Show Me Your Non-co2/non-excel Planted Tanks

Show me your Non-CO2/Non-Excel Planted Tanks

 

 

A few weeks ago. Everything is now planted and throwing runners. Standard 55g

 

10 gallon that's almost 2 months old, still adding to it

 

Feeding time in the 54 corner, they love those spirulina tablets. This is a dirted tank with an el cheapo nicrew light off amazon. No ferts, no co2, and everything grows like a freaking weed as you can see and I have to trim it and thin it every week.



Dojos hanging out in the water lettuce roots when they get all tangled up with the jungle val and four star leafgrass. They love their 'root hammocks' so I don't keep that tank as trimmed up as I like. But the dojos eat the water lettuce roots when they get tired of sitting in them so win win? Also the shading provided by the water lettuce and jungle val seems to cause the java fern in that tank to grow better than when they had more direct light from the led bar? Plants. Why.



Planted african cichlid tank. Yeah that's right. You can do it if you try. The key is having other plants growing in other tanks/buckets you can toss in to give them stuff to munch on. Those other two tanks? Yeah when I take excess out of them I throw it in here for them to munch on. Its not super dense like the other two but its no ferts, no co2 and low light.


Did you know snakes appreciate planted tanks too? He thinks he's so sneaky hiding in the dwarf salvinia. He'll chill there for hours if I let him sitting in the fish tank.

 

 

Really nice tanks! Keep them coming!!!

 

10 Gal Dirted!I need to take a more updated photo, probably tonight.

10 Gal

• aosuna11
• Aug 30, 2018

A little side shot of my 10 gal, more to come!

 

55 Gallon. Most of these plants were just transferred from my 20 gallon and underwent a major trimming. A handful of these plant just showed up in the mail yesterday so this tank needs a few months to fill in and be looking the way I want it too.

 

toeknee What kind of driftwood is that?!?! It looks amazing!! Also is that Bacopa you have in there?

 

toeknee What kind of driftwood is that?!?! It looks amazing!! Also is that Bacopa you have in there?

Yeah that's bacopa, though it was funny how it looks exactly like the way mines growing in the pic lol
Even the stems are the similar lengths

 

It's manzanita wood ordered off of bloomsandbranches. com....the red bark will fall off over time and it will be more of a dark brown color once it's settled in. That's bacopa in the center right just right of the tiger lotus bulb in the center. The similar looking plant left of it is golden loydiella. on the far right kinda similar looking is cardamine lyrata.

 

First tank is eco-complete covered with BDBS. Second is dirt.

These photos are 6 months old. Ferts but no CO2.

 

When you say "dirt" are you just using topsoil from Kmart or is there something special? Makes sense for a planted tank just a weird concept to me with the fishies

 

When you say "dirt" are you just using topsoil from Kmart or is there something special? Makes sense for a planted tank just a weird concept to me with the fishies

By dirt they mean they put some type of dirt as the base then top it off with a substrate of their choice. For instance I put potting soil as the base layer then topped it with Pool Filter Sand

 

Here's my 29 gallon walstad tank

 

Here's my 29 gallon walstad tank
View attachment 473741

Wow! That looks like it has a lot of fish for a Walstad? Have you tested the parameters?

 

Wow! That looks like it has a lot of fish for a Walstad? Have you tested the parameters?

Just got it tested earlier in the day and nitrates are at 25mg/l. Ammonia at 0 and nitrite also at 0.

 

Just got it tested earlier in the day and nitrates are at 25mg/l. Ammonia at 0 and nitrite also at 0.

Amazing! Your totally rocking that style then! How long has it been up and running?

 

Amazing! Your totally rocking that style then! How long has it been up and running?

I have it running for 2 months now. Plant growth is very slow compared to my high tech tank. The plants that grows fast in it are the frogbits and elodea.

 

I have it running for 2 months now. Plant growth is very slow compared to my high tech tank. The plants that grows fast in it are the frogbits and elodea.

Yes, elodea is very fast growing. Any algae issues?

 

Yes, elodea is very fast growing. Any algae issues?

None as of now. The anubias got some GSA before but that got solved when I put frogbits to shade it.

 

None as of now. The anubias got some GSA before but that got solved when I put frogbits to shade it.

So GSA comes from too much light? I thought that was brown algae?

 

This is my 90 it’s almost a year old. I used eco-complete in it. Not happy with the outcome. Plant life was much better at first. Still tweaking it. Using root tabs and liquid ferts.

This is my 30 it’s around 5 years old. Standard 1/4” brown gravel and root tab, liquid ferts.

 

What would all you guys say the most important thing is to having a healthy/lush non co2/excel planted tank? 86 ssinit Tsin21 Sakura48 irishboy02 midnaNataku aosuna11 toeknee Hunter1

 

I would say it’s 2 things;

1) good light

2) fertilizer (liquid for water column feeders, root tabs for root feeders.

 

I’m no expert. My 30 is at least 5 years old so there’s substance in the gravel. Ph is 6.8 - 7. Been using the apI root tabs and a mixture of liquid ferts. Temp is 75-78 and the lighting is a vivagrow 24/7. Plants just grow in this tank. When something goes bad in the 90 I move it into this tank and most come back to life. Unforunatly I’ve moved green slime algae from the eco-complete into this tank so it’s become a little more work cleaning it weekly. I’m now moving some java moss that’s covered in the slime into my shrimp tank to see if they’ll clean it up.

 

So GSA comes from too much light? I thought that was brown algae?

In my case, it's brought by too much light.

What would all you guys say the most important thing is to having a healthy/lush non co2/excel planted tank? 86 ssinit Tsin21 Sakura48 irishboy02 midnaNataku aosuna11 toeknee Hunter1

I would say it’s 2 things;

1) good light

2) fertilizer (liquid for water column feeders, root tabs for root feeders.

I agree with Hunter1 's post and I would like to add some points.

• For light - in my walstad tank, having a siesta period (lights off) helps in preventing/controlling algae.
• For nutrients - the main source of it in my tank is the organic potting mix.

I highly recommend Diana Walstad's book "Ecology of the Planted Aquarium" which explains many of the things stated.

 

In my case, it's brought by too much light.


I agree with Hunter1 's post and I would like to add some points.

• For light - in my walstad tank, having a siesta period (lights off) helps in preventing/controlling algae.
• For nutrients - the main source of it in my tank is the organic potting mix.

I highly recommend Diana Walstad's book "Ecology of the Planted Aquarium" which explains many of the things stated.

I have a couple of organic potting mix tanks but I still dose since they both have floating plants as well.

I also highly recommend a “siesta” period if algae becomes an isssue. Only one of my tanks gets a siesta but it is one of the dirty tanks and had huge algae and diatoms initially. 4 hours light, 3 hour break, 5 hours more light before lights out for the night works in this tank.

I have thought about a midday siesta for some of the other tanks as well but haven’t done it yet.

 

For me, I just try my best to do maintenance and fertilize, my light isn't the best one out there, and I use Miracle gro potting mix. I think dosing Flourish 2x a week helps too, since none of my plants are burned or anything

The most important thing is that I choose my plants well, there's some that need special attention, but most plants just have sun, dirt, and water in nature, and I try to learn from mother nature. Mother knows best after all

 

Have been experimenting with different plants for a couple of years. Found out that crypts worked out really well for me a year ago.
Light comes on for 7 hours each day. Fert with liquid fertilizer weekly. Had root tabs when I first added them a year ago but did not replenish it since. Malaysian trumpet snails keeps my substrate moving too.

 

View attachment 473359
Dojos hanging out in the water lettuce roots when they get all tangled up with the jungle val and four star leafgrass. They love their 'root hammocks' so I don't keep that tank as trimmed up as I like. But the dojos eat the water lettuce roots when they get tired of sitting in them so win win? Also the shading provided by the water lettuce and jungle val seems to cause the java fern in that tank to grow better than when they had more direct light from the led bar? Plants. Why.

Nataku, do you think danios would like water lettuce too? I forgot which floating plant I tried in my tank but my danios were just too aggressive with them. I’m sure they were playing but they’d end up separating the leaf and root so after less than a week I removed the remaining plants to save myself the cleaning trouble

 

Well adagona I didn’t think of that. I also have trumpet snails in my 30. I wonder if they are the difference and should be recomended with planted tanks.

 

29G planted tank. It's a little bit messy I need to trim some of the plants.

 

Well adagona I didn’t think of that. I also have trumpet snails in my 30. I wonder if they are the difference and should be recomended with planted tanks.

I added them to all my tanks so I can't do a comparison. I love how they clean up all uneaten food too so I never have to vacuum my soil.

 

I would say it’s 2 things;

1) good light

2) fertilizer (liquid for water column feeders, root tabs for root feeders.

Could you be a little more specific on what a good light would be?

 

Really cheap 10000k LED light
BDSBS and root tabs
You can't really get any more low tech than this. Lol

 

Dirted tank
Beamswork 6500k light
It’s only been up for a few weeks.

 

I see bacopa stems on the left, why does everyone's grow like that?

 

I see bacopa stems on the left, why does everyone's grow like that?

Huh? Like what?