multi purpose experimental tank.

[Tanked]

A little over a year ago I no longer needed the ten gallon hospital tank. I had already made space for it, so I decided to return it to its original use as an experimental/project tank.  I had DIY Matten filters, different substrates, lights, whatever.  Changes in a ten gallon are cheaper and super easy to deal with.  I eventually settled on a last chance set up for failing plants. This is/was my first truly balanced tank.

15 months ago I started with:  pool sand, no heat, filters or air stones.  Light is provided by a repurposed LED flashlight.  1 failing Jungle Val., 1 not quite dead Wisteria, Moneywort Hornwort and 1 healthy PSO as a control.  Water is sourced from the tank where the plants originated.  Ferts are from pest snails and  an occasional Easy Green pump.

8 months in: The Wisteria is thriving and supplying other tanks.  The 2 year old Jungle Val. finally gave up. The Hornwort is gone.  The Moneywort rotted free from it's base and is now floating.  The PSO is largely unchanged.  I add some Elodia and a mystery plant. The tank remains virtually algae free.

2 weeks ago:  The sun began to dim.  The LED light is failing.  The Moneywort has retained it's new set of pin head sized leaves but is rootless  All of the plants are showing signs of deficiencies, even though the light is the only thing that changed. 

1 week ago:  The Wisteria had dropped all of the lower leaves in a matter of days.  A heavy biofilm has formed on the surface.

This week: After replacing the LED with a much larger temporary light, The Wisteria appears to be replacing the lower leaves.  The PSO and mystery plant are still largely unchanged.

[AndreaW]

That's cool you have an experimental tank for plants. Are the water parameters close to your other tanks so you don't experience melt when you move them back?

[GardenStateGoldfish]

I am currently experimenting with a variety of filterless tanks, I also have a few 0 electricity, low water usage tanks im experimenting with. 
 

good log of your tanks! 

[Tanked]

On 4/1/2022 at 3:57 PM, AndreaW said:

That's cool you have an experimental tank for plants. Are the water parameters close to your other tanks so you don't experience melt when you move them back?

All of my active tanks seem to have nearly identical water parameters.  Initially all of the water came from the 29 gal. planted tank.  The experimental tank is now topped off with random amounts of water change water or tap water. There is little or no melt, but growth slows considerably.

 

 

 

[Tanked]

On 4/1/2022 at 11:16 PM, GardenStateGoldfish said:

I am currently experimenting with a variety of filterless tanks, I also have a few 0 electricity, low water usage tanks im experimenting with. 
 

good log of your tanks! 

Thank you.  The quick summary is a much better read than the actual log.

0 electricity as in natural light only?  My  experimental tank is normally lit by a rechargeable flashlight that is too worn out for normal use. (another experiment)    

[GardenStateGoldfish]

Yes natural light, this is it in my office in the corner, no electricity what so ever, mud underneath sand, so I stole a little from walstad except she is completely against sand, I like sand more than gravel with goldfish. The challenge I’m having with this set up is there is no heat in my office so it’s been very cold in that window, can’t believe the plants made it through winter but now that it’s warming I except it to go nuts. 
 

my concern with the old flashlight your using is that it will be a hassle to keep charging and won’t provide much light. Your probably better off getting a small fiet grow bulb and putting it in a cheap clamp on light fixture, probably close to 16 dollars for the pair, or try moving it by a window. I keep snails in all my tanks so I’m not worried about algae, plus that is a north facing window so it’s not as intense (wish I had a south facing window) 

[Tanked]

All but one of my lights are DIY.  This flashlight is one more experiment.  It was useless on the job, so I repurposed it rather than throw it away.  It has been running plugged into the charger, 16 hours a day for one year.  It hasn't been super bright or big enough for the 10 gallon, but it has done really well.  Recently the battery has not been able to recharge in 8-10 hours.  I will probably try to rewire it directly, bypassing the battery.  I do have a grow bulb sitting here, but I will have to buy or build a fixture to put it in.

My house is only 60 degrees in the winter.  My window sills are about 5 degrees cooler.  After last weeks power failure the project tank was about 50 for an extended period.  The fish tanks got into the low-mid 60s. No casualties so far! I think that the plants idea of a comfortable temperature is much lower than ours.  Your plants in and out of the aquarium do get warmed by the sun during the day, and look quite happy on that cold windowsill.

[Tanked]

On 4/1/2022 at 11:45 AM, Tanked said:

A little over a year ago I no longer needed the ten gallon hospital tank. I had already made space for it, so I decided to return it to its original use as an experimental/project tank.  I had DIY Matten filters, different substrates, lights, whatever.  Changes in a ten gallon are cheaper and super easy to deal with.  I eventually settled on a last chance set up for failing plants. This is/was my first truly balanced tank.

15 months ago I started with:  pool sand, no heat, filters or air stones.  Light is provided by a repurposed LED flashlight.  1 failing Jungle Val., 1 not quite dead Wisteria, Moneywort Hornwort and 1 healthy PSO as a control.  Water is sourced from the tank where the plants originated.  Ferts are from pest snails and  an occasional Easy Green pump.

8 months in: The Wisteria is thriving and supplying other tanks.  The 2 year old Jungle Val. finally gave up. The Hornwort is gone.  The Moneywort rotted free from it's base and is now floating.  The PSO is largely unchanged.  I add some Elodia and a mystery plant. The tank remains virtually algae free.

2 weeks ago:  The sun began to dim.  The LED light is failing.  The Moneywort has retained it's new set of pin head sized leaves but is rootless  All of the plants are showing signs of deficiencies, even though the light is the only thing that changed. 

1 week ago:  The Wisteria had dropped all of the lower leaves in a matter of days.  A heavy biofilm has formed on the surface.

This week: After replacing the LED with a much larger temporary light, The Wisteria appears to be replacing the lower leaves.  The PSO and mystery plant are still largely unchanged.

4 months have passed since I put the oversized fluorescent light back on top of the no tech project tank.  I've grown tired of the warm orange-yellow color.  So did the plants. The mystery plant, Moneywort, and all but 1 piece of Wisteria died. Originally the PSO was hard to find amid the Wisteria. The pest snails live on, as does the PSO, and Elodea. The Elodea did put on some significant growth, 

Last week I installed the new DIY junk flashlight. The original junk light was about an inch above the water, smaller, dimmer and ran 16 hours daily. The Wisteria was thriving.  The new junk light is direct wired with the battery system removed. Because it has a higher and wider output, I will start with about 7 hours daily. If the plants take to it, I might try to pretty it with a more conventional housing.  I may have missed the changes earlier, but the Anubia is putting out additional roots,  and the PSO in the center may have actually put out a runner.  That would also be a first for me.

[Nik_n]

On 4/1/2022 at 5:45 PM, Tanked said:

 

8 months in: The Wisteria is thriving and supplying other tanks.  The 2 year old Jungle Val. finally gave up. The Hornwort is gone.  The Moneywort rotted free from it's base and is now floating.  The PSO is largely unchanged.  I add some Elodia and a mystery plant. The tank remains virtually algae free.

 

Quick question; what do you mean by a mystery plant? 

[Tanked]

On 8/9/2022 at 11:37 AM, Nik_n said:

Quick question; what do you mean by a mystery plant? 

The mystery plant was a very small plantlet that I found floating in the tank one day. This one never grew a complete leaf set or grew big enough to identify.

It either died or got lost when thinning the elodea, so it will remain a mystery.