please post more details of your tank...any flora? imo a small 5 gallon tank can do quite well with just excel. It should work out cheaper that way too. Activated carbon does absorb nutirents but once it is exhausted it is quite useless in the filter. you would be better off by keeping sponge and ceramic rings in your filter. In a small 5 gallon tank a simple sponge filter with an air pump will do just fine. In fact that's what I am using in my 7.5G tank and the water cleared up in just a few days. What fish do you intend to keep in this tank?
my first dirt tank. some questions
so I set up a 5 gallon dirt tank here are my questions:
1. its been running for a couple of days and running some carbon to try and clear up the water. its still somewhat cloudy. Is there a way to clear up the water or will it always be cloudy with dirt?
2. I mixed some laterite in with the dirt...Should I still dose leaf zone by API? or no dosing with dirt...?
3. should I still dose seachem excel? Will I need to continue to dose this or perhaps do a mini Co2 injection kit by fluval. fluval 88???
4. should I be using carbon with a dirt substraight or will it strip the nutrients from the soil?
5. I have a fluval spec 5, do I need a small canister filter with a dirt tank? I dont plan on moving things around and since this is a small 5 gal. tank as I am limited in planting space anyway.
1. its been running for a couple of days and running some carbon to try and clear up the water. its still somewhat cloudy. Is there a way to clear up the water or will it always be cloudy with dirt?
2. I mixed some laterite in with the dirt...Should I still dose leaf zone by API? or no dosing with dirt...?
3. should I still dose seachem excel? Will I need to continue to dose this or perhaps do a mini Co2 injection kit by fluval. fluval 88???
4. should I be using carbon with a dirt substraight or will it strip the nutrients from the soil?
5. I have a fluval spec 5, do I need a small canister filter with a dirt tank? I dont plan on moving things around and since this is a small 5 gal. tank as I am limited in planting space anyway.
1 - 16 of 16 Posts
1 - It will clear up on its own. Give it a few more days. Did you cap the dirt with something like sand?
2 - You will still need fertilizers eventually. It will also depend on your light levels and what plants you want to grow.
3 - Again, this depends on your light levels. Once you dose excel, you'll have to stick with it or deal with the algae blooms from the fluctuating carbon levels.
4 - Don't use active carbon in your filters unless you are trying to remove traces of medications. It is only useful for a week or 2 then it will start doing its process in reverse. Better to use that space for more filter media.
5 - That filter should be sufficient.
2 - You will still need fertilizers eventually. It will also depend on your light levels and what plants you want to grow.
3 - Again, this depends on your light levels. Once you dose excel, you'll have to stick with it or deal with the algae blooms from the fluctuating carbon levels.
4 - Don't use active carbon in your filters unless you are trying to remove traces of medications. It is only useful for a week or 2 then it will start doing its process in reverse. Better to use that space for more filter media.
5 - That filter should be sufficient.
thank you for your suggestions...here are the tank details.please post more details of your tank...any flora? imo a small 5 gallon tank can do quite well with just excel. It should work out cheaper that way too. Activated carbon does absorb nutirents but once it is exhausted it is quite useless in the filter. you would be better off by keeping sponge and ceramic rings in your filter. In a small 5 gallon tank a simple sponge filter with an air pump will do just fine. In fact that's what I am using in my 7.5G tank and the water cleared up in just a few days. What fish do you intend to keep in this tank?
Water:
all water is RO water as I use this exclusively on my reef tank. except I use water through the last stage DI (deionized water). i decided to use straight Reverse osmosis water without the DI part for the fresh water as DI is too soluble from what I understand for Fresh water fish. Correct?
substrate:
first layer pure laterite 2 OZ.
Miracle grow organic soil sifted\
third layer pure laterite 3 OZ.
capped layer Carib sea: flora max.
seperate carib sea samoa beach sand
Livestock:
5 small neon gobies
2 small fancy guppies
1 small ghost shrimp
1 small blue shrimp
1 small albino cory
1 small black and white striped cory.
2 gold snails
Fish are tiny babies, as fish get larger they will need to be given back to the store and I know this and prepared for it. right now though these are tiny fish. cory being the largest at .75" everything else is smaller).
plants:
by topfin- dwarf hairgrass - eleocharis parvula, Telanthera Cardinalis, 4" compacta - hygrophila Corymbosa Stricata, peacock fern - Selaginella willdenowii, also have this tall grass looking plant (sorry dont know the name but was told that its an easy plant by petsmart <oh boy hope thats correct). the above were suggested on line.
1 - It will clear up on its own. Give it a few more days. Did you cap the dirt with something like sand?
2 - You will still need fertilizers eventually. It will also depend on your light levels and what plants you want to grow.
3 - Again, this depends on your light levels. Once you dose excel, you'll have to stick with it or deal with the algae blooms from the fluctuating carbon levels.
4 - Don't use active carbon in your filters unless you are trying to remove traces of medications. It is only useful for a week or 2 then it will start doing its process in reverse. Better to use that space for more filter media.
5 - That filter should be sufficient.
1. capped it with carib sea sifted to bee bee sized granuals.
2. by fertilizers you mean root tabs and iron liquid suppliments? how do I know its time for these? what are the signs? sorry I'm new to this...
3.I'm dosing excell at 1/2 ml for a 5 gal tank daily
4. thanks carbon is out and will be replacing with bio-media instead. fluval comes with a sponge.
5. should I use filter floss also?
Thanks
I've had mine running for a year without dosing, and plants are still growing just like before.
Sent from my Galaxy S3
Sent from my Galaxy S3
You shouldn't need root tabs as the dirt will provide the nutrients to the roots for a long time.1. capped it with carib sea sifted to bee bee sized granuals.
2. by fertilizers you mean root tabs and iron liquid suppliments? how do I know its time for these? what are the signs? sorry I'm new to this...
3.I'm dosing excell at 1/2 ml for a 5 gal tank daily
4. thanks carbon is out and will be replacing with bio-media instead. fluval comes with a sponge.
5. should I use filter floss also?
Thanks
Filter floss is primarily used for mechanical filtration and that is what the sponges are doing now. Just add more bio media and you'll be good.
wait, but you also said... "You will still need fertilizers eventually."You shouldn't need root tabs as the dirt will provide the nutrients to the roots for a long time.
If not root tabs than what type of fretilizers? I have API's leaf zone. is this good or should i get something else? when do I know I need frets?
No it shouldnt be cloudy. You can take a look at my walstad here:so I set up a 5 gallon dirt tank here are my questions:
1. its been running for a couple of days and running some carbon to try and clear up the water. its still somewhat cloudy. Is there a way to clear up the water or will it always be cloudy with dirt?
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=625258
Its always had clear water. if the filter doesnt clear it up you need to figure out the root cause/wait a week or 10 days and see whats happening.
you'll need to see how it goes. if plants start showing deficiencies you will need to take care of those. i have to dose mine with macs, mics traces. unless you designed your substrate with all required components which some people do, you could see deficiencies.2. I mixed some laterite in with the dirt...Should I still dose leaf zone by API? or no dosing with dirt...?
depends on your goals. i dont add any co2/excel to my tank because thats the ways i want it. i am fine with low requirement plants and if i cant keep the "fancier" ones i'm ok with that. my tank is totally lo maint. the lesser number of parameters u add t our tank the simpler it will be for maint. i know i cant keep up with co2, etc and i got 2 non-co2/excel tanks doing great!3. should I still dose seachem excel? Will I need to continue to dose this or perhaps do a mini Co2 injection kit by fluval. fluval 88???
if going the non-co2 route, i would suggest adding a number of plant species and see which ones thrive and go ahead with them.
if you understock, you could get away with minimal filtration -> tonnes of plants, very less animals.4. should I be using carbon with a dirt substraight or will it strip the nutrients from the soil?
5. I have a fluval spec 5, do I need a small canister filter with a dirt tank? I dont plan on moving things around and since this is a small 5 gal. tank as I am limited in planting space anyway.
substrate:
first layer pure laterite 2 OZ.
Miracle grow organic soil sifted\
third layer pure laterite 3 OZ.
capped layer Carib sea: flora max.
seperate carib sea samoa beach sand
thats quite a rich substrate.
i have no experience with the above products but do they need initial rinsing before adding to the tank? maybe you missed that? even some simple sands need rinsing else they will cloudy the water in the tank initially but that clears up after some water changes/filtration.
try WCs for clearing up the water
first layer pure laterite 2 OZ.
Miracle grow organic soil sifted\
third layer pure laterite 3 OZ.
capped layer Carib sea: flora max.
seperate carib sea samoa beach sand
thats quite a rich substrate.
i have no experience with the above products but do they need initial rinsing before adding to the tank? maybe you missed that? even some simple sands need rinsing else they will cloudy the water in the tank initially but that clears up after some water changes/filtration.
try WCs for clearing up the water
you are using a nutrient rich substrate..you shouldn't have to worry about ferts immediately. But over a period of time (couple of months maybe more) you might require to dose fertilizers. As long as your plants show healthy signs of growth then it's ok. Whats the lighting in your tank? Could you please post a pic of your tank? Most of the plants you have in your tank can do without CO2. If you can afford Excel you can go ahead with it, but once you begin with excel don't stop else fluctuating co2 may cause algae problems.
Water should clear after 3 weeks with water changes. "Mineralizing" the soil beforehand reduces the clouding problem. Do not use carbon. The initial problem, using potting soil, is the release of too much organic compounds when the tank is flooded. If there are not enough fast growing plants, to take up the excess nutrients, then an algae outbreak will occur. If this happens then frequent water changes will help, until the release of nutrients slows. Fauna in the aquarium could become stressed. A sponge only in the fluval filter system is enough.
This plant is not aquatic. This is more so a terrestrial fern that likes damp substrates, not to be submersed. I'd remove this ASAP.peacock fern - Selaginella willdenowii
This plant is not aquatic. This is more so a terrestrial fern that likes damp substrates, not to be submersed. I'd remove this ASAP.
doing so tonight into a pot... thanks.
adive... thank you for your replies. Taking it all in.
substrate:
first layer pure laterite 2 OZ.
Miracle grow organic soil sifted\
third layer pure laterite 3 OZ.
capped layer Carib sea: flora max.
seperate carib sea samoa beach sand
thats quite a rich substrate.
i have no experience with the above products but do they need initial rinsing before adding to the tank? maybe you missed that? even some simple sands need rinsing else they will cloudy the water in the tank initially but that clears up after some water changes/filtration.
try WCs for clearing up the water
Yes, I rinsed the samoa sand, the carim sea flora max and the laterite throughly. The soli, I just followed directions from a thread on dirted tanks on this site. also set up with a channel all way around glass with seperators between sand and soil ect.
water clarifiers work in the tank but only if I use daily. cloudiness returns the next day. I've stopped all dosing yesterday to see if the cloudiness goes away on its own.
1 - 16 of 16 Posts
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