Should You Try a Dirted Tank? - Substrate 101 - Understanding the Dirted Substrate Tank for Plants 

I have alot of dirted tanks,and it can be tricky, got to always keep an eye on the ammonia levels for sure, and have a lot of plants. I have found out that adding floating plants to a dirted tank will help with keeping algae in check and ammonia, nitrates, and nitrites at lower levels. I am currently using frog bit in all my dirted tanks to get rid of nutrients in the water column, and allow more time between water changes. One should have a really good understanding of the nitrogen cycle and biological components of an aquarium before attempting a dirted tank.

i teach a system based on the scientific research of Walstad that takes the risk out of creating a natural, balanced aquarium. It is simple, easy to replicate, and a perfect system for the beginner.

Dirted tanks are the best I've ever owned. Breaching the cap is zero issue once the tank is settled and they run forever. I currently have one 8 years old. People just don't know how to run them. Algae free from day one

I demand you do a dirted tank for educational and comedic reasons.

I was a complete novice two years ago and the more I researched the more I came to the conclusion I needed a lot of plants in my aquarium. But I had a coarse gravel substrate, so... not ideal. I experimented with anubias the local fish store recommended, but they didn't help my water column much. I experimented with pothos which helped. I got floating plants which helped. Then I had to move and decided I was going to change the substrate during the move as I was going to have to drain the tank anyway. I put two inches of organic soil capped with two inches of play sand. I kept my filtration media in old tank water and my wood in tank water and kept all my old tank water. Got the "new" tank up and running with my plantings and added some stem plants. I have had zero issues with my fish. Bentley makes a dirted tank sound like it's a nightmare either happening or just about to happen. I have experienced nothing but pleasure from changing to dirt. My plants are finally thriving. I have high light and did experience some green hair algae but that's under control as I cut my lights down to 8 hours from 12 and I'd honestly chalk that up to me still being a novice rather than the dirt. I'm going to be adding passive CO2 or a DIY system to my tank soon too. Cheap and easy. When I see what some people pay for soil and CO2 systems etc it just boggles my mind. I'd much rather spend less and learn more than buy my way out of some problem that hasn't even happened yet.

I have 4 dirted tanks and they are doing great!!

I have been setting up dirted tanks for over 10 years. I use 2" of organic soil and 4" of a mix of sand and gravel. I use lots of floating plants. I have not found most of the problems you talked about. I get algae blooms at the start. You need to use deep sand beds over the top of your dirt. And why would you move plants once you plant them. I think its a lot easier than you made it out to be.

I’m definitely interested in learning about the mineralized top soil method

Father Fish has always recommended to set up dirted tank or deep substrate tanks. I must say that it has helped me much, specifically with plants. It has also maintain the natural occurring chemicals in the tank.

Bentley, I really appreciate your honesty! I was on the fence with trying my luck on a dirted tank, but I don’t think I want the hassle. Your videos are educational and you explain things in an easy to understand way. Thanks!

Thanks for sharing Bentley!! I am a follower of Father Fish's method that he learned from his German grandmother!! There is a true beauty to setting up a tank like this! When done correctly it's a sustainable way to keep fish, especially smaller nanotype fish!! There's nothing better then seeing a beautiful planted tank that is lush and jungly 😁 I really appreciate your videos! You have wealth of knowledge and your thoughtfullness is so appreciated!!!I hope you're having a wonderful weekend and thank you for sharing! 👍🌿🐟🌱🙏✌️

My favorite dirted tank people...Father Fish and LRB 👍💓👍

I learned back in the "80s of "Dutch style" planted tanks, which used clay as a base layer under a sand top-cap. Then the German Dupla company popularized iron rich Laterite clay as the base layer. So I've always known that this works incredibly well to grow plants. Both these methods are using inorganic "soil". If I was to do a plant tank I wouldn't hesitate, but I've always been nervous to use this in a tank based around fish, where plants are secondary to the fish. I've had very good results growing plants in other ways.

Thank you for sharing. Substrate is a serious topic. I need to share my new mix in a video. Oh, yeah its awesome when you find leeches. Lol. I think everyone should do one "Dirted tank". It is a great experience.

I've got my first dirted tank fully cycled for several days and it now has guppy fry and shrimp - so exciting! Might not last, but where I'm at now is a huge win from the uncertainty of getting to this point. Which included white fuzz fluff growing 1/2" high for weeks on 3 areas of substrate. And cyanobacteria or something dark and nasty growing just under and along top surface of sand cap and killing plant roots. And light brown (diatoms?) spreading in patches. And light green spots of algae everywhere. And dosing prime every other day to make it safe enough for my snails - who then proceeded to have a crazy number of baby snails good for cleaning but wow the amount of snail poo they all produce. Lots of water changes and doing water tests several times each week and now nitrite testing daily just to make extra double sure it stays at 0 is tempered by getting to see cyclops and other critters jetting around tank, having my plants grow wonderfully and even seeing some plants that have not grown in any of my other tanks grow easily in this one. I’m now setting up my second dirted tank!

Great info Bentley. I'm running, about 12 different types of substrates through out the fish rooms. I can definitely find pros and cons to each.

I really appreciate the in depth info and the honesty. Most videos just show what to do but don't get into any of what you've touched on. I've been wanting to combine my love of plants and my love of bettas. After seeing this I realize I am not ready to jump in just yet. That is not a negative in any way! You probably saved my bettas lives ❤

Wow! My first tank is a 2 month outside 12 inch 60 gallon pond a my nitrates have been almost zero for a month. I put 12 guppies in the same day i set it up and have not loss one used a whole bottle of live nitrafying bacteria and a seeded lg. sponge filter . Organic soil 1 inch finely sifted twice with 2 inch gravel cap. I did make sure that i softly pushed down the cap to get rid of air pockets in the soil just like Chung from the water box suggested. 12 dwarf sags, and lots of frog bit , 6 water hiacynth . Started water changes every 2 days for a week, then every 3,4,5 days. Have rotalla , water sprite that love it. The hornsworth not so much. Great video Bentley and it sounds like all you say makes great sense. Yes if i pulled a rooted out of the base i would pull from the base and not rip it out. Like Chung says Jump in but realize you are going to fail. I failed of my first pond and ripped it apart and started over. Failure means you are learning.

Yes! Id love to watch that series/video. I just started my version of the walstad method. Thanks for the content as always! Youre a great creator.

Dirted tanks are so good, i have 5 tanks all dirted tanks. Never had any problems with it as long as you have a decent cap like 2inch or more. You be saving in fertilizer, root tabs and expensive aquarium soil.

Thank you for sharing this. Your patience in explaining about the pros and cons of setting up a dirted tank is very important to me. There’s a lot of science in this, but you’ve made it easy for me to understand it.

Thank you very much. You gave me my answer i was looking for.

I'm so happy that I watched this video! So many people on RU-vid talk about the pros but leave out all the cons! THANKS!!!!

Awesome video series, I'm listening to everything you say, you are awesome for sharing your knowledge, keep it up Bently!

Perfect timing on the video! Thanks for the advice.

Bentley, I love your videos! I’ve learned so much. Please keep creating!

When I worked at my LFS during summer breaks for the past four years (I am a college freshman), many people would come in asking how to set up a Walstad Method tank. They would call it a dirt tank, or a cheap planted tank. I had asked the owner for permission to have one 10 gallon tank set up as a beginner level 'dirted' tank, and had planted several things in there. Whenever the new hobbyists would ask about setting one up, I would go over to that tank, and ask them to scape the tank to their preference. They would see how difficult it is. I would then go about teaching them the proper way of setting up a Walstad Method tank, by showing them one of our display tanks that was a Walstad Method tank. I told them that adding/removing plants had to be done just the right way to get it perfect, and that maintenance had to be done a precise way. They would later come to me (or someone else working at the store) saying how it was difficult, and that they had moved on to aquasoil as a substrate. This is why I think we either need more videos that teach about Walstad Method tanks for beginners, or to tell hobbyists to start easy with aquasoil tanks, and then progress to Walstad tanks.

I’ve been rewatching your Substrate 101 series, and I’m pleased with how much more information I’m able to glean from this, and the other videos. I’ve definitely decided that a dieted tank is no longer an option that I want to consider.

I did two 75 gallon tanks using the @FatherFish method before Covid and they are doing well. I used potting soil, used AquaSoil, cow manure, peat moss and additives that I bought from Father Fish. I usually just top off the water when needed. I have some “mulm” in the bottom, but the snails and critters love that stuff. I’m curious as to how long the tank will last…so far, so good.

Thank you for your transparency.

Hi Bentley! My wife and I have black sand substrate in our 75. Plants weren't doing well so we tried organic potting soil in zippered mesh bags we got on Amazon. It took four bags. So during a 70% water change we scooped the sand aside and placed the bags on the bottom and covered them again with the sand. When we refilled the tank there was so much mud in the water it was scary. We could hardly see any fish in there! In a matter of two days, the Fluval 407 cleared everything up and we had good results in the long run. Fish all survived and the plants are all thriving. After the first few months, water changes are needed less frequently. Water parameters are good. So glad we did it! Saw this after the fact but you confirmed for me that we did it for the right reasons, Thanks!

I have one stratum tank and it's fab but my year long project dirt tank is looking amazing. Loving learning from your channel.

I'm waiting for my holiday to end to start my father fish based dirted tank. I'm super excited

Thanks so much Bentley for this video I feel like it was very informative and self-explanatory. I don’t do dirtied but I have kept my old substrate with different kinds of sand heavily planted aquariums there is only one that I’m having problems with because it is not heavily planted and that is that crazy algae that you were talking about that comes from the silicate that’s in the sand. Plus the stock that I have in the aquarium requires daily feeding and I am still adjusting the amount that I feed

Would be great to see you do that setup , awesome content as always Bentley good job 👍🏻

Great video

Amen!! Thank you!!! Often folks misinterpret and use her method as a “catch-all” for anything dirtied. Rarely do I see evidence that they read the book. She talks about plants like Pearl weed etc…and is very specific. Thank you!!!!

Appreciate your insight on this Bentley. I’ve never tried it & currently don’t have plans on doing so but always open to learning something new!

I have had success with both organic soil and worm casting capped. But I agree that experience is needed with this method. Took me over 2 years to "get it right" and not get algae outbreaks. 😁 great video

If someone wants to try to do what father fish is doing, they just have to look at his tanks and understand that THAT is what theirs will look like as well. If that's what they want, then go for it. personally I enjoy my tinkering and customization as well as the science of it all.

Great video! I'm currently running a dirted tank with sandcap, an aquasoil tank, an inert substrate tank and two with tropica substrate under sand and have good results with all of them. So far the dirted one has the best growth of those without CO2, however I have seen others have huge issues with dirt and I do get some algea myself. I'm trying out all sorts of methods to gain experience and learn, so to see how your plant gurus do mineralised soil would be amassing!

thank you! attempting to start a dirt aquarium and this helped :)

Organic potting soil is all I use in all of our aquariums, love the results but it did take alot of experimenting and practice to get to where I am now. Theres alot to learn and basic plants are a huge key to making them work, unfortunatly to many people look at these tanks as a cheap way to aquascape which is the wrong approach to take with them.

With a few dirt tanks kept I think the biggest issue folks have with Diana’s method is just underestimating the amount of nutrient available in the soil and overestimating the nutrient uptake of their plant load. I like 1/2” of soil and 2”+ of cap depending on grain size of the substrate with a wide variety of plants. I get great growth and solid reds without having these kinds of extended nutrient leeching into the water.

Like your honest approach

Thank you for your advise about the cons of dirt substrate tanks... and please, it will be wonderful to know your opinion about mineralized topsoil method

Ive been running dirted tanks a long while now and this perfectly described my experience. I will probably move away from them when my dirt is done as far as nutrients.

I’ve only ever had one dirted tank, and it actually turned out really nicely. Some of the best crypts I’ve ever grown came out of it but the tank sprang a leak and it had to come down. Nowadays I use either inert stuff or aquasoil. I find it’s much more predictable and easier to work with than dirt, but there’s no denying the potential a simple dirted tank can have lol

My dirted tanks are the tanks where I've had the least amount of algae, ammonia and/or nitrates. Bright light is one of the big things that grows algae in just about every tank unless you can take care of any, and I mean ANY, excess nutrients. As far as the ammonia/nitrates go, You've got to cap it well, especially if it's going to have heavy ferts in it, and it's best to have two or more inches of cap sand. Bearing in mind, Walstad does not recommend fertilizer, but that's because she doesn't do more than one inch of cap, and doesn't care for sand; Fatherfish is of course a little different. One time I built some baskets to hang down into the rear portion of my tank, and even though the baskets were dirted with a good cap, I had apparently not sealed up around the base of one of them, and ferts were oozing out of it. To test this, I took out the problem basket, put it in a plastic bag, and put it bag in. Nitrates started going down immediately because this was already a heavily planted tank. Even if you've only recently set up the tank, if you've got a lot of plants in it, they will automatically start absorbing ammonia among other things. I've recently set up a father fish tank with some crypts and some giant danios, and it's doing fine. Also though, I have a powerhead going to create flow, but currently it's set up as a diy filter with already cycled filter floss shoved in a cut off plastic bottle which is attached to the intake of the powerhead. I may remove the bottle portion later but maintain the powerhead for flow; The filter is just something I have right now to help as the tank matures and the crypts fill in. I'm not really worried about nitrates, though nitrites could become an issue if I end up with incomplete denitrification or nitrate respiration going on.

nice video bro !

Thanks for this series! I'm interested in hearing more about the mineralized substrate

I started a dirted tank, about 1.5" of organic soil and a thin cap of sand/gravel. Likely too thin. The water is very brown even with 50% daily water changes for 3 weeks. Add more cap and keep trying, or just go to a gravel bottom?

Thanks Bentley! I’d love to see your take remineralized top soil :) I have a 75 with heavy root feeders, zero stem plants and love it.

I do dirt in pots and it work very well.

Hi Bentley. Ive been considering a dirted tank because of Dr. Kevin Novak's videos. The plenum and noxic (i think noxic is the right word) filtration. What do you think of him? Thanks......Mike

I got some nice big rocks laying around, if I wanted to use these should I put them on the sand or put the rocks in first and fill up the dirt and sand around them? Its a 6ft tank

Great vid covering many parts. Personally I'm still debating on making my 110g tank dirted with father fish's method but modified. Father fish's dirt mixture with biochar, clay kitty litter and fluorite red mixture, and sand. Maybe add a sump with Dr Novak's biocenosis clarification baskets. But I might just be overthinking this.

Love Father hes fish is brilliant Dustins fish tanks also i love the idea of a natural aquarium and deep substrate but dirted tanks can be tricky would love to see you do one

Love your informative videos! Do you know if you can grow the "pest grass", nutgrass, submerged in an aquarium? Thanks

I've had a lot of success with dirted tanks and have never found them to be that difficult. About .5-.75" of soil in the front, getting to about 1.25" of soil in the back. 1.5-3" cap of coarse sand. With the thicker cap I don't have any problems with moving plants around, just wiggle them as you uproot them and cut off any roots that are too big and leave them in the substrate. Algae can be controlled easily with floating plants. Once algae starts setting in, just allow floating plants to grow more than usual and they will outcompete the algae. Also haven't found the dirt to be harmful to tank inhabitants either. Once had a pleco dig down and breach the cap, resulting in a tank that looked like mud soup, but with no harm done to my shrimp or tetras/guppies that I had in the tank. Maybe I've just been lucky. I do overall prefer dirted though because it allows me to use gravel/sand as a substrate which looks far more natural than the aquasoil type substrates.

Father fish method is an enhancement to the walstad tank.

Havnt seen it mentioned anywhere but I’ve also added some aqua soil to my dirt substrate for extended longevity.

Just getting back into the hobby after a 5 year break. I found your video quite informative. I used to DIY root tabs in sand and had great results growing easy plants like Crytps, Hygrophila, Anubias etc but have wanted to do a dirted tank for quite a while now. I'm actually local to you, what clubs are in the area aside from GSAS?

I thought you were going to say "Dirt Cheap" lol

Amber [bigcitybettas] does a modified dirted tank that I'm trying using clay cat litter, worm castings, and eco complete with a sand cap. I may try a true Walsted Method tank as well just because I'm curious. I do have a 29 gallon high and a 20 gallon long with a deep sand bed. One is home to my 6 pea puffers, the other to my school of "skunk" cories. My plants don't really like it all that much. I suspect I should have used a more corse sand. I think the bed is packed too tight for the plants to spread readily. I would enjoy seeing you set up a proper Walsted Method tank.

Yes please do a mineralized tank and show it over time. Thanks

Hey Bentley, curious about your thoughts on using dirt in an outdoor patio type pond?

My secret to starting off a dirted tank is to use a mature filter before handing over to the plants. 👌

Are you familiar with the Jaubert plenum system used for marines ? I have been interested in doing one for a planted tank for years & am now just about to give it a go. I have heating cable for the bottom & then the egg crate. I'm using volcanic rock from JBL as bottom layer , then mesh, then worm castings & sand capping - probably some mesh between castings & sand - what do you think ? It's going to take a while but will probably start it dark ?? Then drain & growed emersed ?? Then finally LOTS of stems & fast growers !! What do you reckon on my chances ?? Any advice or things to look up ? 👍

I’m going to try dirt someday, trying aqua soil first. Thanks Bentley.

My first dirted tank is about a year old. It cycles between gorgeous and full of algae. Due to my work schedule, I don’t really have time to micro, prune and micromanage this 29 gallon. As a result, it grows to the top of the water, and then I prune it short. Algae then takes over and I’m managing hair algae removal for a month until the plants start rocketing skyward again. I have frogbit in another tank that helps to control algae, but I use a surface skimmer that creates a lot of sideways flow, and the frogbit gets pushed to the sides and edges. I need a way to reduce the flow out of a powerhead so that it’s diffused and doesn’t drive my floaters to the corners and edges.

This is an awesome, awesome explanation, thank you! I just did the math on the cost of an enriched substrate for my mega flex, then triple checked the math because I didn't believe it... I was going to do shell dwellers on sand but a dirted tank feels like a better fit for the flex dimensions, methinks?

Thx for this video. I have a dirted tank done specifically by Walstad method standards. Water parameters were good. But just lost my entire tank to ich. Can dirted tanks harbor ich?

I think it'd be fun to see a video of my mineralized topsoil process. Quick while it is still warm outside.

All good.

The trick is to have the biodiversity form any local water body to turn the dirted tank into a food web ready for all life.

It’s really interesting to me that so many people use a miracle grow style ‘dirt’ for dirted tanks. The reason is those mixes generally are made with no soil or dirt… I’m trying a dirted tank now that uses actual composted garden soil with a sand cap. I think this will provide a better long-term solution. If you develop the biology in the soil then it can be self sustaining. If you use a miracle grow potting mix it seems like that would be way more difficult to achieve. Only a month in but so far it’s going well…

Would love to know more about these plant gurus in Seattle and see some of there tanks and maybe see a set up of that love your videos thank you for the information your awesome man

I would like to see how to mineralize soil...I went through a 4 week process creating mine and would like to see how someone else does it

Through last vid I was looking for bright wel soil type F , but it's not available near me, but I find a simular type of soil. While searching on bright well .com I think , I found a product called Rainbocode ( a special addictive for the health and coloring of Rainbowfish) did you know about that??

Thanks Bentley.

I live on an island where everything has to be imported so as to keep costs down i would be interested in the dirted tank series

I woyld like to see u do a dirted tank we can never have enough knoledge from quality people like u. I have one 30 and 55 gallon dirted for 3 years on 55 and 10 yrs on 30. Both doung great on father fish method 30 started in florida and other in ca the 30 did better in ca i tkink because of my hard water

help. I didnt cap my soil what do I do, I already put plants and water into it and its really murky but I have done a few water changes and its alot better but still foggy. should I start from scratch and take everything out and cap it? I dont have any fish yet but this is my first tank probably should have done more research on dirt substrate

I've got 3 dieted tanks, yes so much alge for so long but once it calmed down they have been fine for me. My oldest is just over 3 years

Is 2.5mm grain size coarse sand okay to use as cap over an inch of aquasoil?

I'm a month in on my first dirted tank. I followed Father Fish's method and have a heavily planted and well stocked 5 gal. I'm just beginning to see the first signs of diatom algae just like every other aquarium I've ever had. It's part of the food web. If you're interested in creating as natural an environment as possible, give the dirt a try.

Great Video please make the video about preparing the mud for the mud tank and make one again!

6 tanks all with diffetent substrates. I did this for the experiance. My dirted tank has 4" dirt lotts of sticks and stuff. I topped it with play sand. Its just fine after 3 years, but ill not do it this way again. Never an issue with ammonia. Im a better gardener now lol. Fishkeeping has gotten me into chemistry.

Well damn I just started my first dirted aquarium...Thanks for the morale boost...haha

I can't find miracle gro anywhereeee, is it possible for you to recommend a good organic soil

I’ve kept 5 dirted tanks and only one has had a steady algae issue. I suspect that the cap on the soil is the issue, so I plan on switching it out. Other than that, I haven’t noticed any ammonia issues.

My dirted tank (not a true Walstad) when set up 2 months ago never saw a spike in Ammonia,Nitrites or Nitrates. 1" dirt with 2" sand cap. Two things come to mind 1- I am using a eheim canister filter with containing previous biology. 2- I used existing cycled aquarium water. Could either of these contribute to the fact that I saw no spike . I have hardly done any water changes.

I’m doing lots of research on dirted tanks. I’m setting one up with a fluval substrate cap but sheerly for the sole purpose of keeping a natural environment for my wild caught eastern newts (afraid they swallow the gravel so Im going this route). Price isn’t too much a factor since I catch them in the wild with my kids when camping for free. Some of the rules may be a tad more flexible but I’m not sure. I plan to follow the instructions nearly to a tee. It’s just a 10gal, minimal plants such as Java fern and moss and lobelia cardinalis, maybe a couple swords. But this is an extremely informative vid dude. I appreciate it so much. About how long before the water clears? Do you think it would affect the newts or plants?

What about aquatic compost, used for ponds, has a lot of the organics taken out?

After soil is mineralized, can it be stored for a month or so before using? I guess what I mean is, can it become un-mineralized if it isn’t used within a certain amount of time

I just wanted this video, many information are not correct according to Diana. For an instance Diana introduces live stocks next day after a big water change, algae issues, big water changes. Any method has its own pros and cons, choose one works best for you.

I like to "play" with different methods and sytems. You do not need to but it what happens to be what I enjoy about this hobby. The funny thing is you get proponents of all methods swearing by what they do. As if it is the only way to succeed but that simply not the case. Everything I tried has strong and less strong points about it.

Bentley, I would like to see how to you create a balanced Dirty Tank Substrate.

I just started one and expected Ammonia I mean duh fresh dirt in some water I’m going to try activated carbon to deal with the nutrients causing ammonia and daily water changes till it’s stable