Re: How-To: Mineralized Soil Substrate, by Aaron Talbot
 

any one know of a good source to buy Muriate of potash and domolite?? maybe some where that sells both? i need enough for a 75g, and several 10g tanks....

THANKS!!

Re: How-To: Mineralized Soil Substrate, by Aaron Talbot
 

MrSanders,

You can buy both at a home&garden store in the fertilizer section.

Muriate of potash is an archaic name for potassium chloride or KCl, the "potash" (potassium) salt of "muriatic" acid (HCl).

Dolomite is CaMg(CO3)2. Make sure you check the bag assay & compare formula: don't buy quicklime (CaO) or hydrated lime (Ca(OH)2) by mistake as these are sometimes labeled as "dolomitic lime". Both are caustic.

Re: How-To: Mineralized Soil Substrate, by Aaron Talbot
 

Does anyone have a small amount of extra MTS they would like to sell? I've been trying to find some. I need enough for a 24" x 12" 17g aquarium... not much and I'd be happy to pay a fair price!

Re: How-To: Mineralized Soil Substrate, by Aaron Talbot
 

I Have had a hard time finding it locally, any online resources?

Re: How-To: Mineralized Soil Substrate, by Aaron Talbot
 

Does anyone know if "Kellogg's Garden Soil" is appropriate for this process? Ingredients are: Composted forest humus, compost, composted chicken manure, worm castings, kelp meal, and bat guano. With oyster and dolomite limes (pH adjusters).

Re: How-To: Mineralized Soil Substrate, by Aaron Talbot
 

muriate of potash is used in agriculture as a fertilizer--Head to the nearest farm/feed supply store. I was given a pound for free (still made the proprietor take some cash on principle) after telling him what I was using it for. This is sold in mass quantities. You certainly are unlikely to need 50-100-1000 lbs unless you want to use it on your fields as well(!)
If you want dolomite without worrying about other additives, it is sold in crushable pill form (saves having to buy large quantities) at any health food store, and I believe that I saw it in the vitamin aisle at Wallyworld. Cheap, too.

Kudos to Aaron T for publicizing this method in such detail. No matter how long you remain in this hobby, you can always find something you haven't tried, haven't kept, or haven't bred yet. Now I have a legitimate excuse for playing with mud beyond growing this season's veggies.

Re: How-To: Mineralized Soil Substrate, by Aaron Talbot
 

THANKS Cryptichmind good info ;)

Re: How-To: Mineralized Soil Substrate, by Aaron Talbot
 

No, that's what's known as a soilless mix. It's added to topsoil to enrich it for terrestrial plants. You want good old dirt without organics such as manure and forest humus and all of those other additives. DianaK. made a great post a few pages back about what type of soil is appropriate to use.

Re: How-To: Mineralized Soil Substrate, by Aaron Talbot
 

http://axner.com/dolomite-dolowhite.aspx has the dolomite in powdered form by the pound. They also have the clay. The potash can be found at the local farm / feed store as someone mentioned.

Re: How-To: Mineralized Soil Substrate, by Aaron Talbot
 

Thanks a lot for that link Aaron. Just curious since its been a long while since you originally posted this method what have you noticed about your long term need for dosing? Have you ever added anything other than K to tanks set up like this? and in what time range have you noticed that you needed to start adding K, and in what amounts?