To Grow plants in an aquarium

Aquatic plants receive carbon dioxide (CO₂), potassium (K), magnesium (Mg) and calcium (Ca) primarily from the water. They can also receive nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), sulpher (S) and several other trace nutrients (Fe, Bo, Mn, Cu, Zn, Mo) from water however these can also be absorbed by roots in the substrate.
Retaining phosphate and iron sources in the substrate helps to limit availability of these nutrients to algae. This is the secret to growing beautiful plants without serious algae problems! In fact, most aquatic plants grow much, much better when they get nutrients from the substrate.
In order for iron to be available from a substrate, you need to use a clay, soil or iron containing substrate additive together with a small amount of organic material such as peat. The organic material provides nutrients for anaerobic bacteria to reduce insoluble iron (ferric) to soluble iron (ferrous). It also releases humic acids which are natural chelator chemicals which lock onto positively charged chemical ions like Fe++ and make it available in the water. These humic acids also help to buffer the pH in your aquarium to a good value. The downside is that humic acids interfere with many test kits which measure CO₂ and carbonate hardness. This method shows you how to achieve adequate CO₂ and carbonate hardness without relying on test kits. 

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Substrate

Here is a substrate design which is highly effective for me.

• Bottom layer, iron rich clay, Micronized Iron or subsoil. This may be mixed with sand. (New) About 2% Micronized Iron by weight is probably plenty. Iron fertilizers containing iron sulphate such as Ironite are not suitable. Pottery clay is a bit difficult to mix with other materials unless its in powder form so chop it into bits and soak it in water for a week stirring often until its nice and soupy. I like subsoil, it's easy, probably as good as anything and cheap. I sometimes add a little F-T-E, fritted trace elements; (New) about 10 small granules for each square foot of tank bottom (2" depth) are about right according to the suggested usage on the package. Be careful because it's easy to use too much. 10 small granules of F-T-E weighs about 0.12 grams (120 milligrams). That's about 1/70 of a teaspoon!
• Middle layer, (New) 1 inch depth of mixture of garden soil mixed 4 parts to 1 part of fluffy sphagnum peat moss by volume. Since garden soil is about 20 times heavier than peat moss, this is a ratio of 1.25% by weight. This should be one inch deep NO DEEPER!! (see notes). Mix a handful of Micronized Iron with this if you have it to ensure that the soil has sufficient iron. Iron is present in most soils especially if the soil in your garden is good for growing plants. You can also mix the soil with sand if it seems to be too rich. (see notes)
• Top layer, 1 inch depth regular 2-3 millimeter aquarium gravel.

Put a large plate or flat plastic on the bottom weighted by a rock and slowly fill the tank with water allowing the water flow to gently flow onto the plate. If you disturb the water during filling, you will get a lot of cloudiness. If you do, siphon the water out and refill again more carefully.
Plant your plants after the water level is a few inches deep. Plant densely. Use fast growing plants initially. I suggest between 2 to 3 watts per gallon of tank capacity of either fluorescent or metal halide lighting. Good lighting and plenty of plants are important to the success of an soil substrate.
Change 25% of your tank water frequently on initial set-up. Initially the peat will release a lot of humic acid and this will color the water yellow. Activated carbon filtration will also reduce the yellow color and help to remove excess iron from the water. At each water change, dose with fertilizer according to the volume of water you drain off and replace. Later as the peat releases less humic acids, you can reduce the frequency of water changes. Water change frequency can be much less often then; I think there's enough nutrients to last several weeks especially if you add some NPK fertilized clay balls once or twice a year.
Nitrate and phosphate test kits are handy but not essential. If you have used a rich organic material or a rich soil then you may need to be concerned about high levels of nitrate, phosphate or ammonia initially. Watch the ammonia concentration closely for the first month because ammonia tends to be released from rich substrates. Over time a over-rich aquarium substrate will become manageable especially if you remove the excess algae and growth from fast growing plants.
A high quality iron test kit may also be useful. The peat and iron substrate can release enough iron to cause minor problems with algae for the first few months. That's why regular water changes are a good idea.

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Fertilizer

For fertilizer heat 3 cups of water to boiling in a large jar or measuring cup. Add the following and stir until dissolved:

1. 1/4 cup of potassium sulphate
2. 1/4 cup of epsom salt (magnesium sulphate)
3. 1/8 cup of potassium nitrate (salt peter)

Put this into a 750ml bottle and keep in a cool place. Sometimes crystals may form if its in the fridge so I add a half tsp of muriatic acid and store it on my shelf.

• Add 1 tsp of this for each 5 gallons of aquarium water on startup.
• Each time you change water, add 1 tsp of this for each 5 gallons of water you replace.
• On startup, add 2 tsps of calcium carbonate for each 10 gallons of aquarium water. SKIP this if your tap water is over 4 GH general hardness.
• Each time your change water, add 1 tsp of calcium carbonate for each 10 gallons of aquarium water you replace. SKIP this if your tap water is over 4 GH general hardness. See notes on GH.
• Note that the fertilizer contains no trace nutrient additions. These are provided primarily by your soil.

HINT: mix the calcium carbonate with a jar of water and add this at night around lights off time. It will stay cloudy for several hours. A light layer will also be deposited on the plant leaves but this dissolves slowly by the action of dissolved CO₂ in your water.

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CO₂

(New) CO₂ injection is VERY important for the success of a high light tank. I prefer stronger lighting and CO₂ because I want the plants really actively growing in order to maintain the dynamic balance between nutrients, light and CO₂.
Use CO₂ injection, either yeast method or compressed tank with regulator and micro-flow metering valve. I'm not going to repeat the excellent information already available elsewhere on the world wide web about CO₂ and lighting. See the Krib for more information on CO₂. Try to get 1 bubble per 4-6 seconds. I like to inject CO₂ using a powerhead. See the pictures of powerhead CO₂ injection in the Hallway of Pictures. I like a sponge filter on the powerhead inlet and no other filters to disrupt the water surface. For small tanks of size 27 gallons or less, I'd aim for 1 bubble every 8 seconds. For larger tanks, 4-6 seconds per bubble is adequate. The powerhead helps to introduce current into your water which exercises the fish and greatly improves the rate of CO₂ transfer to the plants.

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Lighting

(New) Sufficient lighting is VERY important for the success of a high growth tank. I'm not going to repeat the excellent information already available elsewhere on the world wide web about CO₂ and lighting. See the Krib for more information on lighting. The examples of aquariums on my web pages typically are more strongly lit than is necessary or optimal for algae management. I use the MH systems because of their convenience and because I don't have to build or buy a hood. If cost of operation is a concern and you want to keep the extra heat to a minimum, I suggest you use efficient T8 lights such as GE-SPX-50 together with electronic ballasts designed specifically for these lamps. For a typical 18" deep aquarium, the watt per gallon rule is a good indication. For Crypts and Swords, you should use about 1.5 watts/gal. For faster growing plants, you should use about 3 watts/gal. More light does not translate into more growth especially if the available nutrients are limited. Often a dose of calcium, or potassium in the water, CO₂ injection, or a few clay fertilizer balls is all you need to induce a tremendous boost of growth even with your existing lighting (assuming that you've met the watt/gallon guidelines) Please visit the Krib for TONS of information about lighting!
Remember, strong lighting is not essential for growing Crypts and beyond a certain point, does nothing to increase growth rates. Spectrum and intensity may affect the coloration of some kinds of Crypts. Crypts also have a tendency to melt in very strong lighting however I have found that regular additions of calcium seem to help Crypts to resist melting! This may be especially true if peat or leaves rich in humic acid are used in the substrate.

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Enriching the Substrate

(New) To enrich the substrate fertility for heavy feeders like sword plants or large crypts, prepare 1/2 inch clay balls with about 10 granules of 14-14-14 fertilizer. Dry these until hard and place 1 or 2 into the substrate near the roots of heavy feeders. Repeat as necessary if growth rates become low (about 6 months). It takes about 1/2 a teaspoon of clay to make a 10 mm (1/2") ball of clay. Each ball of clay will have about 70 mg of nitrogen which is the equivalent of 300 mg of nitrate and about 70 mg of phosphoric acid (P₂O₅). (Estimates based on 113 granules per teaspoon, a teaspoon weighs about 5.7 grams)

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Notes

• (New) GH or general hardness is a measure of the amount of calcium and magnesium found in natural water. I use this measure because there are test kits available which give readings in GH. One degree of GH is the equivalent of 17.9 mg/L of CaCO₃. Thus if you have close to 70 mg/L  or 70 ppm of CaCO₃ in your tap water, you won't need to add any calcium. Expressed as calcium concentration (what really matters) this is equivalent to about 30 mg/L Ca. One level teaspoon  (5 ml) of calcium carbonate weighs 4 grams. 1 tsp for 50 litres of water gives you 80 mg/L. Other sources suggest that 1 tsp of CaCO3 / 50 L should give about 40 mg/L so it may be that the sample I weighed is heavier because it has absorbed water from the air. Check back at a later date for more info.
• Sources for chemicals:
  • Bigger gardening centers carry many of the chemicals and things like Micronized Iron and F-T-E fritted trace elements.
  • Drug stores carry epsom salts and can order many kinds of chemicals for you.
  • Pottery supply outlets carry large bags of calcium carbonate
  • See your yellow pages for chemicals
  • Hydroponics supply stores carry all the fertilizer chemicals
  • See the PMDD section of the Krib
• (New) Sources for F-T-E and Micronized Iron
• The use of Micronized Iron together with peat should be considered experimental as the iron is concentrated and in a highly available form. My experience over a 4 month period indicates that humic chelated iron is being released from the substrate but not at a level to create serious algae problems. The plants which I grow (Cryptocorynes, Hygrophila polysperma, Bacopa, Rotala, Aponogeton crispus, Saggitaria, Echinodorus, Heteranthera zosterifolia) do not show indications of iron toxicity. I suggest using ordinary soil first without Micronized Iron. If you use Micronized Iron, use it sparingly. I take precautions to ensure that filamentous algae are not introduced into my aquariums. See the Krib bleach information at: http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/Algae/bleach.html
• Organic material and fertile soil is only used in a thin layer (1") close to the surface because a deeper layer will receive less oxygen diffusing from the surface and will become too low in reduction (redox) potential thus creating toxins by the action of anaerobic bacteria. A one inch layer is sufficient to provide enough reduction potential to ensure a long-term supply of reduced and soluble iron. Refer to the technical article on substrate materials for further discussion of redox potential.
• Soil and/or peat substrates have been in use by many folks for extended periods since the beginning of aquatic plant keeping so I consider them proven. I've been successfully using a variety of soil substrates for 3 years. Paul Krombholz has been using soil and peat preparations for several years. This article is intended as a detailed procedure on how to safely setup a productive soil tank. Although we know people have been using soils of all kinds, we don't have good information on how to repeat the successes. Bear in mind that soils do vary in composition somewhat. It is always a good plan to keep careful notes and measure the quantities of materials you use for later reference. Notes on regular measurements of ammonia, nitrates, phosphates and iron concentration will also be very informative. If you keep logs like this I would appreciate the information if you are willing to share it.
• When is a soil too rich? I do not recommend you use any compost or soil treated recently with manure or other fertilizer within the last year.  (New) The bagged soils which you purchase at garden centres are NOT suitable; they are too high in nutrients and organic material. The best dirt for your first try is stuff you dig up out of the ground from a well drained location where there's been grass growing for years. It will be well leached of soluble nutrients. If you really want large crypts and growth, you can use more fertile mixtures but you may have to deal with algae problems. Ammonia is also released from very fertile substrates for about a month after submergence.
• (New) If you feel that the local soil is simply not suitable and you decide to use a packaged soil despite the high fertility, then you should mix this with a larger volume of sand.
• Note that the fertilizer contains no trace nutrient additions. These are provided primarily by your soil. Sometimes a local soil may entirely lack a mineral like manganese, copper, molybdenum, boron or zinc but these soils are very rare. Your local gardening experts will be able to tell you if the local soil needs a trace nutrient supplement. In these cases a small amount of Fritted Trace Elements (a tsp) well mixed into the bottom layer should be safe and sufficient. Less is better than more.
• If you have hard water and are not adding the initial dose of calcium carbonate, practice regular water changes to ensure enough calcium. Peat soaks up calcium. Regular water changes also helps to prevent a build-up of humic acids and humic chelated iron in your water which may occur in the first few months.
• If you know your tap water contains over 10 ppm of magnesium, you can skip the epsom salts in the fertilizer. The same is true for nitrate (+10ppm) and potassium (+10ppm). Calcium levels over 50ppm (as Ca) should be sufficient.
• Some soils also contain calcium carbonate or calcium sulphate as well as magnesium. These are limestone soils and are quite alkaline. You can test a sample in water for pH or using the acid test for fizzing. Your gardening center experts can also advise you on this condition. With peat, such soils should not be a problem since the humic acidity of the peat will provide a stable pH and help to absorb excesses of soluble calcium and magnesium. Such soils are more prone to lack iron.
• Initially, for the first two months, some soils will release a significant amount of nutrients such as nitrates, ammonia, phosphates and iron. Nutrient release is highest at 4 weeks and declines rapidly until it is nearly stable after 10 weeks. This can cause a few problems with algae such as green spot algae on plant leaves. Some of these problems can be avoided by keeping the soil sample in a 5 gal bucket with water for a few weeks to release the majority of nitrogen and phosphorus nutrients. Drain the soil well before mixing it with the peat and Micronized Iron . The peat can also be treated by the same method to reduce the levels of humic acids released during the transitional period. When using such wet mixtures, you should probably fill the tank with water and drain it once before refilling and planting since the wet soil and peat will contain nutrients which would be released quickly. Weigh the peat when its dry since it is the dry weight ratios which are important.
• (New) The mineral nutrient method described above can still be used if the substrate does not contain iron and organic material. In this case, 1 tsp of chelated trace element mix should be added to the mixture (3 cups of water). This is amount will produce approximately 0.1 ppm of chelated iron when dosed as directed. It may be necessary to prepare a separate solution of chelated trace nutrients (mainly iron) which are added more frequently according to the PMDD methodology. The mineral nutrients do not need to be dosed frequently since these nutrients are not lost over time. Chelated iron is lost from solution by the break down of the chelating compound however EDTA and DTPA are the most stable chelating compounds. For a more information on chelated trace nutrients and sources see the PMDD section of the Krib at http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/Fertilizer/.
• Refer to my detailed substrate article for more information on soils, precautions and other substrate materials.

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Adventures in aquascaping

Adventures in aquascaping

Aquascaping

This is the article that my friend Birgit Fruehwirth who lives in Austria wrote for a forum a while back that will stand the test of time. Birgit has gracefully given permission to publish this article for all of you who would like to try your hand at aquascaping. Next week I will go into some particulars for aquascaping, considerations for placement of individual species, compatabilities, color textures. Until then, enjoy Birgits article!
Don Matakis

Aquascaping
In recent years the term aquascaping has become better known by aquarists all over the world. The big man from Japan, Takashi Amano started with his books, a new style in aquaristic. The simple gathering of plants, beautiful stones and driftwood is no longer the goal of many aquarists.
Aquascaping has become a valued art.

This article is based on the style and ideas of the Nature Aquarium, combined with my very own opinions and experiences. It is allways a question of personal preferences on what type of aquascape you try to achieve. Many people just love those good looking japanese aquascapes, but they don´t feel able to achieve it. It is not a question of experience wether you can do it or not. It is no more difficult to have a beautiful Nature Aquarium than it is to have a normal tank. It is just the careful selection of plants and accessories that makes the difference. So many people just don´t have enough self confidence to try it. This article will give you a very compact guideline. Follow the rules and you will achieve your goal.

Amanos Nature Aquarium (NA) is often misunderstood. It is not the aim of the NA to reproduce nature biotopes of special regions. It is more the goal of creating an underwater landscape. A landscape seen before in real nature, not under water.
I myself started, trying to copy some of Amano's works. But soon I realised that you cannot copy anything that has to do with living beings. Nevertheless it is good for practicing to start with copying an aquascape you really like. You will automatically use the right plants, place the stones correctly and create some free space which will give your tank more depth of field. With time, you will develop your own style, and sometimes you will like it even more than the one you tried to copy.
Then you start your new setups by thinking of a landscape you once saw and really liked. This may be just an accumulation of stones in the mountains, or a huge clearance in a wood. Everyone has his own preferrals, so everyone will choose another landscape and get his own style.
In Nature Aquarium, plants AND fishes are the centerpiece of a tank. In providing the best conditions for your plants to grow, you usually do the same for your fishes. When the plants have everything they need to grow well, at the same time they provide the best conditions for your fishes. Plants use up excessive nutrients in the water that may cause Nitrate levels to spike, and they produce oxygen which is indespensable to the life of fishes.

AGAIN: This short article shall help you create those beautiful aquascapes you have seen in books or on the net and you never thought you can achieve.

So let´s start:

1. Imagination
Imagination is the key to aquascaping.
Get the pictures of available plants and accessories into your mind. Try to combine them in several ways. If you are not able to do this, you´d better start with copying a tank you like. With time you will find it easier to do your imaginative work.
You´ve got your picture? Well, then let´s go.

2. Choosing a background
There are some different ways of choosing a background. Some people use cork, others wood, some paint the background and some use self adhesive foliage. No matter what you do: as long as you don´t want your tank to stand in the middle of a room, give it a background. It is very unnatural to see the wall with all the hoses and cables shining through the tank.
When painting, or using foliage: You´d best use black or blue. This will give your tank a wonderful contrast and also make it easy to concentrate on the tank itself. You don´t want the people to focus on the background, just because it is red?

3. Choosing your substrate
It is unlikely that your aquascape will look natural when you use pink, blue or bright green gravel. You´d better choose brown, gray or black. There are many different types of substrate that will assist your plants in growth.

4. Choosing the shape of your future layout

There are several composition types:

The concave setup (high on either side and low in the middle)


The convex setup (the opposite of the one above, so low on either side and high in the middle)

"Convexity" doesn´t need to be produced by plants only, as you can see.

The triangular setup (high on one side, getting lower to the other)


The rectangular setup (high everywhere). This is the one you should avoid. It doesn´t give you areas of free space. But these are very important to create an illusion of depth. So less sometimes is much more.

5. Choosing the accessories
For a long time, aquarists where looking for the perfect (beautiful) piece of driftwood, or stone. Then they placed it into the tank, and.... well, it didn´t look satisfying, did it?
Especially when making a setup with stones it is much more important to use different sizes of the same type, than just take one very beautiful stone. One single stone in a tank will allways look artificial, but when you place two or more, that´s what you usually see in nature. OK, OK there is Ayers Rock, but it doesn´t actually look natural, does it (sorry to the Australians, didn´t mean to offend you).
Now take your stones or your driftwood and place them in a triangle (if they are at least three). The biggest one (if really big enough) usually is the main focal point, so take special care where to place it (see golden ratio in main focal points in the following chapter).
Never use different type of stones or driftwood. You can gather the ugliest stones you can think of. They just have to be the same type. Place them correctly in a group: I promise, they will look nice (don´t know if it works for red-bricks though)!

6. Setting the main focal points
To get a smooth aquascape you need to set one or at maximum two focal points. This is usually something that pleases your eye. Either a stone, or a piece of driftwood, or a beautiful (group of) plant(s). This is where the golden ratio comes in.
You sure have tried to put the most beautiful of your plants right into the middle of your tank. Well, it didn´t look too good, right? That´s because when you have a symmetrical aquascape, your eyes tend to wander from left to right and back, forth and back.... This is not the relaxed atmosphere you are looking for when you sit in front of your tank and watch it for hours.
Greek philosophers and mathematicians found out long ago: the best ratio that pleases your eye is 1:1,618. Heeeh?????
To explain. When you drink your coffee, you mix one part of milk with 5 parts of coffee (just as an idea) You have a ratio of 1:5.
So when you place your focal point, you devide your tank length into two pieces. One has the ratio of 1,618 and the other the ratio of 1.
How to do that??? Very simple: just measure the length of your tank and divide it through 2.618. Take the result and measure it from one side of your tank. Mark it. The rest is 1.618 (no math there). This is the place for your very special centerpiece, focal point or whatever you call it.



It is not wise to have two centerpieces in relatively small tanks (under about 60gal). Never try to create more than 2 focal points.

7. Foreground, Midground, Background
To get some depth into your tanks it is most important to use low growing plants. It is not particularely necessary to have high growing plants as well, because you can have hills or higher stones and driftwood that fulfill their demand.
If you don´t have either stones, hills (terraces) or driftwood, you need higher plants as well to give a fine background.
Amano often uses Riccia fluitans and glossostigma elatinoides. While the second one can really be a challenge sometimes even for experienced aquascapers, Riccia is quite easy to cultivate. It is a floating plant that needs a little care.
Hairgrass (eleocharis) is another plant used very often as a foreground. Note: Glossostigma and Hairgrass must not be planted as they come from your lfs. Divide them into very small bundles, and plant them separately. This will make it grow in faster and also reduces the risk of decaying. After planting Hairgrass, prune the plant to a hight of about ½ - 1 inch. Eleocharis is grown emersed (above water) in plant nurserys. Until the new shoots will appear, the old ones will rot and get infested with algaes.

8. Planting order
First you plant (place) the focal point. Then the lowgrowers and midgrowers and in the end the high plants.
Try to allways plant very dense.
Especially stem plants are a good way to form your aquascape. Many small leaved species, such as micranthemum micranthemoides, m. umbrosum, mayaca sellowiana or rotala indica to just name a few, can easily be trimmed to a desired shape. But therefore you have to plant it quite dense as I stated. Take two to three stems and plant them with tweezers. About an inch beside: plant the next bundle of two to three stems, and so on. The more dense you plant in the beginning, the faster the tank will grow in. Especially in the initial stage it is wise to cut the tops, replant the cuttings between the old ones while you leave the rooted parts in the substrate. So you can easily propagate your plants. The rooted parts will bud new shoots within short time.

9. Plant leaves and colour
It is allways wise to use plants with different leave size and/or colour. This again will create more depth and naturalness. If your tank is not too big (under 60gallon) it is wise to mainly use plants with smaller leaves. That will make it look much bigger than it actually is.
Especially red plants can help you give your tank more contrast. But be aware: If you use one single red plant it will again work as a focal point. If you allready chose a stone to be a focal point, you may get too much tension into your scape and your eyes will wander from one focal point to the other.

10. Fishes
You shouldn´t add fishes right from the start. There are many articles on fishless cycling in the net.
IMO (and not only IMO) it is better to choose schools of small fishes than just a few different big ones. A huge shool of tetras or rasboras will make your tank look much bigger (especially on pictures you want to take part in an aquascape competition, don´t you?!?).
Choose fishes that won´t disturb your aquascape. Many species tend to dig, not good for your foreground carpet as you can imagine.
Also keep in mind that many fishes that are small when you buy it may easily grow to the size of half your tank. This is neither good for your aquascape, nor for the fish, so ask and READ before buying. Sometimes it is better to read, or ask in the net, because many lfs just want to sell. A bargain which was said to stay small may easily grow to size of a small shark.

11. Maintainance
Setting up an aquascape is one thing, but maintaining and enhancing its beauty is completely different. Only regular pruning and waterchanging as well as getting the right balance of nutrients/light/CO2 will make you achieve your goal. Sometimes when your plants grow in, you may even have to change a group of plants, cause it doesn´t look like your original imagination. You just have to give it a try and believe in yourself.

Wierd alien fish

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