# What is a heavily planted tank?



## freshyleif (Jan 9, 2008)

I have been wondering about this for a while. Mostly because I read a a lot of Niko's posts and while I get what he is saying about filtration. I have also found that I have a plant load far denser than any Ammano tank I have ever seen. It is my opinion that a lot of us in the U.S have that situation. So this leads to the problem of circulation in the tank. So I am asking for others opinions and experiences. My picture is from a while ago and is after a trim and thinning.If you have some pictures to share that is great.Thanks all for your input.


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## neilshieh (Jun 24, 2010)

maybe instead of the usual hob filter on the back you could put it on the side and it would do a lot more


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## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

I don't have an answer what is a heavily planted tank. This Dutch tank definitely is:









And what I don't understand is how is it that in such a tank there are no pipes shooting water from every angle.

The Dutch will remain a mistery for us forever I think. But what about Amano with his transparent "see-it-all-how easy-it-is" type of tanks?










What I start to see is that the placement if the Lily Pipe and the outflow work in such a way that water is pulled up from the bottom and I guess from the back side of the tank. I think the Japanese placement of intake/outtlake uses certain hydraulic properties of the water - when it behaves like a much more viscous fluid - say like honey or dough. If you pull up one part of it the whole thing acts as one gooey mass. Imagine all the particles you want to get rid of connected each with a string. And you pull on all the strings. Into the intake. That's my best guess and observation when directing the flow a la Amano - like Neil here suggested - along the length of the tank and also the outflow should shoot closer to the surface and parallel to it. The intake must not be close to the bottom.

Also there is a BIG difference in how you direct the flow in relation to the flow rate. With 250 gph I can make the plants in my 6' long tank wave in the current. Or not at all. The difference is a very small change in the direction of the flow.

The Japanese do no follow the rule to move 8-10 times the tank volume per hour. Thats because of the unique design of their filter and the coarse biomedia they use. Also as I said already - their intake/outtake pipes make a big difference both in design and in placement.

Would love to hear from someone with more insight.

--Nikolay


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## neilshieh (Jun 24, 2010)

i think a heavily planted tank would be when you can't see the majority of you back wall and when you can't see the majority of your gravel anymore...
i have a 20 long so filtering the tank lengthwise seemed more logical. 
the japanese are... amazing. but so are the taiwanese  i saw some amazing scapes when i went back... they all use up aqua but for them its cheaper for obvious reasons. they had tanks where it wasn't the traditional amano style... they were like the huge rocks suspended... like a floating island? its really hard to describe but it was AMAZING.


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## AquaBard (Oct 4, 2010)

Does anyone happen to have a link to something that breaks down some of the Japanese methods, I would love to research it more and see if I can see what I am missing on the concept.


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## Diana K (Dec 20, 2007)

Ditto Neil's definition: Heavily planted is when the back wall and the gravel are mostly hidden. 
This implies enough light, CO2, and ferts to keep the plants photosynthesizing at the optimum rate.


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

In many ways, this is a relative issue. Some folks call one set up heavy, others might go with a different set up. FWIW, look at the set of pictures in the second thread here.


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## Gordonrichards (Apr 28, 2009)

My main tank was "heavily planted". Nothing was growing, there wasn't enough co2. I've since pruned and got rid of half of the stuff inside, but I liked it better when it was a jungle. 

When I go high tech and upgrade to co2, I'll be able to have excessive amounts of plants in the tank again. Till that happens though, I'll be happy seeing my stem plants grow. It took them over 2 months to grow 6 inches. Lol.

-Gordon


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## AquaBard (Oct 4, 2010)

Gordonrichards said:


> My main tank was "heavily planted". Nothing was growing, there wasn't enough co2. I've since pruned and got rid of half of the stuff inside, but I liked it better when it was a jungle.
> 
> When I go high tech and upgrade to co2, I'll be able to have excessive amounts of plants in the tank again. Till that happens though, I'll be happy seeing my stem plants grow. *It took them over 2 months to grow 6 inches. Lol.*-Gordon


Not neccisarily a bad thing if all the plants and fish are happy. My higher tech tank gets out of control in a matter of weeks, this also was not a bad thing till I moved to a town with out a LFS that gives me store credit for plants. now I have to learn how to mail them...


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## freshyleif (Jan 9, 2008)

Thanks Gordon for the link to the pictures. 
Niel I think you have a good definition there also.


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