Cleaning a sandy/earth substrate

[Vizerdrix]

I decided to try something different when planting my 65g;  I'm using a mixture of earth and peat moss for a substrate, covered by sand and then a thin layer of gravel, but am wondering HOW do I clean this, or do I just leave it be, or lightly vacuum over the surface to pick up any detritus? 

Any info is greatly appreciated!  I did a quick search, but didn't really find anything relevant to this particular situation.

[fischkopp]

I did something similar lately. Check this out.

You should rinse sand and gravel. Earth donst need to be further rinsed or cleaned - I think if you try this everything will go down the sink anyway . You can try rinsing peat moss, but I skipped this as it is a good idea to soak both earth and peat for a couple of days. This is done for to reasons: first is that you want the stuff to sink and not to float, the second is that earth will initially release a lot of marco nutrients and NH3. If you soak it for a while and flush the water afterwards you will end up with less initial leaching in your new tank setup.

Have fun with the mudd! 

edit: cows

[succinctfish]

Of course, fischkopp is referring to the initial setup of a soil based substrate. You should definitely not wash your peat moss after it's all set up, I don't know what this peat moos is that fishckopp keeps referring to, something cow based or antlered? , I wouldn't use it in a tank, but heh, that's just me. 

Once it is established, especially with a lot of plants in there, you don't want to be digging around too much in the substrate.  If it's an area where I habitually feed the fish, sometimes I will do a light vacuum of the gravel substrate, being careful not to go down into the soil, otherwise I wave the python over the substrate which stirs up any immediate gunk and call it a day. 

[Brine]

In my 90G the substrate is a layer of Peat covered by a layer of black soil covered by a layer of white sand. This would probably be fine except I have added and removed plants as I go and have therefore disturbed the substrate. Firstly, peat moss holds so much air that it rises to the surface through the other stuff at first. I know Fishkopp is/was soaking his first. I did not. I also have some fish that like to root around in the substrate. This has caused some of the peat and soil to migrate above the sand. It looks kind of messy but I really like it. The look I was going for was more natural than all pruned and aquascaped. I don't usually vacuum the bottom of the tank because that just disturbs it more. Sometimes I'll wave the end of the hose just over the plants to stir up any really loose stuff and try to catch it in the vacuum. If you want to come see it some time PM me.

[kennyman]

naturally occurring soil is a mixture of sand, silt and clay with about %5 organic matter. The stuff we buy in bags has been amended to contain about 25%-50% organic matter. I am not sure why you would want to add a layer of sand, or a layer of peat when using a soil based media? I believe there is a benefit to amending the soil, but not layering it.

A layer of gravel is a different matter though. By using a coarse upper media you encourage oxygenated water to diffuse through into the less porous soil media beneath. You will also stabilize the soil by capping it with gravel so that your water remains clear and the flow or disturbance by fish will not kick up clouds of silt and clay like happens in nature.

Good luck with the project. I am very happy with my soil based tank 

[Vizerdrix]

Thanks everyone for the great advise!  Yes, I did soak the peat moss and the earth before putting it in.  I had dirt stuck under my nails for a week!   The sand layered on top, and then the gravel on top of that, is my attempt to keep the soil and peat moss contained to the bottom of the tank, so it doesn't foul up the water.  The current in this tank is quite strong!

I do have some snails in there (they came with the plants!) but I could probably use more...  Of course, with the ten or so little ones I have, I'm sure I will soon end up giving some to people for their puffers and such!

Brine, that's the look I was going for too!  "Formal" gardens are nice, but I like a more natural looking garden.  You should see my backyard!   One of these days I'll drag myself out to the Glebe and see your tanks.

So, I will wave the tube over the gravel to loosen any gunk up and suck that up, and just let the plants have a feast on anything else.

Thanks again!