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Non limiting levels of nutrients and CO2 favours plant growth over algae growth and this is the basis of the Tom Barr EI method and also why Diana Walstads el natural method works whereby nutrient rich garden soil is placed under the substrate. The levels of nutrients and CO2 is generally lower...

I wasn't aware that hair algae is related to unstable CO2 levels? James Planted tank guide says that it is related to low CO2 levels. I personally find hair algae unsightly to look at and prefer to avoid it. If the OP looks in the algae section of the forum they will find the advice given to...

Hair algae is caused predominantly by a a lack of CO2 see http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/algae.htm To stay low tech there are number of things you can do to manage the CO2 levels in your tank: Low tech: increasing CO2 supply -more fish& inverts /bio load - produces more CO2 -more feeding -...

She doesn't seem big on aquascaping which is a shame. I see aquascaping and the method of growing plants a separate aspects of the hobby. Also the picture at the top of the acuariorosa webpage I think is someone else called Pam Chin See half way down this webpage - she just happens to be...

Hi Jporter If I were going from Hi tech (high light/high CO2) to low tech I would thin out and prune the plants during the transition. This should avoid a lot of the potential melting issues that you may face. I would also lower the light levels to those more suited to low tech...

Hi Kris have you seen this article? Diana uses a 1 gal bowl with a soil based substrate for her cherry shrimps: NPT Shrimp tank and DSM article by Diana Walstad

I don't see any problems with the water lettuce in your set up. :) The snails sound intriguing with the red marks. I have no idea what they are perhaps you could post a picture of them in the invert section of the forum.

See this thread ..theres some info about the best time to stock new el natural tanks http://www.ukaps.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=19400&start=10

When I first went over to using a soil under layer I had a mature filter, reused plants and gravel and was able to start stocking immediately. When I set up my shrimp tank from scratch with new filter/sand and plants it took about 2 weeks before I could introduce shrimp. I used john Innes no 1...

9W seems about right for your size tank. I have a 35 litre 40cm by 28cm arc tank with 11W Arc Pod light for my low tech shrimp set up. You can use Aquasoil - should be fine in a low tech tank (i've never used it myself). If you want to try dirt/soil substrate then you could follow the Walstead...

I see CO2 related algae problems (including BBA) as one of supply and demand. When you cannot keep up with demand for CO2 from your plants the plants stop growing and algae starts to grow. If you use additional CO2 you just increase the amount you add or add more Excel etc to keep up with...

Limiting phosphate tends to limit total plant growth including higher plants and algae which for us aquatic gardeners is not much use. Its fine in a fish only tank (or very low light light low tech tanks if you are prepared to put up with a bit of algae). Also low levels of phosphate is linked...

The high tech vs low tech debate is age old and IMO is kind of pointless. It soon leads onto other debates about what exactly is high tech and low tech and which variant is better etc. I think people, myself included get inspired when they see a great looking aqua scape and then try to find...

Have a look at the aquarium fert dosing part of the forum for the best way to add ferts for a tank of that size - probably most cost effective on a large tank is to buy the dry salts. Also look at http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/index.htm it has useful info on dosing and avoiding algae. Plants...

The cat litter will have no nutrients to speak of, there are no fish so there is no fish waste to provide nutrients so I would say yes you need to add some kind of ferts. The plants will do OK to begin with providing they are healthy and will survive on their store of nutrients to sustain them...

For me the key phrase here is 'it depends upon the levels of CO2 in the tank water and in the atmosphere'. The term low tech covers a wide range of tanks and is not a exact definition. For example a low tech tank using a soil layer a la Walstead style tanks, with organic matter in the soil...

I've not used the lighting and filters you suggest but about 11W of light should be fine for this size of tank. I have an Arcadia 11w Arc Pod Lamp with my 35l arc tank. The PFK article you mention above does not say much about on going maintenance and ferts. You might struggle to grow the...

If you are familiar with the idea of a pyramid of biomass it gives an insight into why long term small sealed jars are only able to support small numbers of animal life and probably only small microscopic animal life. The sealed jars would need to be of certain minimum sizes to support animals...

I've had this in the past when I had filter problems. My canister filter got clogged with soil and stopped working. When I cleaned the filter I got a brown diatom bloom soon after. Its very similar to when the tank is maturing for the 1st time but it happens and is all over a lot quicker and...

Its some nymphaea species 'Tiger lotus'. I don't know the exact species but a great plant that produced large attractive leaves that eventually made it to the surface and provided quite a bit of dappled shade.

Have look at my journal (signature) as I said before I went with mostly easy to grow undemanding plants and had mixed results with more demanding plants.

Some ways to manage CO2 in a low tech tank that has no CO2 enrichment are 1)Reduce light intensity - which I believe you have done. 2)Reduce photo period - I usually start off at about 10 hrs and increase to max 12 hrs or min 6hrs as necessary. 3)Add shade with floating plants (further reduces...

There's a price to pay going low tech (in particular low CO2) and that is you may not be able to grow all the plants you want. Often with low tech you chuck a load of plants in to your set up and see what grows well together. I suspect the stem plants that melted were due to insufficient CO2 and...

If you intend to feed your plants using fish waste then the more fish and inverts the better- up to a point. More waste will eventually turn into more plant food so you can grow more plants etc. You can search the internet for fish stocking calculators but you have to avoid over stocking as...

Sand and Flourite (which is just clay) has no organic matter, I don't know about JBL pro flora. I generally don't bother with substrate layers unless I want to stop fine clay/compost getting into the water column and filter.

Growing plants without CO2 is hard unless you keep the light levels low both in terms of intensity and duration. Adding a soil layer with organic matter present or using Leonardite means you are adding extra CO2 to the tank but keeping the tank low tech and greatly improves choice and quantity...

Came across a pdf document with an article about low tech shrimp tanks and growing carpet plants using the DSM in an NPT. You might find interesting: http://www.bookmasters.com/marktplc/00388Shrimp.pdf

I would be tempted to start the tank with fresh soil as this will have more ferts and organic matter for CO2 production. You may be able to get away without a filter in your tank but might want something for water circulation in which case a small sponge filter would be good - I think the...

Have a look at this thread asking very similar questions. http://ukaps.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=13332 As for the cryptocorynes I would be tempted to thin them out and prune them back (the same with the other plants). This means that you will reduce demand for CO2 at the same time as...

This is an intriguing question and I don't really know the answer myself :? . I have always aimed to reduce water surface turbulence on the basis of preserving the CO2 already present in my tank. I have read on various forums that the alkalinity of the tank water can act like a re chargeable...

The cheapest approach would be to dig up some soil from your garden, enough to cover the base of your tank to about 1.5" Then top the soil off with 1" to !.5" gravel. Garden soil can be highly variable and will affect the end result greatly what you are looking for is good garden loam which is...

I know the question is aimed at Tom Barr but if it were me I would go with the LED. My only worry is the price is £12 too good to be true - are there any UK retailers for the LED?

This thread discusses best soils for low tech.. http://ukaps.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=304

I think it would be fair to say that getting CO2 delivery right in any form of planted tank is the challenging bit even in low tech with no pressurised CO2 added, you still have to get a balance between light/CO2/and plant demand. There are ways to make the most of what CO2 is available in a...

Apparently Diana Walstead had extra south facing windows built in her house to get more of her fish tanks exposed to the sun. Providing you don't end up with nutrient limitations then I suspect your plants will love the 3 hrs of sunlight 8) . What kind of substrate are you using?

I would be tempted to add a bit off clay to the peat and also some crushed lime/snail shells to avoid the the peat making the planting medium too acidic. You may need to add ferts if the peat you are using is low in nutrients.

Playsand on its own will not provide any source of CO2 or any other plant nutrients. This means that you will need to add ferts, either liquid or dry ferts as Garuf has said above. To avoid adding extra CO2 you need to ensure that CO2 demand is low from your plants - you can control this by...

I've never kept rams but I have 2 angel fish in my NPT atm in which I do 50% W/C every 6months. The angel fish have grown nicely and turned out to be a pair, they even spawned a while back but unfortunately the eggs vanished.. (but thats another story I guess :( ).

You could try an almost 'no tech' shrimp tank in the same way as Diana Walstead has set up. I quite fancy this style myself see link in APC forum below:- http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/el-natural/62825-new-npt-shrimp-tanks.html

Wow you seem really put off using commercial composts/top soils from your time working in the industry :sick:. Which brand did you work for or which brand would you say is the most contaminated? Do you have any examples/evidence of wood treatment/glue causing problems in aquatic set ups or is...

I've not had any trouble with rotting compost either so I don't know if SuperColey1s comment is based on bad experiences. That said however Diana Walstead in her book does warn about the choice of different types of soil and soil depth, if the soil does become too acidic it can become toxic and...

Leonardite is new to me - how does it supply CO2? From my experience there are no plants that I have tried so far that can't be grown using the el natural method. What I do find however is that there are plant combinations that do no go together well. I could not get vallis and sword plants to...

Why not go for some plant friendly cichlids such as angel fish, kribs, keyhole cichlids etc or even some Tanganyikan cichlids such as julies or N. brichardi - I think the last 2 are plant friendly :shifty: . They all have loads of personality.

I know what you are saying about water changes throwing a spanner in the works for the allelopathy theory (using carbon in filters might also counter this theory as well) and assuming that iron is like all the rest of the major nutrients in that more not less is beneficial then its tricky to see...

I have often wondered how plants suppress aglae growth. The theories I have come across so far are 1)Competition for bio available iron in the water column which is usually in short supply 2)Allelopathy - chemicals released by plants that inhibit algae growth (all sorts of organisms can release...

Whenever I do a water change or clean the filter I see a decline in plant growth for a while and some algae may appear - this I assume is due to the plant nutrients being removed. One thing you can do to counteract this is to prune your plants just after so that you reduce demand for nutrients...

Good start Polly :thumbup: To fert or not to fert? Its kind of up to you. I personally don't bother and go with the el natural idea that enough ferts will come from fishfood & soil etc - this is also coupled with few if any water changes. My tank has been running for a year - 1 w/c and...

Is leaving the soil/gravel for 8 weeks submerged one of the dry start methods? :?

I have had good results with John Innes seed and cutting compost the from the J Arthur Bowers brand - others recommends John Innes No 3 as well. See the thread below for a good discussion: http://ukaps.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=304

I'm not sure if sunlight is essential but Diana Walstead recommends it - she and a number of others who have set up NPT have their tanks next to a south facing window -but plenty have also set up succesful tanks without direct sunlight you might want to quiz her on the APC forum. Her reasoning...

Floating plants provide extra shade and they have the ability to use aerial CO2 so can play an import part in an el natural set up. But what really makes the el naturel style tank is a good rich soil substrate and lots of sunlight. If you have a soil substrate then you will need plants to root...

It will be interesting to see how you get on with your spraybar. I have my tank in the living room so I prefer to avoid using spraybars and airstones because of the noise - the sound of continuous running water makes me need the loo all the time! :|

Fair enough - tap water that has been under pressure and is cooler than your tank water is going to contain higher levels of CO2. I suppose the point I had in my mind that I didn't make very clear is that if you run a low tech tank and do infrequent water changes (I do 50% every 6 months) then...

I think it will be a challenge to measure the CO2 in your containers and I'm not sure it would be worth it anyway. What makes you think that tap water is not already in equilibrium with air? Correct me if I wrong but I though fluctuating CO2 levels has more to do with how your tank is run...

Cyberelic, Your old style tank sounds very much like the el natural method of keeping planted tanks. I'm not sure the fish would have lasted very long with no water changes if there were no plants as the acquatic plants purify the water. The fish tank itself also acts a biological filter so I...

Hi joeinlondon The tanks doing fine - I keep meaning to update the journal I started but my digital camera has died so maybe a while before I update it again. I got my Walstead book of ebay, are you planning to start up a natural planted tank?

I have used John Innes seed compost (mainly because there was some lying around which was being used for seed germination) and so far it seems to work fine. However looking at the a web site with the John Innes compost range explained the seed compost is the least fertile...

You may well be right Dusko about overfeeding - I wouldn't be too comfortable leaving decaying fish food in the tank for days on end. I can only really go on my own experience and I find now that even though I feed alot more than I used to, the fish still gobble up the food in seconds - little...

Great blog and great looking tank Dusko! I too am loving the low tech method, the low maintenance side suits me because of the limited time (and budget!) I have to spend on my aquarium. I suppose one of the reasons for starting this thread was to find out how many have tried this method and what...

Hi Adam Thanks again for the fish they seem to be settling well to their new environment. In terms of lighting Diana Walstead recommends a mixture of sunlight and fluorescent lighting - there's more detail in the following link http://thegab.org/Articles/WalstadTank.html. My tank...

Hi I'm new to this forum. I would be interested to know how many of you have tried the Diana Walstead style setup for acquascaping and how successful you have found it compared to the more high tech set ups. I have recently taken the plunge, stripped out my 3ft planted tank and started again...