 Soil Behaving Badly
Here's question from hobbyist with soil issues:
Greetings from a rookie.
To start with, I figured it'd be awesome to go all natural with a soil substrate and gravel on top. Simple enough in theory, with plants doing to bulk of the filter workload, I seem to have hit a few walls. The two most discouraging are these:
1) Water won't clear up. I've changed the water as much as I can stand, and have come to accept that the soils I used are full of dispersives, which is contrary to the soil mapping unit for the area. Perhaps an overhaul is needed? Or maybe there is something that will help without getting so drastic.
2) Nematode infestation. I added some "native-Texan" ram snails and some duckweed (Lemna aequinoctialis) I found near the Red River at Wright Lake while at work yesterday. I also added 2 Tblspn of salt to the 15 gallons of water in the tank. Not sure which had more to do with this next issue, or maybe it is another soil issue that blossomed coincidentally at this very time, but my tank is now LOADED with nematodes. They are concentrated in the middle of the aquarium, but are plentiful throughout.
This aquarium is home to a young African Clawed Frog my son named Gum-Gum, the ram snails, and the Gum-Gum's food (mosquito fish, caught live in a nearby lake).
Any advice is appreciated. I am starting a 125 gallon tank in a couple of weeks and want to avoid these same problems in the future.
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Welcome to El Natural forum!
I see at least 3 problems for this tank. Most turbidity can be addressed by plants growing well. Good plant growth will do more to counteract turbidity than any water changes. You've added enough salt to inhibit plant growth. That's one problem.
Now the worms. They are probably constantly stirring up the substrate contributing to the turbidity. Then there's the frog, probably doing the same. A little like goldfish making a mess...
Suggestions?
Please don't add salt (or any other chemical) to get rid of worms; all you're doing is inhibiting plants. If you kill the worms outright, they will make the substrate an anaerobic mess. Instead, add fish that will eat them (my Blue-Spotted Sunfish would surely like to be in this tank!)
Consider adding an AquaClear submerged powerhead and its 'Quick Filter' attachment. I use this inexpensive, excellent mechanical filter to clear water of nuisance soil turbidity (I've got one in a tank now that has a 'badly behaving soil').
You could also do a water change and then stop all water movement (let worms and frogs do their thing). My pond has worms and frogs churning up the soil, but soil (a fine clay) settles quickly, because there is no water movement blowing things around.
Finally, under the right conditions (those that foster good bacteria growth), soil becomes less turbid over time. That's due to biofilm formation (my book, pp. 69-71) | 
Hybrid Mode
