Pakistan Gardening Forum

While reviewing the article
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/foru ... albot.html

I still got questions as how to get these ingredients. I am not aware of anything in the local language to find it out in the local market.

• Cheap topsoil
• Pottery clay
• Dolomite
• Muriate of potash

Can any body help me naming it and recommend a place where I can buy them in Islamabad/Rawalpindi.

Topsoil=Bhalo miti
Pottery clay= Laal eent ki mitti (any clay which looks reddish has a high iron content and thus can be used)
Dolomite= Samundari jhaag (Which is actually aragonite and way better)
Muriate of Potash= Don't mess with it, till you have advanced a bit in the hobby. Reason? If you ever used it on your base and planted a plant like sword/crypt/lily, you cant uproot them in atleast a year,if you do the most horrid algal plague will occur in your tank.

I still don't know what exactly is Bhalo Mitti. Any idea from where it can be bought.

And also instead of sand can we use the broken small pieces of that red brick? would that suffice or sand would still be required.

Bhaalu or Baalu mitti is specific for Karachi only...

Bhaal I think means river or water stream. Water department each year carries out 'bhal safai'(removes silt and sand from river bed), So Bhalo Mitti is basically river bed or water canal bed's sand.

Bhal is very different from Bhalu mitti...

excerpt from Wikipedia :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhal_region

"The word Bhaal (Gujarati: ભાલ) (Hindi: भाल) seems to have been derived from the Sanskrit word भाल which means forehead. Such a name is given to this region probably because it is mostly as flat as a forehead with almost entire region's soil without any stones, pebbles or gravel."

Our Bhalu mitti here in Karachi is also very fine without any stones,pebbles,rocks or gravel .

Have you seen bhal in real?

Bhaalu mitti is one that is used in typical plants we keep at our houses. U can easily get it from any nursery

Hello every one.

I just joined the forum I like aquariums with natural plants and grass on base of aquarium now i decided to make one for my home.
Please guide me how can i setup my first aquatic aquarium.

Thanks.