Kasselmann book points

[budak]

Been going through the book in the bus and in bed... heheh

The English is noticably somewhat dense, which is a common feature of translations from German, which is a language where a multiplicity of complex ideas can be conveyed more economically than in Anglais.

Obviously she likes flower as lot, but two major points I can glean from the initial reading is:

Her stance that since most aquarium plants are NOT true aquatics (except those like hornwort, Najas, Hydrilla), root absorption of nutrients is paramount and water column fertilisation are in her words "no substitute for a nutrient-ruch substrate". Kasselmann suggests a nutrient-rich base with good aeration (substrate heater and Malayan trummpet snails recommended) and little organic matter (humus). If I remember correctly, this is rather contrary to the writings of the other high priestess - Walstad.

Intriguely, she devotes considerable time to preaching the value of oxygen as a limiting factor (e.g. lace plants), rubbishing another German "expert" who postulates the "low O2 high plant growth" hypothesis. One study she cites found bluegreen algae "completely terminated in a few cases" in planted tanks where O2 is artificially increased.

The role of temperature has been noted elsewhere (e.g. that Cabomba caroliania only thrives below 25C), and she provides comprehensive tables on individual plant light and temperature preferences.

Not as dry as Walstad, but not short of supporting data either. Certainly she often bemoans the dearth of scientific studies on the ecology, morphology and cultivation of aquatic plants (as well as their precarious existence in the wild), and this reinforces the feeling that despite the wealth of anedoctal data on the Net/APD, hardly any indisputable conclusions can be drawn from them. No easy answers then, but that's part of the fun too.

[DEA]

iirc, oxygen is a metabolic byproduct of bga
this could explain why high oxygen in the water will reduce the bga

[timebomb]

Kasselmann suggests a nutrient-rich base with good aeration (substrate heater and Malayan trummpet snails recommended)
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Hey, Budak,

If you want to try Kasselmann's recommendation of having good aeration in your substrate, there's another way. Undergravel heating cables won't work well if you are not using a chiller. As for Malayan trumpet snails, they do burrow but I seriously doubt they can create air pockets in the substrate.

A few years ago, when I setup my cube tank, I laid a layer of pumice stones at the base of the tank. I mixed the pumice with the base fertiliser before topping up the layer with gravel. I'm not hundred per cent sure if it works but you can see a picture of that cube tank on my website. Click on FAQ and then "Planted Tanks". I still have that tank and the pumice stones are still there. All these years, I hardly add liquid fertiliser into the tank but there has always been prolific growth. But take note that most of my plants are low-light plants.

Pumice is available in some nurseries. I remember buying them from one of the nurseries at the foot of Calcedott Hill. Pumice is some kind of lava rock. It's very bouyant and because of it's buoyancy, it will create air pockets in your substrate.

Loh K L

[budak]

Will file this in my mental cabinet for future application, thanks.

The other thought that emerges from the reading is the dreadfully deficiency of botanical and ecological studies in charting the range and habitats of many popular aquatic plants. Many crypts, echinos, crinums, aponogetons etc seem have established themselves in the hobby but nobody knows where they were first discovered... or perhaps they existed in only ONE locale which has been bull-dozed over now - like that fine-leaved Ludwigia inclinata site Kasselmann found and lost.

Was talking to some folks in a LFS and the idea I got was that to "lay" persons, one stream or river, or forest or jungle is as good as another. No difference between the sterile ponds in Bishan park and the pristine hill-streams of Borneo, so what's the big deal about them? That's biodiversity for folks here.

[cks]

hi timebomb,
why do you say that under gavrel heaters won't work unless you have a chiller ?
imo they are supposed to generate heat and the water that is warmer will eventually rise to the surface and the surrounding water that is cooler will occupy the space vacated by the warm water thereby creating a continous circulation of water .
the chiller is theere to make sure that the water in your aquarium remain constant .
of course it would be ideal if you have a chiller .
this is just my deduction .

[bclee]

cks, in most of our tanks the water temperature is >27°C. This is usually due to the lightings we have and the already high ambient temperature.

That means to get a water circulation, you got to have to set the heater at higher than 28°C to get the heater to kick-in in the first place. The water tempature will rise quickly to the set temperature and the heater cut off.
With the high ambient temperature and the heat from the lights, the water cool very slowly and it will take quite some time before the heater kick-in again. Therefore, the heater is seldom on unless you are setting the temperature very high. The other way of course to have a chiller to have any significant circulation.

BC

[budak]

Kasselmann also points out (with a comprehensive table) that the vast majority of aquarium plants will thrive optimally at a temperature range of 25-27C. Beyond this plant assimilation (of light and CO2) dips. My own experience with installing a fan unit to reduce the temp from 30C to 26C has been extremely positive.

[loupgarou]

on pumice, imo, any oxygen in there would be quickly consumed,. and the pumice being porous will be water logged. it'll become anaerobic, probably acting like a plenum in a marine tank. (ie: will break down nitrates).

[FC]

In my opinion, since pumice is porous, it perhaps help to hold more water at the deepest points of the gravel. That might help more water movement through natural convection.

[Vican]

So, how to increase the O2 content of the tank?

I'm quite stumped as to the low photosynthetic rate of my tank.
CO2 injection of 1 bps. for a 5' tank.
I've been dosing Dr Mallic's Lushgro micros, K2SO4 and MgSO4(less frequent)

Tank is about 1.5W/gal. I've tried increasing the light, but all that resulted was green spot algae on the glass and the formation of bba on the driftwood.

As a matter of fact, just changing 2 tubes from Osram Fluora to Hitachi EBT caused slightly more algae on the driftwood and even the vals at the surface

Any idea on how to improve the conditions of my tank?

PO4 is at 0.25ppm
NO4 is at 20ppm
before the weekly water change
I'm using the taiwan spinning bioball reactor (the 3 section long version)

[Allen_1971]

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On 1/4/2003 11:21:54 AM

cks, in most of our tanks the water temperature is >27°C. This is usually due to the lightings we have and the already high ambient temperature.

That means to get a water circulation, you got to have to set the heater at higher than 28°C to get the heater to kick-in in the first place. The water tempature will rise quickly to the set temperature and the heater cut off.

With the high ambient temperature and the heat from the lights, the water cool very slowly and it will take quite some time before the heater kick-in again. Therefore, the heater is seldom on unless you are setting the temperature very high. The other way of course to have a chiller to have any significant circulation.

BC
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BC,

thats not true... the undergravel heater doesn't have a built in thermostat... so it doesn't cutoff and on. It will only do so if you have a controller attached like dennerle boden-fluter...

[vinz]

Victor,

What's your KH and pH, and thus CO2, levels?

[David]

hi allen

thats true to what you mention....all my tanks' substrate heaters are controlled by the duomat and its happyly working in conjuction with my AC fan regulating the temp between 27C and 28C

[roy]

Vican, I'm not an expert by any stretch of the imagination. I applied everything that I've read in this forum and elsewhere. Previously, I had a 3.5 ft tank with conditions quite similar to your present predicament.

Recently, I've set set up a 5 ft tank. Initial first few days, the tank was being lighted by 6x36 watts PL unit. Nothing much happened and I attributed the situation to low lights of 1.8 wpg and that the plants are still establishing themselves.

A few days back, I added 2x150 watts of MH lights. Nothing much happened again but the tank sure looked a lot brighter. I started cracking my head to figure out what went wrong. So, I went thru a process of eliminations.

First, I cut down as much surface turbulence as possible by directing the canister filter output into the tank rather than close to the surface. Surface turbulence reduced dramatically. The only surface movement is now limited to one small corner fom 2 DC fans.

Second, I followed the pH/KH/CO2 chart to the letter. After taking my pH and KH reading, the result showed low CO2. So I pumped up the output of CO2 from 2-3 bps to 5 bps. When I took another reading today, my tank showed optimal CO2 level of 10-25 ppm.

After the first and second eliminations, my plants were photosynthesizing (bubbling) quite nicely this afternoon. For the sake of further tweaking, I removed the frosted glass panels from the MH units and that improved the intensity of lights visibly.

When I checked my tank before lights-out tonight, every single plants were bubbling and flowing towards the surface from everywhere. Also, most leafs in the tank were completely covered with bubbles.

The above-mentioned happened for the first time today and I'll see whether the same happens tomorrow after lights-on. As you can see, much tweaking were involved to see dramatic improvements. Maybe you should deduce what are the possible factors hindering poor performance than tweak accordingly. As for algae, I'm keeping my fingers crossed and hope it doesn't strike me down.

My 2 cents worth,
Roy

[DEA]

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On 1/4/2003 2:18:25 PM

on pumice, imo, any oxygen in there would be quickly consumed,. and the pumice being porous will be water logged. it'll become anaerobic, probably acting like a plenum in a marine tank. (ie: will break down nitrates).

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CONFIRM + GUARANTEE~!!

[Vican]

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On 1/5/2003 2:19:32 AM

Victor,

What's your KH and pH, and thus CO2, levels?
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My KH is kept at 3-4. pH & CO2 level not known, but I use the JBL CO2 permanent CO2 indicator and it shows that I have the correct amt of CO2. pH should be slightly acidic.


Roy,
Actually, the difference is in MH lighting. If I can, I would also prefer MH. But because it's an aro tank, open concept tanks are out.

[bclee]

Allen, if the heater is not connected to a controller, how can I control the tank temperature? Is it advisable to just use the heater without any form of controller? I don't feel safe.

BC

[DEA]

bc
i don't think there is anyway to control the temp without using a controller or sorts, regardless of whether you're using an undergravel heater or not
some people just use fans whenever the heater is on and others invest in a chiller
the chiller will allow you to keep the temperature at a desired level even when using an undergravel heater
if not, you'll have to accept the temp increase

however
what i used to do was to use a timer with the heater, and alternating on-off periods
this would bring the temperature down slightly
i'm not sure about the contraindications of such a practice, but i imagine it wouldn't be healthy for the heater

[Allen_1971]

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On 1/6/2003 8:34:49 AM

Allen, if the heater is not connected to a controller, how can I control the tank temperature? Is it advisable to just use the heater without any form of controller? I don't feel safe.

BC
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BC, don't get confused... there are heaters for tanks, and there are undergravel heaters. They serve different purposes. Heaters for tanks have built in thermostats and serve the main function of heating the water. Undergravel heaters (which was what I was talking about) are just heating cables with no built in thermostat (at least for the models I know off). The thermostat itself can be bought as a seperate accesory... however, I think it unnecessary. Even if you leave your undergravel heater on 24/7, I doubt you will get more than a 1 degree increase in your total water temp.... thats because it isn't designed to heat your entire tank. Its designed to cause a slight temperature gradient between your tank water, and the substrate. So no matter what your tank temp (be it hot of cold), the addition of an undergravel heater will cause a difference in the temp of your substrate and water.

[bclee]

So I see...

Thanks, man!

BC