LVKSPlantlady

Has anyone ever used pond mud to seed a new tank? anything good come of it? anything bad.

I realize there could be all kinds of bad things in the mud with all the good things.

Also i Think I should maybe put this question in the Inverts section but since all my tanks are NPT I'll put it here... Anyone kept water bugs of anykind? Ups? Downs?

mudboots

IMHO it is unadvisable to use pond substrate in an aquarium. There are so many different organisms living in the mud that you won't have any idea what to expect. From microorganisms to macrro in egg/larval/et cetera stages and so on you run the risk of fish and plant kills without a sure idea of what caused it. Plus, you won't have a solid way of knowing what types of chemicals or other nutrients are in the soil and organic components. Pond margins are great at nutrient and chemical sequestration and accumulation. Also, many aquatic critters can be parasitic or predatory.

Too many unknowns, and the knowns are just not very appealing to aquaria.

On the other hand, using pond substrate along with the native inhabitants, water, and so on who will have natural defenses or immunities to what ever is in there would make a great aquarium project representing that site specifically. Just don't add a lot of expensive "outsiders" to the mix.

Sounds interesting.

LVKSPlantlady

hey thanks, thats what i though...just wanted to put the question out there...

tonbrencat

Out of the 9 NPT that I have set up, one of the biggest mistakes I made was using sand from my stock pond for my sand cap. The silts it caused was a big mess and it took me many months to get it fixed. Once I got most cleaned up all was fine, I would not recommend using it for that reason alone.