Advice needed with dirt + substrate planted tank(Walstad method)

[sippingtowel]

Greetings, any of you familiar with creating a low tech dirt + substrate tank? This tank involves using simple potting soil which is capped with gravel and is also known as the Walstad method.

My question is the following for those of you who've done it:

1. What product of soil did you use? I notice that popular brands from other forums could contain different substances depending where you are.

2. Is it necessary to have high CEC substrate to cap it off or is regular gravel fine?

3. Are gravel moving fish (like gold fish) not recommended for this setup?

[veron]

it can be done but not worth it in a 20G. What do you need? I can give you enough proper plant substrate for your tank for $40.   4'' or more.   Flourite,Eco complete, Fluval stuff. Clay. etc..

Are you going to empty the tank first?

[sippingtowel]

I got a spare 40G tank that I want to set up for my parents who also wants to try out a planted aquarium compare to their old setup which was gravel + fish. (I've heard dirt tanks are very low tech)

[OVAS-Moderator]

I can give you enough proper plant substrate for your tank for $40.   4'' or more.   Flourite,Eco complete, Fluval stuff. Clay. etc..

I will leave this be but please do not solicit sales in the non-classifieds part of the forum as per Section 3, Item 2 of the Forum Rules.

Thank you
OVAS-Moderator

[sippingtowel]

it can be done but not worth it in a 20G. What do you need? I can give you enough proper plant substrate for your tank for $40.   4'' or more.   Flourite,Eco complete, Fluval stuff. Clay. etc..

Are you going to empty the tank first?

Thanks for the offer I'll keep that in mind, but as of now nothing is set in stone.

[CC-Slider]

I have a 30g planted dirt aquarium. I use miracle grow organic potting soil from Canadian tire. Plus pool sand from any swimming pool store. As for dirt being low tech that is more depending on what else you are running in the tank. Co2 and good growing lights plus dirt equals high tech to me. Just didn't  pay the high cost for the aquarium substrates. I do run a fluval fresh plant 2.0 light but no Co2. As for digging fish will dig no matter what the substrate is. Some feel this is a drawback to dirt as the fish digs the dirt will get spread over top of the surface substrate and gravel vacuuming is more difficult as you don't want to disturb the soil underneath. As for me when I water change I only surface clean the sand where I see build up. And so my sand is a little dirty but my Cory's  seem to love it and is more natural looking. One thing is when you first setup you will need to do multiple water changes as the tannins from potting soil will leech in,but after 5-6 times it will clear up. Note: tannins are not a bad thing just makes the water a yellowish  brown. Also  run the dirt through 1/4 screen to remove the large piece of wood. So far my plants are growing great and super reds, cory's and assorted hitchhiking snails love it.


This video shows some pros and cons with a little humor
https://youtu.be/0Isgw8156hI

P.S. I bought 1 large bag of potting soil and 1 bag of pool sand and only use half of each bag to do 30 gallons.

[Gilbotron]

I've got 3 dirted tanks, all low tech. Its become my favorite way to setup a tank as it hardly increases my maintenance regime.  With the right mix of plants, and right amount of fish, these tanks can go months without water changes and maintenance which is great if you want a nice easy tank.  And overfeeding is recommended, so they're great for people that aren't experienced with fish keeping. 
Dirted tanks are terrible if you like to tinker and move things around though - minor adjustments you can get away with, but if you want to completely rescape you have to tear it down and start over.  And they're not really conducive to setting them up over a long time period.  You really want to set it up at once with all the hardscape and plants, although adding plants here and there is ok if you are careful putting them in.

I use the same Miracle Grow Organic Potting soil and it works great.  I think i got the big bag at Lowe's and I've dirted 60g worth of tanks with still had 1/4 bag left.  Any organic potting soil will do so long is it doesn't have any chemicals/fertilizers added.

You don't need CEC substrate, but it doesn't hurt if you have it lying around.  I suspect it might make the tank last longer (in terms of nutrients being depleted from the soil), but organic fish waste should provide enough. From what I've read dirted tanks should last 5-10 years and even longer if there is enough organic fish waste but I've not had any that long to confirm.  Inert gravel/sand is fine for the cap - you just want to avoid really fine sand as it will pack down and create anaerobic conditions as the decomposing dirt can't release the gas.  Pool filter sand is perfect.  I prefer the brownish pea gravel (small grain) as if there is a bit of dirt that gets on top you don't even notice.

Less is more with dirt.  A lot of sites claim 2" of dirt and I've found it to be way too much and I got horrible anaerobic conditions from it.  I recommend 1"-1.5" depth then the gravel cap on top.  Don't use too much dirt otherwise tank will stink like sulfur within 3 months.

As for fish - real diggers or fish that like to bury themselves like many loaches - definitely out. 
Most catfish should be ok, but really depends on their size and how aggressive they get trying to get a morcel of food they've found. 
Large fish that stay in the lower half of the tank I wouldn't recommend as they can create quite a gust when they startle and bolt, which could disrupt the gravel cap over time.  I've never kept goldfish so can't say, but the larger ones might fall into this category.

If you need any more info or help PM me. 

[sippingtowel]

Okay thanks everyone for the info, as of now I don't have any tanks to try this out which is unfortunate.