mellowvision

I am days away from planting a paludarium set up I've been building, and can't find much info on good soil choices for the land mass. the soil will come in contact with the water, and will have plenty of potential to leech into the water column, but will be contained. I am not worried about it spilling/sliding into the water, just want to choose something that will not affect the water chemistry much and will be good for the plants. this soil will be very moist.

any input is appreciated!

eklikewhoa

ADA Aquasoil?

ed seeley

I've used pond potting soil in tanks before. It is supposed to be completely non-toxic and I was worried to make sure it didn't cause algae blooms.

I have to say though that I now use garden soil in my pond without any ill effects, and have used it in tanks too, as buying the bags of soil was quite expensive to fill all the pots. If you have garden soil that you haven't added inorganic fertilisers or pesticides to then it should be fine.

Personally I'd mix it with sand to open up the structure a bit more and make it drain more quickly. Another option would be Perlite, which I use with all cuttings to improve drainage in damp settings, but the white pieces might spoil the look!

paludarium central

take the potting soil and pour it into a bucket. then fill it w/ hot water so that all of the impurities float to the top then dump it/repeat. be sure the last time you do this you use cold water to neutralize the sulfur and ne other adders.

mellowvision

thanks for the suggestions.

I ended up using eco-complete (over a base of gravel from an old tank mixed with flora base) because the area I was planting was small, and I had some laying around. it seems to stay really wet... but nothing has really rooted yet either.

I want to build it up a bit higher, so I may layer potting soil over the eco complete. it would be nice if the higher ground had more holding power and solidity.

APCRandall

"option is to use what the Atlanta Botanical Gardens use. The ABG mix is 2 parts tree fern fibre, 1 part peat moss, 2 parts cocofiber, 1 part charcoal, 2 parts orchid bark."

http://www.brianstropicals.com/building.html
That is a really good page about frogs and fish. That guy is really nice too.

dirrtybirdy

can you get all of this at home depot??

mellowvision

that's an awesome link. thanks

dirrtybirdy

this will be very helpful. i am building a paludarium very soon and will be using some of the techniques

mellowvision

non of it really, besides the peat moss.