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Low-tech aquarium...Update

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Re: Low-tech aquarium

I've read some pretty good reviews about All Pond Solutions and their tec. I've brought a few things from them as well and found their customer service second to none. So I should imagine the filters will work well. Looking forward to the photos.
 
Re: Low-tech aquarium

Troi said:
Hi I use my own formula, which is a blend of 20% sterilised loam, 10% grit and 70% Sphagnum Moss Peat. The aim is to provide a nutrient level just high enough to aid good plant growth but low enough to prevent excessive release of nitrate etc.
Click to expand...

I'm intrigued by your soil formula - I might give it a try when I next set up my main tank.

I usually use John Innes no.1 for seeds and cuttings as my soil layer which is only about 25% peat. I can get harder to grow plants like P.helferi to grow but not Lilaeopsis - I assume that is Lilaeopsis as your middle foreground plant?
Also is that Hydrocotyle you have growing in the foreground in the 1st pictures? I didn't notice in the later pictures how did you find it in your set up did it grow much?

How long do your scapes/soils last? I found with mine a slight drop off after about a 1.5 yrs where I started to find growing some foreground plants more challenging.
 
Re: Low-tech aquarium

I can get harder to grow plants like P.helferi to grow but not Lilaeopsis - I assume that is Lilaeopsis as your middle foreground plant?
Also is that Hydrocotyle you have growing in the foreground in the 1st pictures? I didn't notice in the later pictures how did you find it in your set up did it grow much?

How long do your scapes/soils last? I found with mine a slight drop off after about a 1.5 yrs where I started to find growing some foreground plants more challenging.
Click to expand...

Hi
Well spotted on both accounts, yep that is Lilaeopsis and Eleocharis ssp. in the foreground, and it is growing quite nicely despite taking a hammering by being moved frequently. It hasn't really had chance to get established yet and put down roots, but it keeps putting out runners with little plantlets.

And yes the Hydrocotyle is missing, it was doing fine and kept on putting out new leaves. But I think it started to suffer from all the moves I put it through since some of the older leaves were starting to become covered in a fuzz of algae. But aside from that I didn't have room for it.

I have used peat on its own for years on end (in an Amazon biome) without any noticeable decline in plant growth, probably something to do with its high CEC and lots of well fed fish, but I haven't used any other combination for that long a period. I tend to get board easily and strip them down and set them up again afresh. I guess that's all part of the fun for me.

However, the soils I have recommended are largely composed of peat and/or have a high clay content with a naturally high CEC so they should retain enough nutrients to keep plants happy almost indefinitely. In other words, the rate of plant growth, though vigorous, should not be sufficient to outstrip soil nutrient replenishment. This should continue as long as water movement through the substrate is adequate enough to provide nutrient transference.
 
Re: Low-tech aquarium

Troi said:
I've read some pretty good reviews about All Pond Solutions and their tec. I've brought a few things from them as well and found their customer service second to none. So I should imagine the filters will work well. Looking forward to the photos.
Click to expand...

I haven't taken any yet, the water is crystal clear and the 3 accidentally added fish are happy. My aquascaping abilities are pretty much none existant. I've added sagitarria subdulata, rotala rotundifolia, Lilaeopsis Brasiliensis and am adding a few cuttings from the other tanks - mexican oakleaf, water sprite and hygrophilla polysperma, star grass.

Have you seen this tank before?
The guy uses cat litter & soil.

http://youtu.be/RbQWMnE2a6E

http://youtu.be/U4pZw-4lf4U
 
Re: Low-tech aquarium

Good news about the fish, I never doubted for one moment they would be fine. Sounds like you're getting there slowly but surely. Thanks for the link, pretty cool it reminds me of the Amazon biome I set up all those years ago, I pretty much left it to its own devices too, although I don't remember it being quite so luxuriant and wild as the one in the YouTube vids.
 
Re: Low-tech aquarium

Hi for the full enchilada check out the link below. It takes you to an article I've written about getting started with soil substrates, entitled "Zen and an Introduction to the Art of Underwater Gardening with Soil Substrate".

http://ssapa.webs.com/

It's only a blog and it's still in its infancy, but it's a start nonetheless; I will be adding images shortly. Anyway, I hope it helps; comments welcome by the way.

Troi
 
Re: Low-tech aquarium

Interesting read mate. I fancy another low tech approach.

If i may, I'd change garden centers to... garden centres. Bang it into 'word' :thumbup:
 
Re: Low-tech aquarium

Thanks for that, it hasn't been proof read yet so there's bound to be more of the same.
 
Re: Low-tech aquarium

Two more images, black background removed and plants trimmed a bit.

Trim2.jpg

Trim1.jpg

I think it gives a greater perception of depth.
 
Re: Low-tech aquarium

foxfish wrote:
However You are using high lighting because the pants are getting not only nutrients but a C02 supply from the substrate?
Click to expand...

I have been using very high light intensity and duration for a lower energy soil substrate tank, and until recently I've been getting away with it. However I have noticed, under very close observation, that over the past month or so several species of algae have started to creep in from the edges, so to speak. So I am aware that if I continue down this avenue I could be courting disaster.

In the absence of CO2 injection and eutrophic dosing, lighting is about the only parameter that I can vary in order to maintain a healthy equilibrium, so I made the decision today to take out one of the T5 bulbs, which leaves me with 1 x 24 watt T5. If my maths is right, which quite often it isn't, this has brought my watts per gallon down from a staggering 3.2 to a relatively shady 1.6.

I have left the photoperiod the same (10 hours with a 2 hour siesta in the middle) since I think its more favourable to growth to do so, and just changing one variable at a time makes it easier to diagnose any future problems should they occur.

I'll continue to keep a close eye on the algae and monitor what happens, and then maybe I can also alter the photoperiod if necessary.
 
Re: Low-tech aquarium

Troi said:
I've read some pretty good reviews about All Pond Solutions and their tec. I've brought a few things from them as well and found their customer service second to none. So I should imagine the filters will work well. Looking forward to the photos.
Click to expand...

Here are a few pics

Not sure what this was, I asked if I could have it for free seeing as it was all just about dead, this bit managed to survive and has thrown out some new leaves
2011_1210Troi0011.jpg

the mexican oakleaf was growing very weedy in the other tank (just cat litter substrate and EI dosing, it hardly seems to grow any roots and just gets more weedy but its now growing roots. It's suffering after being nibbled lots by the ameca Splendens and has some brown algae but hopefully it will do better now its growing roots. It was growing about 1" per day in the other tank.
2011_1210Troi0012.jpg

The water sprite looks happy, It has only been in there a few days but its standing upright. I grow tons of the stuff as a floater in my other tanks.
2011_1210Troi0008.jpg

the rotala is showing signs of life too
2011_1210Troi0010.jpg
2011_1210Troi0009.jpg

The hygrophila polysperma is a bit mixed, it was in a bit of a state after getting stuckk in the post but was doing really well in the cat litter tank but a bit mixed in this tank so far.

2011_1210Troi0005.jpg

some has melted
2011_1210Troi0007.jpg

this little bit had god roots and is really standing up
2011_1210Troi0014.jpg

I have quite a bit of brown algae on the leaves and have inherited a bit of green hair algae on some of the plants i bought too.
 
Re: Low-tech aquarium

Not sure what this was, I asked if I could have it for free seeing as it was all just about dead, this bit managed to survive and has thrown out some new leaves
Click to expand...

I'm no expert, though it looks like a hygrophila spp. I am sure they will all grow well once they have got their feet in to the soil.
 
Re: Low-tech aquarium

What is the reason for using john Innes no3 and not just soil from the garden? I know there could be potential risks with garden soil being contaminated with fertilizer etc but if you know its not had any fertilizer then wouldn't it be better to use garden soil?
Its just that I've used soil bought from garden centers in outdoor planters and the plants hardly grew at all but when using soil from the garden they grow well.
 
Re: Low-tech aquarium

I must say between this post and your blog I am truly inspired, reason for joining this forum was to find out more about setting up such an aquarium as the ones you have troi, and this has definitely answered a lot of questions(great blog) and given me the confidence to go ahead and know it works. The high tehc route wasn't really an option and to be honest didnt interest me, the Walstad did and this is quite simply the same principles, thank you

Expect possible Pm's in the future, I have few more questions but this has given me the kick start needed
 
Re: Low-tech aquarium

Hi all,
Not sure what this was, I asked if I could have it for free seeing as it was all just about dead, this bit managed to survive and has thrown out some new leaves.......I'm no expert, though it looks like a hygrophila spp.
Click to expand...
I think it is a Hygrophila sp. as well, probably H. corymbosa.
2011_1210Troi0014.jpg
I have quite a bit of brown algae on the leaves and have inherited a bit of green hair algae on some of the plants i bought too.
Click to expand...
Looks like Stagshorn (Compsopogon sp. A Red Alga) from the photo, I occasionally get a bit of it on older leaves, possibly related to lack of filter maintenance. Plants look a bit nitrogen deficient as well, you can see the leaves are getting smaller towards the apex, and the leaves are yellow all over rather than showing the interveinal chlorosis you would expect with magnesium or iron deficiency, you can see this on the Rotala.

<http://i1015.photobucket.com/albums/af279/stan73/troi/2011_1210Troi0014.jpg >
Are they Stan73's photo's?

cheers Darrel
 
Re: Low-tech aquarium

I filled the tank with water from a tank that I do EI doising on, I admit I don't keep up with the water change, i tend to do EI dosing for a week and then another week without adding anything before I get round to the 50% water change as I dont get the time. The plants in the other tank (the one I got the water from) don't grow much so I doubt they will absorb that much neutrients plus I feed the fish daily but only a couple of small cubes of cyclops, I have some krib fry in their at the moment.
Anyway I've just measured the nitrate level in the newly set up tank using an API test kit and its at the top of the scale at about 160ppm, in the tank that the water came from its at the top of the scale 160ppm. if the test kit is anything to go by I have too many fish with 2 kribs, 6 fry, and about 20 small live bearers in a 5'x24"x18" tank, i dont know?
 
Re: Low-tech aquarium

<http://i1015.photobucket.com/albums/af279/stan73/troi/2011_1210Troi0014.jpg >
Are they Stan73's photo's?

Yes they're my photos
 
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