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The *BEST* (Tom Barr's) low-tech start-up tank method. Easy to read beginner's guide!

87K views 57 replies 28 participants last post by  beetea 
#1 · (Edited)
For folks that have come & gone thru EI, pressurized CO2, etc, and want something lower maintenance (as if you have a life outside of your tanks lol), this is the best article I've found (this is Tom Barr's low-tech method in a nutshell, the "opposite" of Tom Barr's EI if you will).

The low tech method is applying the same principals but with different variables (lower lighting, low ferts, no co2, & no h2o changes), this article is a great summary; it will make more sense to those who have a background in EI, but even for any beginner, if they follow this article, the challenges to a healthy tank will be minimized).

Sudeep Mandal's *EXCELLENT* summary of Tom Barr's Musings

This is my 46g tank that I started 4 months ago, using the steps outlined in Sudeep's article. As you can see, moderately planted from the beginning (fairly heavy but could be heavier), break in w/ low light hours, etc.



This is my tank now, 4 months later. As you can see, not all the plants have survived (dwarf tear's didn't make it, val's barely making it, sag has thinned, dwarf clover doing ok), but, everything else going well. No h2o changes (just RO top-off's), ferts 2x weekly, 6 hours of 10K & 6.7K daily, daily feeding. A few otto's, and 10 nerite snails help out a ton. My lily's just started melting, so, I'll still have to make some small adjustments, but the low-tech method, with its slower pace, will allow you MUCH more time to identify problems and react before algae takes control.

 
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#38 · (Edited)
I found the list from PlantFinder confusing, so I converted it to a table sorted by very easy to very difficult. Here it is:




This is just the "very easy" and "easy" plants, assuming those are most likely to work without CO2. There are 87 different plants listed! I don't see much reason to try to dry start most of these, but it should be possible to do so.
 
#41 ·
Since I am about ready to re-set up my tank again, with ADA Aquasoil as the substrate, and I want to try dry starting the carpet plants, I have been doing more research. My once favorite plant for this was Marsilea minuta, but then I read that the emersed version is often much different from the submersed version, making it a poor dry start candidate. Other plants I thought might work, had similar problems. In fact I ended up thinking that only HC, glosso, dwarf hairgrass, and possibly a couple more, would be expected to do well with a dry start. I now think I will use Sagitaria subulata, and a submersed start. Of course, tomorrow is another day!:icon_mrgr
 
#42 ·
Will this be low tech or high tech?
 
#45 ·
According to the article on the first page here, is the author saying that if you intend to use Seachem Flourish, that you should also be using Calcium and Magnesium ferts as well? Are dry ferts OK to use in conjunction with the liquid fert that is Flourish?
 
#46 ·
Flourish Comprehensive is a trace element mix. You can use any other form of aquatic plant fertilizer with it. You can dose the chemicals, KNO3, KH2PO4, and maybe K2SO4 to provide the nitrogen, potassium and phosphorous that all plants need. Or, you can dose one of the liquid fertilizers, like Seachem Nitrogen, plus Seachem Potassium, plus Seachem Phosphorous. There are a couple of sponsors here who also sell good liquid fertilizers.
 
#47 ·
I have been dosing dry ferts for about a month and half now. But I have also started dosing flourish, and equilibrium (water is soft in my area).
 
#50 ·
I was kind of wondfering the same thing. I like to think I am not dosing a whole lot, but who knows. I will still proceed with water changes on sundays, and if I see anything going downhill I wil change up my routine. Trial and error.
 
#53 ·
I'm wondering if someone can help me with ferts. Here's my tanks specs:

-low tech/non CO2
-29 gal, 12" wide, 30" long and 18" high IIRC
-eco complete substrate
-HOB filter
-2x T5NO 18watt 6,700K bulbs (corralife)
-hard water from a well but I don't think it's from calcium because I live in the granite state and there's no lime stone around here. But I do live on an old farm with 18" of farm loam. I think it's magnesium that is making it hard--that's what my mom seems to remember was in the tests way back when
-pH 7.6, no ammonia or nitrites 5ppm nitrates
-I feed every other day
-3 madagascar rainbows, 1 small dwarf gourami, 3 japonica shrimp
-lots of anubias nana and some petite, M. minuta (not doing so well), pennywort, something like coralina bacopa, a tiny bit of dwarf sag still holding on although probably dying, and lots of algae which I think is a brownish-green on the glass
-I do a weekly small water change even though I know you're not supposed to but I just think if I don't do it regularly and I only do a big water change very rarely my fish will kick the bucket as they have in the past when I've skipped a few weeks of water changes out of sheer laziness.

To make my life easier (I am ok at math but not so much at stupid american measuring systems....) I think I'll just go with the given measurements for a 20gal. Is that ok?

Once a week:

1/8 tsp KNO3
1/32 tsp KH2PO4
4ml of 1 tbs/250 ml solution of CSM+B

I don't want to dose anything that has calcium or magnesium in it. What does CSM+B stand for and what is in it? And how do you guys handle such tiny measurements? Do you make a solution and then dose from there? Or maybe I should just weigh it and then go by weight?
 
#55 ·
Hi - I am in need of some help here. I started Sudeep's low-tech method, but things have gone really wrong.

Prior to using this method, I was a complete newbie. I had fluval stratum for substrate and was dosing a liquid fert called Ferropol 24. My Java Fern, hygros, and crypts were doing well.

Then I switched to this method, and added some dwarf sags. Soon my hygros and crypts became stunted while Java ferns died completely.

I want to point out that I have very hard water. Could it be that Seachem equilibrium is not a good product for my water hardness, and Iron is reacting with the phosphates?
 
#56 ·
Then I switched to this method, and added some dwarf sags. Soon my hygros and crypts became stunted while Java ferns died completely.
How long has it been since your plants started dying? And are they really dead or are leaves just browning/falling off? Plants often need a period of adjustment when there are drastic changes to water chemistry (like when you first add it to the tank).

If the ferns' rhizomes are still intact and you can see new growth, I wouldn't worry. Just take out any dead leaves and wait for the plants to adjust and keep the water chemistry stable.

And for what it's worth, I basically follow the that guide with positive results.
 
#57 ·
Hi Beetea - Its been a few months now, so I don't think this has much to do with adjustment. There is clearly something else going on.

Are you using tap water. If yes, how hard/soft is your water?

I have heard that Seachem might not be the best product for very hard water, like the one we have in London, UK.
 
#58 ·
Its been a few months now, so I don't think this has much to do with adjustment. There is clearly something else going on.
I meant adjustment to the new water chemistry due to the change in fertilization.

Are you using tap water. If yes, how hard/soft is your water?
Yes, I use tap water. My water is extremely soft. Are you measuring your water parameters (GH, KH, TDS)? I don't know what Ferropol 24 adds to the water exactly. Seachem Equilibrium will increase your GH (as advertised).
 
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