[kngharv]

Dear all:

This is going to be my first "real" tank. My first tank was a one gallon with plastic tree. The betta fish last as long as you expected in that setting.

I want to do something more right this time, something that doesn't constitute as animal cruelty.

The tank I got is a cylindrical "6" gallon kit tank. I bought the tank mostly because I have a triangle corner which I want a tank can fit in it. The "6" gallon (I suspect it's more of a 5 gallon) is the largest I can fit in that triangle corner table.

I went through a third of Diane Walstad's book, I mostly followed her instruction: organic garden soil with a layer of small gravel, and CFL light running 13 hours a day for now.

(I figure I can switch to a "real" light once I flood the tank).

The tank look like this:

In addition, I also mimic the instruction in this following YouTube clip in attempt to keep things simple:

And the set-up now looks like this:

The pump is a USB pump that pumps about 240 mL/min.

The kit tank came with a lid. The lid itself isn't completely sealed at first place: there are several holes on the top intend for kit light, etc. I took advantages of it by inserting my lights and the airline tubing through them.

I also put a plastic wrap covering most of the lid. The covering wasn't 100% seal. I figure I need some sort of air-exchange

My problem is the following:

Since I wet my drift wood when I start this method, I have notice that despite I am pumping humid air into the tank, the drift wood start to dry. i.e. I can't keep up the humidity.

My question is:

Should I worry about the slow-drying of the internal tank? If yes, what should I do? Get a bigger pump? Trying to plastic wrap and seal the top better? I live in southern California and the atmosphere is almost as dry as desert. I will not able attend this tank for almost 3 weeks soon thus I would like to keep it as unattended as possible.

Thanks in advance

 

[minorhero]

Hello and welcome!

I've not seen this method before so I can't say what is normal for it. I will say that you will want to pay close attention to your plants and make sure they are not getting crispy leaves. I would also try to keep the top as covered as possible with only the minimum opening required to let out any escaping air. Good luck!

 

[Dreya]

Definitely an interesting method, I just thoroughly wet my soil and covered the top about 60%. But then, I live in texas where the air is like 99% humidity. If you are seeing dried out wood now while you are there to monitor it, I'm sure 3 weeks wont do it any favors. You might be better off during those 3 weeks skipping the air circulation, saturating the soil until the hair grass is partly submerged and just leaving a small hole for ventilation. The worst that will happen is unsightly white mold/fungus. That doesn't live once the scape is either dried out or fully submerged, and at least nothing should die.

Good luck!

 

[kngharv]

Thanks guys. I will try to seal off the top better.

Hello and welcome!

I've not seen this method before so I can't say what is normal for it. I will say that you will want to pay close attention to your plants and make sure they are not getting crispy leaves. I would also try to keep the top as covered as possible with only the minimum opening required to let out any escaping air. Good luck!

I have just done some math.

The little USB pump put out about 240mL per minute. It sounds very tiny, until I converted everything. This pump will pump equivalent of 3 gallons of air per HOUR.

So I definitely don't need to worry about suffocating the plant. I will try to seal the top as much as possible, leaving perhaps a straw-size outlet for outbound air.

Definitely an interesting method, I just thoroughly wet my soil and covered the top about 60%. But then, I live in texas where the air is like 99% humidity. If you are seeing dried out wood now while you are there to monitor it, I'm sure 3 weeks wont do it any favors. You might be better off during those 3 weeks skipping the air circulation, saturating the soil until the hair grass is partly submerged and just leaving a small hole for ventilation. The worst that will happen is unsightly white mold/fungus. That doesn't live once the scape is either dried out or fully submerged, and at least nothing should die.

Good luck!

In your case, do you use hydrogen peroxide or anything try to kill the mold? or you just ignored the mold and knowing that the mold will die once tank is flooded?

 

[somewhatshocked]

I keep my tanks tightly covered and only open them once per day (or every other day) to mist. The air exchange that occurs during that time is sufficient. No need for an air pump at all.

When there's mold growth, I usually dilute peroxide a bit and spray it on. Let it sit for a few minutes and then mist with regular RO/DI water.

Edit: I also use diluted Excel sometimes if peroxide doesn't work well enough. Forgot to mention that. I try not to use it, though.

 

[kngharv]

It is now obvious that merely pumping humid air 24/7 is not enough to keep my dry-started tank 100% humid.

I think some of my Alternanthera Reineckii mini died due to dryness...

So, mimicking the air humidifier mechanism, I bought another 1 watt USB pump, some airline tubing, and ONE dripping irrigation nozzle and installed the mist nozzle in the tank.

I was hoping the nozzle can put out a cone-shape fine mist. But it just ends up dripping water instead. To help water to be distributed more evenly, I place the nozzle on top of hardscape and hoping water will flow more evenly.

The USB pump is rated pumping 240mL of air per minute. Consider that I am using the air pressure to push water into the tank, and there is going to be some leak in the plastic cap in my plastic bottle, the actual amount of water will be a lot less than that.

Further, my internet-enabled smart timer has minimum resolution of one minute and scheduling error up to a minute.

It means for the first 20-40 seconds of pumping, there will be no water coming out. On the flip side, water will continue to drip well after the USB pump is turned off. In other word, the actual amount of water pushed into the tank is very hard to gauge, simply because the pump doesn't run long enough to reach a steady flow rate.

To ensure at least some water gotten into the tank, I right now turn on the mist nozzle once a day for 2 minutes.

I am hoping this will add enough water into the dry tank without excess water accumulating in the tank.

Wish me luck.