Anyone jump in here I would like to add "topsoil" under my current substrate. I'm thinking of picking up a bag of top soil from the garden center rather then my backyard simply because I've used lawn ferts there and don't want that in my tank, also my yard is mostly sand. This idea came from visiting farmer Todd's

So the question is... Should I remove all the fish before attempting this or maybe just add the topsoil to one corner or one end of the tank and wait a week or two and do the rest of the tank.

The obvious comes up should I turn off filters and wait for the "Cloud" to settle before I turn on the filters.

Yep, quite messy adding dirt to your tank, so filters will have to be shut off.  I added a special aquatic plant soil to my tank with guppies in it and they survived, but those are guppies.

I still had the fish and everything when I switched my substrate this summer.  What I did was a big water change, and then contained about 30% of the water with the fish and rocks and wood, while leaving about 10% of water in the tank. 

I moved the sand to one side building a "dam", pulled out the old soil, put in the new, moved the sand back over top and did the same thing on the other side.  The sand will help keep things mostly in place.  I turned all the filters and stuff back on.

Then I put the water and fish back, and finished my "water change".  With having established biofilms (from the sand and gravel and filters that was in there) the tank was crystal clear in about 48 hours.  The fine sediment load that you'll have won't bother the fish at all.  They do come from rivers, you know  :)

With all my rainwater garden projects, I have a lot of good ol' fashioned Black Swamp topsoil to put somewhere.  I'd be GLAD to give you enough to redo your tank Rob.  Then you can use some of that good Oak Openings sand to cap it off.  I've been interested to see how that does.  That's much finer than what you get in the bags of playsand, and would actually be desireable (although you'll find plenty of people who anecdotally or knee-jerkingly disagree with that).   

You could start to established biofilms on the sand now by putting it in storage bins and doing a water change into those bins.  Adding mulm from a filter would help speed that along too.  You'll then be on the road to orders of magnitude more biomass!

Todd

I was hoping you would speak up Todd, I just stoped at Home Depot and picked up a bag of simple top soil $1.19 so I am planning to start this afternoon. and will try to post pics as it comes along.

Just make sure the topsoil is 0-0-0 ie there's no nitrogen or phosphate added to it.  Those are chemically added (ie inorganic stuff from a factory, not organically fixed) and are very available for algae to fly into action, as they're soluble in water.  That's why I like dirt from the backyard or from a forest or something like that. 

Todd

farmertodd said :

Just make sure the topsoil is 0-0-0 ie there's no nitrogen or phosphate added to it.  Those are chemically added (ie inorganic stuff from a factory, not organically fixed) and are very available for algae to fly into action, as they're soluble in water.  That's why I like dirt from the backyard or from a forest or something like that. 

Todd

I'm going to use soil from the barn- from the area we used as to dump stall refuse in 2 years ago(horse manure & wood shavings- the ground is mostly sand, been aging two years).  We rotate where we dump, and the pile I'm pulling from is broken down to where it's essentially garden black gold.  It's what I put in my garden(veggies & herbs) and it's insane how huge my veggies get(and how good they taste).  I'm hoping it has the same effect for the aquatic plants.

I've got PLENTY of this soil if any of you want any for your gardens or tanks or whatever.  We have 8 horses out there- totally renewable resource*grin*

About the sand- I had thought of pulling sandy soil from the barn, but it's not straight sand so was thinking that wouldn't work.  I'd rather use stuff I can find outside  than buy it(I'm weird like that).

I'm draining the tank now and will be adding this

Note Organic, no additives

Just started filling the tank again, even with a container to stop the "SPLASH" the water is so cloudy that I can't see to re-set the plants. I'll post some more pics later.

It'll be like that for a couple hours, maybe even a day or two.  You coated with with sand before you put the gravel back on it right?  Gravel isn't fine enough to really pin it down. 

Todd

farmertodd said :

It'll be like that for a couple hours, maybe even a day or two.  You coated with with sand before you put the gravel back on it right?  Gravel isn't fine enough to really pin it down. 

Todd

I pulled all of the stone to one end and added the top soil mixing it with some water that was left in the tank before covering it with the stone. Then did the same thing at the other end. Pics to follow.