# Low-tech Glossostigma tank



## sb483 (May 29, 2006)

This tank is next to a window that receives sunlight for almost the entire day. It's an old 10-gallon. I put a layer of soil on the bottom, with no gravel, and planted 5 or 6 little glosso stems that broke off & floated to the surface in my 55-gallon tank. There's just a heater, no filter.

You can see the glosso spreading nicely (& horizontally) -









No fish yet, maybe when the glosso has fully covered the floor I can take away the heater - as old as the tank itself, it makes a loud click when it turns on and off - since glossostigma can survive in colder water, and make it an unheated white cloud minnow tank.

btw the digital camera adjusted the colors, but the water is actually bright yellow, from humic acids leached out by the soil I think. Diana said in a recent post that bacteria will slowly decompose it to make CO2, so I'm not planning on changing the water (which hasn't been changed since filling).


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## essabee (Oct 11, 2006)

When you have light comming in from the sides your plants will have a lot of photo-tropisem towards the light.
Humic acid, and other tannins causes the bright yellow water. Small amounts are not worrysome. Keep an eye on the oxygen level, any sign of low oxygen use a pinch of baking soda and areate.


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## sb483 (May 29, 2006)

essabee said:


> When you have light comming in from the sides your plants will have a lot of photo-tropisem towards the light.
> Humic acid, and other tannins causes the bright yellow water. Small amounts are not worrysome. Keep an eye on the oxygen level, any sign of low oxygen use a pinch of baking soda and areate.


I'm not worried about oxygen levels, since there are no fish yet in this tank. The water is hard tapwater, so there's no need for baking soda - the glossos are photosynthesizing when the sun hits them, so there must be oxygen (from all the little bubbles). Aerating is the last thing I want to do, since an airstone will drive away all the CO2 that makes the plants grow.

I'm curious why you recommended baking soda. I'm looking at the wikipedia page with all the chemical equations, and while there are many that release C02, there are none I can see that release just oxygen. And the aeration you recommend would drive out all the C02 that the baking soda produces.


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## schaadrak (Aug 18, 2006)

I think the baking soda was to help with any pH issues you might have with high CO2 levels. Although aerating will drive out the CO2 thus raising the pH anyways, so it seems kinda redundant.


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## Lawrence Lee (Jul 17, 2004)

Plants can metabolise the carbonate from baking soda and use that as a carbon source too.

In a non-CO2 injected tank Filled with healthily growing moss, I see better growth as opposed to conventional thinking when a sponge filter was introduced. I think that is because the moss was CO2 limited (had drawn off all available CO2 in the water) and when atmospheric CO2 is introduced by the bubbles, it becomes a benefit to the moss.

Having said this, the moss tank is many times more densely planted from sb483's picture above. In fact the whole tank is filled with moss that you cannot see beyond 3 inches into the tank from any side. And the moss had been growing steadily for a long time till this state. In a sparsely planted tank like sb483's I think conventional thinking about aeration causing CO2 loss still applies.


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## schaadrak (Aug 18, 2006)

The soil seems to be the source of CO2 in this tank, since there is no livestock in it yet.


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## gibmaker (Jan 3, 2007)

the only thing I would worry about is an algae outbreak, sun is a devil for that.


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## sb483 (May 29, 2006)

I noticed yesterday this became a daphnia tank. The smaller variety (daphnia pulex, not magna). Which is good, I scooped up some water from where they congregate and added it to my 55 gallon, and the threadfin rainbows seemed to take notice. This is one food that actually fits in their tiny mouths.

It's neat how daphnia eggs appear to have been in the soil at the bottom. I'm not sure how they got there, but there's a lot of them swarming around the tank.


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## Teeleton (Jun 8, 2006)

I think that aspect is probably the most fun so far about planted tanks. I noticed last week that apparently some sort of small fern that I think is java fern stowed away on my brazil sword, and I also seem to have two types of snails that hitched a ride. Most of them are the more conch-style snails, but I have one large round shelled snail. His shell is probably about 1.5cm across now.

I guess if the glosso doesn't quite work out, at least you have a food breeding tank. 

Teeleton


Teeleton


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## sb483 (May 29, 2006)

Teeleton said:


> I guess if the glosso doesn't quite work out, at least you have a food breeding tank.


So far it's working great! Glossos are spreading across the tank. From what I read, C02 will eventually run out unless I put some fish (+ fish food) in there soon.

ps in addn to glossostigma covering the ground and daphnia in the water column, 2+ hyacinth seeds have sprouted and started growing at the surface  the seeds, however, I placed in there


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## sb483 (May 29, 2006)

Here's an animated gif of the threadfin rainbows (1 male, 3 female) that I moved from the 55:









He displays often. Seeing little threadfins one day would be nice, but they're supposed to be hard to breed so I'm not counting on it. She's not even paying attention to him


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## eklikewhoa (Jul 24, 2006)

what is that really tall plant on the foreground?

I had threadfins for over 6months with LOTS of flashing and shimmieing(sp?word?) but from what I have read they dont breed in captivity?


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## sb483 (May 29, 2006)

eklikewhoa said:


> what is that really tall plant on the foreground?
> 
> I had threadfins for over 6months with LOTS of flashing and shimmieing(sp?word?) but from what I have read they dont breed in captivity?


The only rooted plant in this tank is glossostigma (see pg 1). In the lower-center window panel behind the tank you can see the outline of a glossostigma plant that looks a bit like the stick figure man from the Blair Witch Project. Or perhaps you're referring to the thing directly in front of it, near the front of the tank; that's a water hyacinth seedling that's begun to sprout. They usually float, but this one sank. It'll float in a week or so.

That's too bad that they don't breed in captivity. They were originally in a 55-gallon community tank, but with all the other fish the male barely even got a chance to display.
(fyi: shimmying)


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