Garden soil aquarium no substrat no gravel no sand no co2 no ferts no filter
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- Опубліковано 14 жов 2024
- Setting up and summarizing a few months of test to show whether it is possible to keep the aquarium on the garden soil itself, without adding any substrate, sand or gravel. I ran the tank on the ground for flowers for about a year, during this time the aquarium grew beautifully and did not require any fertilization or co2 administration.
#aquarium #aquascape
Awesome. Exactly what I was looking for. Great idea to mist & plant first, then add water later.
It worked! The plants grew a lot, looks full of life
I do these uncapped dirt tanks all the time. Some observations:
1. the tea colour is either wood in your soil/potting mix (ie too much) or the wood you added.
2. you can fill with water on day one. After about a week the mud will settle and in 1 month the water will be clear (no water movement). But crystal clear water may take 1 year plus to happen. Most of my tanks are quite hazy with low visibility for 12 months. But that is like nature - I don't mind.
3 the mud is ideal for plants, you have recreated a natural pond basically.
4. If your potting mix contains added fertiliser (most do) then the water will be high nutrient. If you use soil without added fertilisers water should be lower nutrient (this is the best way).
5. After a few months you can probably add fish to it (in theory - I haven't got that far yet). The theory is that small fish do not disturb the mud, like in the wild, but avoid any detritus feeders like corydoras - that would be a big mistake. Plants will help avoid the mud being unsettled as well.
6 A tank like this (a pond) takes 6 months to stabilise and one year to reach its prime.
7. When soil is submerged changes begin to happen, as explained in Walstad's book. After a few weeks you will notice that if you stir up the mud it will quickly settle in a matter of minutes unlike when you first filled the tank, which took days for the water to clear. Underwater muds can be disturbed but they quickly clear. A mud tank is a fascinating thing to watch. I have several.
8. The soil you use will determine the water colour for the first few months (maybe long term as well). I have tanks with green tinged water (garden soil), yellow water (brown loam with high clay content). The possibilities are endless. My mud tanks look ten times more interesting than any 'normal' aquarium I have done. They also contain a lot of micro organisms which entertain even without fish in them.
9. I prefer creating my own mud by using terrestrial soils. The problem with using live aquatic mud from a natural source is the plants that will grow cannot be easily controlled. By using soil I can add and decide on my own plants. Natural muds will grow the plants from that source, as they contain a seed-bank (the seeds of the plants that naturally grow there).
10. I never water change. I let the water reach its own equilibrium. I just top up evaporation with pure rain water.
11. With artificial lighting and no water movement surface bacteria scum may become a problem. You can fit a surface skimmer to clean the water surface once a day for a few minutes. My tanks use sunlight (2 hours a day) and don't have this problem. I never need to clean the water surface.
12. My tanks are unheated and I have been surprised how many so called 'tropical' plants will survive cold water, down to 6 deg C during winter. Xmass moss, elatinoides, diandrum, valisneria so far grow very well in cold water. Elatinoides is actually a cold water species but will happily grow in tropical water temperatures. But some plants in our hobby don't like cold water because they are true tropicals (anubias, crypts...). True tropicals hate cold water.
Thank you for sharing your observations, very interesting.
thank you for sharing!
Just to add. I have only recently begun to do large planted tanks with uncapped dirt (greater than 20L), about an inch of dirt, and am finding that uncapped dirt in a large tank is much harder than a small one. Algae is harder to deal with, but so far it is not impossible. In a sense the algae is helping you at first until the plants take hold.
I have done uncapped dirt in 6-18 L tanks for a while now and find algae to be minimal. But these larger tanks are harder. I suppose the shear volume of dirt makes a difference. On my channel is a 40L tank I just set up called ‘Day’. I like it, but most people probably would not😅. I like murky water. Not sure what is going to happen but I am always hopeful. It is dirt capping potting mix so it is very fertile - maybe too much?
Yeh I used the dirt as a ‘cap’. To stop the potting mix bits from floating.
need an co2 generator?
@@cooltezofficial1410 i do not believe so, but may be wrong. I am starting to think the greatest problem is Nitrogen not CO2. It is in short supply and rapidly depleted. Same problem as terrestrial plants - fertiliser. As long as there is a medium for bacteria (soil), you then need nutrients NPK etc… you need both.
Love your accent, so soothing. Greetings from so cal!
Garden soil video so good 👍sir pat 2 video sir good aquarium plants
Great video
Это интересно 🧐 мне показалось или грунт сполз и стал равномерным по дну аквариума?
да, земля начала осыпаться? Не знаю, как это назвать, во всяком случае, в аквариуме не было типичного песка, а была просто грязь.
ale jest pan podobny do polskiego akwarysty ;-)
Którego? :)
"no water"