Reply With Quotemy moss tank. sorry about the horrible back glass.
http://indianaquariumhobbyist.com/ga...-2/neon800.jpg
Originally Posted by Foxtrotperv
Wow, how on earth does your tank not get dirty without water change? This is amazing stuff
I kept with less fauna that easy to maintain.
Be Truth To Be The Truth One
my moss tank. sorry about the horrible back glass.
http://indianaquariumhobbyist.com/ga...-2/neon800.jpg
How do you keep out beard and hair algae ?
its starting in my tank
these tanks look great
Tom
After abt 3 years of hiatus, i've recently started a 100gal tank, again. Not completely low tech as it has CO2 injection but certainly used a lot of low requirement plants.
Here's my 1 week old tank.
my 2 ft low tech.
quite messy in the centre as they are experimental planting with plant i got from a pond, those with big leaves with long thin stalks.
Last edited by minute_me; 31st Oct 2009 at 19:49.
I dose with KNO3. If you are just starting the tank start with lights on for 5hs.
What is the name of the plant that the shrimp is on?
What are your lights? Are you dosing ferts? What is your substrate?my 5x2x2ft
I would add KNO3 to the dosing regiment.
I think if you added organic charcoal to the substrate you would only need KNO3, Nitrogen and Excel.
This is a 4ft tank lined with gravel without base fertiliser and CO2. Plants are mainly ferns, some moss and lighting is 2x54W, Safer Electric brand in aquazonic housing(7000k) for about 8hrs per day. Filtration is overhead and dosing with FloraPride and Seachem Excel. Water change is 25% per week. Residents include 3 altums, 2 finger fish, 2 golden algae eater, 2 catfish like fish (one black one albino) and 2 corys. Setup is about a month old. But recently revamped about 2 weeks ago after severe finrot to the altums(2 casaulties)
Last edited by weary919; 5th Nov 2009 at 21:59. Reason: Photos retaken; change to plants and setup
it's pogostemon helferi or downoi.
Beautifull plant but the pictures show that the plant is in bad condition.
Not you personally, but in general:
Well, it can go either way, depends, some folks use sediment and enrich that.
So things like worm castings, or clay soils, ADA aqua soil or various similar nutrient rich(NPK) materials can be used, even osmocoat base+ sand caps.
Good fish loading also can supply most of the needed nutrients, really depends of how much, often the person cares for the fish loading.
One of the main tenants, and this applies to all planted aquariums, the aquariums are not algae free due to "limiting nutrients". This is true for CO2, Excel or non CO2 enriched systems.
Good plant growth is fairly easy to achieve with minimal dosing, the idea is not to over dose however, but to estimate at 10:1 or close, the rates of growth of a CO2 enriched system.
This way you can target, even under shoot it a tad to be on the safe side, without any issues.
The nice thing with non nCO2, if you do limit things little bit(not a lot) via your dosuing, there's very little penalty. If you mess things up at a 10X faster rate of growth like CO2 enrichment, then you run into 10X more trouble and need to respond 10X faster
This is the main management advantage to non CO2...........it's slower, requires less care, no water changes(well, say once every 3-9 months typically), slower growth= less demand by plants for nutrients, no CO2 to mess with, reasonable light adaption, virtually no algae, if the nutrients move around some, that's fine.
CO2 kills 99.99% more fish than anyone has ever done dosing nutrients.
I challenge anyone to provide statistics for aquatic planted tanks that show otherwise, folks kill fish daily with CO2 gas, I've never once, and I've been on line helping folks for what? 14 years now...........had anyone ever kill a single fish with KNO3 etc. I've never been able to find a single report of it as a matter of fact. Something we knew and could say like 160ppm of NO3 from KNO3 dosing alone that killed X species after a certain time frame and be sure of it.
Never.
CO2? Come on.
Freak out over poor CO2 use/management, it's toxicity etc, not nutrients.
I think many(not you personally, but in general) have their priorities and statistics, evidence on line etc, really confused and mixed up there.
Still, a weekly dose, or even 1x every 2 weeks is enough water column dosing. If you also use sediment feerts as well like ADA AS etc, then you should have even better results, sediment ferts make it even easier and a little shot of Traces etc once a week is ideal with that, maybe a little KNo3 after athe first few months and then on.
The sediments + water column make the method very easy, mosses do well with water column ferts, the roots species do well with sediments, this way you hit both locations, dosing is very easy, testing and water changes are nil.
Using both locations allows even better results over the long term.
This same idea applies to Excel and CO2 enriched systems as well.
Really depends on the type of growth rates and goals you have.
Then you pick a method.
Many pick a method based not of some logic, rather a myth(like excess nutrients = algae in planted tanks, more 20ppm of NO3 from KNO3 is bad for fish, shrimp etc). Then turn the other cheek and ignore the fact many kill fish with CO2 almost daily on forums.A bit of conflict I'd say with the reality and the observations in the hobby, it's plain to see.
Regards,
Tom Barr
Yea, some plants, and this is one of them, does better with CO2, and Excel might be a better option.
But you have to try it and see if it makes it.
Often times, some of the harder plants, will still do okay with ADA AS after a number of other species have established, say 5-6 months after the tank starts, then you can try the harder species. I've been surprised many times.
Regards,
Tom Barr
2 things might help extend the life of the sediments.I was told my tank might belong here...
It WAS a low-tech tank for about 7-8 years, only recently upgraded it with more bells and whistles. The plants have been this dense for many years already.
You can read more at my original thread here: http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...ad.php?t=57762
1: Water column dosing will, and should extend the life and any deficiencies that occur over time(say low N is the most common), so dosign some KNO3 often corrects issues. Traces once a week often helps a lot.
Moss and Riccia both should do okay if you do that.
BBA? Good old SAE's takes care of the BBA. You can also use Excel for a couple of weeks to kill it off.
But sediments + water column covers both bases, both locations of nutrients, and management is still easy with the water column dosing with non CO2. If you miss a week her eor there of water column dosing? So what, you have a long term back up in the sediment.
=> Redundant back up => Wise Idea. No risk, no algae, more species, and longer term results. You can re enrich sediments with soil, using water + soil = mud, add mud to ice cube tray=> freeze, add ice mud cube to locations under roots.
Easy, cheap etc.
Osmocost can be used and sinks well also, a larger turkey baster will suck up the osmocoat pellets, and then you squirt them deep into the sediment,s these last about 3-6 months adding NPK etc slowly over time.
You got options.
Regards,
Tom Barr
Regards,
Tom Barr
ADA 60 p for L046 Zebra plecos(8 in here), non CO2, no excel dosing.
Tank has not grown in obviously, but shall over time. The emergent growth has the benefits of plants, without algae, or CO2/dosing nutrient requirements.
The Bolbitus has done well, I did not think it would make it, but it has grown from small stumps and has 6 cm long leaves now. With time, this aquarium will blossom and fill in well. Trimming it a bit different. Water sprite grows very fast and is the main nutrient export. I also change the water weekly at about 40%. This unlike submersed planted non CO2 aquariums however.
The goal was more to have an aesthetic look, plants, large water changes for the rare $$$ fish, without any trade offs for the fish environment.
I can still see the fish under the wood, plants are very easy to care for.
When I have gone around looking at wood in natural places often, snags of wood sticking up would catch floating plants and grow out of the water just like this.
And
Fish are in there but hide.
100? CRS are also in there.
Bolbitus is growing without any CO2/Excel etc.
Regards,
Tom Barr
hI I was looking to get riccia from the fish store i go to and I heard riccia is horrible, can I have some opinions on the riccia which is on driftwood already and I have co2 system setup.
This is my planted discus tanks before the snails got to the Swords and Vals; and before the algae outbreak... about a month ago.
Got rid of the algae by adjusting the temperature to 30C (from 28C). Which is OK for Discus's ... but not some of the plants (like the Mayaca).
Introduced Zebra Loaches (Botia Stratia) -- per Tom Barr's suggestion (in some older post) -- which helped with the snail problem; but there are still snails present.
It's 1000 liters. 2.5m long.
I'll have to do a bit more planting to replace the dying plants; so it'll be a month or so more before it's back in the shape.
very nice tanks thks for sharing
I have a hair or bead algae problem starting. I am no plant expert ! I could really use some expert advice on how to treat or rid my tank of it. It can get horrible. I have a 90 gallon tank with a Marineland 360 filter. I use 1 Current light fixture with 2 bulbs 54 watts each. This fixture stays on for 10 or 12 hours per day. I also use a Coralife fixture with 2 bulbs,28 watts each. I only use this for maybe 6 hours per day. I thought using both might have helped the algae grow. I do not use C02. I tried using EXCEL to spot treat the air/beard algae. But I don't see anything happening. I would love to have my plants grow like you guys and gals. My tank appearance and my fish are my main concern. If I can't get it ( the algae ) to die I will go nuts I have Discus and Angels and a few other smaller fish in my tank. I saw that someone said to use Potassium sulphate. Where would I get that ? I guess I have a lot of reading to do here. Any help ? Thank all.
Tom,
Those are sexy tanks Tom Barr. Mind showing us a pic of how you place the plants? I can't visualise where the roots are.
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