Well I couldnt resist the temptations...
I was at the club yesterday taking photos of the pond we are dredging and during my walk around I found a couple of interesting plants that I cannot name that I know grow below the water line so I scooped up some of that nutrient rich (very dark) looking soil and dug up a couple test pieces of these plants and bought a tank.
Its a marineland 5 gallon Hex tank.
I put a couple inches of the soil in it and capped it with sand, stuffed in the plants and filled it this morning. It comes with a 15W incandescent light that I am using for the time being to see what happens but I think I am going to up the light wattage a bit. This tank aint gonna see fish for a long time so I dont much care about the water quality yet and if these plants dont make it ... oh well.
The soil is what I really wanted to try and now that I think of it I probably should have used some plants from my tanks for comparison instead of plants that I know NOTHING about ! :lol: :lol:

:stupid:

Can't wait to hear the results of this. Although I'll be more interested in the water quality and clarity for now than the plant growth. I'm wondering if the water will stay stained/cloudy from using a mud substrate. Also curious about anaerobic pocket.

Good experiment. Keep us posted.

Stacey

Definitely a COOL experiment. 8) Take a few small clippings from your main tank and throw them in there too. Have you tested the water column for nitrates and phosphates? Even though its filled with tap water, the soil nutrients ought to leach into the water column somewhat.

The 15 watt bulb should be enough light if the tanks not overly deep. 3WPG isn't too shabby.

The only thing that may cloud your experiment is the lack of CO2, especially when comparing your exhisting clippings to your main tank.

I'll be very interested in your findings. :)

Marcel

Now that's one of the best reasons for a new tank I've heard :D . Sounds like a fun experiment...

This tank is sooooo kool !
I have seedlings growing out of that soil that
I had never planned on and the "grassy" plants
that I dug up are awesome ! Now I am trying to
put a name to this stuff !
This experiment has definately been worth the effort allready :wink:

Some photos here...

www.buckmanshome.com/nano.html

Buck 8)

This is a very cool experiment. Makes me want to try one of my own in the huge ceramic pot I have on the front porch.

I think this is your mystery vine:

http://naturalaquariums.com/plants/ceratophyllum.html

The grasses look like common lawn grasses to me too, but I didn't think they would grow in water that deep. Is it possible they are some sort of dwarf rush? You could always pull a little and take it into the Master Gardener's office at your local university. They usually do IDs on plants for nothing. Part of their certification process I think.

I have some Peruvian Daffodils growing in my yard they ID'd for me last year. Of course they'll never bloom, not hot enough around here... (and that wasn't at ALL off topic-heehee.)

Stacey

BTW, I think the pond link on that nano page is currently broken (homestead page not found). Looks really awesome though so far. Be interesting to see if the plants try to emerge. Tired...rambling...nuf said...

That mystery vine is an evil, evil plant. I had to remove it by the BUCKETFULL from my 135 gallon tank because it took over. It grows very, very quickly in Nitrate rich water.

Hi Buck,

What kind of soil did you use?

Well, I must have the same stuff, whatever it is. I thought mine was hornwort for the past 10 months, but it is very soft and looks exactly like the stuff in Buck's pics. I collected it from a stream in maryland (however, lots of non-native species in our waterways down here). a friend of mine told me it was something called "foxtail" but i never really took him seriously. I'd love to find out what that grass/rush is, looks way cool!

I have a 45 gallon tank with a mud/peat/gravel substrate, no co2, shoplite 80 watts. Soil from backyard, left submerged in buckets for 2 months before mixing in peat and putting in tank. Did it as an experiment while researching everything for my 90. Green hygro, Jungle val, some other val, java fern, anacharis, couple crypts, "foxtail" and 2 other mystery species collected from local streams. (I've said before, I'm lazy).

Much red clay in my soil, was very red when first set up. Took 2 days to settle. You don't want to move stuff in this tank, uprooting causes fair bit of cloudiness, but plants grow well, especialy the vals.

Also, have never smelled sulfide or anything else when removing plants, so no indication of anerobic pockets.

Thankyou Stacy... I fixed the link on my page. Also thats a great idea on how to ID these plants (if they work out) :D

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That plant is definately not hornwort...its just a weed like corvus says it could be foxtail or a type of...
I know we have foxtail in some of the lakes around here but it is a different variety then this. Really sucks getting it in the prop ! :lol:
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Kai,
That soil I used is just really dark pond bottom that I dug up and did nothing to... this is all for fun and learning... and so far its been real fun. :D
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Tank Update
Those grass clumps are outta control and have almost reached the top allready and they dont look like they plan to slow down much... :roll:
Now I'm thinking of how tall they get...hmmm :idea:
For now though I will just prune them back. I do not want to disturb the seedlings I have coming out of the soil... I have another 10 or so seedlings coming up! (foreground type plant?) :wink:
Dont laugh... without Mr Amano, we never would have thought to use a "native weed" like Riccia fluitans and turn it into one of the most "sought after" Aquarium Plants? :lol: :lol:

But Im having a blast with this tank... its like Xmas in there... ya never know what ya gonna get :wink:

Dang ! Wheres My Camera !
:proud:

Okay, how about this one?

http://www.cnipm.org/myriophyllum_spicatum.html

Dang, mystery plants can keep me awake at nights! This is how I found out about the Master Gardener ID program ;)

Thanks alot Buck for contributing to my insomnia! :P

Stacey

Well, sunnysm, it ain't that either. I have some eurasian milfoil (collected again) in my pond, the spaces between branches (interstices?) are longer, and the feathery leaves are longer too.

I applaud your hard work in trying to figure this out, more work than I'm willing to do.

Hmm.... the Peruvian Daffodils bloom for me out in east Portland. I see no reason they won't bloom for you.

Understood :) Hope it keeps on being fun.