Published Soil Substrate Article

PaulS · Post by **PaulS** » Mon Apr 07, 2008 8:11 pm

Is there is a commercial product equivalant of this stuff available?

JMLenke · Post by **JMLenke** » Mon Apr 07, 2008 8:33 pm

Aquasoil, Eco-Complete, etc is probably the closest.

SCMurphy · Post by **SCMurphy** » Mon Apr 07, 2008 9:59 pm

Aaron, nice job, it's good to see it in print. I'm glad I didn't confuse you when we talked about this.

JMLenke wrote:One question, instead of buying a big bag of dolomite, could I use the crushed coral I already have?

You can, dolomite is really just hardened limestone, however, the crushed coral will release the calcium faster than dolomite.

JMLenke wrote:If the soil is being mineralized while it is moist, wouldn't you want the soil to stay moist longer? i.e. leave the soil in the tub and just keep turning it to mix it up while it dries?

No, the availability of oxygen is the key to mineralizing the soil quickly, if the soil is too wet you can't get enough O2 into the soil to keep the aerobic bacteria alive.

RTRJR wrote:Back in the dark ages of "soil soup" as on APD, the stuff was kept moist to wet throughout. If kept really shallow (~1/2" thick max) you could get away with it.

If you think Sean's Miracle Mud is less than pleasantly aromatic, try soil soup that you have not been conscientious about stirring. Swamp gas anyone? Methane and hydrogen sulfide is getting rid of of organics the hard way. Do you really want ppt'd iron and assorted reduced sulfur compounds in the base of your substrate before you even start?.

The way to tell that the soil is ready is that there is no nasty smell when the soil has been wet for a few days. You will get some anaerobic decomposition but mostly this is an aerobic process.

PaulS wrote:Is there is a commercial product equivalant of this stuff available?

No. Nothing else lasts as long as this type of substrate, or is as inexpensive. There are tanks Viktor has that he bought from me that have substrate that is 15 years old.

JMLenke · Post by **JMLenke** » Mon Apr 07, 2008 10:52 pm

Thanks Sean, how is your dad?

PaulS · Post by **PaulS** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 10:31 am

No. Nothing else lasts as long as this type of substrate, or is as inexpensive. There are tanks Viktor has that he bought from me that have substrate that is 15 years old.

There could be a market for it. Sounds like a potential business opportunity to me...

RTRJR · Post by **RTRJR** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 10:43 am

So long as you keep from going anoxic you are good. Some of us are not quite that consistent (moderate understatement).

JMLenke · Post by **JMLenke** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 11:17 am

you have to cap it with another substrate. Most people want dump-n-grow.

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 11:40 am

RTRJR wrote:So long as you keep from going anoxic you are good. Some of us are not quite that consistent (moderate understatement).

Hmmm...Sean tells me anoxic is what you are looking for, just not anaerobic.

Sean?

SCMurphy · Post by **SCMurphy** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 3:48 pm

The plants derive nutrients from the soil as the rhizoshpere (the zone around the plant roots) alternates from oxic to anoxic and back on a daily basis. This allows both sets of bacteria to function (aerobic and anaerobic), releasing different nutrients from the soil/clay. What you don't want is the type of anoxic conditions that allows the sulfur fixing bacteria to take hold. I once set up a ten gallon tank with the soil and didn't bother to plant it for a year (long story). It was as anoxic as anything could be, except it was a mineral soil not an organic soil. So, I planted one sag subulata and one crypt spiralis. Both plants went to town filling it up with plants that I was giving away for a while.

oxic - oxygen is present
anoxic - oxygen is not present
aerobic - life functions or bacteria that use oxygen to create energy
anaerobic - life functions or bacteria that don't use oxygen to create energy

Dad is great, 5 bypasses later his heart is aerobic again.

RTRJR · Post by **RTRJR** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 4:37 pm

Jeff - strangely enough I don't mind all sorts of pre-setup and setup tricks, so long as I don't have to do much routinely. I deal with major chores just so long as they are not recurring. Think of my RFUG setiups, the circulating range, FW plenums, etc. Up-front stuff is fine, just please nothing more challenging than feeding, partials and mechanical filter rinsing on a regular basis.

If you can mineralize w/o anoxia (consider mulm from uncleaned filters), you don't get the nasties. Old swords in organic soil tend to lovely black deposits on old roots, but I never had any whole-tank issues from such. But it did prompt me to give up the planting mixes advocated by the charming Canadian lady whose name I can never remember (Freudian no doubt). Sean can supply the name - he has reminded me before.

Sean, .good news on you Dad. Aerobic is definitely better than not.

Published Soil Substrate Article

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