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DSM HC Clippings Tupperware! *****Week 4 Update

6K views 54 replies 21 participants last post by  mistahoo 
#1 · (Edited)
Today it was time to mow the lawn even though it's almost December and Minnesota is FREEZING! Who said you can't mow the lawn in late November anyways? haha!

>10" x 13" x 2" Platter
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>Eco-Complete Substrate Added
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> HC Clippings Added
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> Close Up
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> Plastic Wrap Sealed
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> ZooMed CFL Fixture With Two 13w 6,500K Bulbs
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>Close Up
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> Marley Is Curious About What I Am Doing! lol
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The substrate is over just over 1" deep and I filled the unit to about 1/2'-1/4" under the substrate using tank water.

Does anyone see anything wrong with this DSM setup?

Any comments/suggestions?
 
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#13 · (Edited)
nothing beneficial in eco-complete itself
I've heard that before as well but it is simply not true. See my tank journal in my signature.

> Listed nutrients on the from of the bag
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I love Eco-Complete and would recommend it to anyone. It a wonderful substrate and I have had nothing but positive results.

I will say however, Eco-Complete does not grow plaint like AquaSoil or Dirt but it does get the job done.
 
#17 ·
I spread the clippings across the top of the subtrate evenly and then the pressed down firmly to kind of imbed them into the substrate. That's it.

I've done an HC DSM with 1 year old Eco-Complete rinsed before and it worked well.
 
#24 ·
Its a standard fired clay substrate. It is much the same as terra cotta. Plants cant send there roots through the clay. Just the first small pores they attach to. After that the porous inner structure is too small to allow roots to reach, or for that matter water to pull nutrients out off.

If i were to make a clay pot, i could add in tons and tons of ammonia and phosphates and say that my pot would help grow any plant better than the competitors pot, but once the plant roots extract everything from the surface they can reach, the pot is still just a pot, but i can say its got 50000000 ppm of ammonia locked inside

This is prett much how flourite and eco complete work. The good news is they are able because of this to exchange cations allowing them to hold nutrients in the water, making them available for plantsr later on. So if u dont fertilize, when u feed and it gets broken down, and change water, the subsrate acts like a sponge and holds onto as much as it can thus maintaining consistent growth, this works out well in a low tech tank, but in a well fertilized tank, you'll never see this happen as plants can easily absorb nutrients from the water column
 
#25 ·
That's so interesting...

Another thing is Eco-Complete last forever, especially if its absorbing nutrients like wolf has explained above.

Other substrates like aquasoil become lose and no good after a couple years. Well, so I've read...
 
#27 ·
Floating HC farm.

I’ve been growing HC for the past few months in a small container filled with about ½ inch of potting soil and just enough water to cover the plants. I use the containers you get when you buy olives at one of the olive bars they have in the grocery stores. It is maybe an inch and a half high and has about a three inches radius. With only this small amount of dirt and water I find that the containers float and so I have taken to floating them in the corners of my grow out tanks. Once a week or so I dump the excess water and replace it. With only a small distance between the light and the plants and almost no water they grow very well. Not only do they get good light but they don’t block any of the light from the rest of the aquarium. Just this morning I split one container into three and I probably could have made four or more. Rather than clipping the plants I just pull out clumps and plant them .
 
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