Dirt/Soil Tank

[Mr.Shenanagins]

Been a long time since I posted so I figured I’d do an update. The previous scape went downhill due to life getting in the way so I had to start over with the plants. I was able to keep some epiphytes and crypts but that’s all. I’ve since moved to a new house and once everything settled I put in a new plant order and as this moment, tank is on the rise!

Plants are as follows: Hygro 53B, Hygro Pinnatifida, Persicaria São Paulo, Rotala H’ra, Ludwigia Red Rubin, Anubias nana and petite, Java fern petite (TC), hydrocotyle trip. Mini (TC), Pilo moss.

Fish: Dwarf Neon Rainbow, Boesmani Aytinjo Rainbow, Peacock Gudgeon

The Neons are what I have left from a couple orders I made over the past couple years from a popular wholesaler here in the US but I could never get them to last long. I have 2 males and a female left who are at least 1.5 to 2 years old.

The Boesmani were ordered from a breeder who got his breeders from Gary Lange. They are juveniles so it’ll be a while before their colors start to show but I’m excited to see them mature.

I’m waiting on an order of Blyxa Japonica to arrive today and I will plant them on either side of the tank to transition from the 53B to the stone border. I’m going to give it another week and I’ll cut the fresh growth and throw away the emmersed grown bottoms. Its a little under a month’s worth of growth currently.

 

[Mr.Shenanagins]

Took these today of the Ludwigia, one of my favorite reds.

 

[Mr.Shenanagins]

Tank is growing in nicely, dealing with some hair algae that I think I introduced from the moss. I just ordered APT Fixlite so we will see how that helps the moss.
Disregard some of the loose plants and disarray of the anubias lol. I recently got a nice bunch of anubias to fill in more gaps so that’ll be forthcoming. You’ll notice some fresh Monte Carlo on the wood as well, I didn’t like how that little shelf on the driftwood stood out so much. Right now my focus is keeping a clean tank, and shaping my plants to be aesthetically pleasing. I didn’t remember hygro 53b being so large the last time I used it but when I had it in the past it was more shaded and didn’t get great flow to it.

I had some serious stunting with my Ludwigia a while back that I believe was induced by way too much calcium dosing. I thought maybe it was an issue with micros but I scratched that thought and stopped adding extra calcium. Miraculously the stunting ended and the Ludwigia bounced back with better growth. I also bottomed out one week on NO3 and woah, my tank did NOT like that lol growth visibly stopped and algae set in real fast. After solving that dilemma the algae and diatoms subsided. Right now I just have some lingering staghorn and the spots of hair algae. I also increased my flow tremendously to help keep things moving with the amount of growth I'm getting

 

[Mr.Shenanagins]

All trimmed up

 

[Mr.Shenanagins]

So while conversing on another forum, it seems that my suspicions are confirmed about the Hygrophila. It’s not 53b, but likely Salicifolia. The leaves are extremely long and the plant itself is just not branching and off-shooting like it typically should. It’s my only gripe at the moment because the leaves look too big for the scape, working on seeing if the company I order from will assist me with a refund or send the right plant.

 

[Mr.Shenanagins]

Afternoon! Long time no post, but figured I’d update my dirt/soil tank status. Tank is doing well, I’ve swapped around stems to my liking and currently I’m working with Ludwigia Rubin, Hygrophila Pinnatifida, Hygrophila Triflora (recently planted, a cool variety!), Pogostemon Eustrelis, Persicaria Kawa., and Blyxa Japonica. I’ve also got a nice lotus bulb that I recently moved to the right side, and I may grab some crypt flamingo to plant behind it.

The sand is staying clean for the most part in the planting area, no surfacing of the soil, even when tearing up plants. I do this pretty much every water change, zero issues.

 

[Mr.Shenanagins]

Just an update:

Tank is going strong, enjoying shifting stems around to my liking and trying new ones. Currently stem wise I have hygro pinn, parawitota and triflora, Ludwigia diamond and Ovalis pink, bacopa colorata, Persicaria Kawa, pogostemon kimberly, and blyxa japonica.

 

[ElleDee]

Now that you've had this substrate system up and running for a bit, is there anything you regret or would change if you could do it again? I'm considering a very similar mix of components for an upcoming build. It's nice to see that you've managed to pull off exposed white substrate with a dirt underlay - that's tough to do cleanly.

 

[Laoshan]

A lovely tank. I like the combination of sand, larger pebbles and stones, and the healthy ferns in the middle. I might have missed, but what’s the size of the tank? And which filter do you use?

Just curious, doing research for a similar size tank.

 

[Mr.Shenanagins]

Now that you've had this substrate system up and running for a bit, is there anything you regret or would change if you could do it again? I'm considering a very similar mix of components for an upcoming build. It's nice to see that you've managed to pull off exposed white substrate with a dirt underlay - that's tough to do cleanly.

Honestly no regrets and no changes. I’ll argue that the best tool for using soil is to use a barrier of some sort, whether you do it @Tim Harrison ’s way or put it in media bags like I did. The soil will never reach the surface. And you’ll never get any mixing of the substrate even when pulling up plants. Now obviously there will be detritus and debris that will eventually muddy up the nice white sand, but none that will be soil from the bottom. I frequently vacuum the sand each water change to freshen it up and get rid of detritus. The island itself is the only area that contains soil, the exterior of the island is all sand so I vacuum as deep as I can to keep that clean. The soil areas I lightly surface vacuum to keep clean I don’t deep vacuum where the soil bags are concentrated.

I appreciate the compliments and look forward to your build 😬

 

[Mr.Shenanagins]

A lovely tank. I like the combination of sand, larger pebbles and stones, and the healthy ferns in the middle. I might have missed, but what’s the size of the tank? And which filter do you use?

Just curious, doing research for a similar size tank.

Thank you very much.

It’s an Aqueon 40 gallon breeder, and for filtration I have a 20 gallon sump.