# testing humus as substrate



## qwe123 (Jun 15, 2011)

I mentioned in the "suitable soils" thread that I would test this out as a substrate, as it was only $3.









20 gallon tank
dual T5NO 6500k/4100k
organic humus mixed with some Safe-T-Sorb, capped with pool filter sand
will be dosing 2mL Metricide 14 (glutaraldehyde) once a day
variety of plants (don't even know what they all are) including stems as well as heavy rooters

Please let me know if there is anything you'd like me to watch/test for. I will try to provide updates once a week.

Prepping tank


















Planted and filling









Day 1: 6/8/2015


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## ukamikazu (Jun 4, 2010)

Humus itself doesn't have a lot of nutrients in it. Did you add some extra nutrients like you would with MTS? 

Also, it's been my experience that when first deployed there is a detectable flush of ammonia in the water column. That might be worth testing before you add animals if you intend to do that. 

Otherwise, I treat my own enhanced humus tanks just like Walstads. Is that also your direction?

Please tell us a little more about your lights, fertilizing & CO2 regimen.

Thank you.


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## qwe123 (Jun 15, 2011)

ukamikazu said:


> Humus itself doesn't have a lot of nutrients in it. Did you add some extra nutrients like you would with MTS?
> 
> Also, it's been my experience that when first deployed there is a detectable flush of ammonia in the water column. That might be worth testing before you add animals if you intend to do that.
> 
> ...


I put the humus straight in from the bag, no added nutrients. What I posted was exactly what I did. That's the point of this experiment, to see if it has enough nutrients itself to support plants, so no fert dosing either. It's basically supposed to be like a modified Walstad. Difference being the extra lighting in place of a window, and the metricide dosing (which is basically the same as Flourish Excel). What else would you like to know about lights and CO2 that I didn't post?

I did plan to test 24 hours later, and the results are basically 0 nitrogen:









I will test again before adding any fish.


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## Eutexian (Mar 29, 2015)

I used a very basic MTS.. I added nothing at all. Plants are all doing exceptionally well. it may prove in the future that some nutrient will be depleted. but I rather doubt that. The tank (80 US Gallons) will be 16 weeks old tomorrow, the gravel has never been cleaned, so absolutely zero fish waste has been removed and today (now) looks like this:

Its a jungle in there.. an anarchic riot of plants. I have added precisely nothing to the water aside from fish food. (flake and frozen)


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## qwe123 (Jun 15, 2011)

Still no nitrogen levels as of 4 days, so I guess there's no ammonia spike. But some of the stem leaves are curling, so there's probably some deficiencies. Adding fish today, will update with pictures on Tuesday.


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## qwe123 (Jun 15, 2011)

1 week









There is still a little curling of some stem leaves:


















But there is also some growth. Nothing seems to be withering away. There is about 8 tiger limia and red tail goodeid fry in there, getting NLS pellets every day since Saturday.


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## qwe123 (Jun 15, 2011)

2 week









this plant (Alternanthera reineckii?) really isn't doing well, I'm guessing just because it's a more demanding plant...


















also, I didn't know hairgrass could grow like this, I like it!


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## qwe123 (Jun 15, 2011)

3 week









the A. reineckii withered away and is gone

Ranunculus inundatus seems to be spreading though


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

Looks good! I've never been able to keep _A. reineckii_ healthy in any of my Walstad tanks, but it grows emersed in my paludarium very well. I suspect that it is one of the relatively few species that really does require CO2.


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## qwe123 (Jun 15, 2011)

Same here, Michael. I've tried it in several different tanks without long term success, but emersed it grows quite well.


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## qwe123 (Jun 15, 2011)

4 week









Still no other problems, even though I have pretty much stopped dosing glutaraldehyde due to laziness...

I didn't realize R. inundatus was such an avid spreader, thought it was going to be more like Marsilea. You can see some dead stems of it, but that's emersed growth that started slowly dying off soon after starting the tank.


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## qwe123 (Jun 15, 2011)

Does anyone want me to keep updating this weekly? Are there any questions about the plants or tank I can answer?

Today is my normal weekly update day, just wasn't sure if I should bother or if we got the idea this experiment was testing...


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

At this point monthly updates are probably fine, unless something unusual happens. Thanks for doing this!


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## GadgetGirl (Sep 25, 2013)

I love updates, personally!


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## qwe123 (Jun 15, 2011)

Ok GadgetGirl, for you I'll continue the weekly picture, if nothing else.

5 week


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## qwe123 (Jun 15, 2011)

GadgetGirl's 6 week


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## jlfkona (Dec 15, 2013)

Michael said:


> Looks good! I've never been able to keep _A. reineckii_ healthy in any of my Walstad tanks, but it grows emersed in my paludarium very well. I suspect that it is one of the relatively few species that really does require CO2.


This tank looks great! Thanks for sharing. I haven't been keeping up as timely as I usually do however I wanted to comment on the a. reineckii. I have it growing in all my tanks (6) including two of my Walstads and my one gallon no tech tank. It has actually been the my most consistent plant in my tanks without co2. Most of my tanks have been populated off the cuttings from my no tech gallon which only gets light from a northwest window and has had no water changes or adds in a year.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## qwe123 (Jun 15, 2011)

Interesting. Must be something else then, lights, water chemistry, or something...


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## aquariumhobbyist (Mar 27, 2015)

qwe123 said:


> Interesting. Must be something else then, lights, water chemistry, or something...


My guess would be _a change in_ water chemistry; they are slow to adapt to new water parameters and if this is combined with a change in fert dosing and light, the plant usually melts away before it has a chance to recover.


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