# Pond Soil Substrate Attempt - Failed! (petsolutions.com coupon)



## welchrock (Jan 4, 2008)

A few months ago I posted on here about substrates, and thought (via mostly my own theorizing) that going to a local pond and trying to get 20-40 pounds of pond soil would be a possible alternative to paying $1 a pound or more for a tank-full of Eco-Complete or Flourite. 

Well I must say that this idea was spectacular failure! You should have seen me, multiple shovels and buckets = zero usable soil retrieved! Very amusing for anyone watching me.

What I failed to think of was the physics of the matter: Shoveling dirt underwater is easy, it’s getting it safely to the surface and into buckets that is nearly impossible. As I brought the shovel upward, the water swept all the dirt off the shovel and back into the pond, quickly creating a situation where I could no longer see the bottom. Regardless of how slow I went, I ended up doing nothing more than digging at rocks and creating a giant mess.

Surprising to me is just how little ‘dirt’ there is at the bottom of ponds. Even the most lush-looking substrate I saw, upon inspection with a shovel I found it to be only fractions of an inch deep. From there it was just silt and rocks.

So now I know and now I realize what a great deal professional substrate is. 

*For those interested, I found a coupon on petsolutions.com for $5 off $50: ‘newsign’. *They have 20 lb bags of Eco-Complete for $18.99.


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## Guest (Jul 29, 2008)

lol...fun.

I wouldn't use pond substrate anyways. There could be TONS of little nasties that you don't want in your tank, hiding in the mud.


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## welchrock (Jan 4, 2008)

I'd planned on boiling it ahead of time...but oh man the more I talk this through, the sillier an idea it was. 

Try to save a buck - end up wet in a pond.


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