Mineralized Top Soil Killed My Livestock

So I went to Home Depot and bought a cheap, big bag of the stuff and followed the instructions. It was during the summer so I was able to lay it out under the sun (what do you do during the wet, dark, cold winter?) and mineralize it until it got that grainy texture.

Added clay and dolomite and the potash, but I never got very good plant growth and it slowly killed the livestock in every tank I used it in. I never made thick levels with it and used caps, and fully cycled biological filters.

I'm not sure what went wrong here. It's been suggested to me that the top soil may have been contaminated.

I'm in need of plant sediment again and I'm afraid of the same thing happening. How would you even know?

It happened over time. Not right away.

I was able to save some fish and they've gone on to spawn in another tank with none of the stuff.

I've been using what I have left to grow some immersed plants and they've been doing poorly until I added Osmocote.

I've had similar problems with submersed plants too.

I think it was Miracle Grow top soil.

 

Thanks for the reply! I've never seen that before but will look around for it.

That's great, bc the wait for it to mineralize sucks!

I've used Miracle Grow organic in limited experiments before with good results, mainly in little pots with pebbles to hold it down in there neatly in tanks with fish. No deaths that I can recall.

I might do that again, or possibly worm compost from my red wigglers.