# Cube Garden 60-P



## myhui (Feb 7, 2008)

Here is my low-tech planted tank journal: No filters, no CO2 injection, no fish as of now.

West facing, second storey window, with direct sunlight at least 3 hours a day, and indirect sunlight from sunrise. No artificial lighting and no heaters.

I took over a year to purchase all the parts and read through (but not thoroughly understand) books by Walstad, Kasselmann, Hiscock(fish), Ruff, Boruchowitz, Thraves, and Aqua Design Amano Co., Ltd.


Water is from my own RO filter, or Tong's Tropical Fish & Pets, 8976 Warner Avenue, Fountain Valley, CA 92647, USA.

The following are from http://www.adgshop.com/:
102-8522 Cube Garden 60-P CLEAR GLASS
104-012 Power Sand SPECIAL-M 6 liter
104-021 Aqua Soil- NEW Amazonia (9 liters)- Normal Type

Three days old plants are from Drs. Foster & Smith's LiveAquaria.com
CW-26158 PL - Moss Ball, Qty:2, Price: $5.99 each = $11.98
CW-39601 PL - Oriental Sword - Bare Root, Qty:2, Price: $3.99 each = $7.98
CW-39319 PL - Dwarf Baby Tears - Potted, Qty:2, Price: $4.49 each = $8.98 
CW-80693 PL - Dwarf Hairgrass - Potted, Qty:2, Price: $4.49 each = $8.98

The rest of the plants are from local stores.

Lilly pipes are from Ebay Seller aquaticmagic: one outflow, four inflow.

Pump is Syncra 0.5.

UV Sterilizer is ViaAqua UV-5W.

Drift wood is from Tong's.

API Freshwater Test Kit.​
So far, here are my steps:


Soak drift wood in RO water for 3 weeks, until it finishes leaching out all that yellow stuff.

Put in soil and sand, with new water from Tong's, using more sand at the bottom and sand mixed with soil at the upper levels. Let tank run for three weeks.

Ammonia level went from 0 to 8ppm.

Did 1/4 water change, replacing Tong's water with my own R.O. water.

Put in some plants, mostly swords, from local stores.

Ammonia level did not drop much, but plants were doing well, seen giving out oxygen bubbles during direct sunlight.

Run for two weeks. Did 1/4 water change, replacing Tong's water with my own R.O. water.

Put in more plants from Drs. Foster & Smith's mentioned above.

Three days later, ammonia level did not drop much, hovering around 4.0ppm and 8.0ppm. Observed oxygen bubbles coming out from the soil. There must be a lot of rotting going on down there, and that's nice.

I hope the ammonia level will eventually drop enough for me to introduce some very small community fish. Any suggestions on what I'm doing wrong or doing right?


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## Karl M (Jul 15, 2013)

My thoughts would be that you ought to toss in some hornwort or anacharis and maybe something floating. Hornwort and anacharis are both inexpensive and easy to find and they are nutrient mops. Also they can just be tossed in the tank and left to float. After the tank has stabilized they can be removed if you wish.

A few fast growing stem plants would be good as well. Some of the Hygrophila would work for that but there are many others. Hope things go well for you and your aquarium.


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## myhui (Feb 7, 2008)

OK I'll add those.

But what about my UV sterilizer?

Would that kill off beneficial bacteria, so the food chain is disrupted?


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## Karl M (Jul 15, 2013)

I don't believe so. Most of the bacteria attach to something, plants, substrate, rocks etc. There generally isn't a large amount of bacteria floating around in the water itself. Diana Walstad speaks of using a UV sterilizer so I don't think that is a significant issue.


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## myhui (Feb 7, 2008)

Should I put gravel / sand on top of the soil? I noticed that on this point, I'm not following the recommendations. Is it bad to let sunlight directly strike the soil surface?


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## Karl M (Jul 15, 2013)

I'm not familiar with aqua soil. Normally you would put sand or gravel on top of the soil in a dirted tank but that might not be the case with aqua soil. I would say do what the instructions say on the aqua soil bag.


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## myhui (Feb 7, 2008)

The bag says putting sand on top is optional.

I have wrapped some aluminum foil around the lower part of the tank so that light wouldn't shine on the soil that is below the surface.

I'll leave it like that, without sand covering the soil, for now.

What floating plants do you recommend, mostly for cleaning the water? I have some hornwort planted into the soil now. Diana's book lists a bunch of floating or emergent plants, but most of them cannot be imported into California and I cannot find them at the local stores.

For$25, I can get a lily, but they are meant for outdoor ponds instead of aquariums since they do grow to be quite big.

Tomorrow I'll add these plants bought from LiveAquaria.com:

CW-80693 PL - Dwarf Hairgrass - Potted, Qty:5
CW-330156 PL - Red Cryptocoryne - Potted, Qty:2
CW-330182 PL - Micro Sword- Potted , Qty:3

Ammonia level is still staying above 6ppm and very close to 8ppm. Plants are healthy, but not growing much. I'll let it run for another two weeks after I add more plants tomorrow, and if ammonia level is not dropping fast enough, I'll need to change course and try doing something different from merely adding plants. I would love to add floating and emergent plants since those soak up nutrients the best.

I think the primary cause of slow plant growth is lack of CO2. Only adding fish or CO2 injection can provide that. But I don't want to add fish until the ammonia level goes down noticeably.


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## Karl M (Jul 15, 2013)

If you can't get floating plants then you can't get them. Depending on where you live in CA you might be able to find some in a pond nearby. If you got some hornwort and/or anacharis then you just need to be patient.

Just remember some plants take some time to get started. There is often an adjustment period. Even something like hornwort can take a couple of weeks to get going. I bought some for my 55 gallon but took a small 2 inch piece to put in my 5 gallon and for the first about 2 weeks the needle leaves were falling off. But then it started putting out new growth. A lot of plants will do that. They will lose leaves and really just look dead and then all of a sudden new growth will start.


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## myhui (Feb 7, 2008)

So would you agree that it is too early to add fish now?

I want to add fish last for practical reasons: respect for marine life, ease of making major changes to the tank, and do this as an experiment to prove that the low tech approach using mid-tech equipment can work without adding fish.


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## Karl M (Jul 15, 2013)

I wouldn't add fish if you have any ammonia or nitrite readings that aren't zero. I know the feeling of impatience. I just recently set up a five gallon and a fifty five gallon. The five gallon finished cycling several weeks ago. The fifty five just finished 2 weeks ago. I just started adding fish last week. It will be another couple of months before it is fully stocked.

The five gallon reads 0 for ammonia, nitrite and nitrates. The fifty five reads 0 for ammonia and nitrites but about 40 for nitrates, though it has been coming down slowly.


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## myhui (Feb 7, 2008)

Here is a video taken this morning, before I trim off some of the sick or dead plants: 



 (will go live in 9 minutes)

The video starts at the two sick swords, where you see what looks like spider webs circling their base, and the leaves are tattered. Some of the leaves on the other plants have gone brown. The thick grass you see at the corners of the tank are the micro swords added two days ago.

This one is dying:
CW-39601 PL - Oriental Sword

This died a week ago, within a day of planting, and has been removed:
CW-39319 PL - Dwarf Baby Tears - Potted, Qty:2

This is all I have left in the tank that is still alive:
CW-26158 PL - Moss Ball, Qty:2
CW-80693 PL - Dwarf Hairgrass - Potted, Qty:2
CW-330156 PL - Red Cryptocoryne - Potted, Qty:2
CW-330182 PL - Micro Sword- Potted , Qty:3
Some hornworts.​
The drift wood has been removed, since it wasn't submerged deep enough into the soil so it fell on its side, hurting some plants.

I suspect the soil is unsuitable for the low-tech method. ADA claims that they have reformulated their soil such that the initial ammonia bloom no longer occurs. Despite that claim, this bag of soil I got from them, which should be their reformulated product, still does that but with no CO2 injection.

I'll give it another month. After that, I'm planning on throwing out ADA's soil and re-doing the tank with soil according to the recommendations from other people using the low-tech method. I think the key there is to pre-soak the soil, then let it dry, and only then should I put the soil into the tank and fill it up.

It could well be that ADA's soil only works with CO2 injection. Without that, the plants can't get enough carbon to balance against the very nutrient-rich water.

Tom Barr is giving a seminar on October 6th within 20 miles of where this tank is, so I'll go see what he has to say.


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## myhui (Feb 7, 2008)

It was a very hot day yesterday, and I got green algae flare up after the tank was in the direct sun all afternoon. I've removed most of the algae, and today the tank is not getting direct sunlight anymore. I suspect I will need to start over with the proper substrate. I noticed there wasn't a lot of root growth, since the substrate is quite granular and the roots aren't touching soil 100% of the way.


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