aquarium plant experiment

[Maridia]

I was planning on trying the same plant (don't know what yet), this coming spring on 3 different substrates.
1)Back yard dirt
2)Potting soil
3)ecco complete

Big question here is, can these be kept outside during the warmer part of spring and into the summer? I would be careful with the amount of light they would get, I do not wish to melt them. Since there would not be any fish with them, can they be kept in jars in still water? Or do plants need running/oxygenated water like fish do? I would still perform WCs as I know that water minerals are crucial... I guess that would be another question as well, does the water need to be dechlorinated? Can irrigation water be used? Thanks ahead of time.

 

[Andrew McFadden]

In a jar it kinda sounds like it will get alot of algae growing. Otherwise given how much sun and also tje temp outside it should be okay

 

[jetajockey]

if you are growing them below water, you'll want a filtration system set up with good flow to help deal with nuisance algae. Another alternative is algaecides, but still, good flow helps.

If you are set on keeping them in jars it may work if you keep them in the shade, although i don't know how much plant growth you'd get.

 

[candymancan]

Get a 5 gallon tank... Put 1/4 dirt, 1/4 ecco complete and yada yada... that way the plants are using the same water and so forth... Youll get your answer as to what is better that way

 

[FishCr8zy]

Yes I agree. If you want to only test by the substrate, get a single tank then split that tank into 3 sections. Each section having a different substrate. Having them in separate jars will create many more variables than just the substrate.
If you want to keep them outside, like jeta said, I would keep them in the shade. But the temp should be fine. If you don't have a shady spot for the whole day then put them in a spot where it is mostly shady the entire day.


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[Fishperson]

Keeping them outside period could cause variability, like daytime shadows in some areas, wind, etc.

I'd find some place where they will all receive an equal amount of sunlight every day.

 

[Fishfur]

I've grown plants outside, on my balcony. Faces southwest. You get good growth if the water is clean.. but if you just put them in jars, they won't do well. The tub I used to grow out some plants evaporated so quickly in summer I had to top it up every day, unless it rained, and that stopped it from going stagnant.

But in heat, jars of still water will go stagnant quite fast. Stagnant means no oxygen and plants must have oxygen to thrive, just as they need C02.

So I"d put at least an air pump/air stone in any vessel you put plants in to prevent stagnation. I'd also plan on feeding them if there are no fish, because the UV in sunlight stimulates growth and they use up nutrients even faster than they do under lights.

You'll also find, possibly, that plants that are not used to being in sunlight may burn at first. Water may mitigate this effect, I am not sure. I was mainly growing floaters and they did burn at first. One the burnt leaves died off, al the new growth was fine. I even had some of them flowering. Terrestrial plants need two weeks in shade to adapt to UV from sunlight. I'd give water plants time to adapt to sun too, just in case.

[ I assume the reason sunlight has the effect it has is due to UV, simply because glass blocks UV and indoor lights don't produce anything like as much UV as the sun does,so aside from the actual PAR, UV is the one thing outdoor plants get that indoor plants do not]

 

[Fresh2o]

I have some dwarf sag growing outside in a small pond and even with a nice current flowing, clumps of algae still grow on it. I pull the clumps before they get too thick. Also seen some blue green algae from time to time. Last year several plants were placed in a 12" clay pot filled with dirt and capped with gravel. It continued to grow through the winter and spring and produced arial leaves and flowers this summer. It gets several hours of direct sun.
Circulation is important.


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[jetajockey]

Submersed plants won't burn but some will go red. Like this photo, the water wisteria (top left) is turning blood red in direct sun. I recall reading that the Par of direct sun is around 1000, 10x as much as a typical high tech tank.

 

[trennamw]

Get a 5 gallon tank... Put 1/4 dirt, 1/4 ecco complete and yada yada... that way the plants are using the same water and so forth... Youll get your answer as to what is better that way

I looked at an experiment online in which someone did this, and the critique he got was that since dirt is not inert, it was sharing its nutrients with the ecocomplete section.

I agree it's tricky but I think it would provide more info as the OP originally intended.

Dirted tanks are really a different modality; recently even in medicine research is sometimes done on an entire modality instead of one variable at a time.


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