# Some ideas on improving low tech plant growth



## Freemananana (Jan 2, 2015)

Grah the great said:


> 1 - How much circulation should I use? A little, or vigorous circulation?


I prefer a little, maybe 5x volume circulation. 



Grah the great said:


> 2 - Should I bother fertilizing?


I wouldn't. I dose EI after a water change sometimes. 



Grah the great said:


> 3 - Would a photoperiod of 8 hours be good?


I start with 6 hours as a rule of thumb.



Grah the great said:


> 4 - Anything else I should know?


Less is more. Give yourself room to grow but start with a lower amount of everything. It prevents the algae headache.


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## Tessa (Dec 8, 2015)

Freemananana said:


> Less is more. Give yourself room to grow but start with a lower amount of everything. It prevents the algae headache.


This, seconded.

My low tech 33g came with 2x24w T5 HO lights. For more than two years I battled with BBA and other hair algae; switched to a 24w BeamsWork led about a month ago - algae is now almost completely gone, plants still doing well.


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## Grah the great (Jul 3, 2013)

The 10 gallon will have a 10 watt LED light strip with 10 10,000k bulbs, 8 blue bulbs, and one each green and red, for a total light output of 1,200 lumens (no PAR reading sadly, but 10,000k usually works well for plants).


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## Freemananana (Jan 2, 2015)

Grah the great said:


> The 10 gallon will have a 10 watt LED light strip with 10 10,000k bulbs, 8 blue bulbs, and one each green and red, for a total light output of 1,200 lumens (no PAR reading sadly, but 10,000k usually works well for plants).


6500K is preferred over 10000K but most cheap LED manufacturers really don't have a true 10000K output anyway. 10000K is quite blue in actuality. Anyway, distance to substrate matters a lot on this setup. You'll likely have the light too close and need to raise it. Tough call without much information on it though. I prefer to start small and step it up when I see things going wrong, IE deficiencies.


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## Bananableps (Nov 6, 2013)

Dirt or no dirt? I hope I don't shock you if I suggest you use dirt. There's really not much you can grow in inert substrate without pressurized CO2.




Freemananana said:


> Less is more *except when it comes to plants.*


Fixed that for ya


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## Freemananana (Jan 2, 2015)

Bananableps said:


> Dirt or no dirt? I hope I don't shock you if I suggest you use dirt. There's really not much you can grow in inert substrate without pressurized CO2.


Inert substrate+root tabs isn't really inert anymore though. Sand and root tabs is a known easy, good, solution.




Bananableps said:


> Fixed that for ya


Thanks! More plants is definitely better. The equipment aspect was my focus :grin2:


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## Tessa (Dec 8, 2015)

Bananableps said:


> There's really not much you can grow in inert substrate without pressurized CO2.


Ummm... I have inert substrate (coarse sand), no CO2 and my plants are doing really well.
Save​


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## MCHRKiller (Jul 25, 2008)

Grah the great said:


> The 10 gallon will have a 10 watt LED light strip with 10 10,000k bulbs, 8 blue bulbs, and one each green and red, for a total light output of 1,200 lumens (no PAR reading sadly, but 10,000k usually works well for plants).


I would consider another fixture...with this much blue it is intended for marine use and will not give you the best results. Lighting for a 10G is very simple and probably the best low tech setup for a 10G is the 2 bulb incandescent strip using 2 10watt CFLs it is a tried and true lighting setup which will grow most low light plants. 

Inert substrate is fine...if you have root feeders just pop in some root tabs. For dosing column ferts it wont hurt anything and would only give you benefits. I personally use Flourish Comp just because it is so easy; API makes a good one with higher Potassium called LeafZone. Yes EI is cheaper over the long haul but most of us do low tech out of convenience. 

Some great plants to start off with are Crypts, Fern, Anubias...and some floaters such as Frogbit or Dwarf Water Lettuce...with the different types of these plants available today you can achieve a nice look using only a few species.


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## Grah the great (Jul 3, 2013)

All my tanks use dirt  Sadly already purchased the LED, and it shipped


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## dukydaf (Dec 27, 2004)

Bananableps said:


> There's really not much you can grow in inert substrate without pressurized CO2.


 Dirt is a good long term nutrient source, no debate there. However, I have also grown most of the typical low-tech plants in plain sand. In time this sand gets enriched from the fauna...



Grah the great said:


> All my tanks use dirt  Sadly already purchased the LED, and it shipped


Don't worry about it. Kelvin(K) is just about the color of the light to the human eye not its spectrum. Typically you will see a higher blue peak in light with high kelvin but it may have enough red in there to grow good plants. And with all the other types of LED who knows how it would look. If you like the blueish tint you can keep it, your eyes/brain will re-calibrate. Just be sure to dial in your camera for this K when taking photos ( under white balance). 

As to the original question:
1) start with hungry plants.. floaters, ceratophyllum, egeria, hygrophila corymbosa
2) used many plants that can use carbonates as a source of C
3) provide all nutrients necessary for plant growth and control growth by limiting P. Usually P deficiency does not hurt plants that bad.


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## redavalanche (Dec 7, 2014)

I keep a lot of floaters on one side of my 10 (HOB on other side) so there is a side of lower light and one with full.


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## Bananableps (Nov 6, 2013)

Tessa said:


> Ummm... I have inert substrate (coarse sand), no CO2 and my plants are doing really well.
> Save​


Totally valid: you can have some really excellent plant growth with inert substate fed exclusively by fish mulm. I only meant that you are limited to a smaller variety of plants, but my words were too strong.


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## Grah the great (Jul 3, 2013)

Thankx for all the help thus far


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## RyRob (May 30, 2015)

In my research, in a lowtech/lowlight tank, the more water circulation the better. Upwards of 20x. 

No matter the "tech" of your tank, plant as heavily as your tank and your scaping plans allow with respect to the plants individual needs (if a stem needs 1.5" in-between other stems, don't cram 5 in the same space as one, and so on).

I've never used soil as a substrate but soil in a lowtech/light tank helps produce natural co2 gas through the breakdown of the substrate and other natural disolved organics in the tank (dieing algae, detritus, etc.). Proper gas exchange is crucial ,IMO, for this type of setup. Coupled with naturally produced co2, good gas exchange, appropriate feet dosing (if necessary), low lighting can become very effective at producing very healthy plants. The only thing different from a high-tech/light tank is plant growth rate. The health should remain similar.


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## aquaBender (Aug 18, 2016)

RyRob said:


> In my research, in a lowtech/lowlight tank, the more water circulation the better. Upwards of 20x.
> 
> No matter the "tech" of your tank, plant as heavily as your tank and your scaping plans allow with respect to the plants individual needs (if a stem needs 1.5" in-between other stems, don't cram 5 in the same space as one, and so on).
> 
> I've never used soil as a substrate but soil in a lowtech/light tank helps produce natural co2 gas through the breakdown of the substrate and other natural disolved organics in the tank (dieing algae, detritus, etc.). Proper gas exchange is crucial ,IMO, for this type of setup. Coupled with naturally produced co2, good gas exchange, appropriate feet dosing (if necessary), low lighting can become very effective at producing very healthy plants. The only thing different from a high-tech/light tank is plant growth rate. The health should remain similar.


I agree with the above recommendation regarding water flow, I got much better growth in my Walstad tanks upgrading from a 4x turnover to a 10x. Interestingly, I also got better growth when I removed the filter baffle meant to add oxygen that comes with the Aqueon filters, I think it was giving too much surface agitation leading to possible CO2 offgassing. Regardless, I have found that high flow with a personally adjusted amount of surface agitation worked for me.


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## Grah the great (Jul 3, 2013)

Just a question, but...how do I use such a circulation pump? Do I just plug it in and let 'er rip, or is it more involved? I have no desire for a HOB filter because many of the fish I am considering are terrible jumpers and would invariably bail out the opening for the filter.

Also...would I need some kind of aeration in addition to the pump? And how would two photoperiods - one 6 to 10am, the other 6 to 10 pm - work?


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## dukydaf (Dec 27, 2004)

Grah the great said:


> Just a question, but..how


Yes just place we'll below water surface and plug in. With circulation/movement pump you can angle it towards the surface and thus get more agitation/aeration. 

It may be a little bit better as the CO2 gets some time to rebuild during the dark period. Personally, I find the break period a little bit too separated. 

... And it started with just a question [emoji2] 


Sent from my ONEPLUS A3003 using Tapatalk


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## Redneck tenner (Aug 21, 2016)

Hob shouldn't increase or decrease potential for jumpers imo. A split period is acceptable. I run a split. Much controversy over the pros and cons. While I wouldn't pick 10k it should work ok. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


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## Grah the great (Jul 3, 2013)

******* tenner said:


> Hob shouldn't increase or decrease potential for jumpers imo. A split period is acceptable. I run a split. Much controversy over the pros and cons. While I wouldn't pick 10k it should work ok.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


I'm talking about things like wild bettas and killies that will bail if the tank cover is simply left a crack open...absolutely NOT a good idea to use anything with 'HOB' in the name with. The split photoperiod is partially so that the tank lights are on when I am home in the morning and evening.


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