[APD] RE: Sherry's 9 tanks

["Thomas Barr" <tcbiii at earthlink_net>]

> 1. Do you mix the dry fertilizer with water before you put it in the tank?
> I just sprinkled it in last night and noticed that the fish tried to eat
it
> - most likely not a good thing.

Nope, just add dry directly to the tank. Does no harm.

> 2. For non-CO2 tanks with about 2watts per gallon do you recommend the
same
> doses of fertilizers but with less frequency?  

No, the non CO2 grows slow enough so that you can rely solely on fish
food/waste.
You need to be careful to balance the FISH LOAD with the plant BIOMASS.
If you have 3X the plant biomass, you need roughly 3x the fish load or fish
food.

For example I've seen you
> recommend for a 20 gallon high CO2 tank: 1/4 tsp of KNO3, 1/4 tsp of
K2SO4,
> 2 rice grain's worth of KH2PO4 and 5ml of trace dosed 2-3 times a week and
> 50% weekly water changes.  For a non-CO2 tank would you just dose this
same
> amount once a week or dose smaller amounts 2-3 times a week?

No. The CO2 will turbo charge the tank so to speak. 
Non CO2 methods are ___highly effective___ but require some patience.
The goal is not to have the plants grow as fast as the CO2 enriched tanks.

You can do sort of a 1/2 way approach using Excel and dosing 1x a week at
the above levels.
But I use CO2 gas or totally forego using it altogether.  

> 3. Have you or anyone else found these high level of fertilizers to be
> harmful to any types of shrimp?  It appears so far that they are safe for
> Amano shrimp, but I'm wondering more about the "pretty" shrimps - cherry
> reds, bumble bee shrimp, rudolph red nosed shrimp, rainbow shrimp, etc.

They could not get amano's for awhile so I ended up with 100 cherry shrimp,
they are fine.
The NO3 at high levels(40-50ppm +) can cause issue with fish/fry perhaps
some shrimp, but at 0-10ppm range, there are few fish/critters that are
going to have an issue with that good tank water quality. 

> 4. If you can only do a water change every 2 weeks how would you alter the
> dosing?  I have 9 aquariums and I simply cannot keep up with weekly water
> changes.

Well then, sounds like non CO2 methods are for you!
I understand the issue here. 

> Thank you very much for all you help and advice.  I always enjoy reading
> your posts.
> Sincerely,
> Sherry Quinn

Sherry, 
Buy the Diana Walstad book first off.
I have modified a few things(me do that? never:-) that seem to help.
MY non CO2 tanks are set up like this:

I use mulm and peat in place of soil(about 1/2-1" worth), but either can be
used, soak the soil for 2-3 weeks prior to adding. I cap this with 3-4" of
Onyx.
I use Onyx sand and am extremely pleased with this along with Flourite over
several years of keeping non CO2 tanks.

You can use plain sand but the tanks seem to decline some after a a year or
so. The Onyx seems to only get better as the tank matures and I've had one
tank for 6 years at my sisters that always amazes.

So that's the substrate and perhaps one of the most important parts.
The other part, you'll like this: no water changes. 
Don't do them. Just top off the water for evaporation.

Do a water change only if you really muck the tank up, which is often about
once every 3-6 months. 

Add 100% of the tank with plants from the very begginning!!!!!
Do not ever wait for the plants to "grow in"
This is one of the biggest mistake all planted folks seem to make no matter
what method they use.
Plant heavy from the start ALWAYS!!!!!!!!!!!
Use cheapy plants and remove slowly as the one's you like fill in.

For non CO2 tanks, use easy to grow plants, have some Egeria, Hygro,
floating plants, Java fern, Crypts etc 
Add a few demanding plants after the tank is doing well, they will grow but
it's slow.

You can aquascape nicely with rock/wood etc also.
A small filter is all that's needed, not much current.

The important part is having a good fish load and regular routine fish
feedings. 
This takes a little experiementation and watching the plants.

Lighting, 1.5w-2w gal seems to do well.

So no water changes, lots of plants, slow growing, less pruning and a more
stable look(for better or worse), no dosing except for the fish food.
You can modify this and remove the flourite etc and have less fish and dose
smaller amounts, about 1/4 to 1/8 the amounts but I suggest taking one path
or the other.

I'd rather have more fish/feedings given the option personally, with CO2
tanks, you have no choices but to supply the plants with inorganic forms of
nutrients, things grow too fast for the biogeochemical cycling to occur
without algae/poor plant growth.

Non CO2 tanks slows things down and are quite satistfying Planted tanks.

They also can be aquascaped to high levels also.
I have a 4 gal nano cube that I will post soon and enter in the AGA show
case gallery.

Regards, 
Tom Barr

  

 









 





 


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