Quote:
Originally Posted by ultrajamie  Diana,
Thanks for the comments... I've added several more different plant species since the rebuild - as you can see in the pics above - i've also raised the driftwood off the substrate (it's held up with a sucker above the water line and resting on a pebble so will keep an eye on it.
I've added some hygrophilia as i was told it's a really good plant for mopping up excess nutrients in the water.
I'm also removing the canister and the tank will be filtered by the eheim sponge filter.
Were your comments relating to the first tank or this one? I've taken care to change the things i thought made my first tank go bad. Ad had thought the layer of larger-grain bio media in the substrate would help keep things aerobic? |
Your new tank looks nice. My comments were about the first tank where I was hypothesizing why the substrate might have gone bad and caused a "tank meltdown". It sounds like you understand now how to prevent this. I particularly like you're comment about raising the driftwood up above the gravel and keeping an eye on it. Good going!
Other remedies to prevent substrates from going anaerobic are aquatic worms and MTS (Malaysian Trumpet Snails). Their burrowing activity will naturally aerate the substrate. If you see symptoms of anaerobic substrate (lethargic bottow-dwelling fish and poor rooted plant growth), you can gently poke the substrate with a pencil or chopstick to let in some "fresh air".
I don't think that the filtration system you use will influence the substrate that much. In an NPT, filtration is basically just for water circulation. I use "Quick Filters" with AquaClear 30 powerheads. They're inexpensive and great to remove particulate matter when I move plants around and disturb soil. One tank, where a few fish could be chronically diseased (survivors of 2004 mycobacteriosis outbreak), has a UV sterilizing filter (Submariner) instead of the AquaClear.
Re: The Angel Garden - Jamie's El Natural Journey Part 2 
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