Enrich Your Substrate 

I don't know any other person who can make a boring subject into a Science fiction one 😅 Super informative and enjoyed watching and learning. Thank you FF ❤

I cannot express enough respect and appreciation for you sharing your knowledge and wisdom from your decades of experience. The idea of creating a natural tank with a soil-based substrate and sustainable food web has completely changed my perception on the care of fish. Thanks to you I am helping to teach my children responsible stewardship of the life in our aquariums.

Wife got a 5 gallon tank, put just gravel (black w/ specks of color). She then wanted a 10 g to add more fish. Had a fish die off. I said, NO. I have to figure this out. Stumbled on a different video of yours about adding mud then cap it with sand. So I got my own 10 gallon (little comp with the wife). Saw plenty of growth with the plants and fish did well. Got another 29 gallon, after watching more videos from other RU-vidrs and you (I like your way the most). Decided to go with a small amount of natural gravel, mud from 2 different sources. Mixed in some leaves, put some beach sand to cap it (had to sift some the the debris out) it is an untouched beach so nothing bad. Took your advice over others. Now, I have seen this video, I want to make this and do another tank now. Thank you for sharing your knowledge, you are one of the main inspirations to my new hobby. It was so much fun to get the materials with my girl and putting it together. It’s going to be a sad day when I have to move due to being in the military. My plants are growing right before my eyes!! Fish are loving it!!

Been doing the 1 inch of gravel thing for 20years. I took care of my out of town uncle in his final 3 months on earth. My tanks became horribly neglected. Most crashed and killed all my fish while I was absent. One survived and seemed to even thrive while I ignored it. It was my 1 heavily planted sand bottom tank. I’ve been doing research and found your channel, spent the past week binge watching your vids. The pain of losing my uncle and my tanks was hard. I’ve cleared my schedule next week and plan to get them up and running again using your nature method. Thank you! ❤️ Who knows what life is going to challenge me with next, it will be comforting to know I won’t have to stress over my tanks while I face it. It gives new meaning to the phrase, ‘Just give it to God!’

Wish this guy was on RU-vid sooner, it’s gonna be a great loss when this gentleman isn’t on here anymore! ❤

I am impressed by the mix. On another note, I just set up a 10 gallon tank with Miracle Grow potting soil capped with play sand. The play sand specifically said that it was not for hardscapes aquariums or traction which I found strange. So I put it in and filled it up with seasoned aquarium water and made a mess out of that but I got a little hang on the back filter and it cleared up in a couple days. Anyway my point is that I have had no problem with the soil, I was a little worried about the soil and ammonia but I put in a lemon yellow Labidochromis caeruleus mother with a mouthful of babies and they are doing just fine. Oh, and I went to the stream and got some leaves and water and ran my brine shrimp net around and put that in there too.

I was planning to assemble it on my own and then you started packing it into the bag and, what a relief, I don't have to buy everything separate thanks for what you're doing!!! The perfect mud composition that I was able to create based on few videos from your channel : 50% peat moss 25% compost, pond muck, black kow, 25% soil 10% FF suplement 1 cup of each Buffers Lime (dolomitic limestone), bonemeal, sodium bicarbonate, diatomaceous earth, Biochar, worm castings, Baking Soda 2 table spoon, Epsom Salts 2 table spoons, Magnesium Sulphate 2 table spoons, ferrous sulfate 1/2cup, 1/2 cup, blood meal 1 cup, bone meal 3/4 cup, mycorrhiza 1/2 cup, natural fertilizer 1/2 cup (reach in phosphor) 1" soil, 2inch of gravel/sand

Next weekend i will set up my first dirt tank, i've been collecting information and knowledge mainly from FF and i think im ready. Thank you FF 😀

i used your recipe from the 3 years old video on this channel. my 3 beta are still alive today, my tank is a jungle, and i changed water once. its perfect. thx you.

I boght this substrate supliments through my friends from US. I can't wait until the treasured package arrives. Thanks Father Fish! In stores, everything is sold in so huge bags 😮. ❤❤❤❤

Thank you for sharing your experience and knowledge!🙂

This is great stuff. I enjoyed this video. This pack will definitely ensure long-term supplementation for the soil. Thank you FF.

I was thinking about making a smaller batch of this but I think I’m going to make the same batch size that he made and use it in my tropical plant mix as well. It’s an amazing fertilizer!

Thank you for sharing it 🙏 This is amazing.

This man is amazing. He opened my eyes to how I am doing fish keeping all wrong.

Thanks for sharing the holy grail! Will add this to my next tank. Already excited! Happy Sunday from your friends in Ireland

Video so true thanks Father Fish keep it coming.

I really cant believe this video is here, I just ask about the sustrate and garden dirt.... Really thanks Father Fish, you are really the best 😊😊❤

he's making a rain forest in a fish tank

thank you father fish for so much info.

Thank you so much for the educational subject, I love you too father fish.

Just ordered some for a build im doing with a 55gal. Using Scotts top soil and black diamond blasting sand for the cap. Great way to support FF

Really enjoy your content ff. I really liked the outside setting with your vast knowledge being shared with us all. I thought that forward facing camera worked a treat. Keep up the great content ff 😊🐠🐟👌🏼

Love the hair cut!!

Working on setting up a 90 gallon in my office using your method! Just waiting for a few items and warmer weather. Planning on stocking it with fire red cherry shrimp, otocinclus, and snails.

Seus vídeos são viciantes. Todos os dias assisto 2. ❤

Wow this is advanced! If humans ever need to rebuild an natural area like a lake this may be helpful as well.

I have 3 thriving planted aquariums No CO2 no ferts Oldest has been running for many years. As Father Fish says, deep substrate is the key.

Your hair cut looks great

Thanks for sharing. I'm also into potted house plants and thinking of adding all these ingredients in with my airy aroid mix. Thanks Father Fish!

Great background music! I generally use that Japanese style aqua soil just to avoid the mess, can this increase the life of stratum style soil too?

Great video FF

Just a bit of a tip, mycorrhiza is pronounced like "Mike-CO rise ah" best I can do with phonetics. Anyway this is awesome so similar to what I use in substrate, you're the first person I have seen use worm castings and biochar both which I use. I have been kicking around adding fungal innoculum to my next tank rebuild. Now I definitely will. DE was another one I had considered but never did. I tend to use green sand and basalt as mineral supplements. Basically I use mostly the same things I use in my gardens. I also use Dr. Earth 4-4-4 organic fertilizer which has both some beneficial fungi and beneficial colony forming soil bacterium in it. Dude I gotta say it, you're one of the best fish people on RU-vid. While it has nothing directly to do with keeping fish if you want a real deep dive into biochar and how amazing it is, how it works, how to make it, etc. I put weeks of work into this presentation before I gave it. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-SaKgjoZ8Z-o.html

Nice cut Father Fish much love ❤

Hello from Indonesia ❤

I love listening and learning from you ❤ thank you Question when you did the betra bowl did you add this mixture to the bowl ?

Love you sir

Hey father fish, I like the outdoor backdrop, like the new haircut you got too looking sporty 😃.

Father Fish, Wow thank you for taking us on the adventure of what you make for the supplement. This is added with the Dirt that we use and the sand correct like we mix this in the dirt or something else?

Loving your videos!!! I need help - I have a 55 gallon tank with 1 comet and 2 goldfish. I am wanting to do a natural tank. I currently have a bare bottom - no decor. What is the safest way to add soil/sand and plants to get them started with minimal stress? I will keep my bubbler but I am also stumped on what else I need for a natural tank (what filter to use , do I need a heater, etc) Thank you to anyone offering help.

Hi Father Fish, how does one in Canada get your supplement?

im barely know anything about keeping aquarium, but i found a 75 gallon tank that was half off, so here i am before i do anything to it since its so freakin heavy, i dont wanna have to mess with it all the time

I was looking to put the formula together myself. Wow, that is a lot of thought that went into this product. Ended up purchasing from your website. Thanks, F.F.'s excellent video, btw. Would this help with the cherry shrimp tank water quality? After it is established, I would add 2 Pea Puffers, probably 2-3 months. All this would be going into a heavily planted 20g long with an established Food web by the time the Pea Puffers are added. Ps, there are 2 freshwater crabs I could put in there, but I may leave them in one of the other (3 total) 20 g long tanks.

Thank you ❤ do you ever have to put this in your tank again over the years or just at the first set up ?

Baba senin bilgiler mükemmel 🖒

I was wondering how I would put this in my 10 gallon betta tank that is already set up? Thank you.

Hey Father fish great video I like the outdoor backdrop It looks like you got a new haircut looks good. I have a question I have some emperor Tetris that I got from the last Pasco meeting in a few of them are developing these white clumps on their front fins quite thick doesn't look like ick and it's only on the two front fins. And it's thick white clumps what would that be do you have any idea

I ordered a bag of your supplement and am anxiously awaiting its arrival! Thank you for your knowledge!

Would that be enough calcium for snails and shrimp or would more be needed to be added periodically? I have one more question too. One aquascaper on RU-vid puts the soil substrate portion in small quart size laundry bags to cover the bottom. He claims the pores in the laundry bags is big enough for the plants roots to go through the mesh for the nutrients. The benefit of using the bags, it keeps the soil from mixing with the sand and clouding the water as many of the fish will dig though the sand. It also will enable the soil to be used later on in other tanks with all the lifeforms contained within. I believe the soil will still produce the bacteria and small micro fauna which will in turn migrate to the sand for all of the other life forms living within the fish tank. Do you think the idea is OK or will it rob many of the denizens of vital nourishment?

Hello Father Fish. I am working on a new aquarium. I want to make your mix. I was wondering if I can add Laterite to your mix? I bought some but I am not sure if I can use it in your mix. My English is not that good but I do my best to learn everything from your videos. You are the best teacher. Greetings from Europa Belgium Bruges.

This video was very interesting and I found it very interesting when you talked about the dolomitic limestone to keep the soil from becoming acid, in early 2021 I started my first "Father Fish" style tank. I didn't realize at that time that you were supposed to add supplementation to the soil so I got some soil from my garden some potting mix that I believe was mostly peatmoss and some soil that I had dug up from near a lake when I moved some jewel weed to grow by my pond. mixed all of that together very well put an inch or so in the bottom of a 20 gallon tall aquarium covered that with the sand cap for which I used black diamond blasting sand planted some plants and we were off to the races now almost 3 years later that tank is still going I havn't done a water change in a loooong time. Just the other day...2 days ago to be precise I got to thinking....I wonder if my PH has dropped significantly in this tank I cant remember the last time I did anything but top it off when it starts to get a bit low. I got the test tubes and the bottles and it immediatly turned a dark purple color. Now my water ph used to be around 8.2-8.4 and this tank reads as 8.4...the water coming from my tap recently has been around 7.8. I tested it for nitrates nitrite and ammonia as well just to be sure...not a drop registered. I was a bit suprised not by the lack of nitrates but that the PH was still high....but our water here is very very hard and our soil likewise has a great deal of calcium in it. I guess the fish load and amount of waste this fish make has not yet been enough to overcome the buffering capacity of this soil/water. Just thought I would throw that out there. Tank is doing very well. I have 1 other Father fish tank that is also doing very well. More recently I have tried some other systems for nitrate removal that have not succeeded namely "biocenosis clarification baskets and plenums". I see that people have success with that. But I have not probably I am failing to do something properly. At any rate I have a 60 gallon tank in the basement that has been languishing for awhile now...has 2 angel fish and a few cories in it at the moment. It is my intent this weekend to turn it into a Father Fish tank. Get more fish in the near future for it and one I feel its fairly well established I will try to put some german blue rams in the bottom. I know the temperature needs to be in the 80s, I have tried to have rams before but they failed miserably....I fear it may be the hardness of our water here but I have been able to have all kinds of other fish that they recommend much softer water for and they have done just fine. I am thinking that the denitrification may be the thing that tips the scales and allows me to keep these fish. Thanks.

nice shave!

Just followed the link to go to your online store... unfortunately you don't ship to Europe :(

Hello Father Fish, tank you so much for your videos! I just wanted to ask you for advice on making an alternative substrate for people in other regions where some of this ingredients are hard to find or are only sold in big quantities to agricultors. In my case I could not find: Dolomitic limestone, Blood meal, bone meal (could maybe make it myself) and the phosphorus fertilizer. I whish I could just buy some of your product but importing from another country is very cumbersome. What could be good alternatives for some of the ingredients?

On the last video you told me to put sand on top of my gravel, i did put sand and my overall aquarium quality is getting better! Now to add more and more plants that goldfish wont eat 🤣 if you know any please let me know 🤘

Just received my soil supplement today. I am in Canada. Only took around a week from Vancouver. Would it be better to add this with an inch of mud from my pond or use it following the instructions that are provided which mentions peat moss etc. or a combination of both. ?

I'm redoing a 75 gallon tank that crashed. Should I completely empty my water out or can I add this slowly and cap it off with sand, with water already in there? If I do that with water in it, how long until I can add my fish back in? Would it be better to just scrap the water I have in there now and start all over?

Thank you FF. Please let us know how to use that supplement. I am an absolute beginner.

This is great information... I am getting ready to setup a 195 gal planted tank. Is it still a good idea to use Root Tabs every 4 months or so or will this substrate mix hold up well enough and not need root tabs?

Hello FF can I use just one of this (pure epsom salt) in my potting mix below my aquasoil substrate? Thank you.

Just ordered my father fish soil supplement im definitely gonna do the father fish way with 1 inch soil and 2 inches of sand. Father fish i have a 55 gallon fish tank with electric blue Acura1 male 2 females with about 150 fry. 3 Cory cats 1 rainbow shark and 2 ottos. I have a Divider in the tank cause of the fry, and there about a month old once all my fry are old enough to give away im gonna do your method with 1 inch of soil and 2 inches of sand. Not really looking forward to draining the tank but oh well im going with your method father fish cant wait to get your soil supplement and get a bunch more plants

I need a pdf about the Father Fish method, like with clear instructions and serialized content,

FatherFish are you able to ship to Cape Town South Africa? Thank you so much for your absolute knowledge and simplicity in and of the natural and aquatic world

Hi Father Fish! When you say a 1 quart bag of this formula is enough for 100 gall ons, is that 100 gallons of soil, or all the soil necessary for a 100 gallon tank? Can't wait to set mine up!

Hi, what are your thoughts of digging your substrate straight out of a local healthy water source. Should it have the ability to be my substrate if I cap it with two inches of sand? Looking to start my new tank and I want to do it as right and as naturally as possible

Question concerning the Resurrection Jar. You mention adding part of the Resurrection Jar in week 2 to the aquarium. Are you only adding some of the water from the jar to your aquarium or some of the dirt from the Jar also?

FF, all the plants are doing well that I got from you. One is reaching the top of the tank. What should I do about the runners that are developing? One more unrelated question: I have snails and shrimp. Should I put a cuttlebone or some type of calcium in the tank for them? Thank you, my friend!

How many ML is one of your Cup as your Cup looks large ? Thank you

Hi FF, I'm in the process of doing a dirt tank following your instructions I prepared the ingredients, but I went on vacation for a week and totally forgot about that dirt that I left in the backyard, so I got back last night, this morning I checked the bucket and it was to dry on the top with mold and smell like I just open a sewer🤢 so I took the top and remix everything. I added a little more water, soil, biochar, and pea moss. the smell went away but still kind of a strong smell, my big question is if I can use this mix? Any suggestions?

Hey FF, I’ve got a 14g that has been set up with Fluval Stratum capped with about 2-3” of aquarium sand. It’s heavily planted and has 12 chili rasboras and 3 Pygmy corys. Noticed some black areas forming under the sand…some say anaerobic bacteria is bad, but I feel like I’ve heard on your videos that you actually want anaerobic bacteria to form. Should I worry about this or is it a good thing?

50th like 😉

FF I’m considering setting up a 90 gallon African Cichlid tank and want to get your advice for which plants to go with? Also any tips on stopping them from digging through the sand cap into the soil underneath?

Father fish... can you help me understand something? In my area, well water in my area is relatively hard. All of my tanks have had a high PH (8+). To combat this, I use reverse water with Seachem Equilibrium. With plants, PH is still high. Whenever PH is high, algae goes crazy. I'm using CO2 to bring the PH down, which has resulted in fairly good plant growth, but what I can't figure out is how to do a natural aquarium with well water or RO water. What do you recommend? (BTW, I started my first reresection jar this evening. Already have a crazy number of lifeforms. So cool.)

Ive recently set up a 50 gallon tank with about one inch of potting soil and 4 inches of sand. 2 of my fish (four line catfish and a pleco) have been digging at night and already have brought up quite a bit of dirt and keep uprooting plants. I want to set up my 60ish gallon tank specifically for them and a few mystery snails who have been eating some plants. Is there a better way to go about setting up a tank for bottom dwellers or just let them have their fun in their own tank . And are there any recommendations on plants for that tank ? I was thinking about going to the lake behind my house and putting mostly hornwort in there so they can have their fun and im not spending 20 dollars on plants every other day

Hi Father Fish I am from the UK and have to build the Substrate supplement myself and managed to buy all of the Ingredients but cannot get the special Fertilizer from Indonesia which is the 0-7-0 one with a high Phosphorus content. Do you know if there is an alternative I may be able to use please ? I can get a hold of a 7-7-7 Fertilizer or a 0-46-0 but not sure if it can be used instead of the 0-7-0 one ? Thank you

The Plantlife project on yt has a method of freezing cubes of dirts to add to established tanks whatdaya think of this for tanks I need to add supplement to Thanks

Hi dear sir,would your substrate mix be ok for planting water Lillies in pots,capped with sand,cheers.

Great mixture FF. I wonder what the mysterious phosphate fertiliser from Indonesia is? With regard to diatomaceous earth, I (as a mere bystander) would like to throw in a couple of cents worth: DE is composed of the skeletons of marine diatoms which are mainly silica, silicon dioxide, a common component of many types of sand. Calcium content should be negligible. It is a major component of the white sands found in many South American rivers, surprisingly derived from the spicules of freshwater sponges. It is chemically inert and virtually insoluble in water, although it absorbs water to a large degree. Therefore, it will not add any buffering capacity. However, it is important, possibly crucial to plant physiology. The buffering capacity will come from the dolomite, a mixture of calcium and magnesium carbonate, which will also supply the plants with these two important nutrients. Epsom salt will contribute some buffering to the substrate mixture. It would be interesting to know the final pH of the substrate following saturation for a couple of months.

I have "Fish, Blood and Bone" meal on hand. Can I use that? The fishies won't be offended will they?

I have well water that has dissolved lime in it because the aquifers Lyme Stone. It also has a little bit of iron and a little bit of sulfides can I leave these ingredients out of the supplement? I have all these other ingredients at hand

Hi Father Fish, I have a 3 gallon filtered bowl with a sick anubias congensis plant. The leaves are getting black spots or yellowing and the tips are melting. Is this something I could mix in with my sand-only substrate to help my plants recover?

Thankyou sir. You are a treasure. One small query on last ingredient. As you said it's very high in phosphorus, can i use crushed rock phosphate? I am not able to find any phosphorus natural fertilizer. Could you please explain the last ingredient. Thankyou so much.

Hello Father Fish, What can we used to replace dolomitic limestone in the supplement?

I have a question, I will be building a 3,000 aquarium, larger fish tend to knock down any plants or kick up alot of sand/substrate. In my main tank, the 3,000 gallon, I would like to use tile. And, as all the overflow water goes into a sump filtration, it is there I would like to have all the plants and substrate. Would that work?

FF what do you think about a slow moving water plenum tank? Have you tried that method?

Question instead of the added mixture to the dirt could you not take mud and dirt right from the bottom of the lake ?

I hope this question isn’t too mediocre. With this supplement, will I mix this into some more basic substrate, like potting mix or volcanic ash for instance? Or use this by itself?

is there any benefit using Zeolite gravel mixed with substrate?

Hi Father Fish. Does it matter if the potting soil part of this deep substrate I buy is organic ? I ordered your supplement pack and food web culture and am excited to redo my tank !

Hey Father Fish. My gf has been following all of your methods, and they are working great! She loves your videos! I was wondering if you have a video of advice on what to do about aphids that grow on the plants in the thank. She looked at the tank and noticed there were hundreds.

So if we set up without this, can we use homemade fertilizer spikes to drive it in?

Perfetto, ma mi chiedo, dopo uno o due anni, bisogna fare qualcosa al substrato, cioè bisogna reintegrare degli elementi o va avanti da solo? Grazie molte

Father Fish: My concern with diatomaceous earth. It's used as a pest control against insects with an exoskeleton. Diatomaceous earth used as a bathing material for chickens later develop an incurable lung disease similar to asbestosis as it is a chronic lung disease caused by exposure to asbestos dust and or Silicosis which is a long-term lung disease caused by inhaling unsafe levels of silica dust. The microscopic structure that diatomaceous earth has are extremely sharp serrated edges that might negatively interfere with the natural fauna of the bedding system. It is an opinion of course but worth considering. What do you think?

So, i'm a bit late to the game. I set up my tank last week with no supplements (had no idea they were needed) do i drain everything and start over?

Hi...I am confused sir. In another video you advised Iron oxide but in this one you are using ferrous sulphate. Can we use either one of them?

I'm planning on building a 15 gallon planted tank inspired by by you and eas woonder if you sell your supplement for my size aquarium if not is it possible for you to point me in the right direction on how to build it thank you in advance

I just ordered some of this for myself and I was wondering if somebody could inform me if I need to add my own potassium source like pot ash or is there? Already enough potassium in the mixture.

How much your soil supplement should I use for my 15 gallon tank

I dabbled in organic gardening and used all these ingredients making up a Super Soil. Fruit feed bat guano was one of the ingredients. Not insect feed bats, but Fruit bats.

How can we put this in an already set aquarium if possible?