New method(?) to start up an algae free tank without any water changes or work(really

[fishscale]

Tom, I'm having trouble keeping parts of the tank moist enough, mostly, the part of the tank where I put a hill in the scape. How would you suggest I fix this?

[BentZero]

I setup my tank last night. 20g with SMS. Added miracle gro water to 1/4" below the substrate. Adding four leaf clover and bacopa tonight. Hopefully the stem plants will be alright.

[plantbrain]

Bacopa does fine emergent

Regards,
Tom Barr

[Yoshi]

Originally Posted by fishscale

Tom, I'm having trouble keeping parts of the tank moist enough, mostly, the part of the tank where I put a hill in the scape. How would you suggest I fix this?

Depending on the size of the tank in question... this is either a really easy or really annoying task.

Here's what I would do: every week, I would add water in very very slow amounts to the substrate until it reaches the highest hill. Let the tank soak for a few hours, overnight would probably be best. In the morning, get an airline tube and start a siphon to drain the water down to the lowest hill. Doing this weekly or bi-weekly for a 1 day overnight should keep your soil moist even at the higher hills. If you know that the hill dries out in a few days, just mist more often. Or, better yet find yourself a better "lid" to keep the humidity in.

As you can see, with small tanks the "filling and draining" would be a relatively simple task. If you've setup a large tank like this, it would probably be a pain in the neck to fill and re-drain every week just to keep the soil moist.

Hope that helps...

[plantbrain]

I just soak the entire sediment good, then remove the water for any hill applications, after some time has past, the hill should be pretty moist due to capillary action.

If not, take a turkey baster etc and take the water from the lower area etc, and pore over the dry areas until it becomes saturated. Yoshi's comments apply as well. Basic common sense stuff here.

Regards,
Tom Barr

[fishscale]

Well, that's pretty much what I have been doing, but I feel like I don't have time to do it often enough. I usually take water from the lower area and put it in a perforated water bottle to water the hill in the morning, but by the time I come back at night, the hill seems to be too dry for the HC. Don't get me wrong, it's not actually dry (from the side of the glass, you can see water between the particles of substrate), but the HC in the lower parts are spreading and growing healthy, while the HC in the higher areas are growing small leaves and staying more or less the same. I use saran wrap to cover the tank.

[fishscale]

I may end up filling the tank up to hill level at night, and draining the tank down to "sea" level in the morning.

[plantbrain]

If you can tilt the tank to get the water level even across the slope, you can wedge a piece/shim etc under the tank also.

Regards,
Tom Barr

[majolo]

I've been mostly lurking, but I thought I'd chime in that I'm trying this out too -- 2.5 gallon, Florabase substrate, some Lilaeopsis (not sure which species), sunlight from a southern exposure. Been going about 1.5 weeks, not much new growth yet. I keep having to resist the urge to fill it up!

[Yoshi]

I've updated my progress here... http://one51.blogspot.com/

It's been 3 weeks since I "sparsely" planted some leftover HC trimmings, and it's showing promising growth. Hopefully in a week or two I should see an explosion of new leaves.

[mpodolan]

That tank is going to be impressive when it fills in, Yoshi!

[plantbrain]

Yes, Yoshi, at the 4.5 liter size range, it does look much larger and excellent rock use.

You will need to really mow the HC down.
I hope you have some decent curved scissors.

The first week or two you do not see much growth, they are making roots, after that, they take off.

It's neat to see so many little examples being done, but it is easy.
Wait at least another week than you think.

Also, for HC, Excel works well and is well suited for smaller tanks like this where adding CO2 would detract from the tank a fair amount.

Give it at least 4 weeks for decent HC, maybe 6. do not worry, that's 6 weeks you do not need to do a single water change of dosing or clean the glass etc.




Regards,
Tom Barr


Regards,
Tom Barr

[ikuzo]

keep up the updates Yoshi. this is really interesting. i'm growing emersed HC and glosso right now with garden soil and about 50% sunlight. the glosso is alot faster than HC.

[Yoshi]

Thanks guys, yea the glosso I would imagine would grow better than HC.

I don't mind the wait simply because it's a side project. If it were my main tank I'd be pretty impatient... but it all depends on how much you initially start with. More sprigs = faster growth. I only had a few leftover trimmings to work with so I call my planting "sparse" ... at least it's growing!

I'll update the journal when there is change, thanks again.

[fishscale]

How's everyone's emergent setups? Mine just started growing a lot. I think the key is still in keeping it moist. My hill only grows where it is lowest.