Sam's Nano Journal

[DevUK]

Steven - yeh substrate do have a shelf life, in that they can get used up, but Tom says that with EI there is less demand on the substrate so it can last years. The glosso is growing now, so will see what happens, perhaps change it if it doesn't work out

Sam

Good to hear

Stephen/steve

 

[Themuleous]

Right well its been a while since I updated this tank, mostly as the last scape went horribly wrong and I stripped the tank right down so its been empty for a few months. My next task for this tank is to try growing HC emersed, to get a nice carpet before I flood the tank with water and to see if it really is as easy as Tom Barr says! I had planned to use UG but the shop forgot to add it to the order, but thats no real problem HC will do fine, although I didnt quite have enough so it'll probably take a bit longer to get a decent carpet.

Quick list of the spec.

Tank - 24x8x8"
Substrate - Tropica plant substrate under unipac black quarts gravel
Lighting - 2x24 T5 - 1x Arcadia plantpro, 1x Giesemann midday, for 8hrs
Water - there is about 1.5cm of water in the tank kept just below the top of the substrate. This is straight tap (has lots P and N in it) with added P, N, K and a lot of TPN. This is also the solution I spray onto the plants.
Maintenance - give the whole tank a good spray with a mister once a day with the fert laden water when I get home from work. I also blow into the tank to replenish the CO2. I might at some stage try adding CO2 via my pressurised system to see it it makes a difference to growth.

The tank has been running for 4 days now and the plants seem to be doing OK, no obvious signs of change, but it is early days.

Pics later, any comments/suggestions greatly received

Sam

 

[Themuleous]

Some pics a promised

Comments welcome

Sam

 

[lljdma06]

If the HC behaves, it should be a promising scape. To me, it resembles a very moist terrarium. I did a few projects like that in school, and often used bog plants, never tried it with true aquatics, though. It would be great if it turns out well. It's pretty amazing how readily available HC is in your neck of the woods. Still impossible to get where I live, unless I order online.

 

[Themuleous]

Yeh thats the basic idea, a damp terrarium essentially. Most plants are grown emersed before being sold so it should be relatively easy to do. My only real concern it that the gravel, especially at top of the mounds, will not stay damp enough and being essentially rock it wont absorb any moisture unlike ADA AS probably does, so the plants might dry out. Will be interesting to see how the plants at the top and bottom do comparatively. If it doesn't work, I'll try it again with ADA AS or EC, depending on availability

I got the HC from a LFS that I've been on at for months to get some in, but the suppliers have always been out of stock, just happened to pop in when they finally set some through. Only £2.50 a pot which is a bit of a bargain, and they look pretty healthy too.

Cheers LlJ, nice to get some comments on one of my tanks for a change

Sam

 

[john starkey]

Some pics a promised

Comments welcome

Sam

Hi Sam, that looks very promising i like the rock layout should look very nice if it grows in well, merry christmas and a happy new year regards john

 

[lljdma06]

Yeh thats the basic idea, a damp terrarium essentially. Most plants are grown emersed before being sold so it should be relatively easy to do. My only real concern it that the gravel, especially at top of the mounds, will not stay damp enough and being essentially rock it wont absorb any moisture unlike ADA AS probably does, so the plants might dry out. Will be interesting to see how the plants at the top and bottom do comparatively. If it doesn't work, I'll try it again with ADA AS or EC, depending on availability

I got the HC from a LFS that I've been on at for months to get some in, but the suppliers have always been out of stock, just happened to pop in when they finally set some through. Only £2.50 a pot which is a bit of a bargain, and they look pretty healthy too.

Cheers LlJ, nice to get some comments on one of my tanks for a change

Sam

Why don't you try misting the rocks with a fine spayer? I do this for my land plants all the time. Gravel trays are often used in orchid growing to maintain humidity when clustering plants, so I don't know for certain that drying out may be as much of an issue as you think. I, of course, can always be wrong.

I have no problem commenting on your tanks, Sam. I wish I had more time to comment on more journals.

 

[chr15_8]

tank looks great so far sam.

im still waiting to get get my ada as but have been waiting for wood from AE to come in.

how much hc did you use?

chris

 

[Themuleous]

John - cheers, we'll see how the HC does and if its looking crap in the new year I'll replace it with the UG and AS/EC or perhaps even aquaclay.

Llj - We'll see, its not grown much in the week its been running, but time will tell.

Chris - cheers, I am beginning to think AS or something that is more porous might be the key to this method. I used 2 pots of HC, Dave Spencer has sent me some more which should fill in the gaps.

Thanks for the comments

Sam

 

[Themuleous]

Quick update after one week. You can see a very slight growth in the HC, it with have needed a bit of time to adjust and grow roots, so Im not worried yet. I spay the tank one or two times a day and siphon out any excess water to keep the level below the substrate. The gravel seems to be staying damp at least so that's good. Dave Spencer very kindly gave me some more HC so I've filled in the gaps. Anyhoo, nothing much else to say

Sam

 

[Liam]

Its a really good scape, excellent rocks and placement. Should look great when its grown in. Looking forward to seeing how the HC behaves when its submerged.

 

[chr15_8]

hows it going sam? notice much in terms of growth?

chris

 

[Gill]

very interesting- liking thr hardscape alot

 

[SuperColey1]

Much as I respect you Sam it is not often I comment on your tanks, let alone a Nano but in this one I must say the following:

I respect your bold move to use light colour stones against the hard black substrate. The temptaion of safety would've led you down the path of grey stones like all the others but you've gambled and I think it has worked.

I do like the bold lines you have created with your substrate too. Remember to choose your inhabitants wisely to minimise the risk of the substrate levlelling out.

I cant really coment on the HC because as you well now Im not really a carpet man anymore if I ever was.

Looking forward to how this progresses. Good luck and keep us updated.

Andy

 

[Themuleous]

Hi people, thanks for the interest in the tank.

Its a really good scape, excellent rocks and placement. Should look great when its grown in. Looking forward to seeing how the HC behaves when its submerged.

Thanks, I am quite pleased with the rocks and placement, it only goes too prove that you need the right tools to do a proper job.

hows it going sam? notice much in terms of growth?

Growth in the third week has been disappointing really. There are lots of new leaves, but the older ones are dieing off very quickly. I'm pretty sure its a lack of N, so I've ordered some HN3 solution and will add this to the water I spray onto the tank each day. I did take some pics at the three week stage, will get them up soon.

If that doesn't work over the next few weeks I'll try pumping CO2 into the tank as well. If that also fails I'll give up on the emersed growth, and flood the tank and run it as a standard EI tank, as I like the scape and it would be good to get it to the end without having to change the plants.

After that I'll get some EC or ADA AS or perhaps even aquaclay and try again with UG. Its all part of the fun of experimentation it seems that a substrate that is rich in nutrients and that can stay damp might be the key and AS leaches NH3 as well which the plants will love. When I was researching this method, I didn't find anyone that had tried it in inert gravel. Most/all use AS and sometimes zeolite, that is very very expensive. Tom Barr suggested using household fertiliser as well as it contains NH3.

very interesting- liking thr hardscape alot

Thanks, Gill

Much as I respect you Sam it is not often I comment on your tanks, let alone a Nano but in this one I must say the following:

I respect your bold move to use light colour stones against the hard black substrate. The temptaion of safety would've led you down the path of grey stones like all the others but you've gambled and I think it has worked.

I do like the bold lines you have created with your substrate too. Remember to choose your inhabitants wisely to minimise the risk of the substrate levlelling out.

I cant really coment on the HC because as you well now Im not really a carpet man anymore if I ever was.

Looking forward to how this progresses. Good luck and keep us updated.

Andy

Thanks, Andy. The rock choice wasn't really a choice, rather what I was given at the forum gathering! But they do work well I think.

Re the inhabitants. I think I'm going to go for either Gertrude's Rainbow Pseudomugil gertrudae as Ive wanted to try and breed them for a while and the yellow colouring should look good. The other choice is neon red rasbora Rasbora axelrodi as they have a lovely blue hue to their colouring that would also look good against the green of the HC. Think these might actually be better then the rainbows, but will see what MA can get in for me.

Sam

EDIT - I should add that I spent all Xmas with my parents so had to take the whole tank, including lights there with me in order to be able to spray it and keep the plants damp! Its a good job its not a 100g tank!