DIY ideas from my other hobby....:) aquatic soil for the planted aquarium

[kennef]

Hey guys,

all winter long i have been kind of nursing my need for wet pets by setting up aquariums in the house, and of course since i cant leave well enough alone, i tinkered with DIY projects such as Compact florescent lighting and co2 injection to make my aquarium plants grow big and beautiful.  One big issue with planted tanks is subtrate that will make for easy rooting. 

A lot of people spend tons of money on special substrates, but one guy on another forum i frequent just went to Home Depot and bought some Shultz's Aquatic soil from the garden department! I tried it too, and loved what it did for my aquarium, but for potting my pond plants, its just too expensive for the size bags you get.

Can Anyone recommend a potting substrate that i might be able to try on the cheap that wont cloud the water much? i was thinking of half sinking some flower boxes filled with substrate for growing bog plants since my pond isn't on the ground like others might have....


thanks much

Kenn

[VirgoWolf]

Soilmaster Select.

I have some planted tanks here too, I was using Eco-Complete, which is an awesome product, but the cost will kill you! I heard good things about soilmaster select and I have it in a few of my tanks now and it seems to do the trick pretty well... would probably work even better to plant pond plants in!   It's cheap too, like ~$12 for a 50lb. bag... I filled my 75gal aquarium (48" x 18") 3" deep with it and I still have 1/2 a bag left. Much better than the $20 I paid for the Eco-complete that bearly filled my 10gal tank (10"x20") 2" deep!

It's made for baseball field turf, but alot of people have been using it in aquariums for a while now... I am a few months into my trials so far and no cmplaints! Hardest part is finding it... you're not going to find it at Home Depot or Lowes, their primary distributor is Lesco which is a turf company. Look them up online and find one locally, they do ship, but then we're back to spending too much money again...

[LeeAnne151]

I pot my pond plants in pea gravel. About $3 a bag at Home Depot. I use mesh baskets for those in barrel ponds or in ponds that don't have rocks. In my main pond everything is right in the rocks, only the waterlily is in dirt in a pot.