# any supplements needed



## peter senior (25 Apr 2013)

Hi All
I have my tank set up and plants are arriving shortly
the base layer is john innes no3 capped with cat litter and gravel
I want to use riccia and some mosse,s (never tried them before) do i need to add anything extra to feed
them ? all advice and tips welcome
thanks Pete


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## peter senior (30 Apr 2013)

come on where,s all the experts???
somebody must have an answer for me, my riccia and my moss (willow) which was kindly given to me by one of the members
is in place in my tank, do they need extra feed or will they be ok as they are
thanks Pete


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## ceg4048 (1 May 2013)

Hello,
 Neither Riccia nor moss particularly care about what sediment you have. However, if the sediment leches nutrients into the water then they will be fed. It's very difficult to predict the future because no one could possibly know, for example, whether your tap water is already high in nutrients. We also do not know whether your lighting is too high. There is not enough information to predict anything.

Assuming therefore that your lighting is sufficiently low and that the sediment will leach nutrients into the water, we can assume that no additional supplementation will be necessary for the moment, but do not take this wager at your local William Hill gaming establishment.

Cheers,


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## sciencefiction (1 May 2013)

Read about Diana Walstad method and how a dirted tank like this can work to "naturally" provide nutritients and CO2 to the plants. The point of nutritient rich soils like this is that you dose less or very little/no nutritients in the water column itself and CO2 is delivered by the decomposition of debris in the soil itself providing you don't over aggitate the water surface to outgass it before the plants use it.
But riccia and mosses don't seem to be the right plants for a tank like this, at least not as the sole plants.
You may need some heavy rooters like echinodorus and cryptocorynes and some fast growing stem plants too.


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## peter senior (1 May 2013)

Hi Guy,s and thanks for replie,s
Ceg, the lighting is 2 T8 18watt, how long would i have the light,s on?
and sci-fi the tank also contains a good amount of plants echinodorus sag and stem plants
the riccia and the moss both seem to be growing ok so i think i will leave everything as it is and see how it progresses
thanks again Pete


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## peter senior (1 May 2013)

here,s a couple of pics if i can download ok


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## peter senior (1 May 2013)




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## peter senior (1 May 2013)




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## peter senior (1 May 2013)

That took some working out
riccia top willow moss bottom
Pete


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## ceg4048 (2 May 2013)

peter senior said:


> Ceg, the lighting is 2 T8 18watt, how long would i have the light,s on?


6 to 8 hours would be a good target for now.

Cheers,


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## peter senior (2 May 2013)

Thanks Ceg
Pete


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## Tim Harrison (11 May 2013)

My advice is to keep a weather eye on them. I've found that eventually - all things considered - that nutrients in the water column can become scarce after a while and you may need to supplement with nutrient dosing if you want to keep both happy. But it's no biggie, I've found that around 1-2mls of TNC complete 2-3 times a week works well for a 20 gal tank...upscale or downscale to suit your tank capacity.


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## peter senior (11 May 2013)

Hi Troi
thanks for input i,l get some TNC and have it on stand by
enjoyed reading your,e posts on low tech set ups
thanks Pete


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## frothhelmet (2 Jun 2013)

Yeah, I dose in my non-CO2 set-ups because some plants (like anubias) show deficiencies if I don't. Though I do operate at relatively high light intensities. a1matt used to able to not dose I believe on his low tech 160l (3 tube fluorescent) when he had an enormous fish population he was feeding daily (100+ boraras maculata, among others).


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