Having read the compost posts with much interest, lets wander back to the other aspects of this thread, as I think some really good points have come up.
dw1305 said:
I also have a small amount of green fuzz, BBA and Stags-horn algae in the tanks with fish, and my suspicion is that this is inevitable with very slow plant growth, personally I like to have some biofilm, as it helps with the survivor-ship of very small fry (Dwarf Sparkling Gourami, Dario spp. etc.). From personal experience this approach is effective and I've had Dwarf cichlids, Pencil fish, Killis, Tetras, Otocinclus etc. successfully breed using it.
Over a year after switching off my pressurised CO2 and I think I am finally getting into the low tech mindset ... I no longer mind seeing the odd little tuft of BBA, and am now even enjoying watching the CRS shrimplets picking at the invisible goodies on it. No sign of green fuzz or staghorn for me. Just a little GSA, which is a nice sign to put some phosphates powders in - probably every 4-6 weeks or so, how is that for infrequent dosing
dw1305 said:
I'd add some nutrients to the peat layer, probably in the form of one of the slower release formulations of "osmocote", or alternatively add a low dosage of "James all in one" to the water column (possibly better if you have mainly have epiphytes), you could do this regularly or just when plant growth slows to an unacceptable level. I'd also add some floating plants, you can keep them or lose them once the tank has stabilised, the advantage at the start is they have the aerial advantage allowing them to utilise atmospheric CO2, and they are much easier to harvest than stem plants until the planting fills out, you can also use them to control light intensity.
These are the exact approaches that I have tried over the last year. It was fascinating for me to observe how with no ferts the plants, on the whole, do remain healthy; but barely grow. Then you can add a little ferts and the growth kicks in again. Just need to be patient and observe over longer time frames than a high tech tank.
I would check the tank waters ph before making up jamesallinone solution though. If the tanks ph is above 7 then the solution will precipitate upon hitting the water, causing cloudy water. Without the ph drop induced by pressurised co2 and with alkali tap water this can easily happen. With london tap water it is almost a certainty! Growth is so slow though that dry fert dosing is much less of a chore. eg. You could dose once a week, micros one week, then macros the following. There are many options.
Kosh42|EFG said:
But this style works well for me... I neglect the tank for a month and the only thing that happens it the plants need hacking back... But I'm not sure on slow growth... I was throwing away a bucket of red ludwigia a week until I got bored or it and binned the lot...
I have found that having some sort of plant with leaves above the surface (either floaters or tall stem plants) are a must... The fact they are not CO2 limited mean they can mop up excess water column nutrients before the algae...
Yes! Ditto.
dw1305 said:
If you have a trickle filter in the sump the biological filtration capacity of the filter is huge (partially because of the large surface for gas exchange), this also means that the CO2 levels will remain in equilibrium with the atmosphere (it is the differential between the levels in the water and atmosphere that cause the out-gassing when you add CO2, but in this case if your CO2 is depleted by photosynthesis it will quickly re-equilibrate with the atmosphere due to the high solubility of CO2). Because of this I wouldn't worry about water changes causing fluctuating CO2 levels. I change a small volume of water every day, but I've always done this so I can't offer any advice whether this is really necessary or advantageous.
Kosh42|EFG said:
For my next low tech I'm also planning a sump, but will not have a trickle filter and will deliberately be trying to keep splashing to a minimum and having a cover on the sump for the very reason of keeping CO2 loss to a minimum...
To trickle or not to trickle that is a good question!
If I go ahead with DIY'ing a sump (a few months off probably) then my focus for the 'mk1' build will be on; it not leaking, having a safe cutoff if the pump fails, and being as quiet as possible.
Has anyone on here ran a sump on a planted tank before?
There is plenty of info out there on sump design, but they are aimed at marine/very large setups.