Dirted substrate

I am planning on doing a dirted substrate tank which will be the first time I've attempted this. Previous aquariums I've done included aqua soil or nutrient-based sand so I'm going to attempt a dirted tank mainly because of the cheaper cost. I'm a bit weary of it leeching into water collum so my plan is a deep layer of gravel and sand above the soil/dirt. I'm aware just sand or gravel is fine but I'd rather be sure. The question I have is which first? Sand or gravel?


Any other tips or points would be helpful thanks.


Aquarium 600mm x 400mm x 400mm

*Can staff change to tropical discussion must of selected wrong one thanks

I would ask what is your reasoning for gravel? It's obviously fine to have some aggregate in the mix, but if the intent is a planted tank, sand would be better IMO. I used multi-purpose sand from HD as opposed to play sand. It had a nice river-sand look to it. Also, for reference, I have straight pudding-like mud from the creek behind my house under about an inch to inch and a half of sand. No leaching and I poke into that stuff periodically planting and moving stuff. There are aquatic worms and other things burrowing around in it and still no leaching. You can see some pics in my sig link.

If you are set on gravel, it should go probably go on top. If you put the sand on top, it would work its way down anyway. That said, you will get things mixed when you plant so nothing is going to be perfect with two layers. Temporary penetration in to the dirt will seal right back over.

Also, my first undergrad was Horticulture Science. I'm not a soil "expert", but I put together this primer on dirt/soil. you may find it useful. There's just so much discussion on dirted tanks without really understanding the most important 'dirt' part.

My thoughts are that in layout 1 (gravel on top), the sand should cap the dirt as long as the layer isn't very thin and you don't mix up the substrate. I think that in layout two (sand above gravel) the sand might just fill in the gaps in between the gravel. Unless the plants benefit from the gravel-under-sand layer acting as an anchor for the roots, I can't think of why you would need it, other than to increase the substrate depth without using more sand. In my straight sand tank, the plants seem to be anchored just fine without a chunkier gravel layer.
Again, these are just my opinions from having a tank with fairly thin layers of gravel, aquasoil and sand

MattW3344 said:

*Can staff change to tropical discussion must of selected wrong one thanks

Click to expand...

Done

By dirt, do you mean soil from the garden centre? I would guess it's cheaper than the fish store, but would it help the plant growth? Would be a good experiment.

AJ356 said:

By dirt, do you mean soil from the garden centre? I would guess it's cheaper than the fish store, but would it help the plant growth? Would be a good experiment.

Click to expand...

Yeah, this is the reason I put that primer together. If you are using garden center "soil", it is typically just a bunch of organic matter mixed with a little sand and some slow-release fertilizer -- this isn't much different than aquatic plant substrate in function. You used to be able to get actual topsoil from the ground in bags, but I haven't seen anything like that in many years. You aren't likely to see a lot of difference between that and mixing some aquasoil into your sand IMO.

Real soil though, from the earth, can have many long-term benefits that don't exist in soil-less mix -- nutrient adsorption to clay particles, structure development, etc.

noahm said:

Yeah, this is the reason I put that primer together. If you are using garden center "soil", it is typically just a bunch of organic matter mixed with a little sand and some slow-release fertilizer -- this isn't much different than aquatic plant substrate in function. You used to be able to get actual topsoil from the ground in bags, but I haven't seen anything like that in many years. You aren't likely to see a lot of difference between that and mixing some aquasoil into your sand IMO.

Real soil though, from the earth, can have many long-term benefits that don't exist in soil-less mix -- nutrient adsorption to clay particles, structure development, etc.

Click to expand...

Just read your posts on all that, really good read. Somehow calling it just "dirt" doesn't seem to do it justice, although perhaps dirt is more of an American term? But thanks

Over here in UK, dirt just means unclean and is an insult

Lol, I purposely used dirt a bit tongue-in-cheek because "dirted tank". Soil is much preferred.

AJ356 said:

By dirt, do you mean soil from the garden centre? I would guess it's cheaper than the fish store, but would it help the plant growth? Would be a good experiment.

Click to expand...

Sorry I called it dirt (I did mean soil) as I watched about 5 videos on this subject from different YouTubers mainly from NA when I posted this thread last night

The other thing I forgot to mention was that I currently have these 4 types of substrate to hand JBL Manado, black aquatic sand, Play sand, and horticultural grit. I'm hoping to avoid spending more money on this tank's substrate as I need the cash for plants and potential inhabitants so I was going to make do with what I have.

MattW3344 said:

Sorry I called it dirt (I did mean soil) as I watched about 5 videos on this subject from different YouTubers mainly from NA when I posted this thread last night

Click to expand...

Dirty boy haha