Sean's Soil Substrate Recipe Documented

[krisw]

Looks good. You know, before taking pictures, you really ought to remove the equipment. (:kidding!!!:)

So, besides CO2, are you dosing anything, or are you totally "fert free"?

[Jeff120]

WOW that colorata is blood red! I agree remove teh equipment before taking photos! Looks great!

[Aaron]

Hardy har har..you guys are a riot.

I am going to try to hide the equipment better. I need a backround too. Light blue, black or dark blue?

Only some minimal potassium dosing and even then only when I see the plants showing signs of needing it. Low nitrates does wonders for the reds. Even the macrandra 'green' is half purple on top.

[DelawareJim]

Fert free? We could start a new fad!

Blue background. Black really shows off the plants better, but I think blue gives it more depth.

Cheers.
Jim

[ingg]

Bumping this for a few questions.

I don't have all that other "stuff - potash, red clay, etc etc. I have a big bucket of mud out on my deck right now though.

Anyone got a little of that other stuff to spare, or can they be skipped?

Also - how much soil should I be starting with? I want to end up with enough to seed the bottom of that 33g cube - 20" x 18". I put about a third of the 40 lb bag of dirt in - is that enough, or should I be adding more?

PS 3M apparently raised prices. Half of the listed people got out of it - and RAM on PAtapsco is charging 34 bucks a bag now. They also have a black pebble, they call it acent stone, looked about the size of flourite, 24 bucks for 50 pounds! I think I'll get some of that for the 180g this winter as fill.

[ingg]

Another quick question on this.

I'd like to speed up the process. Any issue with putting the soil into brownie pans or something and baking it for a coupla hours for the drying process?

[Aaron]

Did you try Metro Sealant for the colorquartz? They had the price I quoted you.

I can spare some of the 'other stuff' for the soil substrate.

1/3 of a bag is plenty. I used 1 bag for my 75 gallon just about so 1/3 of that is a 33 cube.

[ingg]

Did you try Metro Sealant for the colorquartz? They had the price I quoted you.

I can spare some of the 'other stuff' for the soil substrate.

1/3 of a bag is plenty. I used 1 bag for my 75 gallon just about so 1/3 of that is a 33 cube.

I started checking them by location - either close to me, close to my work's office, or close to customers.

The first six calls didn't carry it or had gotten rid of it - RAM's website has it for $22, but they said it was "out of date" pricing and RAMmed me for 34. Didn't have the time and patience to go through the calls and gas again for 7 bucks, so they got me. >:(

On the plus side, I'd never seen those Accent stones before. So that was a bonus anyhow! I'll use that as my cap in the 180, save me a bundle and it is the same jet black.

[SCMurphy]

The 'drying process' is to allow the aerobic bacteria the opportunity to further the decomposition of organics. It goes faster with the aerobic bacteria than the anaerobic bacteria, and it is less smelly. The idea is to mineralize the nutrients in the organics so that you don't have more than a green water outbreak when you set up the tank. The green water goes away reasonably quickly as the bacterial population settles in. Diatomaceous filters, lower light levels and UV can speed up the process, water changes actually slow it down. Remember to plant thickly.

[ingg]

Dude you are so far over my head. Was that a no, don't bake it?

This tank will start its life emersed, if that matters, at least 6-8 weeks of being an emersed growth tank.