# New 10 gal. NPT project



## flynn (Feb 21, 2007)

I'm new to this forum and to the NPT world. I have several tanks since a few years, being keeping Tanganyika cichlids most of the time... with no plants other than Giant Vallisnerias and a few surviving Anubias. Sold most of my Tangs... ready for a change and I just discovered NPT. Bought D.Walstad book and didn't read it yet... I'm excited to read the bible !
I will begin to set a 10 gal. tank as my first experience with NPT, will keep this thread updated along the way so you can comment each step of the process and let me know if you see the rain coming !
Of course, if this turns out to be as good as it looks, other tanks will follow !
First, let's see what I will be using ...
Regular 10 gal. tank with a hood including 2 light bulbs. I already dumped the bulbs and changed them for 2 x 13 watts "fluo compact" bulbs, 6500 K, 900 lumens. Each is supposed to be equivalent to 60 Watts. So it would be like 120 Watts (?). Don't know, but it's sure bright enough ! Is it too much light for a low tech tank or will it be fine with fast growing plants ?
I'm not sure, but I could use a small HOB filter (AquaClear mini). Or just a small power head if better ? 
As for plants, what I have availble for now is Giant Vallisneria, Anubias nana, Java moss, Cryptocorine, Bacopas, 1 Java Fern (or Amazon sword not sure about this one  ) and another one that I still have to id. I will try to find some floating plants before I start. I also have "green spider plants" that I plan to hang above the tank and let the roots growing in the water.
For fish, I could have a few small Apistogrammas, microrasboras Galaxy, Ancistrus, a pair of Julidochromis Transcriptus ....
My goal is to have a beautiful planted tank, with very low maintenance and no high tech equipment (no CO2 injection either).
Here we go, let's see what you think ! Any comment about this set up, choice of plants, fish, ... very welcome !
And please excuse my English ... I'm :canada: and French speaking most of the time !


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## Franco (Jun 25, 2010)

Sounds like a similar setup to my tank. I use 2 15W 6500K CFLs and it is still not high light in my opinion. 120W equivalent has no relevance as the watts per gallon rule dates back to T12 tube fluorescent bulbs. There is a thread on www.plantedtank.net describing the use of CFL bulbs in aquariums. I have an aquaclear mini on the tank with the carbon removed. Initially I used two bags of biomedia but removed one once the tank was cycled.
It is best to start out heavily planted and lightly stocked. Once the plants become established and the tank is cycled, more fish can be added. Your plants sound good, just make sure you plant A LOT.
Picking the right soil and cap is very important. Do your research and it will be a much smoother ride.
CO2 is in short supply in NPT tanks so you will likely need to do a 2-5 hour siesta (lights out) in the middle of the day.
Diana Walstad's book is awesome but with her description of tank setup using soil, there is a lot of room for variation.


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## Tanan (Mar 11, 2009)

Welcome to Forum and NPT world...
2 x 13 watts is good enough for a 10 gal.Forget the equivalent wattage.The original mentioned wattage is what that matters.
HOB is something that create water turbulence on the surface,which you don't as it ll out gas the CO2.For such a small tank,Seachem Excel ll be really great inexpensive alternative option for dosing carbon.
Plant choices;
Giant Vals=As the name indicates it gets gaint(I have leaves that measures more then 3 feet!).Plus it ll melt if you dose excel.If you want the grassy look and feel then you can go for Hygrophila corymbosa angustifolia,Blyxa japonica,Sagittaria sp etc.
Crypts,Bacopas,java fern,anubias,java moss all ll grow good.But dont think about putting a Amazon sword in a 10 gal.They get too large and are too messy to remove due to their intense root structure.
You are missing the most important plants for a new NPT.Which is any fast growing plant to absorb the excess nutrients.Any fast growing plants(cabomba,hornwort.wisteria,water sprite,hydrilla etc) ll work wonders in establishing your new tank.
Floating plant ll be great addition as well as spider plant.
Fishes;
A pair of Apistogrammas
with an otto cat.
Dont know about celestial pearl danios.But by size I guess they ll be ok.
Ancistrus gets too big for a 10 G as so Juli.
You might wanna try fishes that remain small like Broras,Rasboras,rummynose tetra,cardinal/neon tera,dwarf cories.Just something that remains small.
You might try to mineralize your soil.


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## flynn (Feb 21, 2007)

Yes I read a bit about mineralized soil ... is there anything about it in D. Walstad book ?? You just have to go through a few wet/dry cycles with your soil ???
I may have a bit of Cabomba from another tank if it's still alive when I'm ready to set up my NPT ....


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## Tanan (Mar 11, 2009)

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/?p=vB52554
How-To: Mineralized Soil Substrate, by Aaron Talbot.
Dont remember reading it on D.Walstad's book though.


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## flynn (Feb 21, 2007)

Thanks for the link. I will try to find those muriate of potash and dolomite products...


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## potatoes (Jun 25, 2010)

If you cant find muriate of potash, try potassium chloride. I agree about the advice on the HOB filter, it will dribe out your precious co2. Get lots and lots of plants, and i reccomend you add water wisteria. it is a hardy, versitile, good looking, fast growing stem plant that should do great in your tank. Also, in dianas book, she talks about the ariel advantage. it talks about how flating plants have the advantage of taking co2 from the air, so add floaters like red root floater, frogbit, duckweed (you may have this forever if you get it lol), giant duckweed, or salvinia. any leaves that break off wiseteria can be left floating and they will become new plants. For a cap on your soil, i recommend pool filter sand if you are ok with a light natural color substrate. if you make a strip of your cap going around the edges of the tank, it looks like it is all sand and as if there is no soil. here is a nice link
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/el-natural/26390-6-gallon-hex-npt.html


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## Franco (Jun 25, 2010)

I've read some trials on surface agitation and CO2 in aquariums and the results were that in non CO2 injected tanks, surface agitation didn't really make all that big of a difference. 
It is when you are injecting CO2, that you don't want to drive it out of the water because you are paying for it.
With HOB filters in planted tanks, just keep the water level high so that there isn't a huge waterfall going into the tank.
I keep my water level higher than the bottom of the filter output which reduces agitation a lot. My christmas moss pearls everyday when the lights come on so I know the CO2 levels are adequate.

Mineralized topsoil: You only need to add the ferts to the mineralized topsoil if you have a high tech tank as the growth is so much more increased that the plants use up the substrate faster. If you mineralize but don't add the potash, the tank will still last for years.
You also don't have to fully mineralize your topsoil. Just moisten the soil, spread it out to dry, moisten again, let it dry, and so on. It oxidizes the metals and minerals in the soil while driving off excess nitrogen. It will just keep your soil from leeching huge amounts of nutrients into the water causing algal blooms right off the bat.


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## Tanan (Mar 11, 2009)

Ditto Franco.
You dont need to add th ferts to the mineralized soil.Theres another reason for that is that if you change the layout or anyhow disturbs the bottom layer and the potash makes contact with water,you tank is doomed.Your plants may grow fine but you wont be able to get rid of all the algal blooms it causes.Thats what I saw when a fellow hobbyist tried to move amazon swords in a newly planted high tech CO2 injected tank.He finally gave up on the idea of planted tanks.


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## flynn (Feb 21, 2007)

Hum... OK, then in the link "How-to ..." I follow the instructions for mineralizing the top soil BUT I should NOT follow the step where he adds the dolomite and potash ? And what about the clay ? Good or not a good idea ??
As for the cap, what about small gravel, 3-7 mm in size ? 
Will try to get some Wisteria and I should be able to get some Limnobium laevigatum for floating plant.
Tanan, you talk about Seachem Excel for dosing carbon ... will I need that with the soil ?? I can add some if needed, but I would really like a hassle free tank ... no dosing, no supplement, ... if possible !


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## Tanan (Mar 11, 2009)

To add clay or not is your own choice.If you can find clay then add it.I for one 've never added clay to my mineralized soil.And every plant I put seems to grow.Except rotala maracarnda(which i think is more of lightening problem).
For cap anything that you choose is fine.
I 've a total mineralized soil tank with no cap.But the cap makes it easier to plant.
You DON'T need excel,its just that for such a small tank Excel ll be a cheap and very easy to dose carbon source.If you wanna go without it your tank ll be fine.A bit slow growth but still everything ll stay alive and grow.


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## Tanan (Mar 11, 2009)

Ans 1)Adding clay is your own choice,if you think you ll be adding any iron loving plants(bacopa,blyxa japonia,swords etc).then adding clay is a good idea.These plant ll grow without clay too but a bit slow.
Ans 2)Adding cap IME is a personal choice,I don't add cap as no mater what the soil always comes on the top.But adding cap makes it easier to plant.Your choice if you think you're going to add any bottom dwelling sand loving fishes(cories,loaches etc) then sand size gravel is good choice.
Ans 3) Dosing Excel is a personal choice.For such a small tank,excel is the easiest and cheapest way for carbon source.
Its just an extra thing which help your plants in growth and establishing and also help you fight algae.I you DON'T need to dose Excel.
P.S Sorry about double posting,I thought I didn't posted the first reply.


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## Franco (Jun 25, 2010)

If you have a brick yard near you, go there. You can get crap loads of crushed brick for free. It has higher Fe content than laterite, its free, and it does everything all other clay products do but it won't dissolve and cloud the tank water when moving plants. The plants just wrap their roots around it for its CEC properties and Iron.
Its totally awesome stuff and i can't believe the substrate companies haven't been packaging it as substrate.
It brings out red and pink streaks in my C. wendtiis like crazy.
I should package this stuff up myself and sell it in the Swap n Shop


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## flynn (Feb 21, 2007)

Thanks everyone for the ideas !
Now as for soil... 2 choices:

1) Bag of organic top soil : mix of humus, sphagnum peat moss and sand
2) Some bulk top soil I bought a year ago .... very black, may have some grass roots in (I would try to mineralize it as much as I can ...)
What would be your first choice ?
Thanks.


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## Franco (Jun 25, 2010)

I would use the old bag of top soil. You can take out the grass roots or leave them in. If it has been open to the elements for a year there is a chance it has already offgassed some nitrogen.
I have found this method of mineralizing much less time consuming and messy:
Spread out the soil in a large shallow container, I used several big planter saucers (18" diam), get it wet and mix it up, let it dry, break it up and spray it everyday with more water just to moisten it. It doesn't have to be mud. You don't have to move it from container to container or let it settle out of a huge volume of water. The wet/dry process mineralizes it pretty quickly and it is not nearly as big of a PITA as the "master" recipes you will find in forums with thousands of replies.
Don't worry that it is not mineralized enough. Any amount of mineralization is better than dumping it straight from the bag into the tank and any undecayed organic matter will just be a little fertilizer for CO2 and ammonia production.


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## Franco (Jun 25, 2010)

I don't care for the potting mixes because most of them don't have any soil in them. They are just a combo of peat, bark, and other things that like to float like vermiculite and pearlite.
If you use actual topsoil---dirt--- your tank will already be seeded with soil bacteria and it has all the minerals and micronutrients you need for an el natural style tank.


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## Tanan (Mar 11, 2009)

Ditto^^
That shortcut for mineralized soil works good.In less then two weeks I had what they call a fully mineralized soil.But I live in a tropical region and I tried it during summer.But like Franco said any amount of minerlization is better then dumping it directly.
Best of Luck


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## flynn (Feb 21, 2007)

Thanks again guys.
My first idea was to use the bulk topsoil too... so here I go. It wasn't bags of topsoil ... it was "bulk", I had a truck load of it delivered for my lawn/garden a year ago, and still have a small pile of it. So it's been in a pile out in the open for a long time now.
As I live in the far north (!), I will have to do that mineralized soil process inside, so I wasn't planning to make a major mess in my basement !


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

If the soil has been out in the weather for a year, you don't need to do anything to it except screen or pick out any large peices of debris.


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## Franco (Jun 25, 2010)

Its probably good to go like Michael said. You could try a couple wet/dry cycles just to see what happens.

Before I set up my dirt tank I did a whole summers worth of experiments. I actually made MTS in about 3 hours by lining a pan with foil, put the dirt in, wet it until it is mud, bake it at 400 til it is dry, break it up, wet it, bake it some more, and so on. It worked perfectly and was super quick considering I just played halo while it was baking. It will however kill any bacteria living in the soil. I planted some small outside pond containers with it and it worked great. The soil was probably seeded with bacteria from the plants I used, harvested from a nearby pond. It probably wouldn't take bacteria any longer to colonize it that it would if you used miracle gro organic choice.


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## flynn (Feb 21, 2007)

My soil is in the process of mineralizing now ... I soaked it for 2 days, drained it and spread it in a large pan in the basement ... I first thought it would take forever to dry but I put a small fan just beside and it should be dry in about 2 days. Will do this 3 more times I guess (but I won't soak it like the first time).


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## Franco (Jun 25, 2010)

Sounds like a start. Shining a lamp on it might speed up the process, too. Or put it near your furnace if it is in the basement.


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## flynn (Feb 21, 2007)

I have done the wet/dry process 3 times so far, now completely dry... I can't see any difference between the soil now compare to when I started... still brown and dusty when dry. Normal ? Shouldn't mineralized soil look different ??
May do it a couple more times...


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## mikeykc (Apr 17, 2009)

Hi all,

Is it necessary to soak and dry the soil? I was just planning on breaking up the chunks by hand and putting it in the tank.

Thanks,
Mike


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## Franco (Jun 25, 2010)

Flynn,
the soil should look grayer IME after being mineralized so maybe get it a little wetter during your wet dry cycles. If it still smells like dirt then it is not done. Our topsoil around here is dark black so if yours is brown its composition is probably a little different (Fact: Iowa has the best soil in the world!). My MTS was pretty much odorless when it was finished. If this is the soil that has been sitting outside then chances are its just fine to use.
Mike,
If you are mineralizing the topsoil, then you do the wet dry cycles. If not, then you can dump the dirt straight into the tank. Since your soil has been outside for a long time it is probably fine. Best to screen it first or by hand to take out any rocks, twigs, broken glass, nails, etc. You'd be surprised at what you will find in a bulk load or bag of dirt. I found a happy meal toy in a bag of potting soil just the other day.
Before setup, I pound the dirt with an old rolling pin to make it really fine, that way I can get uniform coverage of the bottom of the tank. I also don't wet my soil before putting the gravel in. If you use dry soil and pack it in well then the gravel won't sink into it at all. I also plant dry and then fill the tank. Spread out the roots on the top of the soil, put some wet gravel on top to hold it in place and then once you have all of the plants in, put in the rest of the gravel and fill her up with water. If the water is cloudy or muddy from the soil then you missed a spot or the cap isn't thick enough. Suck out the water, plug the holes, and fill it again.
I've never had an NPT not fill up perfectly clear but I'm also a super anal perfectionist who probably uses a little too thick of a cap.


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