Compost tank

[speerwashere]

Setting up a 10g dirt tank with 2" compost from the middle of a leaf and stick pile. I have 1 1/2" sand ontop of the compost, didn't add water yet. Wanted to know if thats to much sand or not? I don't have alot of plants to put in it yet but I'm putting Java Fern (Windelov) along with another type of Java but not sure of the type that has all kinds of babies on the leaves and just want to let them do their thing, in my 55g they will probably get sucked into the canister filter but the 10g will have a sponge filter. Then a couple strands of this and that that came with the plant package I got off here and see how they do. Hopefully get down to lake Erie and see what kind of plants I can find. If I can net some minnows or baby fish while I'm at the lake they will go in it once it is cycled. Any suggestions, tips etc. would be helpful. Thanks Mark

[DogFish]

Your tank will be much like my Toxic Ten tank. 1" to 1"1/2" sand cap should work well.

I would strongly suggest using established filter media from a current tank, initially plant as heavily as you can and include fast growing plant to suck up excessive nutrients like hornwort, wear lettuce, duckweed. The floaters can be eliminated after you get established.

Good luck, I'll be looking forward to a journal thread on this one. I really appreciate people that experiment a push the envelope. Projects like yours help the hobby evolve.

[speerwashere]

Ya I've been following your toxic ten tank, sorta what gave me the idea to do the compost tank. The compost I'm using I keep night crawlers in for a fall and winter acouple years ago. I do have plenty of hornwort to put in the tank but with that I'll have to figure out what plants I have that will grow low light to put under it or just weigh it down along the back of the tank. I'll have a 18w T8 I think 6500k bulb for light. Just got it 2 months ago and already forgot the k temp LOL. Probably do DIY CO2 too.

I pulled 1/2 of sand out lastnight so gasses won't build up to bad and will pull a filter out of a hob to run in a hob for a week or so to help get the tank and sponge fitler established. I didn't even think about cycling with a old filter beings it's going to be plants only for awhile, Thanks. I'll post some pics when I get some plants in it but it'll be a while, need to smoke up a wild turkey along with other alot of other exterior work today

[DogFish]

i'd suggest just float the hornwort while your main plants get established. That will help prevent an Algae invasion initially.

What I do is as the hornwort grows cut a long section of new growth off and discard some of the old growth. Some people say Hornwort has an Allelopathy effect on some algaes, if that's true I would thing cutting would speed that up. Also cutting stimulated new growth.

I've noticed at a point the insane Hornwort grow will level off, that's when I strait removing it from the tank. I'm sure it's related to the cycle, I don't own test kits.

I use stuff like nylon cord or para cord and run it across the top of the tank in front of my HOB and simply wrap the hornwort over it. It grows well in the stream and doesn't drop it's leaves. In my 20L Q-Tank tank I have the submersible heater power cord running along the surface and the hornwort is wrapped over it. Again this can all be temporary fix.


Congrats on your Turkey! Bow or Shotgun?

[speerwashere]

Thanks Shotgun 9" beard about 18 lbs, 15 yard shot. Thank for the info

[speerwashere]

Planted some plants. No Hornwort yet though

[Diana]

Monitor the ammonia. As the compost settles into life under water there may be quite a spike. This is great for getting a fishless cycle started, but do not add any fish until the substrate has quit releasing ammonia. If there is little to no ammonia, then I would add some to feed the bacteria until the colony is established. A fishless cycle takes about 3 weeks if you have no source of bacteria to seed the filter. It goes faster if you can share some media from an established tank. The compost will probably have a fair amount of these bacteria, too. They are not exclusively under water species.

[speerwashere]

I put an established filter on it after I filled it with water from my 55g (had to do water change today anyways LOL) Going to take daily test readings to see how it progresses. No no fish for a while. WOW look at the babies on the Java leaves. Not the best pic but you get the idea.

[Diana]

If the substrate does not produce ammonia, add some to keep the bacteria alive.

[speerwashere]

Today I have 0.25 ammonia, 0 nitrites, 80+ nitrates and pH 8.0 where yesterday I had 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, 10 nitrates and 7.2 pH but the water came out of my 55g with CO2 so ph would have been off. But cycle looks to be starting.

[speerwashere]

Originally Posted by Diana

If the substrate does not produce ammonia, add some to keep the bacteria alive.

Will do, usually I drop a sliver of raw fish in the tank and let it rot but with the compost I shouldn't have to. A while back I put some in a glass with some water and got ammonia, nitrites and nitrates within a couple days.

[Diana]

Is it green compost? Can you still tell what the materials were? If so, then they will provide some ammonia, and apparently have, since the bacteria that came with the filter appear to have turned it all (well almost all) into nitrate.
If it is so well composted it is practically dust, then it will not be decomposing enough to keep the bacteria alive, and the nitrate may have come from the compost itself. There are nitrifying bacteria living in the compost.

Keep on adding ammonia, it looks like they are almost out of food (.25ppm ammonia is only an hours' worth of food to a good colony of bacteria)

[speerwashere]

The ammonia is just starting to build up. I think the nitrates came out of the filter itself, I pulled it out of my brothers filter and he don't do water changes, he just tops his tank off when needed. You can see some leaf paticals after I sifted the bigger stuff out of it (Sticks and stones), it looks like good top soil after sifting it. Will do some ammonia if #'s aren't up in the morning

[speerwashere]

Todays reading Ammonia .50, nitrites 0, nitrates 160+, ph 8.1+, kh 4 and gh 13. I think I need to pull the old filter and load the tank with hornwort to lower nitartes, darkest red I've ever seen a nitrate test.

[DogFish]

Originally Posted by speerwashere

Todays reading Ammonia .50, nitrites 0, nitrates 160+, ph 8.1+, kh 4 and gh 13. I think I need to pull the old filter and load the tank with hornwort to lower nitartes, darkest red I've ever seen a nitrate test.

Good idea

Text book/googled theory advice is nice for conversation. I'll take real word advice from someone that has actual experience every time.