For my first aquascape I bought some wood, rocks and live plants, and just 'did my best' - only one plant survived, an Amazon Sword which I still have to this day (that makes it 5 years old). The tank also looked nothing like the pictures I had seen online...
To achieve success in aquascaping, I have not had to upgrade my lights, get pressurised co2 system and start fertilizing more compounds from dry salts that you can imagine. Many professionals would have you believe this is the only way, but my approach to aquascaping is not the norm, but it is an approach which you might call "low tech", "low energy", “easy”, “low maintenance”, "budget" .... the problem is we seek advice from those professional scapers at the top of their game to help us... the problem is most of us don't run co2, nor do we have fancy lights, and these highly complex set ups which require much skill, technical knowledge, and lots of time on the part of the aquascaper to set up and maintain (and are very expensive to set up!) ... we don't quite operate in the same space ... what we all really need to do is follow one methodology consistently - something simple so we can actually understand why are doing it too would be nice...
I have three tanks at home and have scaped many tanks for others, all of which are thriving and the owners love. My aquascapes aren't winning contests though, they simply don't meet the standard required. But then again, like the debate on fashion mags, I dont have chiseled features and biceps with a measurable gravitational pull... I have tanks I enjoy. And that's all that matters. For me enjoyment comes from a stable aquarium system that will allow me to be late with the odd water change, doesn't cost me a fortune, and doesn't need regular lengthy maintenance sessions (they just don't fit in with a young family!) but look stunning all the same. Oh and just to set expectations… every tank has some algae, its natural. Provided you don’t have more than a few Amano Shrimp (nothing better for algae control in my opinion) or Otocinclus can keep on top of, your doing just fine.
The basics for growing aquarium plants are not complex - some nutrients and light. But, note that I have not mentioned CO2 here… CO2 is a way of providing the nutrient carbon to plants, but that does not mean we need to add it to our tanks. Carbon actually dissolves quite readily in water, but there is still far less of in in our tanks than there is in the atmosphere. This means that plants grow slower in our aquariums. All good as far as I'm concerned - less trimming to do! All plant manufacturers now have classification systems which include a range of 'easy' plants. These are the plants which are best adapted to growing in our aquariums and which need lower concentrations of carbon. Why anyone would want to try and grow plants in conditions they are not suited to is beyond me... there are red plants, carpeting plants, floating plants… all of which can be grown in a CO2-less setup. 'Advanced' plants are like a fish out of water in our aquariums, a desert palm trying to grow in Antarctica, and therefore require advanced care.
Most of us understand that withouth co2 injections, we dont need powerful lights, this being a low energy system, however fertilisation is one of the biggest myths in aquascaping. Many would have you believe 'dialling in' individual nutrients is a complex process to create the right balance to give the plants what they need, and not encourage algae, or that overdosing is required to ensure no plant goes hungry. But in a low tech setup, this need not be true. There are two categories of nutrients plants need, macro and micro nutrients. There are only 3 macro nutrients, which are needed in larger quantities. These are Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium. The good news is that 2 of these we get for free, especially in tanks with decent amounts of fish as most of us also enjoy! You will no doubt have heard of the nitrogen cycle converting ammonia into the less toxic nitrate, and will be familiar with doing water changes to reduce nitrate levels. Regardless of what form it's in, this is plant food. Phosphorus, whilst classed as a macro nutrient, is needed in far less quantity than nitrogen. It is also found in fish food so by feeding your fish, you also feed your plants. So that's three nutrients we don't need to worry about here... carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus.
Potassium does need to be added though, as there is no freebie source of this macro nutrient. If it is lacking in your tank you may find leaves with holes in them… which I certainly had! However, I now dose a liquid fert that contains micros AND potassium. I add a dose after a water change for the week ahead.
A commonly offered alternative to a pressurised CO2 system is 'liquid CO2'. Please do not confuse this product as genuine liquid CO2. Without getting technical, this product is normally a fairly dangerous substance called Gutaraldehyde, widely used to sterilize hospital equipment! It is still dangerous when overdosed into the aquarium acting as a neurotoxin, and some species are more susceptible to it than others. It provides a source of carbon to the aquarium which some plants can benefit from, though it is around 10 times less efficient for them to use than true dissolved gaseous CO2. In fact, the jury is out within the scientific community as to whether these products actually help or not. Some plants, like Vallis may even suffer when such products are used. Ultimately whether or not to use this product is up to you, it can act as a algaecide though and so I do personally use it post water change because at the vital period of change in the aquatic ecosystem (water changes spike co2 levels) where algae has a chance to get a hold, this keeps things nicely in check.
Siesta lighting helps naturally increase CO2 in our aquariums which invloveshaving a break in the lighting period in the middle of the day to allow CO2 levels to naturally build again in the aquarium through the respiration of the fish. The shaded areas in the graph below are the CO2 levels in the water, the green represents an aquarium with a siesta lighting schedule, and the blue represents a normal lighting schedule where lights simply come on in the morning and off in the evening. What this shows, is that under a normal lighting regime CO2 levels in the aquarium are exhausted towards the end of the lighting period as we discussed above. This not only means that plants are not able to photosynthesise and grow, it generates a dangerous imbalance with excess nutrients and lighting in comparrison to co2 for part of the day - the perfect conditions for algae to grow. The horizontal lines on the graph show the average level of CO2 during the lighting period. You will notice that the average CO2 level under the normal lighting regime is lower than under the siesta lighting regime. If we focus in on the siesta part of the graph represented in green we can see that overnight when the lights are off, the CO2 level builds just like in the blue graph, and again they reduce from 08:00 for the first 4 hours of the lighting being turned on. However, rather than the CO2 levels continuing to fall after 12:00, they rise again whilst the lights are off. By 16:00 when they are set to turn back on, CO2 levels have partially recovered meaning that there is still a good concentration of CO2 in the water ready for the last part of the lighting regime.
Thats it, a weekly tank maintenance session where you dose a micro fert including potassium alongside your tap water conditioner and a bit of liquid carbon (or any other algecide - I've also used barley straw extract from the pond section to great effect). It couldn’t be easier. And by taking this approach, with the right selection of plants, you can create a system with much more margin for error than in a more high-energy set up.
What do you think to this approach? Your comments and questions are welcomed!!
Topic: Opinion piece: Take an easy approach to aquascaping (Read 1732 times) 2 replies
January 21, 2013, 10:03:55 PM
