15 gallon update

The 15 gallon has been planted for nearly a month now, and it has survived a fungus outbreak, a diatom algae outbreak, and is fighting of a minor black beard algae fit.
It is now inhabited by pond snails, mini ramshorn snails, and some type of tiny white worms, as well as a single introduced species, 3 amano shrimp.



The plants are all healthy and growing new leaves. The floating plants need to be thinned once a week or more. All with nothing but a bit of top off water and a pinch of various fertilizer powders weekly. Once set up, low light tanks are extremely easy to maintain!

Equipment for the 15 gallon

One of the beauties of a low light tank, is that the equipment demands are very low.
Everything can be purchased at even the worst of pet stores, and for a relatively low price.

Here is the list for the 15 gallon:
A hang on the back filter, in this case, an Aquaclear 30,
A cheapo powerhead (aquarist term for submersible pump used for water movement),
A submersible heater, in this case a 100 watt marineland visi-therm stealth,
and a home made lighting fixture with 2x15 watt fluorescent bulbs.

The set up of powerhead and heater:


The lighting fixture was assembled using the end caps and ballasts ripped from $8 fixtures from Home Depot. In addition, reflectors from the local weed grower store were added. The bulbs were upgraded to a more plant friendly full spectrum bulb. It is important to shield the ballasts to avoid unnecessary replacements and a smoky house.







That's it. Nothing more than filter, heater, water movement and a bit of light!

Is There Life on Mars?

Just a teaser of what I've been working on...

Almost finished!

Update on the tank: the stand has been polyed and leveled, the lighting hardware has been attached, and the tank has been planted!

I'm using a substrate that is a mixture of eco-complete and topsoil, with a layer of pure eco-complete on top. The topsoil will provide additional nutrients to the rooted plants, and as the rooting plants I'm using (cryptocorynes) hate change, hopefully it will provide them with a greater degree of stability.

The hardscape is manzanita branches and basalt. The plants used so far are cryptocoryne spiralis, cryptocoryne wendtii "red", and narrow leaf java fern, as well as various floating plants.



And here is the complete set up with the hanging lights:



Once more plants have been added, and have had time to stabilize and grow, it will be time to start adding fish!

More progress on the stand

Quite a bit of work on the stand this weekend. I finished attaching the trim, countersunk the nails, puttied them in, sanded the entire thing and stained it.





This tank previously had a painted background. I have been thinking of removing it, but the move made the decision for me:



Luckily, Krylon Fuzion comes off of glass well. It requires some time and effort, but comes off clean and scratch free. The tank actually managed to be moved 4300 miles across the country in a U-Haul without receiving a scratch or crack.



I also started putting together the fixtures to hang the light. I am using ridged electrical conduit for the task.





It is a really nice solution, just add some eye hooks and black spraypaint for an elegant fixture.

More work on the new stand

I managed to get some more work done on the stand for the new tank today. Not as much as hoped, but it continues to move along.
I added a plywood "skin" to the 2x4 frame:



Unfortunately, there was a bit of a measuring error, but it will be hidden in the next step:



I then began to add the trim boards, which conveniently hide any sloppy work and make the whole thing look nicer in general.



Hopefully by the end of the week I will be able to start staining and sealing.

The Needs of Aquatic Plants

Growing aquatic plants is first and foremost about creating a proper environment for them to live in. Unlike terrestrial plants, aquatic plants can not be over or under watered (unless removed from the tank!) do not have humidity requirements, and will not be afflicted with bugs or disease.
They do, though, have their own set of specific requirements, which must be kept in mind when
putting together the components of the tank where they will be kept.

Light

Light is the energy that drives a planted tank. Too little and the plants stall out and die. Too much without the proper understanding and equipment can drive the plants and system too hard, leaving dysfunctional plants in a tank full of algae. The question then is how much is right? The answer depends on what sort of system the tank will be running, high light for high tech systems, low light for low tech systems. More on that later, but the baseline is usually around 1.5-2 watts of fluorescent lighting per gallon of tank water.

Carbon Dioxide

Plants are carbon based life forms, and their source of carbon is CO2. CO2 is much harder for aquatic plants to obtain than terrestrial plants, with liquid being a poor medium for gas exchange! Under lower lighting, many plants can remove enough CO2 from the tank water to remain healthy. Using higher lighting allows faster growth rates and a wider selection of plants, but using a method of injecting CO2 into the tank water to raise its concentration becomes necessary.

Fertilization

In additon to light, water and carbon dioxide, plants need their nutrients, and aquatic plants are no exception, they need their NPK as well. Nitrogen, potassium, phosphate and trace elements such as iron are needed for healthy plant growth. In a properly lit tank filled with plants, they simply can not receive enough of these nutrients from fish waste alone, and these elements must be supplemented by other means, through the substrate and added into the water directly.
The trick then becomes adding enough for the plants, and not so much to adversely affect the health of the other tank inhabitants.

It might sound complicated, but there are proven methods for balancing all these elements: lighting, fertilizing, and managing carbon dioxide levels. With a bit of knowledge, having a successful planted tank to be proud of can be quite easy!