# Anyone Use Dirt ?



## bigred (Nov 13, 2003)

I have seen a lot of people talking about usen dirt for a planted tank. wanted to know if anyone here has done it with thier tanks and P's..

ANd if so have you had any problems?
and how long did the dirt last in your tank. or is it a long term thing


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## Piranhaa (Jul 19, 2012)

I have never heard of ppl using dirt as gravel. 
Tho alot of ppl use it as the bottomlayer of the gravel, since it will help with the plant nutrition.


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## JustJoshinYa (Mar 25, 2006)

i used dirt for my planted tank, i used a mixture of ADA amazonia, some small fine gravel, sand, large gravel. it was all mized together and used as a substrate, it looked amazing and looked very natural and my plants loved it. it was in my tank for about 9 years and over the years all the smaller particles settled to the bottom. if you would stir the dirt a little it would let out a plum of dust that would cover the entire tank.

recently i switched to bare bottom as i moved to an apartment and had to break down my tank and set it back up, i was planning on using the dirt again but i washed the dirt to sift out the "dust" size dirt particles for a VERY VERY long time, set the tank back up and it looked like a mudd filled swamp. you could not see the feeder fish until they would literally bump into the glass. i emptied the tank and re washed the soil but still had issues with the water being too cloudy. i eventually just drained the tank and scooped out all the dirt cleaned the tank and refilled it with bare bottom.

i love the look of natural soil in a planted tank but would not go that route again as i had so many issues with it these years later, and algae is an issue when a dust plume would get stirred up.


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## scent troll (Apr 4, 2005)

there is special aquarium substrate you can use. digging up your back yard and adding it to a tank i would not recommend. it will have FAR too many particulates in it and clog the filters and may give the fishes gills a bit of harm.
stick to aquarium sand or substrate specifically made for water.


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## Robert_The_Doll (Sep 26, 2014)

Some people use John Innes No. 3 compost as a fertiliser with a layer of gravel over the top of it.

EDIT: Making sure its tampered down before covering with gravel.


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