I have a 50 gallon with plain gravel in it which I don't like. This is a low tech tank with plants, rocks, & fish. I will have 130 watts of CF lighting, 6700k.
I add small amounts of ferts once a week and Excel daily. I have been doing 25% water changes every 2 to 3 days because the tank is still cycling. It has 2 HOB filters which do a good job of keeping the water moving.
Ammonia has been staying around .25ppm now and Nitrite has been climbing.
I can't afford to go buy anything like substrate etc. right now so I just went down to a local creek and scooped up some soil from the edge.
Now what should I do with it? Should I add water to it and let it stand a while and then check the water parameters?
Should I flush it well with regular water?
should I add it to the top of the gravel?
Should I remove the gravel before adding it?
I suppose I need to remove the water from the tank before I add the soil to the tank being careful not to remove the mulm.
Thank you
Joe
I add small amounts of ferts once a week and Excel daily. I have been doing 25% water changes every 2 to 3 days because the tank is still cycling. It has 2 HOB filters which do a good job of keeping the water moving.
Ammonia has been staying around .25ppm now and Nitrite has been climbing.
I can't afford to go buy anything like substrate etc. right now so I just went down to a local creek and scooped up some soil from the edge.
Now what should I do with it? Should I add water to it and let it stand a while and then check the water parameters?
Should I flush it well with regular water?
should I add it to the top of the gravel?
Should I remove the gravel before adding it?
I suppose I need to remove the water from the tank before I add the soil to the tank being careful not to remove the mulm.
Thank you
Joe