The closest thing I have done is to use fallen leaves and straw as media for Anabantids to anchor their bubblenests. But that isn't where you are going with your approach.

petro:

No, it isn't. I have a 125 long sitting empty in my greenhouse that I would love to set up as a natural blackwater habitat and Gary in Fla (who posts here often) wrote of using topsoil as a substrate and I don't know why it wouldn't work, but I think I would need to put something less messy over it, such as a mix of coarse sand and very fine gravel, to hold it down.

I want to grow aquatic plants in that tank and have plenty of light, but haven't yet decided what species of fish I would put in it. I'm leaning towards either some good sized schools of tiny rasbora, of which I have 3 species, or possibly my 60 or so cardinal tetras, just to see how they would do, and react.

The leaf litter base seems to be a popular thing in England, at least I've read about it in the UK aquarist magazine, but am still not sure if I'm going about it correctly regarding what to put under it.

Any thoughts?

Hi
What I would suggest is boiling some chopped up leaves
and then run some tests to see just how acid it makes the water, This would make them stay on the bottom and would also remove that which floats. I'd mix in some sand and cover with small gravel . My 150 I'm running in direct sunlight with the topsoil
has shown great results so far lol. The water looked like beer for weeks though but it never fell below 6 pH. I often use Canadian peat boiled for plants that require constant repotting. You could try the method by using pots for a test
to see what problems come up?? I chose top soil because it's far along on the decomposion yet is still very rich.
I have my eye on some African violet soil as the next experiment lol The types of fish you mention would be good I would think probably no "diggers" though lol gary

Gary: I know about boiling the leaves. I do that with Indian Almond leaves too, mainly to give me instant results and also use peat for the same purpose, although I've never boiled it. I just dump a pile of it in a deep bucket filled with conditioned water, let it sit until all of the peat has become saturated and settled on the bottom, then strain the water.

That's an infusion, so I suppose boiling it would make a contoction, which is stronger. Okay. I'll try it. Testing it is the easy part.

But I'd still like some direction regarding the use of the top soil. I have plenty of it on-hand in bags, as well as pea gravel and the coarse sand, very small pea gravel mix sold here as traction sand. All cheap enough to allow me to be profligate in their use, but I'm still not sure how I should layer them in the tank.

As it's not a show tank, if I covered the bottom as much as 6" deep, I wouldn't care, and extra depth might be beneficial for root development. But I do want to avoid having the soil muddy the water every time I need to clean the tank.

What do you think about laying down about 3" of soil, then the same atop it, of the traction sand mix?

I suppose I'm reluctant to play around with it too much. That tank is heavy and cleaning it out if I do it wrong would be a real bear, especially now. Hauling a large, heavy tank outside to power hose it clean in freezing weather is not a recommended activity for the elderly. LOL!

Hi
I made "beds' composed of rocks and expanding foam and confined the top soil in them . About 1/2 of the total bottom. You can't boil the soil obviously lol so I put it in buckets with water. remove the floating stuff and poured off the foam tha forms . let it set overnight ,poured off the dirty water. Took 3 washings and then it settled down.
Put this into the beds (there's alot of sand in top soil)
about 4 inches deep you can compress it untill you get about 3 times the volume . Covered this with an inch of fine gravel. The other sections of the floor are covered with acrylic chips and stones. I run 1600 GPH pump using only foam filter Had to fill very slowly but after the second fill it remained fairly clear. Run the tank one week pH remained above 6.5. Would have preferred to have filled it entirely with rainwater but only have 80 gallon storage tank. Ran another week and proceded to plant.
This is the tank that contains the Lace plant that has now broke dormancy for the third time. IMO the main problem with them is they don't get enough nutrition during growth. I also believe dormancy is induced by daylight hours not temps or water comp. All the rooted plants have grown fantastic. 3 kinds of swords 3 kinds of crypts and dwarf water lily. The swords are now touching the surface
so are over 24 inches tall Crypts are ten. Val has covered the entire bottom. remains under 10 inches though. Something keeps chewing the WL leaves so have had no flowers or floating leaves. What is odd is I'm having trouble with Java fern!! lol Maybe too much current as I run 1600 gph with foam filter. Anyway these are by far the healthiest looking plants I've grown. Not sure if it's the top soil or the sunlight?? gary

Gary: Thanks. You answered my primary question. Put the soil UNDER gravel.

But I haven't the energy or ambition to pre-clean either. It takes longer for the tank to clear, but I just dump the unwashed sand-fine gravel mix into the tank, fill and let a few big box filters stuffed only with floss do their thing. As you described, the foam rises to the surface, but skimming it off is as easy in a tank as it is in a pot of meat based soup. Safer too. I've never burnt myself sloshing tank water. LOL!

Then, I just wipe around the top with paper towels and after it's settled in, it's ready for plants, and a week later, some fish.

My poor Zebra Danios. They keep getting moved and used as tank cyclers, but so far, none seem distressed by it. However, catching them after they have done their job is always a heap of fun.

Hi
You could always try the leaf or top soil idea confined to pots?? Heck of a lot less cleaning and if you don't like it you can remove them. Though I have kept aquariums for many years I never went much out of the usual setups.
Went crazy this time broke all the rules. lol good luck gary