The Natural Tank

[Sonny Disposition]

Diana Walstead had an interesting article in the recent TFH, about "Natural" planted aquariums. Her idea is not to inject with C02, but to plant in potting soil or even backyard clay. She maintains that the plants thrive on the organic compounds in the soil, and, eventually, bacteria come to reside in the soil and produce C02 for the plants.

When buying a potting mix, however, it's important to avoid one that has chemical fertilizers in it, as these will result in a rapid algae overgrowth. She doesn't say what wattage to use, but she does say that the tank needs about 12 hours of light each day.

[krisw]

It is an interesting article. There are a few things that would make be paused, however, with the main one being that you shouldn't use large rocks or wood in the aquascape because it prevents oxygen exchange with the soil. The hardscape is what make the tank for me.

I would be very interested in hearing Sean's comments on the article. It seems to me that Sean's soil recipe is a step further from Dianna, in that he recommends breaking down a lot of the nasties in the soil in a bucket using a series of wet/dry cycles prior to putting it in the tank. Dianna seems resided to having a number of months of hell before things stabilize.

[DelawareJim]

I seem to remember having gone down this road before.

See the following thread:

http://www.gwapa.org/forum/viewtopic.ph ... sc&start=0

Cheers.
Jim

[ingg]

One of the kindest comments I ever got on my 180g was from Neil Frank.

It went something like.... Holy cow, that is a soil tank?!? Diana needs to see this.

Not that NPT's don't work (they obviously do), it is just that they aren't exactly (usually anyhow) the scaped tanks I like to have, nor can they typically handle the light levels I like to push for some of my plant species and growth patterns.

Low light sorta jungle style, though, works great!

For me, I'll stick with Seanstrate.

[DelawareJim]

I'm curious what the pics she submitted looked like. I remember seeing slides of her tanks where the scapes looked like collectoritis tanks with odd assortments of plants planted in the substrate with other plants in clay pots randomly scattered throughout the "scape" and the water having this odd greenish brown tint to it like a healthy mix of algae and tannins.

Cheers.
Jim

[SCMurphy]

Why would Sean comment on something he hasn't read? Doesn't seem sporting, does it? Jim's link to that thread has enough info that Sean should not comment directly about said article.

[krisw]

Or we'll just have to have Sean read it.

Jim, the pictures she submitted for her article are pretty much what you describe.

[ingg]

There are a couple of scapes - not hers, they are out of her state. Mostly using dwarf sags, swords, crypts, vals....

I'm pretty sure you could make a decent scape in an NPT. Just not gonna have some of those collectoritis plants I like to try.

Someday, I'll get off my butt, get a fully automated dosed tank going, and collect the rest of 'em, all those synoganthus, tonina, and Eriocaulons that hate my tanks so far.

[DelawareJim]

Or we'll just have to have Sean read it.

Jim, the pictures she submitted for her article are pretty much what you describe.

I wouldn't be surprised if it's the same article she published 2 or 3 years ago.

Cheers.
Jim

[Sonny Disposition]

Thanks for posting this, Delaware. I think there' s a key difference between what Aaron's tank and Diana's. Aaron wrote that he's mineralizing the substrate, to avoid dosing. He's also using high pressure C02.

Diana isn't mineralizing the soil--she's just adding soil to the tank. And she isn't injecting C02.

I seem to remember having gone down this road before.

See the following thread:

http://www.gwapa.org/forum/viewtopic.ph ... sc&start=0

Cheers.
Jim