@%&# dirt! (Tank is now a cesspool)

[Lady Hobbs]

I've talked to many that use Miracle Grow Organic Soil with no problems. Did you have it capped off with gravel or sand? Like Kevin, I believe you needed to do far more water changes than you did. Not only does it replace electrolytes, it replaces other nutrients in the water but keeps the nitrates down.

I believe if it was the soil, it would have caused you a problem much sooner than after it was in the tank for 6 months.

[Fishkeeper]

It used to be capped off by about a half-inch of sand, but the cories stirred it up so much that they succeeded in uncapping most of it. I don't remember the name of the soil exactly, but it wasn't Miracle Grow...
I'll definitely do more water changes, then. Thanks for the advice on that!
I'm quite sure it was the soil... I had a smaller tank crash before, from a different brand of soil that had a lot of manure, and this is the same thing, just larger and it took a bit longer to happen...

[KevinVA]

Indian Almond Catappa leaves is a good start. They have several uses, but do leak tannins (though, not much).

[Fishkeeper]

Okay, thanks... I'm working on filling the tank, but the only way I have to fill it is this little pitcher that barely holds half a gallon. This might take a while.

[MandyK]

Two months??? Yikes!

There's pee, poop, and a concentration of the chemicals that you add in there.

I think you'll see a significant improvement in your fishs' behavior after you do more frequent W/C's.

[kim92]

If you go with soil again, cap it with more than a half inch of sand or gravel. Use as much as if you would if you did not have soil under it.

[Lady Hobbs]

I did a bit of reading this morning and found something that might be of interest. Miracle Grow Potting Soil has cow manure in it. Miracle Grow Potting Mix has chicken poop. But both are used.

Another point that should be made here is that failure to do water changes can cause a tank to "crash". That means the pH will drop to below 6 and the inability to grow bacteria to eat up the ammonia and nitrite. That makes me wonder why you are showing nitrites and if you could have had a crash. Do you know what your pH was?

A really good way to add water to a tank is to lay a garbage bag over the entire bottom of the tank and fill it slowly. (I do hope you have a python water changer with a tank of that size?) That will hold the dust down but you have to cover that soil......... And deep enough that critters are not tearing it up.

Good luck.

[kim92]

The above post has some very good tips. I have used Miracle Grow Potting Soil myself. The only problem I had with it was yellow water for about two weeks. I did large water changes, like 75% every day while this was going on until it cleared up. But I never had ammonia or nitrite in the tank. And the only time I had fish die was when I overdosed the CO2 in the tank.

[talldutchie]

Powerful products like potting soil are best cut 50/50 with sand and capped with so much sand or gravel that no tank inhabitants can reach it. With cories that means at the very least 3cm.

[kim92]

It is fine to use soil without mixing it with anything else. If you don't want to make a muddy mess out of your tank, you should cap it with at least 6cm of sand or gravel.