# Matt's Ditry 55g High Tech El Natural



## MNellis3023 (Oct 3, 2007)

Hello Everyone,
This thread will serve as a journal of my conversion to a high tech El Natural tank.

This aquarium has been setup for over 2 months now, but just recently converted to a "El Natural" 
setup.

This conversion process took place last Sunday over a 4-6 hour time period. The tank is still slightly cloudy and still has some noticeable dust-sand build up on various plants. For the first 3 days, I performed a 15% water change with rodi water to help reduce and eliminate excess nutrients from the soil that was used. As of this morning I have not lost a single plant or fish to this process. However, my ottocinculus fish have spawned twice since last Sunday.

For this setup, I used a $.88 bag of all natural composted top soil. I simply dumped this soil in the tank, I did not rinse or "minerlize" it.

*Some Stats*

Tank: 55g
*Filtration:* Fluval 405
*Lighting:* 2x48'' Standard output T5 and 4x24'' T5HO
*Co2:* Paintball Co2 setup injected in a Rex Grigg type reactor
*Substrate:* 35lbs of generic composted topsoil. 50lbs of Paver Step 1 base sand, 50lbs of Paver Step 2 finish sand.
*Additives:* At this point, no ferts added. Only fish Poo
*Maintenenance:* 15 gallon water change per week.
*Misc:* Water used for this tank is RODI waste water. This has been ran through various carbon and mechanical filtration cannisters

*Fish*
4 mixed cory cats
2 Albino bristle nose pleco, 1 L333 Zebra Pleco
4 Otto's
8-9 Blood fin tetra
5-10 male fancy tail Guppies(inherited..not my choice!)


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## MNellis3023 (Oct 3, 2007)

Before


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## MNellis3023 (Oct 3, 2007)

During


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## MNellis3023 (Oct 3, 2007)

Later on Day 1









Day by Day


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## MNellis3023 (Oct 3, 2007)

Today


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## frroK (May 9, 2011)

Looking good. How do you like the paver base?. What is the grain size? Cheap option, I was uncomfortable adding sand as cap on my dirt tank cuz of anaerobic pockets.


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## activesize (Jun 26, 2011)

Gorgeous 'before' pics. Clearly you know what you're doing in the high tech arena. By "High Tech El Natural" do you mean that you're trying to do a high tech tank with a soil underlayer? I think we need to know why you wanted to change what you had before. My guess is that with your setup and plants as they are now you will end up performing a similar type of maintenance and dosing regime that you had to perform before after a number of months. 

My advice, for what it's worth, is to loose the CO2 injection and get rid of the 2x48" std output T5's. They'll overdrive the system so just get rid of them. You won't need them again. If you're after a low PH then you can achieve that anyway with your RO water topoff. Also, get rid of the charcoal filtration after a few weeks or a month or so. This also means getting more fish after awhile too as they will help to keep the chemistry of the tank balanced. Others may disagree but I think your sand substrate is a problem because it acts as a barrier to mulm and nutrients from entering the soil underlayer. I say get rid of it and replace it with gravel. A soil underlayer is not going to magically solve any problems that you had before. I say just go El Natural all the way because I don't think adding soil and capping with sand is going to accomplish that much in the long run.


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## Skizhx (Oct 12, 2010)

Intersting...

I was planning to do something similar myself except using worm casting added to the soil, etc (I'm still looking into additives and will probably experiment with each before deciding) to increase the long-term nutrient supply from the substrate.

I speculate you will run into deficiency problems without fertilizing, especially at your light and CO2. Walstad really intended her topsoil substrate for low-tech setups. If you could provide more photos as the tank matures and keep us updated on any deficiency problems you run into and how you solve them I would be interested.

Another idea I had was cutting back on light and CO2 a bit to try and find a balance where the substrate could keep up with nutrient demands by the plants, while still giving the plants enough light to grow lush and get the nice red colouration out of certain species (ADA seems to be doing this, so not a new idea by any means).

I'm sure it will take plenty of tinkering on my part if I ever get anything meaningful or useful out of it, but your tank would make a nice reference point to start


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## MNellis3023 (Oct 3, 2007)

frroK said:


> Looking good. How do you like the paver base?. What is the grain size? Cheap option, I was uncomfortable adding sand as cap on my dirt tank cuz of anaerobic pockets.


Thanks...I love the paver base at the moment. I mixed 2 50lb bags of paver step one and paver step 2. The paver step one has a larger grain size with periodic chunks of rock. Paver step 2 is the consistency of pool filter sand

The only thing I dislike is still fighting the initial dusty-sand from the initial setup. For the most part I am through this stage but I still have some plants that get a light coating of sandy dust on them. I increased the water flow in the tank to suspend the sandy dust in the water column to help the filter pull it out.


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## MNellis3023 (Oct 3, 2007)

Skizhx,
I had the same concern regarding nutrient deficiency. I plan on constantly monitoring the plants for any sign of stunted growth and other deficiencies. If this becomes a issue I will start a regimen of dry ferts to combat the shortage


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## Skizhx (Oct 12, 2010)

I would be interested in knowing which seem to show up first, and how much you dose to treat the issue, still 

Would also be interested to see what your fert routine looks like months from now, but only time will tell op2:


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## MNellis3023 (Oct 3, 2007)

Here some updated photos from today. All plants are doing well, not casualties of fish/plants. Still fighting some of the settling sand, but its getting better and better.

Ammonia and Nitrites have dropped to nearly Zero and the ph is holding solid at 7.2

FTS









Left Side









Right Side









Center, showing some of the dust buildup


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## Marconis (Mar 17, 2011)

Great looking tank! I originally bought paver base as an alternative to a PFS cap. Before even planting, I noticed it got way too compact so I ditched it and replaced it with Quikrete All-Purpose sand. The tank is over 2 months old and I have yet to smell anything that could indicate anaerobic conditions, or notice any stunted growth.

Best of luck with this tank, will definitely be following.


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## MNellis3023 (Oct 3, 2007)

Here's a quick update. 
Got a few new plants and re-arranged a few things. No signs of nutrient deficiencies at this point, however I am starting to see BBA sprout up. 


Here are some quick cell phone low quality pics


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

Nice! Is that bba or hair algae. Looks to long for bba. Maybe too much light for amount of CO2?


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## MNellis3023 (Oct 3, 2007)

Thats what I am thinking too. I might cut the light down or up the co2 and see how it reacts. 

The algae is long thick strands........is that hair algae then?


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## Skizhx (Oct 12, 2010)

glad to see this thread's still going, and the tank is still doing well. Keep it up!


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