Intersting Read

[blodhi74]

Balanced aquarium

 

[Syphoniera]

Balanced aquarium

Speaking as one already converted - and in the process of converting most of my tanks to Walstads - happy to see others showing interest.
It all makes so much sense.

 

[OldMan47]

I have read her book and have set up a tank along the basic lines that she suggests. For me it is an experiment to see if I can work within her guidelines with success. Meanwhile I have lots of other low light tanks without CO2 that also do OK. I also just started a high tech tank and am waiting for the ferts to arrive to go with my pressurized CO2 and higher light. Once it comes together, I will have some basis for comparison. As far as not having an algae problem with a Walstead, I beg your pardon but it is only true if you don't define algae as a problem. Mine has taken more care than any other tank I have to get rid of the algae. It has not stopped me from enjoying the tank but I find the enthusiasts a bit much when they are unwilling to admit when something isn't quite right. Every method I have tried has had its drawbacks and an El Natural is no exception.

 

[DiscusKeeper403]

I was reading an article in some fish keeping magazine, and someone did the same thing. Very interesting, love the low maintenance aspect of the whole thing, but would be worried mad about Ammonia/Nitrites, I'd probably be checking them every day.

 

[LauraFrog]

I could never pull this off because I like to have a lot of fish in the tank, I would be in disaster zone after six months without doing any water changes, especially in the absence of real filtration... I do like the 'low tech' though, my tanks are all planted, with low light (fluoro bulbs or daylight only) no CO2 and a single liquid fert with no levels tested.

 

[tyyrlym]

Its an interesting experiment but honestly it seems somewhat like a sales pitch. Some pretty significant claims, making the other way seem like more of a hassle than it is, etc.

 

[aaronnorth]

I was reading an article in some fish keeping magazine, and someone did the same thing. Very interesting, love the low maintenance aspect of the whole thing, but would be worried mad about Ammonia/Nitrites, I'd probably be checking them every day.

The ammonia and nitrites are rapidly absorbed by the plants.

 

[blodhi74]

bump

 

[DiscusKeeper403]

I was reading an article in some fish keeping magazine, and someone did the same thing. Very interesting, love the low maintenance aspect of the whole thing, but would be worried mad about Ammonia/Nitrites, I'd probably be checking them every day.

The ammonia and nitrites are rapidly absorbed by the plants.

Nitrates would be absorbed by plants as food. In a healthy tank, Ammonia and Nitrites can be broken down by the beneficial bacteria. If you did not do water changes in a tank, and debris builds up at the bottom of the tank and in the filter, it would suffocate the beneficial bacteria and cause it to die. Also another thing to be worried about was if you had too big a bio-load and Nitrates built up faster then they could be processed.

I know that in a planted tank though, a lot of this debris would be easily turned into energy by the plants, a long with the Nitrates. As long as the bio-load is perfect for the amount of plants, then it works. I, personally, would be fretting about whether I had the right balance or not.


I was thinking it would be cool to do with a Discus tank. No water changes and still nice healthy Discus! You would probably need a pretty big tank with quite a few plants though...

 

[TylerFerretLord]

I think I'll try this with a shrimp tank.

 

[loubega]

sorry if im being stooopid, but iam new to the hobby

but what defines a planted tank? is it when the whole bottom of the tank is planted?

i have about 5 plants in my tank that are potted but does not have any soil-based substrate, just gravel

 

[Miss Wiggle]

sorry if im being stooopid, but iam new to the hobby

but what defines a planted tank? is it when the whole bottom of the tank is planted?

i have about 5 plants in my tank that are potted but does not have any soil-based substrate, just gravel

usually means about 75% of the substrate is covered with plants, you then get high tech and low tech which relate to the amount of equipment and dosing required to run the tank.

 

[loubega]

sorry if im being stooopid, but iam new to the hobby

but what defines a planted tank? is it when the whole bottom of the tank is planted?

i have about 5 plants in my tank that are potted but does not have any soil-based substrate, just gravel

usually means about 75% of the substrate is covered with plants, you then get high tech and low tech which relate to the amount of equipment and dosing required to run the tank.

cheers for the quick reply? what would high tech be defined as?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

usually high tech is following a method called EI for dosing fertilisers (there's a pinned topic in the planted tank forum which explains this), CO2 injection, high lighting (2/3 watts per gallon), specific plant substrate.

Basically it means you give the plants lots of everything they need to grow so you get very quick growth which is obviously very attractive. But it does require daily maintenance and is quite an involved method of running a fishtank. It's not really for the faint hearted!!

low tech is when you generally have some of all the elemnts above but it's a lower level so you still get reasonable growth and an attractive looking tank, but the growth is much much slower so it may take 6 months or more for it to look how you want it too, but it's much lower maintenance and less expoensive to set up.

 

[loubega]

usually high tech is following a method called EI for dosing fertilisers (there's a pinned topic in the planted tank forum which explains this), CO2 injection, high lighting (2/3 watts per gallon), specific plant substrate.

Basically it means you give the plants lots of everything they need to grow so you get very quick growth which is obviously very attractive. But it does require daily maintenance and is quite an involved method of running a fishtank. It's not really for the faint hearted!!

low tech is when you generally have some of all the elemnts above but it's a lower level so you still get reasonable growth and an attractive looking tank, but the growth is much much slower so it may take 6 months or more for it to look how you want it too, but it's much lower maintenance and less expoensive to set up.

cheers,

yea was looking at getting another tank now i have got my 70l set up and running really well. I really like the idea of a moss covered carpet, is this difficult to do?

maybe only want a nano-tank for this? wot fish would go very well with a small- moss blanket tank?