Guide to Setting Up a Soil Substrate Planted Aquarium- Part 2

SinCrisis

Can I just crush the chalk into the soil in the initial setup?

Wont the filter disrupt the sand and soil in a tank that size?

Calmwaters

I have an internal sponge filter in mine for water movement and it does not effect the soil at all its also a 10 gallon.

redchigh

How soft is your water?
If you have soft water, then one of the best options is to add a bit of crushed coral to the substrate under your gravel. Small amounts of agricultural limestone will also work. (Both should be applied at approximately 1.5 teaspoons per 10 gallons)




It's just a little 10 gallon filter. It shouldn't disturb anything.



I'll be switching to a sponge soon as well.

Calmwaters

If you would like a recommendation the link below is one of the ones I have and I am really pleased with it so much so that I am planning on replaceing the much larger filters I have in my other 10 gallon tanks with it. I love its small size and amazing power to be so small.
Cascade Internal Filter

SinCrisis

well i cant actually test my water, but i know that my softener system takes out most of the hardness for sure since i refill the salt all the time >.<. I heard that crushed coral sometimes has things absorbed in it like salt that can be bad for a freshwater tank..? The tank i plant to set up soon is a 1.5g betta tank using soil and lots of plants, also sorta for the low-tech aquascape contest, but the tanks modded so i think i might be disqualified from that. I want the hardness cuz i want to introduce trumpets to the tank to help turn the soil and keep it clean. I figured i could buy a box of chalk and crush up ~1/3 of 1/4 of a stick and mix it into the soil so itll dissolve somewhat faster and most of the calcium will stay under the sand layer for the snails and plants.

redchigh

If you crush the chalk, it will get suspended in your water without really dissolving.

I bought 4 pounds of crushed agricultural limestone for 4 dollars are a hardware store... 4 pounds will last me forever.

You can also use dolomite gravel...

If you can't get any of those, then I would place broken pieces of chalk in the substrate. You can crush 1 or 2 sticks and add the powder to the soil, but your best bet would be whole pieces of chalk. (They're easy to hide behind plants.)

What contest?

SinCrisis

-_-" you were the one that said "I accept your challenge" to redknee in that picture thread... lol hes creating his own little challenge for you, me and mikaila with a 50 dollar prize offered to the winner. Theres a bunch of rules and kinda unsure of how its gonna work but im just making a setup for fun and to see if it could be done.

As for the chalk, wouldnt mixing it and then covering ti with sand trap in underneath? I would get the limestone, but it seems like something that needs to be bought by the pound and i dont have a lot of storage space.. chalk or tums seem to be the best choices for me.

james7139

soooooo this is something not to do.or maybe do do it.

i ordered some plants and snails from Red (amazing quality and got here in 1 day)

i decided to remove some of the plants i had and replace them with the ones i got (i got italian val, corkscrew val, a little Java Moss,some Java Fern,some red crypt, andsome Wisteria) the 5 gallon was no trouble because nothing has really rooted yet,then i moved to the ten gallon which i have had setup for about a month and a half with RCS ,2 SAE, and a crap load of pond snails,Bad idea,i tried cutting the stem plant i had,worked for the most part.then came to an aponogeton that has grown taller than the ones in my 55 in a shorter amount of time.basically the sand switched places with the dirt.luckily the dirt obsorbed all the water it could and none floated up.

i may endup redoing it in a month,kinda mad at myself.


i was also happy that the italian val had ramshorn snail eggs on it.

i also ordered some mts and ramshorn snails.


Another story about the shipment:

so i place the snails in the tank and went back to planting,about 1.5 mins later i look back and the mts ar gone i knew they dug in the substrate but not that fast.

Calmwaters

LOL yes they are fast I got some from Aunt Kymmie and as soon as they were in the tank they started moving around and digging in.

Caliban

This is good to know, I think I'll be returning my whisper 20i for a sponge filter...