Prototype - Planting in IOUS

[bravobb]

Purpose : 1) To have plants in the tank but not able to do so in Main Tank. 2) Also to create a natural filtering for biological and mechanical. 3) To minimum water changes and wool changes. 4) To enable fisk tank to be sustainable without maintenance for 1-2 months.

Last water changed : 14 Oct 2012... two months has passed.

Filter wool last changed : 04 Nov 2012..

Water top up : Fortnightly or weekly depending on water level.

Feeding : Auto feed pellets twice daily. Manual feed market prawn twice daily.

Currently testing in Cichlids Tank... no sign of trouble as yet.

[bravobb]

Log Entry 1:-
Yesterday measured PH using API and showing blue colour... so PH is around 8.0 - 8.5
Not yet performed any water changed.
No ammonia coming out from Aqua OHF as i do not see any bubbles.
Filtration used in IOUS mainly mechanical, and 3 layers of OHF all biomedia.

[bravobb]

Look like i miss out something important in order to create a sustainable environment.

Source: http://faq.thekrib.com/plant-survival.html
Trace elements are also consumed by plants.

Source: http://www.theaquariumwiki.com/Trace_elements
Need planted with soils to create trace elements.

Source : http://www.theaquariumwiki.com/Walstad
An example of sustainable fish tank that require little water changed.

[bravobb]

Initially i was hoping to use the fish waste accumulated in the wool as a soil substitute... but not sure how successfully it can be.
Introduce soils in the IOUS is a challenging tasks.

[jemswira]

Bro if i may give a suggestion, why not floating, easy to maintain nitrate-sponge plants, like hornwort and watersprite? In that way you won't really require a substrate, and also trace elements wouldn't be as needed, especially since they can grow and thrive in ultra-low tech tanks (like my own 8, sadly).

[bravobb]

Bro if i may give a suggestion, why not floating, easy to maintain nitrate-sponge plants, like hornwort and watersprite? In that way you won't really require a substrate, and also trace elements wouldn't be as needed, especially since they can grow and thrive in ultra-low tech tanks (like my own 8, sadly).

Bro, of course !
All suggestions and recommendations are welcome.
I am not familiar with these 2 plants... Let me google it... If you have pictures will be great in case i found the wrong.. You know the lfs normally do not name their plants...

[bravobb]

I think i got the pictures and saw them selling in lfs...
Will get some this weekend to try...
Thanks.

[jemswira]

Haha if I were you i'd go for the hornwort. For me I thought what I was getting was water sprite, when it turned out to be water wisteria. Also, the water sprite covers the surface of the water quickly so would require you to remove and trim constantly. The hornwort will at least grow downwards. However, I'm pretty sure that there are better options for plants. Try searching for different nitrate sponge plants. Those were the only two i knew that floated (still new here)

[bravobb]

water sprite and water wisteria look almost the same to me...

I just realised the hornwort could be dropping alot of leaf/stems.... will it be messy ?
Do you know the dropping frequency ?

[jemswira]

If there's a lot of agitation it might drop the leaves. It's not so much dropping leaves as it is fragile. If its going to be tossed around a lot then you might see more of the leaves. But for me it wasnt so much of a problem even with a powerhead so not too sure how you'll fare

[bravobb]

Because i will be using it in my IOUS... the water current is quite strong where main tank water get flush down into the compartment... something like a waterfall but not so steep... anyway.. no harm trying...

[jemswira]

Yeah no harm trying. Haha. Do report how it goes!

[bravobb]

Reporting now.... Added hornwort and a plant that look like water lily.... both are floating....
I saw thinking... look like quite crowded... but if the plants goes into the main tank... it is ok.. anyway.. the Cichlids will eat it !

[bravobb]

Just had a shower after a night event, while waiting for my hair to dry, so just want to do a quick update on what had happened earlier today.
The only discus is dead (reason could be due to PH, not enough food , or water quality)
In case the Discus death is due to PH or water quality issue, i have decided to do a water changed today (after 2 months, 15 days).
I also went to get a Pinpoint PH meter to monitor the PH continuously after changing water.
After water changed,
PinPoint PH meter : 7.23
PH pen : 6.5
Tetra Kit : 7.5 (colour between green and blue) (my earlier post is Tetra kit, not API)

In order to check which is more accurate, i use the PH pen on my feeder tank, it is showing 5.0 and Tetra kit showing yellow colour (5.0)
I guess all of them are accurate, maybe i did not test them properly.
So in order to bring up the PH for the Cichlid tank, i use the PH buffering... it takes a while... but eventually stablised at 7.99 on the Pinpoint meter.
Someone ever told me that plants will not survive well in high PH, so i do not want to push it any higher so i hope i can have a balanced PH suitable for both the plants and Cichlids.

Will update further if there is any.

[BFG]

Best is to get the ph calibration fluid for your ph meter to ensure accuracy. Read your ph meter instruction manual, you need to get 2 points of calibration fluid for your ph meter.

[bravobb]

Hi BFG,
The package comes with 7.0 and 10.0 calibration solution. I only use the 7.0 as told by LFS that 10.0 is for marine tank.
I have tested the PH meter and the PH pen and both showing 7.0 on the solution before i use it on the tank.

This is where i mount the PH meter.


I put the probe into the main tank to get accurate reading and also as i worry one day the IOUS will dry up due to not enough water...


I still got two other solutions i bought earlier for calibration next time. (not sure whether they have any expiry date)

[bravobb]

The hornwort seems to survive very well in the IOUS.
The rest has some leaves decaying...

[bravobb]

Water level in IOUS seems to be quite high, left about 1cm before overflow into main tank.
So, did a filter wool changed, today 02-JAN-2013, almost 2 months since last changed.
Decided not to use the fake magic clean filter to cover the sides in order to allow water to flow through better since now i have deployed plants.

This is the dirty wool removed... (first time the wool smell so good... strong plants aroma.. I can smell it while removing them and putting them in plastic bag and about 1 feet away from my nose.)


New wool and new placement of the plants... No new plants added... all are existing plants.


PH is now 7.95 (not sure before i changed the wool or after changing making the PH drops from 8.01)

Another cute thing i notice when i am changing the wool... one small white colour Cichlids was inside the IOUS.... (must be having fun inside.... cosy ? )

[bravobb]

The Snow Cichlid went into the IOUS again... seems to be hiding from someone...

This link will show the Snow Cichlid i am talking about.
http://www.fishlinkworldwide.com/fish/index.php?productID=402

[bravobb]

Accidentally bought the mini java fern.. wow... costs much more than normal fern...
So added the mini java fern and addition hornwort to the IOUS.... hope to see better results.
Also added 5 more small cichlids.... ... cannot resist their beauty and dirt cheap pricing...