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Caliban's 46G Dirted Bowfront Evolved
- Thread starter Caliban07
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Caliban07
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Today I decided to do my tests. Nitrate came back high. No odd behaviour from fish, did a 50% water change anyway.
It would appear that there is no shortage of nitrogen in this tank! Will check again in a couple of days and change water again if necessary.
Cleaned the canister which has improved flow, might even have to turn it down. It was quite dirty.
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It would appear that there is no shortage of nitrogen in this tank! Will check again in a couple of days and change water again if necessary.
Cleaned the canister which has improved flow, might even have to turn it down. It was quite dirty.
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Brookster123
Aquarium Advice Addict
Think plant soil is chalk full of nitrogen, shouldn't last forever...
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Caliban07
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Nothing lasts forever brook. With less demand due to lower lighting and low co2 it should last a very long time. Reports I've read on these tanks 7-10 years, some less of course.
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Caliban07
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Well it's been just over two weeks since set up. Had a lot going on with this tank. Had a water leak in the kitchen which was tripping the electrics so the temp has been fluctuating and the lighting timers have been skewed. Some fish were sulking but others were fine. Knocked the temp down from 26 to 24 degrees too. Surprising the wisteria isn't doing as well as I'd have imagined so in hoping knocking the temp down a touch will help.
Lots of bubbles making there way up from the substrate made me start prodding here and there. Seems there are a lot of trapped bubble that should make their way out over time as the soil breaks down.
Overall plants remain healthy. Lots of growth from the cabomba, crypts and swords. The Anubis is throwing up flower number 3. B. Carolina isn't exactly thriving. Hard to tell if it's melt at this point and it will come back. Not surprisingly there is no algae other than the BBA that was there before I switched to soil. Looks like it is diminishing though.
Powder blue is doing great. A bit worried about my male sword at the moment though as I think the temperature fluctuations have knocked him for 6.
The Betta tank (not the betta) has also took a strange turn since the temp dropped. Almost as if the bacteria has died and the hair algae is dying too. Very strange.
Here are a few pics
You can see the cabomba is sending roots to the soil to anchor itself and the crypts in the second pic I had in the old setup as well as the Anubis.
Walstads book shows are graph of how the soil changes over time. 16 weeks is the end point.
And also the soil ph stability
Has a similar graph.
I'm expecting things to be much better as time goes on. Will keep you posted.
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Lots of bubbles making there way up from the substrate made me start prodding here and there. Seems there are a lot of trapped bubble that should make their way out over time as the soil breaks down.
Overall plants remain healthy. Lots of growth from the cabomba, crypts and swords. The Anubis is throwing up flower number 3. B. Carolina isn't exactly thriving. Hard to tell if it's melt at this point and it will come back. Not surprisingly there is no algae other than the BBA that was there before I switched to soil. Looks like it is diminishing though.
Powder blue is doing great. A bit worried about my male sword at the moment though as I think the temperature fluctuations have knocked him for 6.
The Betta tank (not the betta) has also took a strange turn since the temp dropped. Almost as if the bacteria has died and the hair algae is dying too. Very strange.
Here are a few pics
You can see the cabomba is sending roots to the soil to anchor itself and the crypts in the second pic I had in the old setup as well as the Anubis.
Walstads book shows are graph of how the soil changes over time. 16 weeks is the end point.
And also the soil ph stability
Has a similar graph.
I'm expecting things to be much better as time goes on. Will keep you posted.
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Looking nice! Strange on the algae - good news it's going. I wonder why?
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Caliban07
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Thanks! Yeah not sure really.
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Caliban's Dirted 46 Bowfront
That was interesting on the soil stabilisation as well. Does she mention any other substrate types like clays or gravels? On the gravels I was thinking of mulm buildup.
That was interesting on the soil stabilisation as well. Does she mention any other substrate types like clays or gravels? On the gravels I was thinking of mulm buildup.
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Caliban07
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Yes she does mention about gravel mulm but this situation apparently causes anaerobic conditions. There are so many reasons for using soil. For some reason people just don't like doing it.
Apparently the soil water ph can be a lot different from the water ph too. It tends to gravitate towards the optimum ph in order to carry out all the biological and chemical processes and that settles down too. The tank hasn't developed the necessary bacteria, Protozoa, fungi etc yet to help deal with most things the that are thrown at the tank such as hydrogen sulphide build up.
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Caliban07
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Caliban's Dirted 46 Bowfront
Made some changes today. Some of the new sword leaves where shrivelled and crispy. I couldn't tell if this was old growth that was being shed due to the tank change so I pulled the swords out and pruned them properly like I should have done when I got them.
Totally removed the wisteria. It didn't take at all which I couldn't fathom because it grew like wildfire in a previous tank with just gravel.
I had a nice tree woven with Java fern doing nothing in an older tank so figured that could do with a bit more nourishment. Also took a couple of very small, squat, limping hygro from the same tank which would be interesting to see if that takes.
It is mentioned that not all plants will take. I think it depends on the tank in question, for example, that dustin on fish tank TV says never to plant ludwgia repens in a freshly dirted to because it melts but mine is doing fine. Bacopa caroliniana is still struggling too. On the whole the tank seems to be filling in. A bit cloudy at the moment. Didn't kick up anywhere near as much dirt as I was expecting though. The soil is still mineralising. Next time I am going to mineralise the soil beforehand. Not doing so creates too many air bubbles and results in elevated nitrates. Can't keep it down at the moment and we've had some very heavy rainfall which has disturbed the local water chemistry which resulted in a nuked betta tank after a 50% water change hence the unused plants I robbed. Luckily I had a shrimp tank to put the betta in until I can restart that tank but that episode has put me off doing large water changes in this tank too. Catch 22 so to speak. Fish seem ok. They are chowing down in a piece of courgette which I will move tomorrow.
Lights are out now so maybe another photo tomorrow.
I can't really give a true verdict on this method until I'm confident the soil has settled. Perhaps I made the substrate too deep too and the clay was unnecessary. Time will tell.
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Made some changes today. Some of the new sword leaves where shrivelled and crispy. I couldn't tell if this was old growth that was being shed due to the tank change so I pulled the swords out and pruned them properly like I should have done when I got them.
Totally removed the wisteria. It didn't take at all which I couldn't fathom because it grew like wildfire in a previous tank with just gravel.
I had a nice tree woven with Java fern doing nothing in an older tank so figured that could do with a bit more nourishment. Also took a couple of very small, squat, limping hygro from the same tank which would be interesting to see if that takes.
It is mentioned that not all plants will take. I think it depends on the tank in question, for example, that dustin on fish tank TV says never to plant ludwgia repens in a freshly dirted to because it melts but mine is doing fine. Bacopa caroliniana is still struggling too. On the whole the tank seems to be filling in. A bit cloudy at the moment. Didn't kick up anywhere near as much dirt as I was expecting though. The soil is still mineralising. Next time I am going to mineralise the soil beforehand. Not doing so creates too many air bubbles and results in elevated nitrates. Can't keep it down at the moment and we've had some very heavy rainfall which has disturbed the local water chemistry which resulted in a nuked betta tank after a 50% water change hence the unused plants I robbed. Luckily I had a shrimp tank to put the betta in until I can restart that tank but that episode has put me off doing large water changes in this tank too. Catch 22 so to speak. Fish seem ok. They are chowing down in a piece of courgette which I will move tomorrow.
Lights are out now so maybe another photo tomorrow.
I can't really give a true verdict on this method until I'm confident the soil has settled. Perhaps I made the substrate too deep too and the clay was unnecessary. Time will tell.
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Caliban07
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I've added 2 harlequins and 2 cherry barbs. They have settled in nicely. I couldn't help but get some more plants so I bought three I've never used before. Hottonia palustris, cardamine lyrata and a species of lagenandra which is reddish.
I'm also going to remove the media from my canister to encourage more bacterial activity in the soil. Would the canister be of running with no media? I plan to replace with a power head soon.
All plants are growing now albeit quite slowly.
This is potentially the last update so thanks all for following.
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I'm also going to remove the media from my canister to encourage more bacterial activity in the soil. Would the canister be of running with no media? I plan to replace with a power head soon.
All plants are growing now albeit quite slowly.
This is potentially the last update so thanks all for following.
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Brookster123
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Why the last update?
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coralbandit
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Caliban07
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Just thought that it wasn't really inciting much conversation that's all.
Ok so I removed the media from the canister (gulp!) the soil has been in for 4 weeks now so I reckon it will be fine. There is a lot more flow now obviously which should also benefit the plants. My only worry is that debris gets caught up in the impeller because there is no media to protect it. I added two handfuls of crushed coral, a lot less than what was in there so technically there is still some surface area for bacteria. I might actually remove this in time also as I added crushed coral in with the soil.
Time for some plant pics:
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Ok so I removed the media from the canister (gulp!) the soil has been in for 4 weeks now so I reckon it will be fine. There is a lot more flow now obviously which should also benefit the plants. My only worry is that debris gets caught up in the impeller because there is no media to protect it. I added two handfuls of crushed coral, a lot less than what was in there so technically there is still some surface area for bacteria. I might actually remove this in time also as I added crushed coral in with the soil.
Time for some plant pics:
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Caliban07
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Full tank shot.
Bacopa in the first pic has finally acclimatised and you can see the new growth.
I have some tiny holes on the back of those crypts too which I know may indicate a potassium deficiency but the holes are not visible from the top of the leaves. Any ideas?
You can see the ludwigia in the last pic that is growing very well.
The cabomba is growing ok but it has lost its red intensity. Perhaps is will turn more red as it reaches the light? I have just trimmed it and replanted the tops.
Got some hygro poly that was salvaged and is now growing well. I plan to move this when it becomes healthy enough.
Surprisingly, the swords look as though the new leaves are struggling. Will have to keep my eye on them.
All in all for a tank that has no additional ferts or co2 I have to admit I am quite impressed. I reckon if you have harder water than mine then results would be even better.
Too be honest, now the media has gone I am expecting better growth and there is a philosophy behind it.
I will keep you posted
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tiger terror
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Keep dem updates coming Caliban! Looking forward to seeing it fill in & your continued input on the dirt sub...
sit in silence...
sit in silence...
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Caliban07
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Brookster123
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Yes indeed, I'm certainly following, don't always have much in the way of comments as this is new to me. Excited and curious for the results though. Please come back!
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Caliban07
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Thanks brook. Its difficult to know if people are following if there is no chat though. I'm not spitting my dummy out so please don't take it the wrong way ?this is my first build thread so I wasn't sure if I should just keep going or not. I understand there are not many soil users on here so it may not be as inciting as other build threads, plus me not really knowing much about plant species doesn't help haha.
Anyway I'll keep updating. I have an idea for another thread too for those people who don't know much about soil and want to learn a bit more.
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