Suitable soil for planted tank?

[joepaul]

How many litres and how deep is your tank

Id say 450-500L and the tank is 21.5 water height. I have to say you guys are much more helpful than somebof the reefing guys lol. Alot of the time if you ask a question it turns into an arguement lol

 

[Andy Thurston]

21-23.25l of dirt will give you 1" layer in tank. Simply multiply this by the thickness of ji3 that you want. Im not sure how deep you want but its a good idea to mix with sand for a layer deeper than an inch thick, this helps airation and stops it becoming too packed

 

[joepaul]

21-23.25l of dirt will give you 1" layer in tank. Simply multiply this by the thickness of ji3 that you want. Im not sure how deep you want but its a good idea to mix with sand for a layer deeper than an inch thick, this helps airation and stops it becoming too packed

ok thats great mate. i spoke to a mate that has a 4ft longx 2ft water height x i think its 1.5-2ft wide. i might get that instead to use. i think one bag will be enough dont u? then i got lots of beach sand that i could cap it with? just trying to make the most of what ive got as long as i clean it prop? what u think? cheers.

 

[Palm Tree]

Beech sand should be ok if washed thoroughly.
I'd use 2 bags of john innes No3 personally.

 

[sciencefiction]

To calculate how much soil you need, first decide how deep the soil layer you want. Then multiply the lenght of the tank(150cm) by the width of the tank by the depth of the soil you'd like, then devide by 1000 to give you the amount in kg/litre. For example in a 150cm L and 60cm W tank, in which you'd like 2.5 cm depth of soil, you'd mulitply 150x60x2.5=22500, so for that you'd need around 22.5 kilos/litres.

The soil layer itself doesn't need to be very deep, no more than 2.5, otherwise you may run into problems with the soil compacting and becoming anaerobic and affect the fish and plants. I know some suggest mixing it with sand but I don't see how is that going to stop it from compacting as sand is as bad. You need to cap the soil either way, but then again 2.5cm or slightly more is enough.

 

[Bryson375]

B&Q's own brand orange and white bag

Henry, was that the stuff I used when I got my first proper tank? If so then it wasn't too bad at all. I mean, all I knew then was that plants were green(now I learneneded about red ones too! 😉 ...) and it worked well enough for my early learning period.



This was my first go at it with cheap soil.

 

[Henry]

Thats the stuff. Does the job amazingly well for £1.20. Not sure why anybody uses anything else!

 

[Bryson375]

I got some B&Q stuff this time, B&Q verve, and mixed it with clay. It's not that great if I'm honest but ok for low tech. Think I might have to change it now I'm slowly creeping towards to a tech tank 😛