Puyallup Soil???

Ok so wife and I want to do another plant tank but use soil instead of just gravel/sand. For those who dont live near the puyallup valley the local soil is black as night. I was wondering if anyone has tried using this soil???

Did you want to use outside "dirt" in particular? Because, even though it is possible when ppl refer to "dirted" tanks or using "soil" they are referring to organic potting soils sold in stores.

Please excuse me if I am off topic. I dont have any "dirted" tank experience, but it is rare to hear someone talking about using "real" dirt/soil. So if I am off mark, with above comment I apologize.

If I understand correctly potting soil is peat moss, perlite, vermiculite, sand and usually cedar or hemlock bark. It would seem the soil I have locally would be equivelent to or better then. But I would have to consult my friend @ WSU to confirm

I hope someone who has actually used earth soil will chime in, but I have read of ppl using earth soils. There is some sort of process they put the soil through to kill live critters like parasites, unwanted bacterias, and molds. If & when you finally take on this project I hope you post step by step of the progress. Makes for an interesting topic & read!

since you live in graham, have you ever though of maybe getting some soil out of one of the lakes (tanawax, kapowsin, clear, ohop,silver,or rapjohn?) i am less than a novice when it comes to planted tanks and even less than that when it comes to dirted tanks...... but in my mind, if you got soil from those lakes, they are already proven fish safe(at least for our local species).

I think that might be pretty cool if you could in fact make that work

Well I am gonna try some normal soil first. though lake soil isnt a bad idea either. My only concern is nitrate and phosphate levels. Gonna put some soil in a 10gal cover with sand and let it cycle. I will check it in a week. Bacteria wise was considering a UV sterilizer for the cycling portion? I will keep tabs on everything and report what I find.

Read on walstad method and mineralize dirt method. That will give you a better idea on dirted tank.

KaraWolf wrote:

 I used organic potting soil left in the sun to dry and then sifted so I only got the dusty particles.

Thats mineralize method.