How to grow an aquarium that looks high tech...and uses no Co2.

[Stan510]

He's got it down. Plus,the fast growth means every leaf is perfect.

 

[PlasticGalaxy]

He's got it down. Plus,the fast growth means every leaf is perfect.

Thank you for the video!

 

[PheonixKingZ]

I wish I had the money... for the plants.

Thank you!

 

[Stan510]

The price on water lotus has gone up the last couple of years..not inexpensive and getting a high quality blood red leafed one is harder to find these days. The Alternanthera seems to be reasonable..growers must be producing lots of it although at the LFS's I've seen the one that is NOT aquatic being sold as the real deal. I bought that and it slowly rotted like three years ago now. That one is usually sold as generic bunch plant.
The red Cabomba? Never seen it for sale but on the internet and Tropica says "MUST have Co2"..and then you see this vid-ha.
If look at Biotopia's vids he shows the Red Cabomba growing dense in the Rio Scuri..in crystal clear water and in clumps that are close to the water surface. It loves light.

 

[Wills]

Interesting video he made all the right choices The tricky bit is trying to copy a high tech tank in a low tech tank where as he has picked from a much smaller group of plants.

I have to say the most impressive thing about the video is using bubble wrap during a water change at the surface! Which is a game changer!

Wills

 

[Stan510]

He did a follow up...An all red plant aquarium. That's the epitome for those on a budget.
Myself? I wasn't going to grow plants at all..so used pool sand. Later added gravel when the plant bug got me. So,my plants are growing in 1" of sand and gravel. Iron for rme has been the savior...but I like the way he shows plants WILL COLORUP with no Co2.

 

[Barry Tetra]

I wish I had the money... for the plants.

Thank you!

I was thinking of this as well until I realized that there are aquatic plants farm 20km from our home, everything was pretty cheap, would you believe me if everything is 0.50$ including velisneria, rotala and cryptocoryne.

 

[Colin_T]

I can go up into the hills around Perth and collect all the giant Vallis I want and it only costs me the fuel and time to go there. Unfortunately it's usually 4-6 feet long and I don't have a tank big enough for it.

There are aquatic plants in most countries around the world and most people should be able to find some in their local waterways.

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I wish I had the money... for the plants.

You have a heap of plants, trade some in and get a couple of new species to grow. When you have lots of them, trade some in for some more species.

I didn't pay for anything when I was keeping fish. Any fish and plants I produced got sold or traded in to the shops and I used that to buy other things (fish, plants, food, etc).

Aquarium plants are easy to grow outdoors in containers of water. You can add heaps of fertiliser too because there are no fish in with them. And when you get mozzie larvae in the containers, scoop them out and give them to your fish to get them to breed.

 

[Stan510]

In the SF bay area,the only waters I've seen that could be put into aquariums is Horned Pondweed and Muskgrass-Charra. In fact,so few are kept that when you Google California aquatic plants? 99% of the photos are of plants NOT from California. Not many posters of our plants!

 

[Colin_T]

California has dozens of introduced species of aquatic plant and you can grab them for your tank instead. Just don't tell anyone you have them because lots of them are considered noxious weeds and the government gets uspet if you keep them.

What the government doesn't know, won't hurt them

 

[Stan510]

Maybe in the Sacramento river east...gets hot in summer there,I could see Rotala and Ludwigia naturalizing. Where I am in the bay area? Moderate summer temps,never rains..so ponds dry up. Really,a huge difference. Muskgrass? U-G-L-Y.