No water movement questions

[BlueJack]

I recently started a 10g tank with no water movement, no filtration and a topsoil substrate.



I just wanted to know what problems I might run into down the road, and some of your own personal experiences running a system like this.

Will convection be enough to move nutrients and CO2 around the tank?

I'll be keeping some type of labyrinth fish in there just fyi.

Cheers

[Ben.]

The only problem I have had was a large protein film. This is pretty much a NPT so you shouldn't have any problems!

[scape]

No water movement hmm, whats the power head in the corner for?

[BlueJack]

Originally Posted by scape

No water movement hmm, whats the power head in the corner for?

old pic...I took that out since then

[BlueJack]

Originally Posted by Ben.

The only problem I have had was a large protein film. This is pretty much a NPT so you shouldn't have any problems!

what's an NPT? Newly planted tank?

[kamikazi]

Originally Posted by BlueJack

what's an NPT? Newly planted tank?

natural planted tank

[RipariumGuy]

You will probably get a build up of gunk on the leaves of your plants, more algae then normal, along with no surface agitation, which means no CO2/oxygen exchange. So, yeah. I would put a powerhead/airstone in there to get the surface bubbling.

[scape]

Originally Posted by BlueJack

old pic...I took that out since then

Ah, okay

[firefiend]

Originally Posted by scape

Ah, okay

He was about to call shenanigans on your claims of "no water movement," BlueJack, haha.

[BlueJack]

Originally Posted by RipariumGuy

You will probably get a build up of gunk on the leaves of your plants

Thanks for your reply! Good point..I hadn't thought of that

Originally Posted by RipariumGuy

more algae then normal

Why? Do algae like less water movement? Algae do great along rivers and ocean fronts.

Originally Posted by RipariumGuy

along with no surface agitation, which means no CO2/oxygen exchange.

CO2/O2 is still exchanged at the water surface. If you use some sort of powerhead/filter which makes little ripples on the surface, all you're essentially doing is doubling the surface area for CO2/O2 to be exchanged.

[BlueJack]

I have definitely noticed an oil slick on the surface from my DIY CO2. If I remove this will there be enough CO2 for my plants to live? Mainly from bacteria chowing down on the substrate and the plants producing CO2 at night? I don't care about growth rate, I just don't want plants dying.

Also, I still am confused on how the plants are able to get nutrients etc. to them since they can't move. Will convection move this stuff around the tank?

[AirstoND]

I'm really interested in knowing how this will end up.

some plants might become long and stemmy since top portions of plants are getting most of light and surface gas exchange.

I'm not a nutrient transport expert, but I believe there must be a strong thermal gradient for beneficial convection, not to mention specific water parameter requirements that synergistically work with convection, conduction, and radiation.