The following is a pictorial of a 75g tank I set up back in the November/December time frame. I used a single 50lb bag of Soilmaster Select as a substrate along with some Canadian Sphagnum Peat moss.
The first step I took was to lightly dust the bottom of the tank with some of the Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss (Shultz brand) to help kick start the substrate. Notice you can still see the orange sticker through the dusting of peat.
Next, I added some unwashed (dry) Soilmaster Select to hold the peat down. You can use pretty much any substrate you choose as long as it is small enough to keep the peat "dust" from seeping through it. Then I added about a quart of mulm obtained by cleaning a couple of my filters. The mulm addition is the dark streaks you see in the Soilmaster Select. Without adding the Soilmaster the peat would have floated with the addition of the mulm.
The next step was to add the remainder of my bag of Soilmaster Select and give the substrate a slight slope from front to back.
I was originally going to fill the tank and let the debris settle out overnight and do a water change in the morning. Since I filled the tank very slowly, the water was clear enough to plant. I "plopped" an Anubias and some other stem plant in there (I think it was Water Sprite) to show how clear the water was after filling the tank half way.
I thought I should add that I did not rinse the Soilmaster at all. I have read recently that some folks are having clouding issues with the Soilmaster (not sure if they are using the select or the larger grain Soilmaster) after rinsing it. I did not experience much clouding at all as you can see from the pic.
I will add a pic of how the tank looks now in the next day or two.
Setting up a substrate in a planted tank
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