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How to: Natural Planted tank

2M views 662 replies 146 participants last post by  Caelth 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Natural Planted tank: Soil based with lots and lots of stem and floating plants. Common snails and shrimp complete the little ecosystem-everything has a job.

Plants functions as the filtration-All livestock and anything organic function as the ferts-When the organics start to break down and decomp-they naturally produce CO2 that the plants need. Shrimp also shred dead/dieing organics/plant matter so that it will break down faster and eat some algae. Snails-eat organics and dead/dieing plant matter and some algae.

Soil based tanks are as close to a complete ecosystem you can create in a closed system/aquarium. Everything works together to create the Balance.

It can take about 3 months for a soil based tank to mature. Once the soil has started its life under water, is alive and full of critters/microorganisms. I like to remove my filter or water movement in my 10gal and under tanks. I do use water movement in my 20gal and larger.

Nitrogen cycle-in properly setup soil based tank with lots of plants you don't need to worry about the nitrogen cycle or do anything special-It happens on its own. The silent cycle.
Often with heavy planted tanks-it will take a long time if ever to see the nitrate reading we normally look for that tells us cycling stage/completeness-But the nitrogen cycle is happening-its silent.

If you properly setup the soil based tank-you can safely add all your livestock on the same day you set it up.

Once mature-water changes are limited and this can vary from once a month to 4-5 times a year. If you want that really clean tank floor with an organized look-the soil based may not be for you.
Over cleaning-water changes and vacuum can upset the balance, however, your water should always look crystal clear-this tells you that you have good balance and the plants, microorganism, shrimp, snails and fish are doing their job.

Dirt-Look for organic type potting soil, top soil or use dirt from your yard. You don't want any added ferts, chemicals...etc.....
Sift the soil or pick through it to remove any large pieces of organics and wood.
In 1-10gal tanks use 1-1.5 inches of dirt
In 20-55gal tanks use-1.5-2 inches of dirt
In over 55gal-use 2-3 inches of dirt

Cap-use either-pool filter sand, play sand or small diameter gravel.
The cap is to help hold the soil in place and you only want to use half as much cap as you do soil.

Hard scape-If using large based items-like big rocks or driftwood-along with more than 1 inch of dirt. Place the hard scape item on top of the first 1 inch of dirt-then add the rest of the dirt and cap.

*Hint: Place the filter and heater in the tank before you place hard scape items. This will help you with proper placement and then place the hood if you are using one to check that everything will fit properly-You want the overflow of the filter to be directed over a hard scape item so it doesn't cause a kick up. Check the intake to insure that it isn't too low to the dirt/cap line-you may need to shorten the intake or place a flat rock under it so it doesn't suck up the soil/cap and ruin the filter.

Lights-proper lighting is really important-without the proper color temp bulb the plants can't see the light to use it for photosynthesis. Without good plant growth the soil based tank will crash.
You want-"Daylight" 6500k bulbs-watts will vary based on length of bulb.
You want to change both the bulb and the starter every 12 months-even if they still work since florescent bulb intensity can be lost over time.
The partition between the light and plants-need to either be removed all together or ensure it is kept clean for best light penetration to plants.
Photoperiod-keep the lights on 10-12 hours. Plants naturally are on 10h/day PP with 1 hour before and after of less intense light.
*Too short a PP or wrong color temp bulb, old bulbs can trick the plants into thinking its a season change and time to go dormant, die or flower.
Poor plant growth can result in poor water quality. You should need to make your first plant trim in 7-10 days after planting.

Algae: Its normal, expected and a sign of a healthy system, however, since this is a closed system-even the good algae needs to be manually removed on occasion. With soil based systems that have proper balance you shouldn't have algae issue-you will have some-but as long as you have enough of the right species of thriving plants-they should out compete problem algae.

Plants: If you can't start a soil based tank with enough of the right species of plants-DON'T set one up...It is important to have enough of the right species of plants on hand, correct lights from the start-otherwise the system might crash.
You want to start with lots of fast growing stem plants and some floating plants. You can add the moss, ferns, anubias to your hard scape items and add some rosette plants too.
Plants I like to use:
Stem plants:
Najas indica (naja grass)
Cabomba caroliniana(green)
C. piauhyensis (red)
Hygrophila dfformis (westeria)
H. corymbosa (giant hygro)
H, siamensis (thin leaf)
Ludwigia natans
Rotala indica
Rosette plants:
Vallisneria americana-var Biwanesis
V. spiralis
Sagittaria subulata
S. platyphylla
Cryptocryne walkeri
Crypt-bronze
C. wendtii
Echinodorus bleheri (amazon sword)
E. ozelot
E. tenellus (chain sword)
Other:
Nymphaes stellata (red lily)
Aponogeton ulvaceus
Microsorium pteropus (java fern)
Vesicularia dubyana (java moss)
Floating plants:
Pistia stratiotes (water lettuce)
Limnobium laevigatum (frogbit)
Lemna minor (duckweed)

Once the hard scape items and fully planted-make water only changes until the water is clear-Turn on the filter and heater-Once at temp-add the livestock after proper acclimation.
If you don't have trumpet snails that burrow to add-be sure and poke the soil a couple of times a week with either chopstick, wooden spoon...etc.....This will help prevent anaerobic soil. Once you make your first trim, plants are thriving-the roots of the stem plants will help prevent anaerobic soil by pulling oxygen into the soil layer.

You will need to make 1-3 times a week 25-50% water only changes for the first 1-2 weeks-Then decrease as you see plants growing/thriving to 1-2 25-50% a week. By the 3 month stage and provided plants are thriving and you have had to make at least 4-5 trims on the stem plants-Reduce water changes to monthly 50% and remove the filter if you want. As the tank matures-plants thriving you can use your judgment on water changes and reduce them further.

I don't use any added ferts or inject CO2-neither are needed in soil based balanced systems-They make everything they need if allowed, however, adding an extra pinch of fish food weekly is a great plant food for NPT's.

Once you have 1 thriving soil based tank-you will soon need another tank due to the plant growth.

Links to more info on NPT's
https://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=84915
https://www.bettafish.com/album.php?albumid=2903

 
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#149 ·
Hi OFL !
Tomorrow I will be setting up my 5 gallon. I read that you suggest removing the little plastic thing around the light bulb. In my 5 gallon, that will leave the bulb exposed totally to either water or moisture .... should I be nervous in such a small tank ? At the store I was told that frogbite is illegal in the state of Washington.( invasive plant ) They had no other floating stuff. Any suggestions for other types of floating plant ? (rikea ) ? (sp ) What about little floating swords or something like that ? LOl... I will drive around to several other stores to look today.
 
#150 ·
I have heard a poster say that adding an air stone in a filterless NPT tank (such as the one ill create) is helpful to have some kind of water movement. Could stagnant water bring up an issue? A thread below this one highlights cyano bacteria possibly b/c stagnant water/not cleaning substrate enough
 
#152 ·
First, thanks OFL for your advice! I now have a 10-day old, dirted 20G long tank that's happily growing with plants that are probably a day out from some dividing and pruning.

As for floating plants, I like water sprites (ceratopteris thalictroides) because of how easy they are to care for and because they grow in the same kind of slow to still-moving water conditions that bettas are typically known for. Two days after I planted my water sprite, it had started sending out new roots.

Salvinia is another good floating plant that is easy to care for and good at absorbing excess nutrients.

As for my light, I also thought about removing the plastic (acrylic) cover, but optically, acrylic doesn't really inhibit the transmission of UV light. In comparison, clean glass hoods absorb about 5% of the light the plants need so it really comes down to how much you want to deal with cleaning them and how much you care about 5% extra growing light.

OFL, one question I have is about filtration. I recall you mentioning that you used your filter for water movement, but I can't remember if you said to use the standard carbon inserts also. It seems like that would filter out all of the things that the plants want, so I only have the sponge in my filter to provide my beneficial bacteria somewhere to grow.

Did I remember your advice right? A salesperson at Aquarium Adventure told me otherwise and they're supposed to have been through classes before they hit the sales floor, which is making me second guess myself.
 
#153 · (Edited by Moderator)
Floating plants that have worked well for my NPT's-water lettuce is my number one-then duckweed, frogbit.
Hornwort is also a good floater-but it tends to get hair algae due to being too close to my lights. I have never kept water sprite, however, I have heard good things about it.

I have never had any problems with my lights-regarding moisture and I have had my light strips fall in my tanks on more than one occasion and still going strong. They do sell special end caps you can use on lights to prevent moisture issues.

I don't use active carbon/charcoal in any of my tanks-IMO/E it is not needed and it can remove minerals/nutrients that plants need. I do, however, always have fresh carbon on hand for emergencies-for the hopefully rare accidental toxic substance that gets into the tank.

What tanks I do have a filter running-they are for water movement-since in planted tanks-especially soil based will have the BB on/in them-Plus, since the BB are sticky they adhere to all the surface areas-as well as in the top layer of inert substrate.

I also like to limit too much agitation at the surface from filters and airstones-due to gassing off the CO2 that the plants need.

With soil-it is best to use types that don't have any additives-like ferts and water absorbing beads...etc...I have used all kind of soil-from my yard, organic potting soil and top soil.
 
#155 ·
This is what I used (and have seen recommended in here and on other websites), also from Home Depot:
http://m.homedepot.com/p/Miracle-Gro-Organic-Choice-32-qt-Potting-Mix-72983650/100619045/

You could use the top soil you found, but I've only seen super-generic topsoil mentioned when people talk about mineralizing their topsoil, which was a process that was alot more complicated and time-consuming than I was interested in. With the MGOCPM, you can just add it to the tank, put your cap on and fill it.
 
#156 ·
#157 ·
I'm just about to load my dirt into the tank when I see that there are some little white sort of rocks in there besides the little sticks I am sifting out. I got my soil from Lowes and it was the only organic they had. It is Cedar Grove organic potting soil . It is made from compost and has earthworm castings in it.... ARGGG is this ok to use ?? I hope someone answers soon as everything is waiting on me, plants, soil , sand and shrimp snails and Betta !!!
 
#162 · (Edited by Moderator)
Depending on what the compost base is to start with...sometimes they use pine needles and that can sometimes get toxic-the worm casting can sometimes leach into the water column and cause algae issue-personally, I would try it myself since I like to experiment with different things. As for the white things-that might be perilite or vermiculit or however you spell that and generally it is not a problem per se'. I have a couple of tank that have it and the only problem I have had is....its ugly and it floats when disturbed every time I pull a plant-easy to take care of with a net. One tank that has it is going on 5 years old and doing fine.

You don't want or need to clean the substrate on a regular bases-with the soil based systems, it is important to allow some of this mulm to buildup and breakdown so the plants can use it for food. Once the tank is stable-you also don't want to make too many water changes and upset the balance either.
 
#164 · (Edited by Moderator)
That is hard to say since they can all be different, however, one of the ways I judge mine-is by plant growth and how often and how many trims I need to make.
Usually it will take about 3 months more or less for the soil to mature and start its life underwater to contain/create all the needed bacteria/pathogens/nematodes...etc...Its all that awesome bacteria that break down everything so the plants can use it and once the plants are thriving-they become the filter/bio-filter.

I don't always go by the numbers-since the active plant growth will take care of a lot of stuff in the system-usually it will take a long time if every to see a nitrate reading anyway due to the plants. Your pH can vary based on decomp of organic matter and vary at different times of the day due to photosynthesis. You should never see ammonia or nitrite unless it is related to skewed results from additives, pH, KH/GH-unless the tank is overstocked or plants are not doing well or even too large/many water changes that upset the balance. Too many factors that can vary test results and sometimes the best way to know is by the behavior of the livestock and plants....
 
#165 ·
Lets say you purchased everything; you have the sand, soil, plants and possibly some driftwood/smooth stones as your decor. Once you place everything in/fill the tank, is it safe to add the fish right then and there? Or should your tank run for a certain amount of time?
 
#171 ·
I've read that undergravel filters are a no-no when it comes to planted tanks, especially dirted ones. The UGF pulls things through the soil substrate and then bubbles it up into the air which can lead to depletion of the nutrients somehow.

The UGF also ends up being a huge pain in the butt when the roots grow into it.
 
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