Dry Start With "Sterile" Substrate...

[Kosh42-EFG]

Hi All,

I'm in the planning stages of a new tank, and after some reading on here I'm likely to be using either Akadama or cat litter as the substrate... However, as its going to be a low tech tank and I want a nice carpet of plants in the foreground, I'm also planning to dry start and get this established...

My question is, how do I get the nutrients for the plants to establish into these sterile substrates before the tank is full? My only thinking is that I start with the tank flooded, dose it very heavily, leave it for a few days for the substrate to absorb the nutrients, then drain the tank.

Will this work, or do I need to start with a more nutrient rich substrate to dry start?

Cheers in advance for any comments...

 

[Steve Smith]

Interesting question. I'm not totally sure, but I believe the idea of akadama and other clay based, high CEC substrates is that they retain nutrients so what you suggest might work. Pre-treating it so that it is already charged with nutrients might also work (soaking it in a container for a period of time). I'm only hypothesising though

 

[ceg4048]

Hi,
If you'll use the Dry Start Method (DSM) you can simply use a nutrient rich mixture to keep the plants moist. Apply with a spray bottle. If you're going low tech then you probably will want to add nutrients under the Akadama. Check out JamesC Akadama Journal - Although this was a high tech re-scape there are still plenty of ideas.

Cheers,

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
You can use either of Clive's suggestions, liquid feeding and/or nutrient addition to the substrate (I'd go for Osmocote for the substrate).

If you haven't got all the fertilisers you need to hand or you want a cheaper option for the liquid feed you can use a commercial tomato feed, something like "Tomorite" or "Vitax tomato feed", because although their nitrogen content is as ammonium nitrate (NH3NO3), this becomes irrelevant with a dry start.

cheers Darrel

 

[Kosh42-EFG]

I was just going to mix my own ferts from powders from Fluidsensor... I've recently bought about a year or twos worth for my current tank for the princely sum of £16... Probably just buy some more of this...

Cheers for the suggestions all... Keep them coming...