Started as High Tech - Transitioning to Low Tech

[MaterialCrab]

I took my eyes off of the prize and wasn't paying attention to the plant health over the past 2 weeks. I was glancing at the tank but not really paying attention if that makes sense.

I wasn't dosing additional potassium and my plants have become quite poorly, some stems haves lost all leaves. The tank as a whole looks quite thinned out and I'm seeing some melt.

Should I trim everything right back down or leave it be and see how it goes?

 

[bazz]

Hi,
As well as a deficiency there appears to be quite a lot of detritus built up on the leaves. For starters I would get in there and trim off any dead or decaying plant matter, have a good hand waft about/manual swirling of the plants and then water change ensuring any detritus on the substrate surface is removed disturbing it as little as possible. Repeat this process several times and also review your fertilization regime. What exactly does this consist of at the moment and do you have a FTS? It appears to have deteriorated quite quickly.

 

[MaterialCrab]

It appears to have deteriorated quite quickly.

You are telling me lol. I was shocked when I looked at it properly.

I've also noticed that I don't really have the snail population that I once had. They all seem to have disappeared as well. I also can't see that many Amano Shrimp, I don't know if they are hiding or something has happened to them?

No fish deaths, I may be new to plants but fish and water parameters I'm good with. I check my ammonia, nitrites and nitrates weekly.

As for fertilizer, I switched to EI, a weekly dose provides:
20ppm nitrate
2ppm potassium phosphate
1ppm FE
2ppm magnesium
3ppm sulphate and trace elements (this part is vague but the instructions are in Danish.)

I do a 40% watch change weekly, like clockwork every Friday night.

What does FTS mean?

I feel I'm going to need to take these stem plants out, they really have suffered an amazing amount of shed.

Mainly the Hygrophila and crypt, everything else seems fine.

 

[hypnogogia]

What does FTS mean?

Full Tank Shot - photo of the whole tank.

 

[MaterialCrab]

Full Tank Shot - photo of the whole tank.

Ah ok.

I took these just now.

Doesn't look too bad as a full shot, it's when you get up close you can see the damage

 

[bazz]

I suspect flow and distribution to be the main culprit here, have these problems arisen since reverting back to using the duck bill outlet? Could also be due to the plants growing in restricting flow. Looking at that BBA I would imagine there's a build up of organics too, I assume you are regularly maintaining your filter. As said above, I would just remove any dead or dying plant matter have a good waft around while doing a couple of back to back water changes and maybe consider a powerhead to assist flow, if feasible.
1 ppm Fe is double the amount of full EI, I would knock that back to at least 0.5 if not more. I'm no expert in this field but I believe you can poison plants giving them too much.
Cheers!

 

[MaterialCrab]

I suspect flow and distribution to be the main culprit here, have these problems arisen since reverting back to using the duck bill outlet? Could also be due to the plants growing in restricting flow. Looking at that BBA I would imagine there's a build up of organics too, I assume you are regularly maintaining your filter. As said above, I would just remove any dead or dying plant matter have a good waft around while doing a couple of back to back water changes and maybe consider a powerhead to assist flow, if feasible.
1 ppm Fe is double the amount of full EI, I would knock that back to at least 0.5 if not more. I'm no expert in this field but I believe you can poison plants giving them too much.
Cheers!

I never thought of the duck bill... My spray bar became faulty and awaiting a replacement for it under warranty. Very good call out!

I've actually come to the conclusion that high tech is not for me at this present time. But I'm going to switch to low tech, I love planted tanks so I'll move into more low light plants like ferns, I'm gradually reducing CO2 and I've lowered the light intensity as well.

When I started this journey I wasn't expecting the amount of maintenance and tinkering to get things perfect. I think low tech will be more up my street.

 

[MaterialCrab]

The transition to low tech has begun.

I've pulled the plug on CO2, added an air stone and did a 50% water change. Removed all the damaged stem plants from the right side of the tank and added in some Amazon Swords.

Light intensity has been reduced to 50% and photo period increased to 11 hours.

From the reading I have done, low tech tanks need a longer photo period with less intensity.

I'll monitor for Algae.

Also going to do a rescape and add plenty of ferns, some buce and sagittaria.

The aim for this project is a jungle style aquarium.



More photos to follow over the coming days.

 

[Laoshan]

This looks great already! A more natural vibe. You can ceremoniously remove the drop checker now 😂

 

[MaterialCrab]

This morning I came down to loads more shed and decided to remove all damaged plants. I don't want to deal with constant water changes through build up of decaying plants.

My tanks is a shell of its former self but we will get back on track.

 

[MaterialCrab]

Excuse the the stains on the glass, it's still a work in progress.

Does anyone have experience with Vallisneria? Worth it or too invasive??

 

[hypnogogia]

Worth it or too invasive??

Worth it, especially in low tech where it won’t grow quite so fast.

 

[MaterialCrab]

Layout is complete, plenty of Ferns, Anubias, Sagittaria, some crypts, some Amazon Swords in the background and my moss log which I was going to get rid of but once I had it in hand, I spotted at least 10 cherry shrimp which shouldn't be there, they must have hitch hiked in a bag or some plants.

 

[MaterialCrab]

The updates will become less frequent as I know tank progress will be pretty slow.

I'm extremely happy I started my journey using high tech equipment because I would have always had that voice in my mind asking was I truely happy with low tech, the answer to that is an astounding yes!

Very little algae, plants look happy, I get to enjoy my tank for more hours during the day and I'm excited about the long term, seeing how it progresses monthly rather than weekly.

My current schedule is as follows:

Photo period: 11 hours at 50% intensity
Fertz: EasyLife Profito (Micros) and Potassium, I dose potassium every other day, just a wee slosh.

Water changes are still 40% weekly BUT I also now ruffle the plants to clean them off which I stupidly wasn't doing before.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

the answer to that is an astounding yes!

Very little algae, plants look happy, I get to enjoy my tank for more hours during the day and I'm excited about the long term, seeing how it progresses monthly rather than weekly.

I think a lot of people enjoy the initial buzz of high tech., but realise that low tech. <"can be just as satisfying"> and much <"easier to manage"> when life intrudes.

This was about ponds, but the same applies to tanks.

I think of it a bit like planting a hedge in your garden. If you plant Leyland Cypress (Cupressus x leylandii),

• six months later you have a hedge, and
• six years after that you have a row of <"fairly substantial trees"> that you can't prune, or
• you have spent a lot of time maintaining your hedge and that maintenance requirement is ongoing for ever.

If plant Hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) it takes longer to form a hedge, but after that it is all plain sailing.

cheers Darrel

 

[MaterialCrab]

I wasn't sure if I should post this in the Algae sub or not.

This could be a non issue, I've noticed over the last number of days some hair like algae on some of my ferns, it's not on all of them and it is quite small. The photo below is zoomed right in.

I have adjusted the lights to 30% with the same 11 hour photo period.

Does anyone have any idea what algae this is, and is this a non issue and to be expected on a low tech tanks?

 

[bazz]

Looks like BBA but could be staghorn if the fronds start branching. No one knows what ultimately causes it but organic waste and varying CO2 levels are two of the culprits often cited. Could have been triggered when you turned off the CO2.
I personally would cut those leaves off for starters, keep light at a sensible level and indulge in a bit of tank husbandry i.e. manual removal, water changes and syphoning out any organic debris. It really has no place in a well maintained low tech tank and should disappear in time with a bit of effort.

 

[MaterialCrab]

Thanks @bazz I appreciate the input. I do feel like my husbandry has been pretty optimal, large weekly water changes, ruffling the plants to ensure any debris is cleared from those, agitating the surface to syphon up debris.

I've reduced my light intensity from 50% to 30% so I'll see if that helps any.

As you mentioned it could have been from the transition of CO2 to non CO2. I've also but off all effected areas now.

I've been researching and I've come across the idea that large water changes on a low tech tank can cause fluctuations in CO2...I believe Tom Barr is an advocate of less to no water changes as part of his process. It might be the next avenue I take if things don't resolve.

Edit: through research I've also noticed that people running Hygger lights have noticed an increase in BBA, due to the lack of control of the light, for example now I'm running 30% but all leds are running at 30%, I can't modify that further and I don't know if this is accurate or not but blue leds are allegedly linked to more algae?

 

[bazz]

It appears you are doing everything correctly and I'm sure given time when the tank has matured and all the beneficial microbes have made an appearance things will settle down.

I've been researching and I've come across the idea that large water changes on a low tech tank can cause fluctuations in CO2...I believe Tom Barr is an advocate of less to no water changes as part of his process. It might be the next avenue I take if things don't resolve.

I totally agree with this for long term maintenance but would always default to a couple of large extra changes if any imbalances are encountered.
Anyway I'm just making conversation as to what I do, and as many people there are on this forum, you will probably have that many different replies.

 

[MaterialCrab]

It appears you are doing everything correctly and I'm sure given time when the tank has matured and all the beneficial microbes have made an appearance things will settle down.

I totally agree with this for long term maintenance but would always default to a couple of large extra changes if any imbalances are encountered.
Anyway I'm just making conversation as to what I do, and as many people there are on this forum, you will probably have that many different replies.

There never really seems to be a one size fits all when it comes to keeping fish / plants, everyone's experiences are different.

That's the fun of this journal, I'll try and keep it updated with everything that's going on.

Have you or are you currently running a low tech tank with little to no water changes?