Schultz Aquatic Plant Soil

Well, I discovered some sphagnum peat moss, and with some research I decided to try it.

Unfortunately, I didn't know to boil it until later... so I added dry peat moss to my full aquarium with fish... It made a muddy mess of my aquarium. Then I boiled some and put it in the bottom and tried to put some gravel over it... made a bigger muddy mess. Finally I took my fish out, put them in a bowl, drained all the water, and added a layer of gravel. It's not nearly as muddy as it was but still quite cloudy.

I am frustrated.

Will it settle fine?
 
I've got some of the Schultz Clay Conditioner in my 20G. I got it at Home Depot for $6.

++++long story warning++++
I asked one Depotonian for it and he had no idea what I was talking about. As we're walking around talking about it, his manager overhears us. I tell him what I'm looking for and he nearly drops a brick. He has apparently been wondering what to do with the stuff, as he hasn't sold a bag of it in nearly 2 years. Then I come in and ask for it by name. The manager offered to make me a deal on a pallet load of it.
+++end of long story++++

Anyway, it seems to work for me. Plants are rooting quite quickly.
 
tyella said:
I've got some of the Schultz Clay Conditioner in my 20G. I got it at Home Depot for $6.

++++long story warning++++
I asked one Depotonian for it and he had no idea what I was talking about. As we're walking around talking about it, his manager overhears us. I tell him what I'm looking for and he nearly drops a brick. He has apparently been wondering what to do with the stuff, as he hasn't sold a bag of it in nearly 2 years. Then I come in and ask for it by name. The manager offered to make me a deal on a pallet load of it.
+++end of long story++++

Anyway, it seems to work for me. Plants are rooting quite quickly.
Click to expand...

that is a good one, i have tried to find it but to no avail, now i know why!!!!!
 
Well, the plants came today and I went ahead and planted them.

Do you think the gravel with spaghnum peat moss mixed in with the bottom layer will suffice?

And looking at my earlier post and the plants listed there (Marble Vallisneria, Amazon Sword, Rubin Sword, Dwarf Chain Tennellus, Red Temple Bunch Plants, MoneyWort Bunch Plants, Ruffle Sword, Anacharis Bunch Plant, Cabomba Bunch Plant), what sort of maintenance would be required? I have 10 gallons, a 15W reptile light over it, and if I need it, an additional 8W flourescent light.

Thanks for your help, you guys! This forum is great.
 
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I wouldn't worry about adding peat. You can easily be successful without it. That 8 watt fluorescent would be appreciated by the plants.

Amazon swords get massive. The amazon and vals alone could easily take over 3 of your tanks. To give you an idea, under good lighting an amazon can easily do this (left side of a 4' tank):

normal_IMG_6481.JPG


normal_jungle2march13.jpg
 
Whoa.
I have mine planted in the back. I think my planting looks like crap but whatever. It's my first attempt at aquascaping.

So the plain gravel ((with peat)) would be okay if I got some fertilizer/food tabs? Does the peat do anything in terms of helping retain the nutrients better than gravel? I want to try to get the flourish tabs and flourish excel for carbon, since I don't have any co2 going. Should I turn off my aerator in the day when the lights are on?

Most of my plants are "medium" care when I look them up, I don't really have any beginner plants... :(
 
Liz said:
Well, I discovered some sphagnum peat moss, and with some research I decided to try it.

Unfortunately, I didn't know to boil it until later... so I added dry peat moss to my full aquarium with fish... It made a muddy mess of my aquarium. Then I boiled some and put it in the bottom and tried to put some gravel over it... made a bigger muddy mess. Finally I took my fish out, put them in a bowl, drained all the water, and added a layer of gravel. It's not nearly as muddy as it was but still quite cloudy.

I am frustrated.

Will it settle fine?
Click to expand...

Lol....Liz.....sorry, that is very frustrating, but I know what you mean about the peat moss issue. I put some spagnum peat moss underneath some Echo-Complete substrate for planted tanks......luckily I had read something about doing this BEFORE I gave it the go...lol...or I would have had to deal wtih the same thing you did !

What I did was to take some of the peat moss.....(I only needed a small amount because it was for a 5 gallon tank)....I put a layer of paper towels on the bottom of a cullendar (strainer)...and then took a couple of good handfuls of the peatmoss and put it on top of the paper towel. I ran water in the strainer and filled it while working the moss with my hands squeezing and mixing it. When it was good and wet, I wrapped it in the paper towel and squeezed out the excess water, but not too much. I layed that on the bottom of an empty tank..(not the paper towel, just the moss).....put a good layer of the substrate over that....and then VERY carefully added the water..using a plate/bowl to pour the water into so the bottom wouldn't get all stirred up. I did have a small amount of peat moss come to the surface, but not much...and it was easy to scoop out with a fishnet..most of it anyway...didn't worry too much about the little that was left floating.

I have since done this with a few other tanks and it works very well for me so far. The plants I have in there are growing very well and the substrate seems to have settled nicely and I'm just very careful anytime I add water or do a water change....just pour the added water into the palm of my hand as I fill the tank.
 
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