Mini 3 litre Tank

[joydiv]

Just to share. Started as an experiment on the Dry Start Method. Did not experience any melting of the Japanese hairgrass after conversion.

Filterless.

[davescube]

can tell us more??

[joydiv]

Its 3 litre, with ADA amazonia. In an aircon room, so the temperature is around 22 to 24 degrees. It shares a 72 watt lighting with a 1.5 feet tank.

Only cherry shrimps in the tank.

[davescube]

do you need to do waterchange?
I see there are 3 layers substrate? what are those?

[aquaSynthesis]

Awesome...

[joydiv]

The 3 layers are
Bottom - Peat
middle - Zeolite chip - remove smell
Top most - ADA Amazonia

Water change when I feel like it and in small qty, if not top up with RO water.
So far so good.

[YiDaLi]

The 3 layers are
Bottom - Peat
middle - Zeolite chip - remove smell
Top most - ADA Amazonia

Water change when I feel like it and in small qty, if not top up with RO water.
So far so good.

Awesome indeed! By the way, what do you mean by RO water bro joydiv? I also notice no filtration in your mini set up..

[joydiv]

Ro - Reverse Osmosis. Meaning has most of the mineral removed.
Yup there is no filtration.

One thing about DSM I notice is temperature. Cooler tends to have more success, at least in my case.

[cyberkid2]

hey....i wanna do something like this too. It's beautiful! However, I have one question. Do mosquitoes breed in stagnent waters like these? That's my main concern.

[joydiv]

Hmmm, there is a chance that they will breed i am sure but if U can keep the temp low, it shld be alright I think. So far no larvae found.

[Captain Telecredible]

Hi..... Very interesting scape indeed! Thanks for sharing. By the way, are those cherry shrimps babies or full grown cherries ?

Cheers!

[joydiv]

They are full grown, so far kept it alive for around 3 weeks.

[feide]

very nice! so tempting to keep one in my office.
filterless - no power consumption, maybe can convince boss..
do you use excel or other fertilizers?

[Trisaro]

Wonder if placing such setup beside the window will work ? Don't think I can setup an artificial light but got plenty of sunlight from my office windows. Hmmm...if can work will give it a try. Thanks for sharing!

[joydiv]

I do not dose any fertilisers. When I first set it up, I use some base fert, those tablet types in the substrate. Guess most of the plants I use feed through the substrate and not the water column.
Beside a window might work, guess as long as there is a source of light plants will be able to grow.

[gemo82]

Very nice setup!!

Using zeolite chips is a smart way to prevent ammonia spike in a small container, especially when water change is not frequently performed. However, zeolite can only be active for a limited period. Having it in the substrate means that it cannot be easily taken out to change.

Using ADA soil and peat underneath, I wonder what is the pH of the water in there? Is it consistant or does it gets lower and lower without water change? I am also interested in setting up a small filterless tank like this, but am not sure what substrate to use to help in maintaining the pH.

[joydiv]

I do not intend to change the zeolite. I use them as a way to absorb nitrate for the initial setup phase.
The ph of the water is around 6 to 6.5. It's quite consistent as the volume used was low so i guess the ph should go up and up instead of down.
U can try used ADA soil which should maintain a more stable ph but for me I just love ADA soil.

[gemo82]

Sorry for my ignorance, but why will the pH go up and up? Does zeolite raises pH? (Think I read on the packaging for a box of zeolite that it will help to buffer pH, but I did not understand how)

Will it stop its pH buffering capacity and the pH dip downwards again?

[joydiv]

Sgp tapwater ph should be higher than 7 in most places. So as you top up water, the ph should go up.
There really is no need to worry too much about ph in such a small system as I dont think its practical to keep any fish. Most plants do well in a wide range of ph, from 6 to 8.