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There shouldn't be an issue biologically, but the elastic band will lose its strength over time and eventually break apart in the water, so you'll just have to check periodically and change it out whenever required.Originally Posted by myhui
Sticky and Nutty in a Plastic Packet
I am assuming you are referring to rubber bands. If you are, technically, it is safe to use it. But do monitor if it breaks down every now and then.
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There shouldn't be an issue biologically, but the elastic band will lose its strength over time and eventually break apart in the water, so you'll just have to check periodically and change it out whenever required.
Yes I do mean rubber band.
Is there an alternative?
Can try using plastic zip ties or use nylon fishing lines to tie it... those will last alot longer than rubber bands.
Best would be to find those sponge guards that can fit to your pump intake, would be more reliable.
I removed a lot of hornworts from the tank, and replanted the newly purchased water wisteria along the sunward side of the tank to give them maximum chance to become the dominant plant. To do that, I had to remove most of the floating plants first. I'll put them back into the tank now.
I should have added water wisteria instead of hornworts from day one. Hornwort does not have an aggressive root system, and in fact can grow to great lengths without any roots.
I dumped the removed hornworts onto my backyard soil. When viewed from above, look at how much I removed! There was an earlier hornwort removal already, so this is the second batch to come out of the tank.
I'll add the two powerheads for improved recirculation after the water wisteria establish their roots. I'm afraid everything will be blown out of the soil if I add the powerheads now.
I made a "rooky's mistake" when I started this tank: I mixed the ADA Power Sand SPECIAL-M with the soil while both are dry, and then put them into the aquarium before adding water. I didn't realize you're supposed to keep them separate. So now I have soil that is not as compact as it should be. This should also mean the soil is more aerated than normal, and I thought that is good, as that's the other purpose of the sand. But "Aqua Soil- NEW Amazonia (9 liters)- Normal Type" is already aerated enough by itself (since it's a "professional mix").
Interesting... your setup actually uses quite alot of high quality pro stuff, like ADA Amazonia aquasoil + Power Sand Special M and glass lily pipes and even a real ADA brand tank. Its definitely not a low budget setup.
With all those nice equipment, i'm just curious why you decided to do a walstad "el natural" setup, rather than a proper planted tank setup.
Btw, i see 2 glass lily pipes in the photo, do you link them to pumps just to circulate the water? If so, why not just link them to canister filters to actually filter the water? It would make a huge difference in the tank environment.
The three remaining neon tetras love the new open space in the tank. They spent the whole evening zipping around the unobstructed top 1/3 of the tank. They must remember their old days in a non-planted tank at Pet Smart.With all those nice equipment, i'm just curious why you decided to do a walstad "el natural" setup, rather than a proper planted tank setup.
Btw, i see 2 glass lily pipes in the photo, do you link them to pumps just to circulate the water? If so, why not just link them to canister filters to actually filter the water? It would make a huge difference in the tank environment.
The connection is: outflow --> pump --> UV sterilizer --> inflow
It's not all high dollar equipment. The lily pipes are glass, but made in Hong Kong. They are slightly thicker glass than the beautiful made-in-Japan variety that ADA sells. The Hong Kong version sells for just a few dollars on eBay.
I haven't graduated to doing CO2 injection and external filtration yet. I've read that the biological processes happening in the filter can do bad things to the tank if any number of parameters go bad.
I'm having a tough time keeping algae and other things (like soil) clogging up the recirculation system. I don't even know if the UV sterilizer's glass walls are coated with something by now so it's no longer effective. I suppose the only way is to take apart the system and find out. But the tank does filter itself quite quickly.
I've read that people use "bio balls" in a sump-type recirculation system to maximize aeration. I'm open to making my recirculation system more sophisticated, but it has to be done in a scientific and incremental way.
Let's say I can do a high tech, and mid dollar, Walstad-style setup. Maybe that's my true aim. All it means is no CO2 injection and no external biological filtration, but a lot of possibilities are still possible given those two constraints.
I see... if you haven't run a filtered system before, then i'd highly recommend you to install an external canister filter.
You already have the lily pipes and hoses connected to a pump, so all you need to do is just connect them to a canister filter instead. A canister filter will contain various grades of sponges to trap waste, dirt and soil debris (so your tank water will be clearer) and the bio-media will vastly increase the surface area for beneficial bacteria to live in, help process ammonia and nitrite more efficiently and maintaining a more reliable tank cycle.
I've run both filtered and filter-less tank setups before, and in every attempt, the filter-less setup was definitely way more difficult to keep in balance compared to a filtered setup.
All the algae issues you experience can be better managed and minimized by installing a good quality filter and aquarium lights. With more control over the tank environment, you'll also have more control over algae growth. At the moment, you're really fighting a tough uphill battle without these basic equipment.
With filter and lights keeping the tank conditions stable, you shouldn't even need to use a UV sterilizer in the first place.
If you are thinking about a sump-type recirculation system, that would basically work like a sump filter and you'll need an overflow box or drill overflow holes in your tank for it to operate properly. That will already be moving past canister filters and advancing to sump filtration systems.
Co2 injection is an optional factor as its mainly used to artificially accelerate the growth of plants, its not necessarily an essential part of a healthy tank's eco-system... some livestock don't do well in Co2 injected environments too.
Sorry if i keep harping on the same things, but i just feel that its abit of a waste for your ADA tank with its high-clarity crystal glass to be all covered in algae and cloudy water, it would be nice to restore the tank back to its original clarity.
I do understand that you are interested to experiment with the walstad method (which sets certain restrictions and limitations which what equipment you can or cannot use), so you should still follow that method if its your original plan.
Well, I could have just run the tooth brush over the glass before taking the picture and it will look clear.
But there was a lot of tiny baby snails climbing up the glass.
So, being the animal lover that I am, I left the glass alone.
I do have an overflow box.
But Walstad's book mentions specifically not to use any type of biological filtration lest that interferes or competes with what the plants are doing.
Yeah, thats why i mentioned that if you want to strictly follow the walstad method... then just stick to the current setup, no need to change it.
I added a lot more water wisteria plants, and removed the drift wood that was taking up a lot of space in the middle of the tank. I hope the water wisteria will grow a lot of roots soon.
The first generation of snails are all dead now. The second generation is in full bloom, but none of them have grown beyond 7mm in diameter, and that worries me. The three remaining neon tetras are very happy, as they have a lot more space to swim in now.
The walls of the tank are dirty, so the pictures look bad. The pictures are hosted on photobucket, so you can click on them to get the full resolution version.
Looks like you have ample algae growth on the tank glass to support a few otocinclus fishes... maybe see if you can get 2-3 otocinclus from your favourite LFS, pick the healthiest and most active ones, do drip acclimation on them and then introduce into the tank.
They will have nice pot bellies feasting on all that algae film, and at the same time help clean up the tank glass too.
The good thing with your current setup is the algae will keep growing in abundance, so there will constantly be natural food generated for the otos.
I put in five 2cm long amano shrimps.
Over the past two days, they have been eating either the green hair algae or the left over fish food on the substrate.
I suppose you can't train the shrimp to just eat the algae.
But those little guys are sure keeping themselves very busy.
One of them likes to hang up side down on the roots of the floating plants to eat the algae stuck to the roots.
You can simply feed less or stop feeding for a few days, that will "encourage" the shrimps to focus on just eating algae in the tank. Anytime there is fish food available, shrimps will always prefer to eat it over algae.
Btw, if your amano shrimps are only 2cm size, those are juveniles ones. They can grow up to 5-6cm in size over time and thats when they become super effective algae eaters (larger shrimps = larger appetites).
I still have two very healthy neon tetras left. So I need to give them some food.
If the shrimp grow to be bigger than the fish, then that's a photo worthy moment.
In that case, just feed very tiny amounts and only enough that the fishes can eat all of it from the surface. Try to minimize excess food dropping onto the substrate.
Actually, with just 2 neon tetras in an established 2ft tank with soil substrate and lots of algae, you don't even need to feed them daily, just every few days will do. There should already be more than enough micro-fauna/critters (ie. detritus worms, nematodes, copepods etc) living amongst the plants and algae to naturally sustain and feed those 2 small fishes.
I sometimes skip feeding my fishes for up to 5 days in a row (usually when i'm away on an overseas trip), and they all still thrive and manage to hunt for enough live food in their tanks.
If they are amano shrimps, and if the tank conditions are good for them, they will eventually grow large. The oldest amano shrimp i kept grew to around 7cm size (it was transferred around different tanks for almost 2+ years, pretty hardy specimen).
But those neon tetras are so happy when they see the food, that it makes me want to feed them at least twice a day. Otherwise they are not very active unless they see food.
One of the shrimps scared me today. It was lying on its side, completely still. I thought it was long dead. But after a while it popped back up and looked just fine. It seems like these shrimps have no strong preference on which way is up.
Short video here of the upside down shrimps chomping on the algae attached to the floating plants' roots. (It's still processing ... once it's done, you'll be able to see the video)
Those shrimps are weird: their poop sticks to their butt as if it's an extension of their gut that runs the length of the body. Or is it a piece of overgrown intestine? I see this black tube extending beyond the tail of the shrimp.
Thats just poop that hasn't detached yet.
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