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Converting to low tech...

Sacha

Member
Joined
3 Jan 2014
Messages
992
Location
London
Well it's been a fun ride but I think it's time that I packed in the Co2 and simplified my set up.

At the moment I am using Co2 and RO/DI water re-mineralised to 100PPM. The environment is ideal for the livestock that I keep:

Cardinal tetras
Silvertip tetras
Pentazona barbs
Corydoras trilineatus
Zebra danios

I want to switch to a non-Co2, tap water setup. I obviously want to keep as many of the plants as I can manage in a non-Co2 environment.

First off, will these fish be happy in London tap water? TDS is something like 350, pH 8.2, nitrates 40ppm, phosphates 10ppm.

Second, how do I make the transition? Literally just turn the Co2 off, disconnect it all, reduce photoperiod and hope for the best? Or should I also remove plants?

Currently I have mostly easy plants that I guess would grow OK in low-tech, except for maybe the Staurogyne Repens. I guess I will get rid of the S.Repens but keep the stem plants.

Sorry for the meandering ramblings, any advice is much appreciated.
 
Cannot help with what you ask but please do post a picture of your current setup before you switch it to low tech.
 
Slowly ramp things down, once plants have got used to decent CO2, light and ferts levels they will suffer if you take it all away suddenly as witnessed by all these people suffering plants melting and algae farms when their their CO2 (sometime ferts) fails even for a couple of days.

You need to ramp light level (not duration) down first, excess CO2 and ferts won't be an issue, over say a month or two, keeping frequent water changes as well. Then start backing off CO2 and ferts over following week or two. Remember as low tech (actually lower light really) you will still need a CO2 & fert source, liquid carbon & ferts once a week maybe fine and still require water change every so often. My mate has a low tech tank, single T5HO tube with foil rings fitted to reduce light level, on 6hours odd. He doses liquid carbon and ferts once a week, daily fish feed and water changes every month or two.
 
Hi Sacha,
I would be tempted to keep the s repens, I was under the impression that they are ok with lower co2 and light?
Anyway, You do have the choice to continue co2 with liquid if you wish or if you want to go fully low tech I would just switch the lights off for a week and turn off the co2.
Then after a week slowly re introduce light. Start with slightly above ambient light for whatever light duration you want then increase till you find a comfy level. Dosing when you feel like it, or once a week, bi-weekly, and top ups, maybe a water change every couple of weeks when you do maintenance. You may find the water softens over time so snails and shrimp will die if the mineral content is not right.
Pictures! :)
 
I think those fish will be fine...Bucks water isn't that much different and my cardinals have thrived in it.
You can do it gradually just like ian suggests or you can just pull the plug and go cold turkey. You'll probably get some melt but the plants usually bounce back and grow new leaves fairly quickly...just stay on top of maintenance until they do and until your tank stabilises at its new low-energy equilibrium.
Leave the S. repens in, it might be ok...you never know till you try.
 
Thanks for all of the replies.

I have removed one of the reflectors (currently have two 28W T5s). I will remove the other reflector in a couple of days. Since this is a fixed lighting unit (Juwel Rio 125), that is the best I can do in terms of reducing light intensity. After that I will gradually start to reduce the photoperiod and slowly ramp down the Co2. Eventually I will work down to a short photoperiod (5-6 hours), and no Co2.

And I guess I'll just increase the ratio of tap/RO for each water change from now on until eventually I'm using 100% tap?
 
T5s without reflector will still be high light. You need to block more..foil rings, plastic sheet etc.
 
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Ian, do you think you could elaborate on how exactly to block out the light? Would floating plants do the job?
 
Seems you still have a very very nice tank. I recon the most hard part of your current setup is RO water. CO2 is mostly set and forget - at least compared to the efforts for RO...
So this begs the question: why not drop the RO water for tap water and keep co2?
 
Now you mention it 1 T5 tube would be more than adequate. Floaters will help, but you'd have to have an enormous plant biomass to absorb the photons from 2 T5 tubes in a low-energy tank, even without reflectors.
Something like one of these with a dimmer should fit your existing fixture and give you the flexibility you need http://www.aquatlantis.com/index.php?id=42&tbl=registos&crct=1 I think the cheapest place to buy them is Amazon.
 
Ian, do you think you could elaborate on how exactly to block out the light? Would floating plants do the job?
Yes floating plants will work. To reduce the light put rings of aluminium foil around the T5 tubes, works well.
 
That's an interesting solution and I'm sure it works well...but I'd kinda be concerned about the unnecessary energy expenditure. Personally, I'd prefer a more controllable and therefore energy efficient solution, even if it means investing in a new light source.
 
Yeah... The money I have spent on this tank must be running into the thousands now. That's part of the reason for packing up. I am not spending any more money on this tank.
 
No. I'm not prepared to do any kind of DIY. I have a fully functional tank, filter, and lighting setup. I'm not going to mess with it.

Is it not possible to get T5 tubes of this length at any less than 28W?
 
Ah ok, was just a thought. A lot of the time the individual components will determine the level at which you need to pitch the intervention required in order to maintain a successful planted tank. T5 is def up there at the higher level. Sorry can't help with lower wattage tubes. But reading above some sort of diffuser / blocker might be practicle :) I was looking at car window tint film on ebay the other day. 50% reduction in light and a 1m sheet for practically peanuts. I might dabble myself. Can't recommend it as never used it. Again just an idea!

Sustainable Aquaria
 
With a low tech, my advice is to play with the photoperiod until you are happy the light amount doesn't trigger algae.
The plants still need the intensity even for a way shorter period of time, otherwise those that can't tolerate low light will die off.
Just dial down the hours. If you see algae, dial down again. Even 30min makes a difference. In my low tech tanks it takes about 1-2 weeks after I change the photoperiod to see if algae will show up or not and if it shows up, it's very little at that stage so just cleaning it off and reducing the photoperiod sorts it out for good. I sometimes need the magnifying glass to actually see it at this stage so look carefully...
But decreasing intensity can cause half of your light loving plants to never ever flourish again.
If you look around, the only successful low light low tech tanks only contain crypts and anubias, and the likes of those.
But the point is you can have a low tech with a greater diversity of plants by having higher intensity, just patiently adjusting the photoperiod.
I wouldn't be scared of the light intensity and if it needs be add floating plants to play with that. They'll also help with the transition if any of the submerged ones that are used to high co2 start melting and adjusting.
 
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