Re: All plant tank, no fish/critters

[Thomas Barr <tcbiii at earthlink_net>]

> Almost all of the hints I have recieved contains some form of herbivore
> controlled method.
> This leads me to ponder on the subject "All Plant Tank". Is that really
> possible? Well, surely an algea tank could be run easily enough, but have
> anoyne ever tried to run an "APT" without any animals at all in it? Can such
> a tank be kept algea free?
> I imagine it could be done for a low lit tank. How about a higher lit one
> with Glosso or other little more sensitive plants?
> Has this been tried and done before with any success?
 
> /Greger

I did it for about 2 years, the tank was light on the NO3 for sure.
But snails kept appearing. I just left them. So technically not really an
All plant tank. But never a fish or shrimp nor food was ever added.
The tank grew Rotala wallichii better than I ever have grown it since.
I whacked that stuff back viciously. It was quite weedy really. Forget
pruning single stems, I grabbed 20 stems bunches and whacked them back.
But I think it's certainly possible. If you use fast growers and prune, you
become the herbivore remover. I'd rather enslave some shrimp to do my
bidding. Better them than me:-)

Tanks was 80w/20 gal, CO2, sand and RFUG filter.

Regards, 
Tom Barr