top soil and clay as substrate for axolotl tank

[Lamine]

Hello,
I have a small issue in my axolotl planted tank.

I have a planted 200 L (60 gallons) tank with an adult pair of A. mexicanum.
The substrate is some plain quartz sand (pool filter grade) with some rocks.
The tank is running since 6 months without major troubles.

Most of the plants are doing fine except the Lilaeopsis novae-zelandiae.

For my fish-tanks I use a mix of clay (cat litter), sand and "heather land soil" (it's a natural soil sold in garden-shop with properties similar to those of peat including high acidity and very low degradation of organic matter) this is basically a dirtied tank method.

So here is my question : do you think I can safely use some home made "root tabs" made of clay and top soil (no added chemicals) to promote growth of root feeder plants in my axolotls tank ?

It's not really about the Lilaeopsis (even if it would be nice to grow a carpet of it) but I'd like to increase the number of plant species in this tank (and include some heavy root feeders).
If you have any source of information for dirtied tank for axolotls (or any other amphibian) I'll be glade to read it.

Thank you !

 

[Niels D]

In my experience this is certainly possible. I've used a similar method (and the Walstad method as well) without any problems. I love to use cryptocoryne species, because they can cope with really cold temperatures, but they need a lot of nutrients. In both cases I had a heavily planted tank and low lightning.