# As simple as it gets - looking for advice



## Ozymandias (Jan 17, 2008)

right i think your main concern would be that the sun light would produce a lot of algae and would be inconsistent (really look into some type of lighting fixture even if it low light and cheap). the play sand with peat should also be fine or you could try to find Shultzes aquatic soil (?) at home depot. for you idea of haveing the CO2 with an airstone is good but the CO2 wont desolved that well. cant help you with plant really or shrimp number but you can keep a fair amount of shrimp because thay take up different quantity's compared to fish.

o ya i will be getting rid of a light fixture (cheap one and not sure if it would add enough light, but it is constant light) some time soon if you want it


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## Chrisinator (Jun 5, 2008)

I agree. Also, since you said you didn't want a lot of plants, then there would be even more algae because there is limited amount of plants that would combat with the algae.


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## Ozymandias (Jan 17, 2008)

if you go this route you defiantly want to have large plant density to compensate the algae. also will you be using a filter? if not then you defiantly want a lot of plants to act as filtration.


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## spinycheek (Apr 26, 2008)

Could you place a mirror outside the window to direct light in? 

I remember reading about a guy who designed a system that supported a clownfish and its host anemone with no electricity, so it can be done. I imagine the fishe's swimming circulated the water in the small aqaurium. One interesting point about it through was that he placed a layer of sulfur under the sand bad which successfully denitrified the water. 

Chances of failure are probably pretty high, but a cool experiment nontheless.


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

I'd highly recommend you read Diana Walstad's book "The Ecology of the Planted Tank"- this type of setup is possible, but you need to know what you're doing to avoid the tank turning into a stagnant cesspool. What you're shooting for is sometimes called a "Natural Planted Tank."


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## ctk (Apr 23, 2008)

this setup is definately possible. check out http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/el-natural/ for tons of information, Diana Walstad herself often posts there. I think if you just got one of those clip on lights with a screw in cfl to supplement the sunlight your plants would have a better chance. and cfls use little electricity.

the main problem I see is being able to see your ghost shrimp in a sun-lit tank!:hihi:


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## powerlessGhost (Jun 5, 2008)

*Setup & Update*

Hello again all,

So I bit the bullet and went ahead with it and set it up Friday. Today mostly things are still going well but I will describe in detail in the following text.

*Tank Setup - 6/6/08:* Purchased the following:
- 10 gallon Aqueon (AGA) tank
- 10 gallons RO water
- 1 medium-large piece of driftwood
- 1 bag Schultz Aquatic Plant soil
- 1 bag play sand
- 5 plants (species later)
- 10 ghost shrimp

First I washed out the tank quickly then filled the bottom with 1.5-2" of the plant soil. I then covered this with about a half inch of play sand. From here I added the piece of driftwood then began to siphon in the water using air tubing to keep the water from getting turbid. When it was about halfway full (roughly 3.75 gallons), I planted/placed the following plants:

1 Java Fern
1 bunch of Java Moss
1 Crypto. (believe it's a wendtii)
1 A. nana
1 cannot remember what it was but believe it is some other kind of Anubias

Then completed filling the rest of the tank and added the shrimp. One was DOA.

*Day/night one:* 
Everything was gravy. I quickly, however, realized that the light input was not enough as everyone was saying. This was, I'm convinced, because of the specific location of the one window in my room. Another window would have had ample light and more time with it, but unfortunately the one I'm stuck with is located in such an area and at such an angle that the few hours of barely direct sunlight (squeezing between my house and another through a bunch of trees) just aren't enough. So for now my roommate's 16w 6k (? whatever the traditional "blueish" spectrum most people can't stand is) CFL desklamp is above the tank. This will be replaced - more on that later. Lastly there's a slight residue on the surface of the water.

*Day Two 6/7/08:* 
Woke up to yellow-brown water thanks to the driftwood. Thank you tannins. Anyway thankfully this is not often a toxic issue and is not in this case as far as I can tell. One of the shrimp was dead. Besides that nothing much new, shrimp seem to have settled nicely. One of the shrimp was also The largest one has eggs in her pleopods. Residue a little thicker/starting to turn pseudo-filmish.

*Day Three 6/8/09:* 
Water still brown, two more shrimp dead (more on shrimp deaths later), everything living doing swimmingly. Notice yet some more slight enhancement of the surface collection. Seems to be some cobweb-like growths around the tank.

*Day Four 6/9/08:* 
Still no water change, fed for first time (Spectrum Thera, only 4 pellets). One more shrimp dead. Added 0.75 ml of iodide to the water. Surface about the same/if anything a tiny bit worse. Everything alive doing quite well, especially the expectant mother. Cobwebs have grown in size.

*Shrimp Deaths:* 
I noticed seemed to be occurring after molting, which I actually presumed would be a fact while still in the planning stages of the aquarium. Thankfully I have some spare Seachem Reef Iodide that I can use in the water until I'm able to buy a supplement specifically for planted tanks. Hopefully this will solve the problem, we'll see. Any input would be greatly appreciated concerning this as well.

*Problems Noticed so Far:* 
- The surface, hopefully will clear up more with plans to be discussed shortly.
- Yellow tinge assumed from tannins, not too serious of a problem but not aesthetically pleasing by any means and may be absorbing some light.
- "Cobweb" algae or bacteria, not sure what to do with this, maybe in time it will pass but I'm assuming like most things this will not be the case. Again any input would be assumed, and also hopefully future plans could help ameliorate this situation.
- Not enough light, again plans will make this better.

*Prospective Plans:*
- Water change. Will likely do 80-90% change, as soon as possible.
- Different light. Do not necessarily want more, just different. Will likely be trying to make some LED array with warm white LEDs. Mostly to save power but also to experiment as this tank is largely as such.
- Set up a DIY CO2 system. For right now will just be really simple 2 liter bottle hooked directly in to something to distribute bubbles which will flow up and get stuck in an inverted glass jar. Will eventually upgrade to the 2.5 bottle method with check valves and such to A. increase CO2 flow and B. make it more reliable/safer.
-Increase water flow. I'm hoping this can be accomplished in part by having some of the bubbles from the CO2 system (especially after upgrading it) diverted and reaching the surface to agitate the water and create more flow than the non-existent which is currently observed. If all fails, at least in terms of upping the flow if it is needed beyond what is added, I will bow and add and air pump which would hopefully help the tank all around regardless.

So this is it so far, I will post pictures eventually. All comments/input is welcomed and appreciated, so please by all means. 

Thank you for your time,
powerlessGhost


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

Powerless- you didn't cycle this tank at all from what I can tell- you just filled it then added shrimp?

You have to in some way "cycle" every new tank you set up. There are many different ways you can go about it, but until the tank cycles, it is not safe to add any livestock (plants are fine, but not livestock.)

Cycling a tank is helping the tank establish a nitrogen cycle. Basicially, this keeps a tank from becoming a toxic cesspool of waste from the livestock. Livestock waste is mostly made up of ammonia and nitrItes. Both of these are toxic to fish (and especially shrimp) even in very small amounts. 

When you cycle a tank, you allow several different species of bacteria to grow that feed on these wastes, and convert them into nitrAtes, which are less toxic to livestock (though shrimp still tend to be more sensitive to nitrAtes than many other aquarium species). In a planted tank, these nitrAtes are taken in by the plants, and the others are removed during regular water changes.

If you don't already have a "Master freshwater test kit" I'd strongly recommend you get one. You'll need to regularly test your ammonia, nitrIte, and nitrAte levels to be able to determine when your tank is done cycling. 

If you have any shrimp still alive by tomorrow, you also should start doing however many water changes it takes per day to try to keep your nitrogenous waste levels all as low as possible- I'd say 0.25ppm or lower if you want to give your shrimp a chance to pull through the tank's cycle.

During the initial cycle, it's pretty common for ammonia and nitrIte levels to repeatedly spike, way past the levels that can kill livestock.

Plants in a tank are usually unaffected by the cycle, since they can take in all of these chemicals as "food"- therefore they help a tank to cycle ad establish equilibrium more quickly.


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## powerlessGhost (Jun 5, 2008)

Threw them right in.

And I probably should have mentioned but I'm quite familiar with the trials and tribulations of ammonification and nitrification. I've actually had saltwater tanks for a while now, have worked in a primarily marine aquarium store, I'm a marine biology major, and I work in aquaculture. So yea, pretty familiar :smile:.

Anyway I also do know about the sensitivities of inverts, which can especially be true of marine organisms (see anemones and other cnidarians). I also figured that these are tiny ghost shrimp which I bought for really cheap and would be dead/fish fodder anyway so I didn't really care if they survived. To be honest I had to buy ten and was thinking about just flushing some anyway as I only wanted, as originally posted, 4-8. I suppose I could have paid for ten and only received however many, but oh well - call me cruel but don't hold too much of a grudge, I'm vegetarian .

More importantly, however, I figured the tank would essentially be able to cycle enough on its own with them in there (obviously not 10 which was not my plan to begin with) and, crossing fingers, seems to be the case. If so, great, if not, as I mentioned it's not like I'm losing something more substantial.

So either way what's done is done. I'm planning on doing a water change anyway to combat the yellow-tinged water but that will also freshen things up. Hopefully everything else will only continue to make things better.

Thanks again for all time/input given.

Cheers,
powerlessGhost


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## reddragon1977 (May 30, 2007)

"I'd still love suggestions/thoughts, however, especially in regards to number of shrimp and type(s) of substrate as well as plants types."

and

"And I probably should have mentioned but I'm quite familiar with the trials and tribulations of ammonification and nitrification. I've actually had saltwater tanks for a while now, have worked in a primarily marine aquarium store, I'm a marine biology major, and I work in aquaculture. So yea, pretty familiar .

Anyway I also do know about the sensitivities of inverts"


so what do you exactly want suggestions/comments about then


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## blkshdw (Jun 6, 2008)

Maybe you should go back to reef...


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## powerlessGhost (Jun 5, 2008)

Come on guys, no need to be impolite. Frustration over differences only leads to conflict (see religion and human history, yay!). 

And reddragon, I'm open for anything (even bashing, although I do not perceive such behavior as beneficial to much of anything). Maybe somebody has experience with a similar setup and they can give me some kind of input. Maybe someone knows a quick, easy, and cheap way to hook up a CO2 system to increase water flow, who knows.

I'm not claiming that I know more than anyone on these boards, in fact I highly doubt that I'd be on these boards if that were the case. I'm merely sharing my little experiment with you guys in hopes that someone might be able to learn something, myself much included. I'm sorry if I came off the wrong way, but regardless I must admit I thought this post would be accepted for its experimental worth and welcomed (sounds weird, but can't think of a better word to use and I hope you understand what I'm getting at) moreso than it seems to be. 

I do still appreciate all time and input though.

powerlessGhost


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## ColeMan (Mar 9, 2008)

although i don't have anything to offer you as far as advice, i must commend you for your handling of the above situation...way to go new guy!

oh yes, and welcome, of course...some of us are a bit more 'touchy' than others...


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## reddragon1977 (May 30, 2007)

easy bud, im just poking some fun. I rely heavily on the advice from this colum and i wasnt trying to offend ya. its all in good fun:thumbsup: I like the idea and may even suggest something for you. Your circulation is going to be the problem. Stagnent water is never good, even in nature. As you are a reef guy mabey a "plethum" (i know that not it but its close) but your substrate would have to be deeper than normal to allow for the root penetration while stopping the gases from going anywhere. I havent ever tried it or know if its even a good idea but the same can be said about purposely allowing sunlight on your tank its a gamble either way. if you dont have a canopy, mabey even some pond plants. Red lotus with leaf litter for the shrimp??


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## powerlessGhost (Jun 5, 2008)

reddragon let immediately counter apologize for allowing you to believe that was directed at you, I see that what I wrote was done so poorly and I actually knew your post was in jest (although who knows, that smiley face is pretty menacing hehe). I merely wanted to interrupt myself by adding that what I was writing pertained to negative comments in general as well, not specifically that you were "bashing" me. And I do truly believe that some merit or use can be ascertained from all things said, be it positive, neutral, or negative, etc etc.

And I appreciate the honesty and kudos, ColeMan. Two things that seem to hold true for any and all forums is that A. search is your friend, and B. it's best to keep a calm and collected demeanor at all times. 

powerlessGhost


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## SeaSerpant (Feb 20, 2008)

For a new guy i think you handle these situations way better than me. I hope that it turns out well. Since a picture is worth a thousand words i think people would like to see one


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

blkshdw- that was extremely rude.

powerless- I agree- you took and handled all of that well.

Feeders or no- I still feel sorry for the shrimp though  

So what exactly are you planning or wanting to get out of this tank? I'm quite confused about your goals ATM. Are you wanting a low tech/low light setup, or mid-to-high light with supplemental CO2?

From the looks of your setup as it is right now, I have some pretty serious doubts that it will do anything besides stagnate... you could use a powerhead to distribute CO2 through the tank, and sticking a sponge prefilter on it would give you some good biological and mechanical filtration - but isn't that type of technology what you didn't want to use?

Personally, I'd stick a filter on there with some Purigen to absorb the tannins. I'm rather fond of AquaClear HOBs.

What was your purpose in dosing iodide into the tank on day 4?


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## Ozymandias (Jan 17, 2008)

man you handles that real smooth like. also defiantly need some time of water movement in there. i could send you an extra AC powerhead if you want (really trying to get rid of allot of stuff lol). also pictures would give use a better idea about any needs the tank might have


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## diyer3984 (Jun 9, 2008)

Whats done is done. But blkshdw's poked ingress is not without some warrant. I get a feeling you were under the impression that a tank with dirt and plants is right away cycled. From personal experience with your effort this was not the case for me.  I had a lot of plants die and 2 crud guppies. What worked for me was hard water, neutral ph, small floating plant and lotus. The key with this setup is LOTS of patience (cant tell you how many times I endured an algae bloom). It literally took 1 year to balance. I tended to turn the other cheek at it the hole year. Although not set up now it was still a rewarding experience.


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## reddragon1977 (May 30, 2007)

i was just thinking if there are any stagnent biotopes? I dont know of any but you may find one.


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## Ozymandias (Jan 17, 2008)

closed i could think of now is when river start to dry up in Australia


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## jjp2 (May 24, 2008)

I'm in the same area as you powerless. I've had a 55 gallon that had 30 watts and grew anubias and anarchis really well due to the amount of natural sun light in the room (its super bright). You won't have a problem with light if you're tank is set right. For CO2, you can do a simple DIY with yeast, run through an airstone and a bottom of a plastic bottle for a bell to capture it so it will disolve. I second that you read Diana Walstad's book "The Ecology of the Planted Tank". This describes to a T what you are doing.

You will have a problem with Oxygen as you won't have water movement. This is you main issue. Not light, CO2, or anything else. To put oxygen in your water you will need lots of plants. Something that grows fast in bright/moderate light or less. Depending on where you put the tank, you can grow various plants as you will have a lot of light in this area.


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## Church (Sep 14, 2004)

reddragon1977 said:


> i was just thinking if there are any stagnent biotopes? I dont know of any but you may find one.


Yeah, but the only fauna I think you would be able to put in one would be the labyrinthine fish, like Bettas. And it doesn't change the fact that the water will still be stagnant and inhospitable to most life. 

To the OP: I agree that you were a bit naive about adding fauna to the tank immediately like that. Yes, they are feeder shrimp, but now they don't even get to become food for the circle of life. At any rate, definitely get that water cycled, and I would recommend using SOME kind of water circulation. Otherwise, I think this tank will be doomed. Sorry to be so pessimistic, it's just that fresh water planted tanks are VERY different than sw tanks. And I think a lot of sw people underestimate what it takes to get a good planted fw tank done. I know I did. I've always been around sw tanks my whole life, and I thought planted tanks would be a breeze when I finally made the switch.

I was wrong.

And so was my brother, and other friends of mine whom I've talked into going fw planted. My advice is to start off with an extremely LOW tech setup... then when you get that mastered, I believe you can and should give the NO tech a go. But it seems to me that no-tech is not for beginners.

This is just my humble opinion.


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## Sticky230 (Mar 30, 2008)

hehe ppl are stuck in thier ways ghost so its good you didn't fret. i admire that you are attempting this. i was gonna try this with a 5.5g a bought, but went for a high tech glosso carpet instead. my fear was that i just didn't want a stagnant nasty pile of doo doo in my apartment. i do have unbelievable light, but for some odd reason i just wanted filtration. water movement is always good, even in nature. I have posted on this before and i will look for the post tomorrow.

nevertheless, i agree with church's l;ast statement. i started with an eclipse 12 and going low tech at first teaches you alot. limitations, etc.


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## powerlessGhost (Jun 5, 2008)

*Brief update (to be followed by one in depth w/ pics)*

Hello again all,

Firstly, let me just thank all of you for the kudos, and I reciprocate them, so, all, kudos. Maturity in forums is something that can easily be lost even temporarily as it's so easy due to the nature of how disconnected each participant is. It would be a lot different of a situation if live video was the communicative medium  . I too have so oft become entangled in frivolous banter and bickering, and it's basically just worth nobody's time. That being said I try to remain as level-headed as possible so as to avoid the descent into nothingness, so to speak.

*Alright, now to the update.* I will try to address all questions/comments, but please forgive me if I miss one or two.

The tank is still up and doing as great as possible for the current setup. The plants are doing great with new growth already and the shrimp seem to be quite content. And there's no algae growth to be seen as of yet, so fingers crossed.

I did about a 60-70% water change the other day (I want to say Tuesday?) which resulted in a water cooler bottle that appeared to be filled with tea. Gross tea. The water smelled normal for a freshwater tank, a little fishy which I guess is just the result of the bacteria and other microbes living in it (I hope this is normal for only having plants and shrimp... and stagnant water for the time being hah, but as far as I'm assuming and can see of the tank there's nothing out of the ordinary). 

I plan on doing another one fairly soon as the water that was not changed has tinged the water enough so it's still noticeable. That and I feel like a little more has leeched out of the wood, but hopefully it will be just about done. 

The cob-webby slime has subsided, although the areas where it grew on the java moss have died. This should not be a problem as not much had growth on it and it seems pretty resilient from all I've read and seen.

I added a clip-on light with a 13w 3k CFL bulb for the time being to both increase growth/increase oxygen and that it will serve as a replacement for the desk lamp that is/was being used which will be returning to my roommate's room shortly. This clip-on will be going somewhat soon as well, however, as it is really just for the refugium I'm going to set up for my "reef" tank (stress on the quotation marks).

For a more permanent fixture I've ordered 20 10mm LEDs which, by my calculations, should be plenty of light for the tank and also adds to the experimental aspect of the tank which is its main purpose. I guess this is where the tank suffers a major blow to the "low tech" idea, but oh well it's not that much light, it's inexpensive to run, and hopefully it will be further inspiration to those who desire to further LED aquarium technology which truly is the next step in lighting in my opinion (what with the world in a slow, but accelerating, death and all). I'll detail the setup and specifics of light output in the later post.

I'm going to see if I can get by with this being the only electrical energy input, although I have a feeling I'll have to break and throw some kind of movement in there if nothing else for the water surface. Again if and when this happens I'll be looking into very low-energy DIY type alternative to some kind of pump as a pump in this tank really turns me off. I'm thinking some kind of propeller setup, as in maybe a small pinwheel type setup turning just fast enough to get the water circulating that's potentially even powered by something outside the tank (i.e. some kind of motor that spins a small plate to which I would attach a magnet and have another magnet attached to the propeller/"pinwheel" on the inside of the tank and spin it that way). We'll see.

I'll be getting some more plants today as well (hopefully) to help further the oxygenation/filtration of the water, and will try to successfully set up my DIY CO2. I tried yesterday and realized after I'd drilled the hole in the cap that the connector I'm putting in there was too close to the threads, so I either have to cut it to make it fit more, just silicone in the tubing (maybe), or get a new cap and do it correctly (most likely).

*Now to the questions:*

*lauraleellbp* - I'm sorry for my hand in five shrimps' deaths, it doesn't make me happy either. Yes it could have been avoided, but at least the five that are in there now are very healthy and happy for now. 

And good question. I don't know exactly what I want, but mainly just to have fun with it, learn some things, and get some good plant growth going. Basically I want this to be somewhat of an aquatic garden still life that looks as gorgeous as it does in my mind (dare I say Amano-esque? Nah, too bold  ).

I want a low tech setup as much as possible, although the LEDs are not super low tech (not super high tech either though). The total light output will be similar to the light that's on there now, so not that powerful.

Mechanical filtration is the last thing I want in this tank, as I want as few "foreign" objects in the tank as possible. Again, this is going with the aesthetic of the tank but also the experimental aspect. I will do what is necessary should the situation arise, however, so don't fret.

And the iodine was for the shrimp. I wasn't sure if the deaths were the result of the inability to properly molt due to no iodine being present in the water as I saw two or three had died after having molted so I did not want to take any more chances (although the molts could have been initiated as an instinctual response to poor water conditions, this I fully realize). I will only dose in very small amounts after water changes.

*Ozymandias* - I recognize this fact and agree completely. My intention was never to have a stagnant tank, just one with very minimal movement. I'm hoping that the bubbles from the CO2 will help with this although I'm not counting my eggs and actually kind of doubt it will have that much of an effect. I mainly just care about the surface being cleaned/cleared in some way. And I appreciate the offer, but I'm trying to keep this tank as minimal as possible, plus I'm on a budget.

*diyer3984* - Oh no my friend, I know enough to know that. What I do know, however, is that tanks cycle different dependent completely on their individual setup. I did figure, however, that the bio load introduced with the shrimp would be sufficiently taken care of by the plants such that the tank would be able to cycle with them in there. So far so good on that front, although I know that basically no tank is fully cycled until at least a month, but more like up to three (or six+ for some saltwater tanks, don't know if this is also true for larger and more complex freshwater setups). 

I will look into floating plants, and that's the second mention of a lotus so I'll definitely be looking into that. Is this a traditional, pond-style lotus or a different species or genus even (maybe even family??..!.?)? I'm going to assume no, or at least that it's a specific species that stays small as the lotuses with which I'm familiar grow quite large. Quite, quite large in fact.

*reddragon1977* - There are, but they're usually temporary and filled with mosquito larva! Yay! Hah, but I mean most ponds are mildly stagnant, and will only have thermally-driven circulation which is usually not fast at all.

*jjp2* - Cool, glad to hear we're in similar situations. I'll have to check out your tank if you have pics of it. I actually plan on doing all of that for the CO2, and I'm also going to have the bubbles travel up a clear plastic tube (which will have a gap between it's top and the "entrace" to the bell) before going into the bell so as to focus the water displaced by them which will hopefully increase circulation slightly (which, in the case of my tank, is very mathematically significant). 

This is the same concept as the undergravel filter, although it will not be connected to anything that is underneath the substrate; water gets pulledthrough the bottom due to pressure disparities and entrainment and is pushed through the top by the bubbles. I figure this will be better at creating movement than the bubbles just randomly pushing water in what results in essentially any random direction.

And I agree about the oxygen and plan on upping the plant-load of the tank. Oh and that book is getting some strong advertising, so I'll have to check it out.

*Church* - First of all, chuuch (had to). I was thinking about throwing a betta in as they can tolerate stagnation as well. Hell you can even leave them in those tiny containers they come in (so long as you regularly change the water), but that would likely make you A. a small child, B. an idiot, or C. a heartless ******* (or any combination thereof, B and C often go together quite well).

For now I'm going to decline though, mainly because the bio load that a fish would introduce would kill my tank real quick like (or just up the maintenance), but also because I want this tank to be very, very simple in its contents. Eventually I want the tank to be somewhat overgrown and have the shrimp hiding in the "forest" so whenever someone is admiring the plants, she or he might spot one and it will be a neat little surprise.

And no worries my friend, and believe me I appreciate the honesty. I too am actually a pessimist (although more of what I call a realistic pessimist), and of course I too have my doubts about the tank. We'll see though, that's the beauty of an experimental setup (and any setup for that matter) - nobody knows what'll happen.

And honestly though, what you're saying about planted tanks can be said about any and all tank types. A tank is only as complex and difficult as you make it. By that I'm not trying to say that my tank will not be difficult to maintain, but merely that I'm fully aware that it was I and only I who chose to set it up as such. I could have chosen a different road to make my life, in terms of the tank, much easier, but I didn't. A full-blown, multiple-hundred gallon reef tank can be one of the most difficult tanks to maintain, but one can make it easier by adding automated components. The same can be said about the largest and most complex planted tanks. One style of tank is not necessarily inherently more difficult than the other, that is the result of the individual's choices.

*Sticky230 *- Yea, filtration is great  . I don't know, I just really want to see if this can be done, because if so I think it's all around a beautiful thing, not just visually but also in concept. Sort of the harmony of nature type thing, you know? I guess I'll see whether or not that harmony is death.


Wheeeeeeeeeeew, that was a long one. Took me a long time to write, but I'm glad I did it.

So again, thanks all for the inputs, advice, honesty, and especially the support. This is one human on which none of those good things are lost. I'll be posting pictures in my next update for sure, and hopefully things will be a little more permanently set up at that point. Until then.

Cheers,
powerlessGhost


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