Xie xie

are you using co2 & ferts & good lightning
if not better not do it, cause its going to make everything hard

lava rocks are close to inert; other than minerals
it doesn't have organic material to decompose
so the present of co2 in the water is going to be little
making your choice of plants is limited very limited to only certain moss and ferns only
well if you really want you can add thin layer of compost soil i know it will work as i seen ujelly did it before

you see this guy, every time he do none co2 tank, he will add in organic substrate
and reuse filter media / soil / transferring aquarium water to prevent failing at start
that usually due to bad co2, this is also why you see ada selling power sand... etc to get more organic materials in the substrate
until you start feeding getting all the decomposing bacteria in to get more co2 which could take months



This post has been edited by junsheng: Dec 13 2020, 04:19 AM

reusing soil is an eyeopener
& i tot have to throw after 1 or 2 years
this is useful

there is even npk fertiliser
didnt know this
hmm.. this is quite advanced level
compost soil i suppose is not those gerden type which i hv
thus the challenge will also be cost
all these special aquarium soil wont come cheap

his tank completely sealed at top
it looks tidy
can fill up the tank to the top
& dont have to deal with water splattering out from bubblers

i din knw water plants
propagate so easily
snip & plant
really nice composition
like a salad bowl

tx for d share !

as long as the soil retain it shape you can reuse
but you will need to put root tabs a lot of them
for fert its easy on your wallet if you buy them in salt form and mix your own
and usually we don't do like a lot of water change 20% max 10% or even 5%
if you don't over stock fishes
so ada soil the normal kind usually last very long if you use them with appropriate ferts

get the normal size if you plan to do foreground planting (usually what everyone do) to cover everything,
the powder version are just for decorations where you put very thin layer to serve as cosmetic appearance

also if you are doing shrimp, DO NOT put in shrimp instantly cause ADA soil is rich in nh3 and nh4,
wait for minimum of 1 month or you can do a dry start method if you doing foreground plants
because when its cycling the ph swing would kill shrimp instantly
the version 2 of ada soil is much stable but its inferior according to many

This post has been edited by junsheng: Dec 15 2020, 04:01 AM

Yeah, you can reuse soil. When you are constantly scaping & re-scraping, you can end up with extra used soil. Just dump them in a container.

For fertilizer, Seachem sold NPK separately while Aquaforest have them in one bottle. Iron is another nutrient that I read very useful if you get it in standalone bottle.

One of my tank use organic compost soil. Plant growth is 2-3 times faster compares to non-organic soil tank, both are low tech setup. The compost soil is the ones sold RM2 per bag. I made a mistake by not sifting it to remove dead roots & small wood chips in it. It crashed with BGA after few months of good run. I end up adding fine sand to get total depth of more than 3 inches to fix BGA. So, if you use organic soil, either compost or top soil, sifting them before using in aquarium. Some people like to "bake" the soil in microwave or oven before using it. Btw, top soil is 5 to 10 inches of outermost layer of soil. Yeah, you can use soil from your backyard. Basically one inch layer of organic soil & one inch of fine gravel or fine sand on top. Some people like to use less organic soil, less than one inch. Just make sure tank is heavily planted, like at least 70 to 80% of the space is covered with plant.

I just want to add one thing. With my experience with dirt tank, is what people called low tech tank with organic soil, I really appreciate the hardiness of the cryptocoryne. I have cryptocoryne "Red" Wendtii & no algae dare to touch it. Maybe little coat of BGA but BBA do not dare to touch it. Java Fern, another hardy plant, heavily infested with BBA.

If you have shrimps, Tank cover is a must I think. You can custom made using plexiglass.

For stem plants, that's how you propogate. Trim & plant. For rhizome plant, you'll need to include rhizome if you want to propogate it.

My MC is lifted after 6/8 month, did not trim at all so far.

Does MC require trimming to keep it low?

So right now I only can remove it then cut into smaller pieces?

ada soil so good hah
no wonder so widely used
i m now using the cheapest soil

future maybe will buy a bit of ada
& add to my cheapo haha
as i think the current soil not tht fertile

but i dare not fertilise
as i cant wait to introduce my shrimps
the lone ranger survived
& gonna transfer the rest soon
or can i put some fertilizer tabs ?

wow
didnt know garden soil also can use for aquarium
really have to be meticulous like u wrote
to use them
i m really afraid to try it
haha
later the aquarium become black
or fungus grow

the garden soil
can b used for seedling immerse method too ?
can i miix 1 : 1 lava soil to compost ?

it will be cool to let it float around
like a space ship
the shrimps can take a ride

i had the same problem with hc and ug when i was new
as it keep sending and trapping air into the soil and it float
1. is to trim it aggressive down to the base
2. force the air to come out by using toothpick or think long stick or injecting water into substrate using syringe
(disturbing the substrate will cause ammonia to raise would kill sensitive livestock)

its the same for any foreground plants

Hemianthus callitrichoides
Micranthemum
Glossostigma
Utricularia graminifolia
Eleocharis acicularis

yup fertilizer tabs is also good
if you are using compost make sure don't put too much or make sure it doesn't float
cause i had seen others said if too much

1. the decomposition create air pocket and it disturb the substrate and float
2. leach too much tannin and ammonia
3. decomposition cause increase of temperature

Thanks.

something like this, a clip or hook to hold the glass
don't cover everything make sure to leave some space for your hand to take the glass out
or put in food

https://shopee.com.my/4pcs-Fish-Tank-Aquari...0561.1815134318

If done correctly, it shouldn't be any issue. That is why you need a layer of cap on top. Don't worry no fungus. The water also doesn't turn black. There is another method to prepare the soil which is involving baking it in oven or microwave. Also in addition to sifting the soil to remove dead roots & small wood chips, you can submerge the soil. Remove everything that floats.

There are two opinions in using dirt; 1) put only small amount of layer of dirt, 2) deep substrate including cap between 3 to 6 inches. I won't go into details because there's a lot to talk about in this subject. All I know, you can't go wrong with any one of them. One inch layer of dirt is good but if you put more than that, make sure the depth of the substrate including cap must at least 3 inches.

For the first month don't put any fish or invertebrate. You can put feeder shrimps / local ghost shrimp / Thailand ghost shrimp after 2 weeks to handle algae that may appear during that time. Also make sure you use compost that doesn't contain any additives like chemical additives.

What do you mean by seeding immerse method?
I don't know why you need to mix with lava soil. You can I think.

Java fern in clean water after 10 minutes of bleach treatment (9:1 water to bleach ratio) to get rid BBA. The Chinese algae eater did eat most of the BBA. I should have done this sooner. Look at the damages on the leaves because of the BBA.

tx for sharing your knowledge sifu2
maybe i will try mixing some compost with my
cheapo soil for my next tank

oh
i was thinking whether mixing compost + lava soil
will bring down the 'richness'
& therefore reduce ammonia nitrate spike

i mean can we sprout seedlings the emerse method
using compost too ?


wah
it will look funky in the tank
with those holes

i have cotton fungus growing on the spiderwood
strangely the driftwood is not affected
some articles say it is dangerous
some say it will go away
i have poured boiling water
but it came back
will the shrimps eat them ?

There's no need to do that. In a month, nitrifying bacteria will colonise the soil & your plants will be growing. There you have two things that will take care ammonia, nitrite & nitrate. Organics decomposition in the soil going to release CO2 which will helps growth. If you setup two low tech tank; one with commercial aquasoil & another one with dirt (compost, top soil, etc), plants grow faster & healthier in dirt tank.

I think you can sprout seedings with compost.

Yeah. It will look funky. I could cut all the leaves & let it grow back in a couple of months. Apparently, some aquarist do this to newly bought fern.

Owh, that fungus. Yeah it'll go away. It may return after you clean it but it'll go away for good. I don't remember whether I got it too but all of my driftwood was boiled for 30 minutes before putting into the tank. Bristlenose pleco is one of the first fish I put in the tank. Apparently bristlenose pleco is one of the animal that eat this fungus. The other two are nerite snails & otocinclus.

I see.., never knew got such thing. But problem is my tank got two glass panel at the front and rear...and the side already occupied with the light stand and two output/input hoses.

Plexiglas. Easier to customize.

then no fancy glass cover cause those cannot be stacked directly on glass
just place a piece of acrylic on top, get customize cutting size in shopee or lazada

if my current crop fails
i will restart the planting
mix compost with the soil
cos they dont look too healthy

anyway
i forgot to quarantine a new plant
& plopped it into the tank
& all the old & new shrimps died

i think i'll take a break year end
continue 2021

Yeah, different people, different approach. For me, if the crop damaged because of algae or deficiency, I correct the problem. When the problem solved, new growth will be healthy. Then I would trim, removed damaged part & re-planted the healthy ones. It would take weeks or months, depends on the severity of the problem. The plants with rhizome, as long as the roots & rhizomes are healthy, it should grow back.

There's no reason to mix soil. Just use one or the other.

You don't need to quarantine new plants. Rinse with dechlorinated water is all you need. Your soil still leaching ammonia I think. I think you should focus on your plants first. Once you done re-scraping your tank & the plants grow well, then you can add shrimps. I would check ammonia at least before putting any shrimp.