# Poll: what level of tech do you have/prefer?



## Wolf6 (6 Dec 2021)

The discussion of high tech vs low tech regularly returns (not in a negative way thankfully). This got me wondering as to the ratio of users on this forum. Do you have high tech, low tech, both, or some sort of fusion or neither?


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## Wolf6 (6 Dec 2021)

Cast the first vote myself, I have 2 high tech (defined by using co2) and one low tech. Both kids have a low tech tank too.


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## dw1305 (6 Dec 2021)

Hi all, 
"Low tech / No tech" <"really for me">. 

cheers Darrel


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## NotoriousENG (6 Dec 2021)

Only one tank right now and it's high tech

Sent from my SM-G970U1 using Tapatalk


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## Wookii (6 Dec 2021)

One high tech (though technically more 'mid-tech') one low tech. I suspect all future tanks for me will be 'mid-tech' - not an official term I know, but by that I mean lower light (via dimming or heavy surface plant cover), longer (12 hour) photo period, with a little CO2 addition to aid plant growth (but aiming for less than the standard 30ppm).


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## Wolf6 (6 Dec 2021)

Wookii said:


> One high tech (though technically more 'mid-tech') one low tech. I suspect all future tanks for me will be 'mid-tech' - not an official term I know, but by that I mean lower light (via dimming or heavy surface plant cover), longer (12 hour) photo period, with a little CO2 addition to aid plant growth (but aiming for less than the standard 30ppm).


Same, I found that fish seem happier/more active that way, and fish are the main attraction for me


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## Wookii (6 Dec 2021)

Wolf6 said:


> Same, I found that fish seem happier/more active that way, and fish are the main attraction for me


 Same here - I know this is UKAPS and all, but the plants are kind of the support act to some extent for me - though I love them too, its the fish that are front and centre!


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## anewbie (6 Dec 2021)

One thing that bothers me about both my hi-tech tank is eventually over time they get large areas  of bba; the low tech tanks also get bba but not nearly as much and sometimes not at all. All tanks are well established (3 of them 3 years 2 of them 18 months) so i've had a bit of time to experiment. i realize that i'm not doing things 'right' since we see all these wonderful bba free pictures but my tanks get clumps of bba here and there (my hi-tech tanks are 120gallon and 40 gallon which i think are more difficult to uniformly balance than smaller tanks). The low tech tanks are 29 29 and 5 and the 29 really grow well (ignore the lousy landscape):











With regards to bba i've found that even shading from plants above can trigger bba on plants below which is quite frustrating.


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## Conort2 (6 Dec 2021)

Wookii said:


> One high tech (though technically more 'mid-tech') one low tech. I suspect all future tanks for me will be 'mid-tech' - not an official term I know, but by that I mean lower light (via dimming or heavy surface plant cover), longer (12 hour) photo period, with a little CO2 addition to aid plant growth (but aiming for less than the standard 30ppm).


This is the option I go for too. Fish are always going to be the priority for me. I keep my lighting quite low now with a low amount of co2 . Now I’ve sorted my inconsistent co2 it seems to be doing the trick. 

Cheers


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## Angus (6 Dec 2021)

I voted low tech but i would call the fact I'm using Amazonia cheating really... I did do a tank with only sand and dosing ferts to the water column, it did very well and was going for over 2 years with no co2, part of the reason i stopped co2 was i was gassing out my shrimps and stuff, trying to get the bps/ppm right without an expensive reg and a decent needle valve was almost an impossible task, if I did a plants only tank I would consider using the fire extinguisher I've got stashed.


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## MichaelJ (6 Dec 2021)

Low-tech for me...  I like the term low-energy better btw., because that is really what it is.  Low-tech sounds like we are heating our tanks with a candle underneath and occasionally stir up the water with a spoon


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## Angus (6 Dec 2021)

MichaelJ said:


> Low-tech for me...  I like the term low-energy better btw., because that is really what it is.  Low-tech sounds like we are heating our tanks with a candle underneath and occasionally stir up the water with a spoon


Me put water in box! ugh ugh!


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## The grumpy one (6 Dec 2021)

I would say low tech. But as I dose Dennerle Carbo Elixir BIO I am not sure so I said "neither"?


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## tacy k (6 Dec 2021)

I voted high tech because I do have CO2 but nominally I suspect in a 100 gallon tank. But lots of floating plants and 'easy' plants in gravel. (it would definitely be low tech if it weren't for the CO2)


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## MichaelJ (6 Dec 2021)

The grumpy one said:


> I would say low tech. But as I dose Dennerle Carbo Elixir BIO I am not sure so I said "neither"?


Thats a problem... I kind of suspect the poll is supposed to reflect whether your injecting CO2 or not, or do both... Personally I do not consider dosing liquid carbon being "high-tech", but that wouldn't be left to opinion if the question would have been specific to CO2 injection or not.


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## Angus (6 Dec 2021)

MichaelJ said:


> Thats a problem... I kind of suspect the poll is supposed to reflect whether your injecting CO2 or not, or do both... Personally I do not consider dosing liquid carbon being "high-tech", but that wouldn't be left to opinion if the question would have been specific to CO2 injection or not.


I would also not consider dosing Glut as low-tech either...


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## MichaelJ (6 Dec 2021)

Angus said:


> I would also not consider dosing Glut as low-tech either...


Haha! Oh, so your cheating as well? Yeah you see what I am saying... Now we are arguing what low-tech vs. high-tech actually means...


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## Wolf6 (6 Dec 2021)

The grumpy one said:


> I would say low tech. But as I dose Dennerle Carbo Elixir BIO I am not sure so I said "neither"?


I would say that is low tech


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## KirstyF (6 Dec 2021)

MichaelJ said:


> Haha! Oh, so your cheating as well? Yeah you see what I am saying... Now we are arguing what low-tech vs. high-tech actually means...



😂 of course we are. 
Specificity in the parameters of the query required otherwise…..any excuse for a good old debate. 👍

I’m running Co2 so automatically high tech as far as I’m concerned…..but I’m currently running low light so….. 🤔 but might well increase it later 🤔 perhaps there should be an ‘undecided’ button. 😂😂


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## The grumpy one (6 Dec 2021)

Maybe we need to come up with more categories:

Low tech low light
Low tech
Tech
High tech low light
High tech high light


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## MichaelJ (6 Dec 2021)

KirstyF said:


> 😂 of course we are.
> Specificity in the parameters of the query required otherwise…..any excuse for a good old debate. 👍


Yep! Cuz there are noting more educating than debates where no one agrees on the definition of what is being debated... 


KirstyF said:


> I’m running Co2 so automatically high tech as far as I’m concerned…..but I’m currently running low light so….. 🤔


I think injecting CO2 and keeping the lights low is what _Wait What?_ is for


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## KirstyF (6 Dec 2021)

MichaelJ said:


> I think injecting CO2 and keeping the lights low is what _Wait What?_ is for


😂😂 Hey the tank is brand new and I like to hedge my bets! don’t worry I’ll probably get around to blasting it with photons like a good high techer at some point…..and then dropping it back some when I have to trim daily and/or peer through the algae to see my fish…hopefully to eventually find the zen of my tanks happy place. 😊


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## MichaelJ (6 Dec 2021)

KirstyF said:


> Hey the tank is brand new and I like to hedge my bets! don’t worry I’ll probably get around to blasting it with photons like a good high techer at some point…..


That is a very sound strategy 👍 - start lower...  not doing so is probably a good reason why CO2 beginners often gets into all sorts of trouble with CO2.



KirstyF said:


> or peer through the algae to see my fish…


... and if that happens you know why


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## shangman (6 Dec 2021)

I'm still undecided on this question to be honest, I really like both and I think equally. 

Lowtech firstly is just SO much easier in terms of maintenance for me, especially because I do prefer to use at least 50% rainwater in my tanks. It's a more chill way of doing things.
There are also so many great niches of it to experiment with like blackwater, emergent plants/pond scape, a river/stream style that's just as interesting and good as high-tech and even just normal lowtech you can get a great look with all sorts of luscious plants. 2 of my tanks are lowtech. I can imagine I will always keep at least one, if not 2 lowtechs. And of course it's much cheaper. 

High-tech for me has been a massive learning curve and I found it really difficult to balance at  first, a big part being that I just don't have the money to get everything new and perfect. My budget is def more lowtech lol, If I was rich I would do a lot more of it and I'm sure it would be easier. I love the growth, variety and colour of the plants though and even though the maintenance is more extensive and rigorous I think I will always have at least 1 high-tech too. And of course the styles I said you can do in lowtech can be done in high-tech, you can p much do any style in high-tech which is great. Another downside to it is that I definitely get some more jumpers (especially shrimps) from high-tech than low, it's not common but it is downright rare in my lowtech. 

Idk I'm pretty evenly balanced, I just think we should all try them all out and experiment more, I'm sure there are more discoveries and styles to find out there that I'd love to see. In both styles you can make things like really natural if you want which really is my goal so I'm happy either way.


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## Courtneybst (7 Dec 2021)

Wookii said:


> One high tech (though technically more 'mid-tech') one low tech. I suspect all future tanks for me will be 'mid-tech' - not an official term I know, but by that I mean lower light (via dimming or heavy surface plant cover), longer (12 hour) photo period, with a little CO2 addition to aid plant growth (but aiming for less than the standard 30ppm).


Do you use low light plants in these environments?


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## Wookii (7 Dec 2021)

Courtneybst said:


> Do you use low light plants in these environments?



For the most part yes @Courtneybst - I probably should have caveated what I said with that point, low light and lower CO2 wouldn't suit some plants - I doubt I'd be able to grow Rotala Macrandra for example.


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## DeepMetropolis (8 Dec 2021)

I just love automation I'm a lazy maintainer. Only hi tech thing missing is fully automated water change system. If i was to get an new tank I would probably add that.


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## Wookii (8 Dec 2021)

DeepMetropolis said:


> I just love automation I'm a lazy maintainer. Only hi tech thing missing is fully automated water change system. If i was to get an new tank I would probably add that.



Man after my own heart lol . . . I have automated water changes on both my tanks, I could never go back to bucket or hoses now, far too few hours in the day 😂


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## ScareCrow (8 Dec 2021)

Wookii said:


> One high tech (though technically more 'mid-tech') one low tech. I suspect all future tanks for me will be 'mid-tech' - not an official term I know, but by that I mean lower light (via dimming or heavy surface plant cover), longer (12 hour) photo period, with a little CO2 addition to aid plant growth (but aiming for less than the standard 30ppm).


This is what I've been contemplating on doing just to speed up growth a little. How do you measure your CO²? I've thought of diluting the drop checker solution but that's more of a guide so do you look for a pH drop of less than 1pH?


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## Wookii (8 Dec 2021)

ScareCrow said:


> This is what I've been contemplating on doing just to speed up growth a little. How do you measure your CO²? I've thought of diluting the drop checker solution but that's more of a guide so do you look for a pH drop of less than 1pH?



I've kind of learnt to just rely on the drop checker. I just aim for a darker green than I would if I was running high light with lots of fast growing stems where I'd be verging on very light green. 

I have thought when I set up my next tank, which will be larger, and have to reset the CO2, I might dilute the standard drop checker solution with some DI water 50:50, and then aim for a medium green which would should be around the 15ppm mark.  To me that actual ppm or pH drop is less important when running lower light, or heavy surface plant covering, and more just getting a consistent level of CO2. Much like low tech, you have more time and room to manoeuvre and make adjustments when the tank isn't running on a high light knife edge.


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