Sean Meister and I have been discussing low light, non-CO2 injected tanks in
email. It would be interesting to find out if there are others you have had
success in low tech tanks as I have.

I don't have the explosive growth rates that come with CO2 injected tanks, but
I do have two clean, algae free planted tanks.

Pics:

http://www.2cah.com/pets/clean75.JPG
http://www.2cah.com/pets/20planted.JPG

Here's the list of plants I have success with in those two tanks:

C. Wendtii
C. Becketii
C. crispatula balansae
Echinodorus Major
Lutea (don't know the real name)
Rotala spec. 'Green'
Hygrophila polysperma
Sagittaria subulata
Chladaflora (yup, algae balls)
Anubias nana
Anubias barteri

Tank setups...

20 gallon:

1-3mm gravel with no supplements
1 Eclipse 20 watt full spectrum tube
Penguin 170 with biowheel

75 gallon:

1-3mm gravel with no supplements
2 x 20 watt full spectrum tubes
2 x 55 watt full spectrum CF tubes
2 x Penguin 330 with biowheels
Proquatics 1200 cannister filter

Both tanks have a high bioload (read: over-stocked). I dose twice weekly with
the label recommended amounts of Seachem's Flourish and Flourish Iron. I have
fairly hard water, 15-17 dKH, 19-21 dGH (both vary with weather conditions). I
do 20% water changes every 7-10 days.

I know I'm not the only one out there, anyone else care to chime in?

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

In article m,
Craig Morrison wrote:

Sean Meister and I have been discussing low light, non-CO2 injected tanks in
email. It would be interesting to find out if there are others you have had
success in low tech tanks as I have.

Many people. I'm one:
http://mike-edwardes.members.beeb.net/plant/tanks.html

Mike.
--
Mike Edwardes Tropicals
http://mike-edwardes.members.beeb.net

I have a mini tank (one of those Eclipse 6 gallon sets). It's only a 8
watt bulb, but
I have C. Wendtii, C. Becketii, A. nana and lots of Java ferns. I use
florish and have aflourite substrate. Grows slow but that's OK in such a
small area. It needs a serious weeding now.