6 June 2014
No plants have been added externally. Its just cuttings that are propagating.
Potamogeton ochreatus (?) which are to the left, upper are multiplying
7 May 2014
First Some History
I had a planted tank in the 80s, very lo tech as most tech things of today were unheard of and not available to me as a kid. There was so much growth I used to cut my amazon swords and throw away the cuttings. Fast fwd to 2013 and I rebooted my hobby after ~30 years. Old beliefs die hard. If I had done a low tech planted tank in the 80s of course thats what I wanted to setup again.
I read about the Walstad method and realized how it was similar to what I had done and wanted to do. For me, the tank's gotta be planted. So I started experimenting with small Walstad setups in a bowl, got some success. A big challenge was that the products recommended by Walstad arent available in my country. Then ultimate I moved onto an old 15g with the following specs. I like minimal interference in the tank, I let nature do most of the work, give a helping hand only where required. I think in the past 4-5 month I have been able to figure that out a bit.
My scaping skills are poor, guess thats what I should work on next. All these months I spent understanding planted tank theory. There is no algae in this tank, which has been running since Jan 2014. Before fully dirting it on 12 April I had dirted box like containers in it as I was experimenting. I have not scraped/cleaned the glass sides of algae even once.
Hope I will have a successful tank in the coming months/years. Hope you enjoy this journal. Thanks TPT for all the help ! I read a lot here.
Tank
15g
CO2 Injection: none
Excel/Glut: none
Ferts: Liquid ferts (macs, mics, traces)
Water Change: once per week, 30%
Substrate: mainly brown soil with rich red garden soil mixed in, capped with gravel. there is some contro soil in it (hi CEC stuff) but not any significant amount
Lighting: all natural: tank's on a patio/balcony so these days it gets indirect bright sunlight in mornings all the way to the afternoon. In the afternoons it gets direct sunlight, maybe 2 hours. Also there are trees on one side of the patio so the sunlight is mostly broken by the tree off and on. The direction of the sunlight changes as the days progress during the year.
I usually keep the tank open top but on cloudy days put a 23W 6500K CFL on it.
Flora:
:fish: Fauna (understocked)
Here's a pic on day 1 (12 April 2014)
... and day 15 (27 April 2014) (the orange plant on the right is plastic)
day 15 - aponogeton ulvaceous floating leaves
Thanks!
No plants have been added externally. Its just cuttings that are propagating.
- Dwarf sag (left bottom) multiplying
- Crypt (left bottom) growing
Potamogeton ochreatus (?) which are to the left, upper are multiplying
- Aponogeton Ulvaceus has some 7 inch healthy leaves. They have given out 3 new plantlets. I've cut & sown 2 of them. The apons are no longer giving out floating leaves, only submerged ones. Is it a matter of survival? When the plants were new they didnt know their env. too well so gave out floating leaves first and then switched to submerged growth? IDK.
- Some Amazon Swords & H. Polysperma which are at the back not doing that great
7 May 2014
First Some History
I had a planted tank in the 80s, very lo tech as most tech things of today were unheard of and not available to me as a kid. There was so much growth I used to cut my amazon swords and throw away the cuttings. Fast fwd to 2013 and I rebooted my hobby after ~30 years. Old beliefs die hard. If I had done a low tech planted tank in the 80s of course thats what I wanted to setup again.
I read about the Walstad method and realized how it was similar to what I had done and wanted to do. For me, the tank's gotta be planted. So I started experimenting with small Walstad setups in a bowl, got some success. A big challenge was that the products recommended by Walstad arent available in my country. Then ultimate I moved onto an old 15g with the following specs. I like minimal interference in the tank, I let nature do most of the work, give a helping hand only where required. I think in the past 4-5 month I have been able to figure that out a bit.
My scaping skills are poor, guess thats what I should work on next. All these months I spent understanding planted tank theory. There is no algae in this tank, which has been running since Jan 2014. Before fully dirting it on 12 April I had dirted box like containers in it as I was experimenting. I have not scraped/cleaned the glass sides of algae even once.
Hope I will have a successful tank in the coming months/years. Hope you enjoy this journal. Thanks TPT for all the help ! I read a lot here.
Tank
15g
CO2 Injection: none
Excel/Glut: none
Ferts: Liquid ferts (macs, mics, traces)
Water Change: once per week, 30%
Substrate: mainly brown soil with rich red garden soil mixed in, capped with gravel. there is some contro soil in it (hi CEC stuff) but not any significant amount
Lighting: all natural: tank's on a patio/balcony so these days it gets indirect bright sunlight in mornings all the way to the afternoon. In the afternoons it gets direct sunlight, maybe 2 hours. Also there are trees on one side of the patio so the sunlight is mostly broken by the tree off and on. The direction of the sunlight changes as the days progress during the year.
I usually keep the tank open top but on cloudy days put a 23W 6500K CFL on it.
Flora:
- Amazon Swords
- Green C. Wendtii
- Dwarf sag - planted one, has become 8 now
- Green Cabomba from my main tank (but I dont expect it to do too well)
- Aponogeton Ulvaceous - giving out big (6 inch) submerged and floating leaves everyday
- Hygrophila Polysperma
- Potamogeton ochreatus
:fish: Fauna (understocked)
- 4 White Cloud Mountain Minnows (they spawn)
- 1 female red tangerine (livebearer)
- Many pond snails
Here's a pic on day 1 (12 April 2014)
... and day 15 (27 April 2014) (the orange plant on the right is plastic)
day 15 - aponogeton ulvaceous floating leaves
Thanks!