Confused!? Red clay or no red clay...

[Heagney]

So...I will be using John Innes No3 topped off with play sand in my tank..also going to have MTS to help churn up the sand. I know they're a love/hate kinda deal.
I'm VERY confused by all the technicalities at the moment but....I've read some places that red clay is a good thing to add to help colouring of your red plants and in general for plants. Is this a good idea or not??
Should I just add some fluorite to my Innes mix instead??

Any help and advice MUCH appreciated!!

 

[Heagney]

I've read SO much about low tech planted tanks that i feel a migraine coming on...haha

 

[Clint Hewitt]

Organic red pottery clay, It's high in iron content.

 

[Heagney]

There are so many clay variants, is there a certain distributor that you use?
Earthenware clay seems to be the best option?
About 1lb per 20 gallons seen ok?

Sorry for all the questions just don't want to overload or fill my aquarium with crap/toxins

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

About 1lb per 20 gallons seen ok?Sorry for all the questions just don't want to overload or fill my aquarium with crap/toxins

John Innes No3

You don't need to use much JI No3., the "3" means that it has a lot of added nutrients (three times as much as JI No.1), which will become soluble.

Organic red pottery clay, It's high in iron content.

It is, but all the iron is oxidised as Fe2O3.nH2O etc (that is why it is red like rust) and unavailable to the plant.

Plants can only take up nutrients as ions in solution.

from <"Plant roots">

In <"laterites"> and latosols basically all the soluble elements have been leached from these soils, leaving the insoluble iron (Fe) and aluminium (Al) oxides and hydroxides, details are here<"Oxisols">. For the iron in red clays to become available you need <"reducing, anaerobic conditions, where iron oxide reduction will occur">. This is likely to happen in a soil based substrate, but nearly every soil will have enough iron present for plant growth.

In Diana Walstad's <"Ecology of the Planted Aquarium">, she says she made a mistake using laterite and soil (in Chapter 8, "Metal Toxicity"). She thought that the acidity and humus content of the soil led to REDOX reactions of iron (from the laterite) that caused iron toxicity to the plants.

cheers Darrel

 

[Heagney]

Hi darrel

I did read quite a lot of info you previously posted and it confused me!! My higher chemistry left my brain a long time ago! Haha
I think I might just proceed with my soul and add iron etc additives as needed...I'm hoping for as natural a set up as possible with the minimum use of ferts and additives but I want to give my plants the best chance.
I'll probably have a Ludwig repens (sorry if I've spelt wrong) so was just wanting to make sure I had enough iron to help with its colouring

 

[Tim Harrison]

There are so many variations on a theme it's hard to know which one or combinations to use. It's one of the reasons I decided to try and simplify things in my tutorial http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/the-soil-substrate-or-dirted-planted-tank-a-how-to-guide.18943/ It's not a definitive guide by any means but hopefully it will give you a good place to start without too many complications and, in tun, fairly decent results.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

I did read quite a lot of info you previously posted and it confused me!!

It wasn't the intention, I think Troi's answer to your question in the <"Testing Kits"> thread is where I am as well.

So...as long as I plant my tank well enough and don't over stock I should be ok?

I think that is about the size of it really.

I do have one but it's a crappy HOB by marina (quite low turnover). If I was using that I would want to replace the cartridges with my own filter media.

I'd hook it up, some water movement is always beneficial even in a low-energy tank.

cheers Darrel

 

[Heagney]

It's just my small brain Darrel haha and it's all very new to me. You are very informative though thanks for taking the time to reply to my questions (everyone) I've been impressed with everyone's willingness to answer what must be very repetitive questions...