013)

Hi Victor
What substrate are you using?
Do you gravel/substrate clean?
My advice would be lower the lighting to 5 hours only use two T8 tubes...till you get the aquarium established and healthy.
Remove all the grass and plants give them a good clean...clean the gravel and stone and equipment do a huge water change say 90%.
Replant all savable stems....do regular water changes...to keep muck down.
Clean your filter sponges.
Purchase some floating plants.
I/m not a great lover of power heads in a lightly planted immature tank.
They tend to blow a lot of muck/detritus around the tank.
hoggie


----------



## Victor (22 Dec 2013)

Thank you, Hoggie! I do regular water changes (50 % every week) and I change the White sponges every week. I'm using only sand as substrate. Currently there is 0,5 w/L. If I take off 4 tubes I'd have only 0,167 w/L. It's not too low light?


----------



## GHNelson (22 Dec 2013)

Hi Victor
You don't need to replace the sponges just clean them.
I start with lower lighting and increase as the aquarium is settled with no issues.
If you think the lighting is too low use 3 T8s.
Sand is not the best substrate media for plants...although some experienced scapers use it.
hoggie


----------



## kirk (22 Dec 2013)

I agree I've just got rid of the sand  from ours. I think you could loose 2 tubes permanently and at least 8 fans. I maybe wrong but I think it's a light issue going from not so good spectrum to too much too long. As said 5 Hrs is enough. I'd also look at getting rid of the sand whilst salvaging the best plants.  that going to be a nice planted tank with patience good water changes and less light to start with.   Just as an example only, I run 2 x t5 48w a ft from water surface on 80cmx40x40 for 5 Hrs a day and still get algae issues.


----------



## xim (22 Dec 2013)

It might be your substrate. Is it reasonably clean?
When BGA was established in my tank. I had tried changing in dosing, increasing water flow,
increasing CO2, changing 75% of water every other day for two months, increasing water surface
agaitation, turning on air pump at night, using activated carbon, lowering the light, cleaning filters 
every two weeks, feeding less food. But they were not really working for me. And Erythromycin
just paused it for a while.
Plants did well after using Erythromycin until it (BGA) came back. They just couldn't grow with BGA
disturbing them, coating them. Several signs of nutrient deficiency were observed even with
EI dosing. Organics from dying plants just fed more BGA.
My substrate was old gravel from another tank mixed with laterite. Actually I had suspected that
it might be the cause but I was too lazy to accept it because that meant tearing down the tank.
So it had been left that way for 3 years. Until I read an article about physical and chemical 
characteristics in surface sediments creating problem in a lake in China. And dredging
it seemed to correct the problem.
So in the end, I decided to tear the tank down and spent hours to suck the substrate clean down to
the very bottom. No major BGA problem and plants have acted "mormally" ever since. By the way,
I reused the plants that still coated with BGA. So it lingered there for two month before disappearing.
I should have had sprayed them with some diluted H2O2 before putting them back in to speed it up.

I think the main culpit is probably the large amount of laterite I used, not so much for mulm,
by the way.


----------



## NatureBoy (22 Dec 2013)

looks like the rotala took a pruning they never quite recovered from...I go easy on pruning and try and keep as many growing tips in the tank (I "push down" stems if possible rather than snip em). It is difficult for some stem plants to generate new growth from the twiggy section, so always try and trim where you can see a node where new growth will happen rapidly. 

Although I'm a fan of mud based substrates I've seen plenty examples where sand has worked. For me though, soil is such a massive reservoir of micronutrients, and microbes etc that I'd never overlook starting from that base....maybe consider the advice above about a overhaul and with mud base?

Some say that diatom algae (the brown stuff) is linked with silicates in sand. Sand is prone to be anaerobic and BGA may be feeding on nitrogen being produced in the anaerobic zone and leaching out. All maybes.

Why no fish or shrimp? This could be a tank where the imbalance is in the microbial populations...get a nitrogen cycle going and "good" bacteria will populate the nooks n crannies...


----------



## GHNelson (22 Dec 2013)

A long lighting period and no floating plants can cause problems.
Sand is not the ideal substrate for plants either .... it doesn't allow debris/detritus to ingress into the substrate.
This debris/waste...breaks down eventually and helps feed the plants a free fertilizer.
I grew my best plants in a established low tech aquarium with Flourite Black......and one T8 tube.
Never had any algae problems.
http://www.aquaessentials.co.uk/seachem-flourite-black-7kg-p-1735.html



I didn't even fertilize the water with Macro/Micro nutrients at the time.
hoggie


----------



## GHNelson (22 Dec 2013)

Hi
Just a thought, lightly coloured sand reflects a lot of light...so you need to be a experienced scaper when you use it.
hoggie


----------



## xim (22 Dec 2013)

hogan53 said:


> Sand is not the ideal substrate for plants either .... it doesn't allow debris/detritus to ingress into the substrate.


 
He said sand but his pictures say normal grain sized gravel many people are using in planted tanks.
I have no objection to using better substrate though.


----------



## GHNelson (22 Dec 2013)

Looks like sand to me


Victor said:


> Thank you, Hoggie! I do regular water changes (50 % every week) and I change the White sponges every week. I'm using only sand as substrate. Currently there is 0,5 w/L. If I take off 4 tubes I'd have only 0,167 w/L. It's not too low light?


----------



## Michael W (22 Dec 2013)

I believe the algae problem originated from the high lights, although drop checkers and such may indicate a  good CO2 level, it really is a poor way in checking for the actual CO2 levels in your  tank. Drop checkers are there in my opinion to give an indication to the approximate level which the fish will be fine in. Since you have no fish from the photo you can try to blast the CO2/flow a bit more to see if there are any improvements. Remove as much algae as possible and go from there. a photo period of 6-7 is suggested.  

In my opinion sand substrate does not matter too much if you have plants in your tank. The roots of the plants will provide oxygen into the substrate feeding the bacteria that will help discourage anaerobic spots. I believe fine plants such as hair grass will root better and grow more  densely in sand substrate compared to gravel. I myself use a mix of peat moss and soil capped with cat litter for my tanks. I run low tech tanks so I'd like to have some long lasting substrate to allow to me be lazy and stress free. This is not to say that this can't be used in a hi tech setup as it will work very well.


----------



## darren636 (22 Dec 2013)

Sand works as well as any inert substrate.


----------



## GHNelson (22 Dec 2013)

darren636 said:


> Sand works as well as any inert substrate.


 
Plants will grow healthily without any substrate....if the water is fertilized properly.
hoggie


----------



## darren636 (22 Dec 2013)

hogan53 said:


> Plants will grow healthily without any substrate....if the water is fertilized properly.
> hoggie


 pretty much, the co2 / light combination seems the issue here.


----------



## Victor (22 Dec 2013)

hello, guys! tank you for your feedback. I need to explain better some things:



xim said:


> He said sand but his pictures say normal grain sized gravel many people are using in planted tanks.
> I have no objection to using better substrate though.


 
 Yes, actually I'm using a very thin quartz gravel (about 1 millimeter diameter). The seller said me that it is a "quartz sand" but I think it's only to express that it looks like a sand. It's a good choice?



NatureBoy said:


> looks like the rotala took a pruning they never quite recovered from...I go easy on pruning and try and keep as many growing tips in the tank (I "push down" stems if possible rather than snip em). It is difficult for some stem plants to generate new growth from the twiggy section, so always try and trim where you can see a node where new growth will happen rapidly.
> 
> Although I'm a fan of mud based substrates I've seen plenty examples where sand has worked. For me though, soil is such a massive reservoir of micronutrients, and microbes etc that I'd never overlook starting from that base....maybe consider the advice above about a overhaul and with mud base?
> 
> ...


 
Hi, xim! I've put some shrimps 3 days ago but only 7 of them. I hope they'll breed soon. Ah, I'm adding crystallized bactéria (Dennerle AquaRico FB7 BiActive). I put 10 mL after each water change. I'm using Sera filter starter too. I put 100 drops directly in sera siporax media.

So, The best way is to keep only 2 T8 bulbs by 5 hours a day, right?


----------



## GHNelson (22 Dec 2013)

Yes it is part of the issue Darren
I believe the sand is also part of the problem..if you have a lot of dirt/dead cells/detritus lying about you will get thread algae and diatoms.
Sand needs to be cleaned more often than any other substrate, especially if you have hair grass.
hoggie


----------



## Victor (22 Dec 2013)

kirk said:


> I agree I've just got rid of the sand from ours. I think you could loose 2 tubes permanently and at least 8 fans. I maybe wrong but I think it's a light issue going from not so good spectrum to too much too long. As said 5 Hrs is enough. I'd also look at getting rid of the sand whilst salvaging the best plants. that going to be a nice planted tank with patience good water changes and less light to start with. Just as an example only, I run 2 x t5 48w a ft from water surface on 80cmx40x40 for 5 Hrs a day and still get algae issues.


 
Hi, Kirk

Why I need to took some fans? I use them to maintain the water temperature at 24 °C.


----------



## GHNelson (22 Dec 2013)

Hi Victor
Do you clean your Sand/Gravel?
If so how often?
Or do you just do water changes?
hoggie


----------



## GHNelson (22 Dec 2013)

Victor said:


> So, The best way is to keep only 2 T8 bulbs by 5 hours a day, right?


Yes Victor.


----------



## kirk (22 Dec 2013)

Hi again mate. I was just thinking of all the  electric mainly.  thinking 4 fans would do the job with just 2 - 4 tubes maybe.  You've got me thinking you get hikes in temperature if you need to cool it that much?


----------



## Victor (22 Dec 2013)

hogan53 said:


> Hi Victor
> Do you clean your Sand/Gravel?
> If so how often?
> Or do you just do water changes?
> hoggie


 Yes, I clean it every week. I use a thin hose to suck all reacheable detritos, dirt. But there are so much BGA that are dirtying the gravel all time and I can't remove all dirty completely.


----------



## foxfish (22 Dec 2013)

Victor has another similar thread started elsewhere on the forum My light is correct? | UK Aquatic Plant Society
I have already pointed out he needed more Co2 to match the light & I now see Victor has changed the light but, still uses a PH controller!


----------



## kirk (22 Dec 2013)

Stop using the controller!!! naughty victor


----------



## Victor (22 Dec 2013)

kirk said:


> Hi again mate. I was just thinking of all the electric mainly. thinking 4 fans would do the job with just 2 - 4 tubes maybe. You've got me thinking you get hikes in temperature if you need to cool it that much?


 
Hi  . I have a sensor temperature linked to the fans that turn them off when the water temperature decreases to 24 °C and turn them on when it increases to 25° C. Here in Brazil is too hot in summer. The coolers are on almost all time.


----------



## Victor (22 Dec 2013)

foxfish said:


> Victor has another similar thread started elsewhere on the forum My light is correct? | UK Aquatic Plant Society
> I have already pointed out he needed more Co2 to match the light & I now see Victor has changed the light but, still uses a PH controller!





kirk said:


> Stop using the controller!!! naughty victor


  Yes, guys. You're right. I'll keep the CO2 flowing all time. It's ok?


----------



## kirk (22 Dec 2013)

Go on rub it in its 2.5 degrees here  sorry didn't realize you needed fans due to climate too. Yes I'd go for 5 Hrs light  and 2 tubes working up slowly victor.


----------



## GHNelson (22 Dec 2013)

Victor
Should be able to set the PH controller to switch off when it reaches 6.5.
If it moves above that setting it should switch back on again.
hoggie


----------



## Victor (22 Dec 2013)

Alright. I'll take off 4 light tubes and increase the CO2 level trying not use the ph computer. So, my thin quartz gravel isn't a problem, right? I really thank you so much by your feedback. You're helping me a lot


----------



## GHNelson (22 Dec 2013)

Victor
I would strip the tank down and restart again.
As I stated in my first post...clean everything and try and do a salvage job regarding plants.
I know its going to be a pain...but it will cause less stress in the long run.
Then do a new set-up as advised here.
hoggie


----------



## foxfish (22 Dec 2013)

The point is PH controllers work by measuring the PH within a certain range .. ie the Co2 will come on when the PH probe is set to 6.5 & then the C02 stops when the PH reaches say, 6.4.
Unfortunately this leaves loads of times when there is no C02 going in & times when it is pouring in so you get PH fluctuations all the time or more importantly ... gas on gas off, gas on gas off all day long.
Many people have tried using PH controllers but very few get away with any benefits - only issues


----------



## Victor (22 Dec 2013)

hogan53 said:


> Victor
> I would strip the tank down and restart again.
> As I stated in my first post...clean everything and try and do a salvage job regarding plants.
> I know its going to be a pain...but it will cause less stress in the long run.
> ...


 I understand, hoggie. But there are some plants growing yet. If I tried to recovery the plants without take off them do you think I'll get? It's a possibility? Thank you.


----------



## Victor (22 Dec 2013)

foxfish said:


> The point is PH controllers work by measuring the PH within a certain range .. ie the Co2 will come on when the PH probe is set to 6.5 & then the C02 stops when the PH reaches say, 6.4.
> Unfortunately this leaves loads of times when there is no C02 going in & times when it is pouring in so you get PH fluctuations all the time or more importantly ... gas on gas off, gas on gas off all day long.
> Many people have tried using PH controllers but very few get away with any benefits - only issues


 I'm thinking to keep the CO2 flowing all time. What do you think about, mate? Thank you


----------



## GHNelson (22 Dec 2013)

Hi Foxfish
Have you ever used a PH controller?
hoggie


----------



## NatureBoy (22 Dec 2013)

this thread needs Clive to put it to bed...


----------



## foxfish (22 Dec 2013)

Victor. 99% of us don't use a PH controller or inject Co2 24 hours a day!
You should bypass your controller & only inject for 7 hours a day.


----------



## Victor (22 Dec 2013)

foxfish said:


> Victor. 99% of us don't use a PH controller or inject Co2 24 hours a day!
> You should bypass your controller & only inject for 7 hours a day.


 Alright. I'll do it


----------



## GHNelson (22 Dec 2013)

Sorry Victor a tad off track.
Foxfish
I have used a Dennerle PH controller...and never had any issues with its use.
The switch point of the Dennerle controller is PH 0.01 plus or minus.
Maybe its the Matrix at work as Clive would say.
hoggie


----------



## NatureBoy (22 Dec 2013)

...you can get equilibrium co2 / ph by matching your injected gas in with gas off at surface, no need for ph controller other than this


----------



## foxfish (22 Dec 2013)

Yes Hoggie, I have tried a couple of times, once on a new tank & once on a mature tank & I have also used one on a reef tank to dissolve calcium.
The first time on a new tank was a disaster but the controller was of poor quality so I splashed out on a new one & set it up on a nice one year old scape.
That worked ok for a few weeks but I could hear the solenoid clicking on & off all day long & when I used a PH pen it showed .5 ph. fluctuation - soon enought the plants stated to suffer with algae.
I would love them to work more efficiently so please tell me you know a model that wont switch the gas on & off all day ?
Oh and Clive is very anti PH controllers.


----------



## GHNelson (22 Dec 2013)

Cheers Foxfish
Is that not the idea of a decent controller to switch the gas on when it moves above the set PH.
Will leave it at that now mate.
hoggie


----------



## geoffbark (23 Dec 2013)

Victor. 

There is a lot of confusion on here regarding ph controller use. Or weather you should leave on for 24 hrs. 

The main thing to remember is to have the co2 steady and on constantly while the light period is on. 

How you achieve this is up to you. There is nothing wrong with using a ph controller or leaving gas on for 24/7

I would suggest using the ph controller as an on off switch for now. And invest in a good needle valve to maintain steady gas flow.


----------



## foxfish (23 Dec 2013)

geoffbark said:


> There is nothing wrong with using a ph controller or leaving gas on for 24/7


 
Poor Victor! I am so sorry for all the confusion 

It would seem people think your PH controller is fine   so please ignore my post (I cant delete them).

Perhaps follow Geoff's advice.....

Lets hope your better lighting will help.


----------



## foxfish (23 Dec 2013)

repeat post deleted


----------



## Andy Thurston (23 Dec 2013)

The problem with ph controllers is that its not just co2 that affects the ph reading. If something other than co2 alters ph then the amount of co2 in the tank will change eg when your active substrate stops lowering ph, your controller will lower ph with co2 instead


----------



## NatureBoy (23 Dec 2013)

I'd advise you check the pH of the tank without CO2 by turning off the CO2, and allow the water to degass, this will give you a clear picture of how much CO2 is being added by the controller. (my tanks standing pH is 7.6, when I inject CO2 it falls to 6.5ish) if your readings are similar to this, across the tank, and constant throughout the photoperiod then I'd be happy that the problem is not CO2 related.

On the plus side I do see new growth on the hemianthus and this may indicate that the increase in flow is doing the job of getting CO2 at last to the stems...maybe you just need to wait and see if you've already made the right corrective steps, they say only bad things happen quickly in planted tanks!


----------



## Victor (23 Dec 2013)

Ok, guys. don't worry. I'll just increase the Co2 level and I've already removed some light tubes.



NatureBoy said:


> On the plus side I do see new growth on the hemianthus and this may indicate that the increase in flow is doing the job of getting CO2 at last to the stems


 
Yes, I think so. I hope they recovery completely


----------



## Victor (24 Dec 2013)

Merry christmas, mates! Do you know if I can use chelated calcium as a good Ca source? I relized that it don't increase the dGH, somebody know why? Thank you again.


----------



## dw1305 (24 Dec 2013)

Hi all, 





Victor said:


> Do you know if I can use chelated calcium as a good Ca source


 Traditional seasonal greeting to you to. I'm not sure, but you don't need to chelate calcium, it occurs as a whole range of sparingly soluble compounds (CaCO3, CaSO4.2H2O) which will form a buffered calcium source. All calcium compounds will raise dGH, as it is only the Ca++ ion that the plant can take up.

If you want a  more soluble compound CaCl2 is cheap and easy to buy.  

cheers Darrel


----------



## Victor (26 Dec 2013)

dw1305 said:


> All calcium compounds will raise dGH, as it is only the Ca++ ion that the plant can take up.


 I'm afraid that the plants can't take up chelated calcium. It can't raise the dGH at all. It's better I stop to add chelated calcium?


----------



## dw1305 (28 Dec 2013)

Hi all,





Victor said:


> I'm afraid that the plants can't take up chelated calcium. It can't raise the dGH at all. It's better I stop to add chelated calcium?


Yes stop adding it, sorry I should have made it a bit clearer. When any element is chelated it is unavailable to the plant, this is because it is bound to the chelating compound. Chelators differ from simple chemical salts (like CaCO3 etc), because the ion is bound to the chelating molecule and not combined into it.

*Bit about chelates*
This bond is often quite stable, and we can only add iron (Fe) as FeEDTA or similar, because although the iron is very tightly held the bond is degraded by sunlight, producing Fe+++ ions, these ions are quite reactive and rapidly form other compounds, many of which are insoluble (e.g. Fe(OH)3). For similar reasons calcium chelates were developed for the food nutritional supplement industry, and are dubiously of value even for that usage.

*Raising dGH*
If you want to add dGH, any soluble calcium compound (e.g. CaCl2) will add this. If you use "Epsom Salts" MgSO4.7H2O you can raise dGH without adding calcium or adding carbonate hardness, and often a mixture of Epsom salts and calcium chloride is used. Unless you have calcium poor and carbonate (dKH) rich water (very unusual in the UK), you can add a small amount of calcium carbonate to raise both dGH and dKH, the aragonite form of CaCO3 is most soluble, and "Oyster shell chick grit" (sold as a poultry feed supplement) is usually a cheap efficient option.

Plants don't need much calcium, so very small amounts of Ca will do, the same for magnesium, as long as there is some present, you don't need a huge amount.

If you feeI happier with a commercial product, Seachem etc produce salt mixes that raise both dGH/dKH.

cheers Darrel


----------



## Victor (30 Dec 2013)

Thank you, Darrel!


dw1305 said:


> Yes stop adding it, sorry I should have made it a bit clearer. When any element is chelated it is unavailable to the plant, this is because it is bound to the chelating compound. Chelators differ from simple chemical salts (like CaCO3 etc), because the ion is bound to the chelating molecule and not combined into it.


Sorry, I was mistaken. Chelated calcium can rise the dGH thoroughly. My dGH test kit is very inaccurate and I had to add a great quantity of chelated calcium to a small volume of water to detect some dGH rise. But the plants can take up chelated elements like Fe, Cu, Mn and Zn except Mo and B, alright? Do you think that glycine is a good chelator? I'm using trace elements chelated by glycine.


----------



## Victor (2 Jan 2014)

Good night, friends!

I've decided to reset my tank. Accidentally, I left the lights on during 48 hours! So I had an algae explosion, blue-green, brown algae and others. I'll remove all plants, wash them and to try to replant some of them again. I'll to renew my substrate I'll put under the thin gravel a layer of earthworms húmus. I'm treating this húmus right now, I'm removing all organic matter from it. When I restart the tank, you advice that I use 2 light tubes (60 w to 360 L) for 5 hours day? I've solved CO2 problem, I've configurated the ph computer to keep the CO2 flowing all time and I've linked it to a timer. So, the CO2 turn on 1 hour before the lights on and turn off 1 hour before they off. Ah, I'll also add some crystalized bactéria to accelerate the cycling. What do you think about? Thank you.


----------



## GHNelson (3 Jan 2014)

Hi Victor
Just proves what happens when you have to much light....and not enough Co2.
Get some fast growing plants and some floaters.
Dose fertilizers as normal.
Get your Co2 drop checker to Green before lights switch on.
Do lots of smaller water changes...say 20 litres every other day this will keep substrate disturbance down.
Gravel clean before water change.
hoggie


----------



## Victor (3 Jan 2014)

hogan53 said:


> Hi Victor
> Just proves what happens when you have to much light....and not enough Co2.
> Get some fast growing plants and some floaters.
> Dose fertilizers as normal.
> ...


Thank you by your feedback, Hoggie

But I decided to restart the tank again. The algae infestation is out of control. I'll replace some plants and try to salve some others. I'll also change the substrate.


----------



## Victor (5 Jan 2014)

Hi, guys! Take a look at my new substrate. It's earth worms humus. Do you thing it's a good choice? I need to boil it or not? Ah, I have 20 kg of this. It's too much?


----------



## GHNelson (5 Jan 2014)

Why would you want to boil it?
hoggie


----------



## Victor (5 Jan 2014)

hogan53 said:


> hogan53 Member Online Message Count: 2,088 New Why would you want to boil it?


I don't know  . Maybe to kill some patogenic microorganisms? There isn't necessity, right?


----------



## NatureBoy (5 Jan 2014)

Victor said:


> Do you thing it's a good choice?


looks good, but no experience of using it...why not just use the rich looking topsoil this comes from? my theory is that if there is evidence of fertile growth from the soil you are considering then that soil will be just as good for aquatic plants when flooded.


----------



## GHNelson (5 Jan 2014)

Don't think so...could be wrong though.
Never used mud/dirt/soil before.
Someone will clarify.
hoggie


----------



## Victor (5 Jan 2014)

NatureBoy said:


> looks good, but no experience of using it...why not just use the rich looking topsoil this comes from? my theory is that if there is evidence of fertile growth from the soil you are considering then that soil will be just as good for aquatic plants when flooded.


 But I bought the humus in packages. I don't know where it comes from.


----------



## Victor (5 Jan 2014)

Ah, And I've washed the humus to remove some organic matter.


----------

