No CO2 Soft water Tank

[Jack.of.all.aquariums]

A local hobbyist here in Minnesota has been working with a new method of planted tank.  He is growing some of the best looking plants I've seen and he's doing it without co2 injection. Here is a link to his forum thread if you are interested https://www.plantedtank.net/threads/sudiorcas-non-co2-supplemented-softwater-tank.1324061/

Without getting into the science of it, because that all goes over my head, his method is:

• cool water
• 0-1kh
• 6 gh
• low ph
• low water column nutrients
• soil based substrate
• high light 100~ PAR
• strong filtration
• leaving plants to be established

So far in my hobby I've done well doing a slightly lazier version of what successful people are doing so I'm going to attempt the same here. 

I set up a 22 gallon tank with a mix of soil based substrate and started loading it up with plants March 12, 2022. I filled it with RO water, added GH via Salty Shrimp +GH. I have been dosing tiny amounts of dry fertilizers after water changes. I've be changing quite a bit of water to avoid algae outbreaks during cycling. I have been doing no testing because like I said I'm doing this the lazy way. 😁

My biggest issue will be water temp. The tank is in my fishroom so temps will be higher than suggested so we'll see what happens there.

List of Plants so far (I'll be editing this as I go) some aren't known for their co2 requirements but they are in there anyway

rotala rotundifolia, rotala bonsai, ludwigia inclinata meta, ludwigia palustris, ludwigia repens, ludwigia sp. tornado, bacopa caroliniana, blyxa japonica, eleocharis sp. mini, barclaya longifolia, staurogyne repens, alternanthera reineckii mini, crypt flamingo, anubias marble, mix of bucephalandra species, hygrophila pinnatifida, eriocaulon vietnam, anubias verigated, samolus parviflorus 'red'

Anyway on to the photos.

 

 

Edited April 21, 2022 by Jack.of.all.aquariums
Adding plant list

[SkaleyAquatics]

Following! Looking forward to how this turns out. 

[Jack.of.all.aquariums]

Not too much to report. Basically it's working. Only 2 plants seems to be having issues so far but have not out right died yet just seem to be taking a while to get established. Only having minor algae showing up but it seems to mostly just be on exposed roots and dying leaves. The meta grows so crazy fast I've trimmed and planted the tops twice now and haven't had to trim any of the other plants really.

[Guppysnail]

Back left corner below the intake what is that gorgeous plant please?

[Jack.of.all.aquariums]

@Guppysnail Samolus parviflorus 'red'

[Minanora]

Awesome! I love the diversity you have going on. The range of colors is lovely. What light is that?

I previously tried to grow several clumps of  blyxa japonica in my 75 when it was low tech. It melted within several weeks and did not recover. I was so sad. It's such a beautiful plant when it's established.

Also, I love your glass fish school! Those are neat.

[Jack.of.all.aquariums]

@Minanora Thanks! The light is a 36" Beamswork DA Fspec I've got too many tanks for fancy lights with dimmers and have ended up not liking them every time I've bought one. Blyxa is an interesting plant. Once it's happy it really takes off. I have a bunch of it that sort of just came out of no where after a long time of not having it, it just started growing in my shrimp tank. 🤷‍♂️

[Minanora]

I dig it. I hope to eventually have "too many tanks for fancy lights" 😛 Following your adventure!

A plant that I have in my tank (however it got the brunt force of the algae so it's not super happy) that I'm surprised I've been able to grow is Eriocaulon Sp Vietnam. I have heard mixed things about keeping it. I've had it do pretty well. I did prune some of the leaves off of a lot of the bunches that had algae. I hope it survives it. From what I've read it does not like to be trimmed. I've had them in the tank since October. I see new growth now that I have added co2. I fed a few of them some root tabs at one point. They did like that.