20-04-2003, 06:25 AM
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Planted tanks without CO2
tose (LeighMo) wrote in message ...
I have a moderate light, non-injected tank. It's a dream, really. Needs much
less maintenance than my high-tech, high-light tank. It has 65 watts over 29
gallons, and only the demanding "lawn" plants won't grow there. But OTOH, some
plants grow well in this tank that never did well in my high-tech tank:
Bolbitis, anubias, java fern, java moss, pennywort, egeria.
This tank has no algae to speak of, even though it's massively overstocked. (I
didn't overstock it, but the shrimp, snails, and platies just keep breeding.)
My red Amazon swords didn't do well in this tank, but the ordinary green sort
grew better in this tank than in the high-light one. Right now I have C.
wendtii, C. willisi, various apons, various anubias, hornwort, Cabomba, dwarf
Val, an onion plant, and various Hygrophila species. Saggitaria subulata did
well, until it started being shaded out by the taller plants. Cabomba looks
better in this tank than in the high-light one. It grows more slowly, but is
much thicker and bushier, without the legginess of the Cabomba in my bright
tank.
Leigh
I think you'll fine you can have a plant packed non CO2 tank with good
full but slower growth. Your tanks are not fully planted.
A few key elements a deep rich substrate, few if any water changes,
no dosing, just fish food/feedings, moderate light 1-2w/gal or so, a
number of algae eaters, good dense planting from the start, small
amount of filtration water current, some floating surface
plants(10-25%S.A.).
I've used flourite or onxy sand about 4 inches deep with 1/2 inch of
ground peat on the bottom along with rich vacuumed mulm from another
mature tank mixed in to the bottom layer.
I use "bread and butter" plants, cheap easy to grow things and then
work in the more difficult plants slowly.
I have a relatively light fish load but heavy on the algae eaters and
I tend to over feed a bit and feed once a day.
This has worked every time and some tanks have been running since
1997. I/the owners prune once every 2-3 months etc.
Regards,
Tom Barr
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