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Re: Muddy thoughts



>Date: Sun, 18 Oct 1998 01:03:11 -0700
>From: Steve Pushak <teban at powersonic_bc.ca>
>
>>Olga asks: is it true? "Plants grow better in mud"
>
>Why certainly!!
>
>All plants (even algae) grow better when they have a good supply of
>nutrients!

I fail to see any logic in this pair of statements. What you are saying is:
"If you have mud, you have the correct nutrients, QED."  As someone pointed
out, all mud is not created equal. 

And, of course, you are implying that "If you don't have mud, your plants
will not grow was well as they would if they had mud."  

I don't have mud in my tanks and I would opine that my plants grow better
than your plants. Dueling photos at High Noon? 

>Mud is a better supply of nutrients than sand. That's a fact. Mud is a
>better supply of nutrients than say sand and real laterite because
>laterite alone will not contain many trace nutrients beyond iron and
>will contain little or no macro nutrients. This is not necessarily true
>of the substrate amendments sold by aquarium outlets; they may have
>ADDED nutrients or they may require you to buy additional nutrient
>tablets for the substrate. 

Yes, mud may have more nutrients than sand, sand+laterite or sand+laterite+
proper fertilizers. In fact, mud has TOO MANY nutrients and will, in fact,
lead to algae problems. When you use mud, you DO NOT have control over the
nutrient level in your tank. If you use mud for a substrate, you are
quaranteed to have an algae problem. Review some of your own postings if
you don't beleive me. 

>I think that laterite is a buzz word that is
>very popular for marketing purposes (aside from its useful properties).

I think it's more a buzz word used by newbies. As far as I know, only two
products claim to use laterite: Duplarit and Substrate Gold. All the other
buzz about laterite comes from people using art clay, red Georgia (not
relation) clay and any other red dirt that turns up and calling it
"laterite".   

>But remember that mud can be a mixture of many things. 

Amen, brother.

>I believe that you want to use some type of clay mixed with sand that
>will provide a broad range of trace nutrients. I think you want to AVOID
>soils which are overly fertile in the macro nutrients nitrogen and
>phosphorus. I think you want soils which will have a stable effect on pH
>that is, not too high in limestone nor too high in humins.
>
>I think its not too hard to find suitable materials to create a good
>substrate but for some folks, its just too bothersome to try to read and
>understand all of the "technical" details. For those folks, the best
>thing is to go with something proven, low cost and readily available.

Wow, was there *almost* a recommendation there?  So close, yet so far.
  


George Booth, Ft. Collins, Colorado (booth at frii_com)
  Back on-line! New URL! Slightly new look! Same good data!
    http://www.frii.com/~booth/AquaticConcepts/