Dirted Planted Nano Experiment - 3 Months
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- čas přidán 2. 12. 2023
- I was given another free aquarium!
This one is only about 5 gallon, or 20 litres, which I thought would be a good size to try a dirted, no filter tank for the first time.
I didn’t have a plan for anything, and an overall goal was to use only collected materials and to not spend any money in making this.
I found some sand and wood at a local beach, and soil that we just had lying around.
Everything was rinsed thoroughly with boiling water to clean out any pests or insects we don't want.
Water from the same lake was also added to add in a variety of microfauna that will help make this a full ecosystem.
All plants used were clippings or extras sourced from other local aquariums.
Fun fact, I housed a banded killifish in here for a day before returning it home to the same lake.
6 wild color neocaridina shrimps were added to help start everything.
This update is mostly to show the growth of the plants and Honey Gourami fry that were added.
One plant which I believe was Cabomba? ended up melting away, but the other plants seem to have taken off.
Unfortunately, shrimps ended up failing molts after one successful molt, so there are no longer any in this experiment.
Another batch of gourami eggs were added right before posting this video, we'll have to see if any of them will be successful as well!
I will continue to release update videos as things progress with my little ecosystem!
Im loving following along this series thanks for the interesting storyline!
just binged this series. hope things go well further. looking forward for the updates.
How often do you do water changes and how much? Do you have a filter at all?
I tried but always scum on top of tank and water change kill my shrimp
There's no filter at all! just an airline to make some water movement. Had a mild oily film for a few days but the bubbles breaking the surface solved that for me.
I started by changing the water more often, but now I change about 30% every week or so with a goal of even less soon. My shrimps do well in my other tanks, the only difference here being the soil I used and less time cycling.
Does this mean i can use normal dirt???? I really want a planted tank
Well, you'd ideally use topsoil (just garden soil) WITHOUT pesticides in it. If you do use pesticides, welp, not good. otherwise, sieve the dirt, sterilise it (Bake it for a teensy bit) and then put it in (or do what i do and put it in mesh bags).
Another great alternative is aquatic compost or some sort of nutrient rich substrate.
@@TheRLDoggo i have lots of plants in my backyard, i gave it natural compost every 3 months, natural soil, never added anything, is it safe enough for an aquarium?? And how much sand is needed to cover it??
@@vxxen6020Yeah that should work, make sure to just sterilise it though, and around an inch of sand is required, but MAKE SURE TO MIST THE SOIL beforehand to remove any air pockets, since they can kill the fish,. Then all you do is plant into the *sand* and let the plants go to the dirt. DONT PLANT in the dirt. Thats just causing trouble.
@@TheRLDoggo let the roots find the dirt by itself right??
@@vxxen6020Yep :D