# My Experimental NPT tank



## Extrame (Jun 8, 2011)

hey guys, after much reading and asking, i set up my 1st NPT tank
tank is 40" L x 23" W x 13" water level
3x t5no 21watts on top of the tank
Soil mixed with rice husk and capped with small size gravel

1st time i planted it (last 2weeks ago)









3rd week (tooke out the DW so i could plant the Sword in the middle and leave the plants to grow)









the tank is now running for 3 weeks +/-
thanks for viewing


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## hornedtoad1 (Jun 24, 2011)

really a great looking tank. have you had any algae problems?


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## Extrame (Jun 8, 2011)

need your Comments and Suggestions for my tank guys! 

no algae growth as of the moment. 
Valis is growing fast, they are producing runners with in days


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## hornedtoad1 (Jun 24, 2011)

how's that tank doing? do you have any fish in it yet?


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## hornedtoad1 (Jun 24, 2011)

interesting substrate--i hadn't heard of using rice husk. did you use a lot of it?
you might want to get some more fast growing plants, stem plants, maybe, or some frogbit.


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## aquabillpers (Apr 13, 2006)

My impression is that the substrate of sand and rice husks won't provide munch in the way of nutrition.
I also think that ther light might be insufficient.

New plants often carry nutrients with them from their prior environment, and grow quite well for a while. 

I also would like to know how your tank is doing. If it isn't doing well, that information would be useful to other experimenters.

Good luck!.

Bill


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## Extrame (Jun 8, 2011)

here's a few pic of my tank
recently added fish into.
10 neon tetras
10 glowlight tetras
10 endlers livebearer (all male)
6 rummy nose
is this enough for a 50 gal?

trimmed a lot of the elodea and valis before taking photo

















substrate is a 60/40 mix of soil and rice husk
i think there is a potassium deficiency in my tank
i am also thinking of adding 2 more bulbs into my tank,
what you guys think?


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## nesopheus (May 30, 2011)

Looks good, missing the DW, great hanger of plants, java fern would do good in the low light. What possessed you to use rice husks?


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## Extrame (Jun 8, 2011)

hehe that was supposed to be a return for the tank but in reading some of the journals, i think it is better for NPT tanks to have less water movement to prevent lose of Co2. 
about the rice husk, i substituted rice husk for coconut husk because i think it would serve the same purpose.


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## yappou (Jul 13, 2011)

sir extrame hehe have you tried coco peat blocks sold by garden supplies just add water then you have instant coco peateace:


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## aquabillpers (Apr 13, 2006)

Extrame said:


> hehe that was supposed to be a return for the tank but in reading some of the journals, i think it is better for NPT tanks to have less water movement to prevent lose of Co2.
> about the rice husk, i substituted rice husk for coconut husk because i think it would serve the same purpose.


I don't know if you are joshing us, but what gave you the idea to use coconut husks? 

Bill


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## Extrame (Jun 8, 2011)

i used rice husk to serve as mulch in this tank which would add co2 to the substrate just like coconut husk from tom barr's reports.
i do not dose any co2 in this tank 

Hi yappou, i will try that on my next tank.. thanks for all the help in sourcing materials


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## aquabillpers (Apr 13, 2006)

I couldn't find any reference to any comment by Tom Barr about coconut husks as a source of CO2. There is a section at his web site on "Non-CO2 aquaria" that you might find interesting.

Diana Walstad's "Ecology pf the Planted Aquaria" is an excellent source for information about substrates, CO2, and other NPT information.

The standard substrate for NPt's is topsoil covered by 2mm - 3mm gravel. This provides nutrients, including CO2, until the natural processes of the tank start to do that.

Good luck!

Bill


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## Extrame (Jun 8, 2011)

Thanks Aquabillpers! 
about the rice husk, i chose to go with that kind of soil mix because i thought that rice husk could be a source of organic material which the soil would decompose in time producing co2. i read in some sites that have diana's method to add a little bit of organic matter/compost. did i do the right thing? 

i was also thinking to add a layer of laterite into my substrate but in Diana's method, she suggest not to add any clay type of soil into the tank. why is this so? im am interested in this type of method but am having a hard time with choosing what kind of soil i should use. 

for this setup i am having a little potassium deficiency and want to know what im doing wrong in this tank.

sorry, i don't have that much knowledge about soil science, just a regular hobbyist wanting to learn how to do it the 2nd time around


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## Extrame (Jun 8, 2011)

Update on my home tank 
Photos taken on Aug. 23, 2011


















My new Fish 









No dosing,
No C02
No water change, yet
added rotala at back right
fish: 1 GBR
1 Oto
10 glowlight
8 endler guppy
5 Rummy nose
30+/- Neon tetra
RCS
Assassin snails


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

Your tank is looking good. You might check out Diana's book from the library. She visits here sometimes. Perhaps she will comment on your thread.


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## mudboots (Jun 24, 2009)

Really looking nice! On the Anubias, are those snails on the leaves or holes? I notice in my tanks the Anubias in particular gets deficient in K and I get tiny holes in the leaves (I don't ever dose either) and I may start dosing small amounts just to keep the plants healthy. Like you I have light fish-loads and evidently don't over-feed enough.


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

Nice looking tank!

Your use of the rice husks mixed with soil is interesting. When we chose soil for NPT, we often try to avoid coarse organic matter like bits of wood, mulch, shredded leaves, compost, etc. But this may be the things that produce more CO2 as they decompose. Walstad recommends Micracle Grow Organic Choice potting mix, and it has a lot of wood fragments and mulch.

Walstad neither recommends or discourages using clay in the substrate. She does sometimes use natural soils that have clay in them. She also notes that clay has a beneficial high CEC, and that clay rarely causes turbidity in NPTs because the bacterial biofilm binds the clay particles together and they settle out of the water. So I would say that she is neutral on the use of clay in substrates.


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## Extrame (Jun 8, 2011)

Thanks Guys! 
Tex Gal - i hope miss Walstad would comment on my tank so i could learn more about her method. i do have her book and i often read it. some times i open it to one page then i tells me what i am missing in my tank. but some of the info on it are hard to understand for people like me who don't have a background in chemistry. i only have back ground in food chem )

Mudboots - nope, not snails. its small black/dark green dots on the anubias. how do i get rid of that? there are also some small holes on them but mostly the black/dark green dots on the leaves.
and do you consider my tank to have light-fish load? i think i have about 55 pcs of fish in my tank as of the moment.

Michael - most of the rice husk seemed to settle btwn the soil and gravel. thats was the idea about it producing more c02 in the long run when the soil slowly decompose them. also i dont have any film on the surface of the water of this tank unlike my tank in the office. also, if i understand Miss Walstads book right, clay is a good for the tank because Nutrients bond to it readily... there's a graph in her book about it hehe hope i understood it right. 

here's a crappy pic of my office tank 








nymphea (inspired by mudboots tank)








red rubin








aponogeton flower


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

Looks like you are getting some good new growth.

The "Nutrients bond to it readily" is the CEC exchange that Michael was talking about. You might want to dose some potassium since holes in the leaves is usually a sign of that deficiency. The green dots sounds like green spot algae. Anubias tends to foster that type of algae. Nerite snails will keep them clean for you. Ottos like that type of algae as well. You could try them.


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## Extrame (Jun 8, 2011)

Hi Tex Gal, oh yeah thats the one hehe forgot what it was called 
about dosing potassium, i am thinking of mixing my own potassium supplement. could i use potash with water to dose for this deficiency?
thanks for the tip about spot algae, i do have an oto but i think he doesn't touch the spot algaes, do i have to buy it some friends so that i would be happy and eat the spot algae? oh yeah and about hair algae, did you have success in eradicating it in your tank? could you share me some tips as to how i can control/eradicate them? 
thanks for helping


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

Ottos like to hang out together. You need more than one. Get at least 3. Order aquarium potassium from one of the online vendors. It'll be pure and safe for you tank.

I did get rid of the hair algae. Between the black out, peroxide treatments and amanos it's a thing of the past.


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## Extrame (Jun 8, 2011)

okey, i will try to get 2 more otos in a few days. oh i live in the philippines hehe and i would like to try to make my own suppliments. 
which is the best way to get rid of them? im thinking of buying amano shrimps to get rid of the hair algae, is this a wise decision?


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

Amanos are great. You'll need a lot of them. They will eat every piece! 

Be careful with all that chemical stuff. Sometimes there are extra nastiness in stuff that we don't know about. Since there are little lives in your tank for which you are responsible, it's not nice to experiment on them. If you have a hydroponics store maybe you could get your stuff from there.


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## Extrame (Jun 8, 2011)

ok, thanks for the confirmation! i was hesitant to buy amano's coz i have RCS in that tank and they are not eating the hair algae! 
also, would amanos do well in a tank with GBR?

Thanks! dont worry, i wouldn't harm my fishes. i'll try look for natural alternative in supplementing for deficiencies in my tank. i don't want to get used to man made chemicals.


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

Extrame said:


> ok, thanks for the confirmation! i was hesitant to buy amano's coz i have RCS in that tank and they are not eating the hair algae!
> also, would amanos do well in a tank with GBR?
> 
> Thanks! dont worry, i wouldn't harm my fishes. i'll try look for natural alternative in supplementing for deficiencies in my tank. i don't want to get used to man made chemicals.


Be careful with Amanos and other small shrimps. I had snowball shrimp in this tank and saw the much bigger Anamos attacking the snowballs. I do have some snowballs left but not many. I had 25 Amanos in a 20 gallon tank with the algae. All hair algae is GONE. Some snowballs are also gone.


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## Extrame (Jun 8, 2011)

okey! thanks again TexGal, i will take out my German Blue Ram and other shrimp that might kill amanos

oh yeah, do you have any suggestions to what kind of plants i could add to my tank?
thanks


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

It's the Amano Shrimp that can kill the RCS. 

There are so many choices of plants. I don't know what you like. Give your plants a trim. Make nice thick branched stands of them. Concentrate on a foreground, midground and background. Don't make each of those start and end in a straight line. Make them wave in an out. I pay attention to leaf shape, size, texture and color. Make each of those things play off of each other. If you do those things your scape will be much more interesting and look more cohesive.


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## Extrame (Jun 8, 2011)

thanks TexGal, i will keep your advice in mind and plan on how i would rearrange the plants in my tank 
i have also added 20 pcs of Local freshwater shrimps in to the tank today. too bad some were too small and was eaten by the hungry pack of neons haha. anyway, while i was looking for the shrimps when the lights turned on, i have discovered baby assassin snails! i have found at least 5 small assassin snails around the tank haha hope the dont eat their young!


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## Extrame (Jun 8, 2011)

been adding a bunch of new fish into my office tank for the past couple of weeks
sadly, they all end up dead
added 3 peacock gobies into my tank 2 weeks ago and after a while, all 3 died. they had white mouths when they died.
last week i added 3 emperor tetras. today, i found 1 dead and 2 badly injured.
none of the old fish are dead or hurt. what could be the problem? could it be that the old fishies are killing the new ones?


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## Extrame (Jun 8, 2011)

Hey guys,
its been a long time since i posted on this forum! just wanted to update my journal
here is the latest from my office tank
65 gal NPT tank (16 months)
no dosing no co2 just feeding regularly.
some of the older fishes have died of so i decided to put some discus in this tank. 
hope you guys like it!









i will be re-doing my other tank soon.
it has been over run by the valis haha.


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## Jane in Upton (Aug 10, 2005)

Wow,

your tank is looking lovely! Are those young discus? Do you expect them to grow much? If there are still any shrimp in your tank, they could end up as tasty snacks for the Discus.

I guess the rice husks were not detrimental in any way! 

Your tank looks very different from the earlier pictures - planted aquariums are such an ever-changing scene.

I just read through the earlier posts - does this tank get natural sunlight, or is the lamp towards the back, over the vallisnerias? 

Nicely done - and congrats on your tank!
-Jane


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## Extrame (Jun 8, 2011)

Hi Jane, 
This is the tank in my office. It starts on the 2nd page of this thread.
I use to have a lotus in it but eventually the valis took over the back part of the tank while the dwarf sag occupied the front. This tank also had rice husk mixed into its soil. Also, I have another tank that has no rice husk in it. Plants in this tank are healthier than the one that has no rice husk.

Yup they are Juvie discus. I'm new at keeping them so I hope they grow well in my tank. There are still a lot of shrimp in the tank. The discus seem to not notice them even thou the shrimps are hang out on the side glass. I guess they are satisfied with the pellets I feed them often.

I have a t5ho fixture above the tank. It has a 10000k bulb and a grow bulb on it.


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## Extrame (Jun 8, 2011)

today, i have found 2 baby lemon tetras while i was feeding my tank. hopefully they won't be eaten by the bigger fishes in the coming days

they are as small as the native shirmps in my tank.. about less than half an inch


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