new tank planning - extreme low tech chinese bamboo style

it sounds like a good plan, but i had a few questions just for food for thought:

are you placing this near a window? From her book Ms. Walstead suggests 1-2 watts if you are near a window with some sunlight exposure, and a little more if not.

are you sure about natural gravel? she also suggests using fertilizer free potting soils as a substrate underneath a 1" layer of fine (2-3mm) gravel. the reason you can avoid ferts is because most of your nutrients are supposedly leached from the soil. IMO a "natural gravel" may not contain all the nutrients needed in order to avoid fert dosing. also, with the decorative sand, one big problem for the walstead style tank is that putting sand on top of your nutrient rich substrate can easily create anaerobic conditions in the substrate which can give you some big problems down the road. you may want to reconsider that choice.

you may be fine planting the bamboo in the substrate if they will root for you. following walsteads recommendations your substrate should be 2-3" deep (1-1.5" soil, 1-1.5" gravel), which may be enough to hold the bamboo in place if you plant it deep enough.

also be aware that there are some things about walsteads methods that may or may not be very good for your fish. I've heard reports of her tanks having extremely high nitrate levels, which is fine for plants but can kill fish easily. I'd recommend doing water changes when your nitrates get to about 20ppm, instead of her 6 month change guideline (and it is just a guideline. she says she changes water when she feels it's necessary based on fish health or plant health)

also, you'll note that her method of providing CO2 is something less than efficient. even considering the carbon present in a soil substrate and her fish food method of making carbon for the plants it still appears that carbon will be your limiting factor for growth. adding some excel or a DIY CO2 system may be a good thing to consider, although it gets away from your desire for a low maintenance tank.

it's a neat concept and i hope it works out for you :)
 
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i'd also like to add that lucky bamboo does not require any sunlight at all... if anyone here wants to interject please feel free but I was always under the impression that too much light will kill this plant so i dont see why you couldnt hang a low light fixture far above the plant.
 
debaric said:
i'd also like to add that lucky bamboo does not require any sunlight at all... if anyone here wants to interject please feel free but I was always under the impression that too much light will kill this plant so i dont see why you couldnt hang a low light fixture far above the plant.

Lucky bamboo doesn't need too much light but they do need a bit ... i think just hanging it above might be ok ... but you can't be sure ... 0.o

Bamboo does good in offices though :D

Ohya ... I dunno anyway to stop it growing upwarwd.. even if you were to cut it just below one of the grooves the new shoots that push out will go upwards... You can train it to grow otherways though ... I'm not sure how they do it as i've never bothered to coil it but I know with my bonsai I wire the trees :D
 
wouldnt the sand mix with the gravel very soon?
 
This is a very interesting concept gagaliya. However I'm worried about the bamboo stalks in the aquarium...

1) Wouldn't the stalks rot in a tank full of water?
2) Do all the leaves need to be above the water line or can they grow below the water?
3) How the heck do you trim bamboo?
 
Ms.Bubbles said:
3) How the heck do you trim bamboo?
I think you would use a tree limb trimmer.
 
Ms.Bubbles said:
1) Wouldn't the stalks rot in a tank full of water?
I think they'll be OK. I have some of that lucky bamboo stuff and it sits in a little thing of water all the time, and the only thing thta happens to it is it builds up lime and whatnot from our water ;)

that reminds me, I think the last time I watered that thing was ages ago :duh:
 
The reason I ask is that gagaliya posted a question regarding this issue some time ago (03 08 2006) and gave up on the idea because of the rotting. I'm wondering what has changed that the idea is now do-able?
 
hey guys, thanks for the feedback. here are some response to the questions

1)lucky bamboo cannot handle DIRECT sunlight at all, a few hrs and all leaves will hang down. extended exposure will kill the plant. However it can grow very healthy in any amount of light (very low to very high) as long as it's not direct sun.

2)I only have 2 plant types in the tank - lucky bamboo + moss. Neither require/get nutrients from substrate, so the type of substrate used is irrelevent. CO2 is not critical either, lucky bamboo gets co2 from above water not in water, moss does not require special co2 injection.

3) I am not following walstad's method 100% - no filter, 6 month water change is just too much.

4) per 2). As long as the leaves are above water, the lucky bamboo will grow nice&healthy. If you submerge the leaves for extended period, they cannot get co2 and will eventually melt.

5) Trimming bamboo is easy, just cut it on the stalks above water. But from my experience they dont grow very fast, so probably a trim every 3 month or more is sufficient

6) Lucky bamboo is one of THE toughest plants around, ONLY 3 things will kill it after extended exposure: 1) direct sunlight 2) leaves submerged in water 3) over fertizing (no ferts required at all)

7) For fish will probably do 15 golden whitecloud + 10 harq rasboras (in a 19G tank). I wanted glofish because they move so fast so it's like doing those kungfu fightings in the bamboo forest:) but they are too expensive and need a bigger tank for a large school.

My plan is to have a slightly overstocked tank with co2/waste from the fish be used by the moss. (bamboo doesnt require anything)

The question noone seem to know is will the mini (singapore) moss spread into a carpet. From my understanding those are not very hardy moss(like java moss) and require some good lighting/dosing etc? Right now thinking coralife CF strip (67W over ~20G) = ~3WPG minus the height which is like 2 feet from tank, that should get it to around 2WPG min. Will mini moss be ok with 2WPG?

thanks,
-gaga
 
Ms.Bubbles said:
The reason I ask is that gagaliya posted a question regarding this issue some time ago (03 08 2006) and gave up on the idea because of the rotting. I'm wondering what has changed that the idea is now do-able?

haha you have good memory. Originally i wanted to fully submerge the bamboos with a sealed top tank and found that wasnt possible. The plan now is to have a completely open top tank (ADA amano tank) so the leave portion can stick above. Hate to make this comparison but it will be like those lucky bamboo glass jar with a goldfish in it. Except the glass jar will be a real tank in my case.


what decorative are you going to be using?
if youre getting rio negro, and using lily pipes, its not going to be low maintenance....

There will be no decors, maybe a wooden bamboo house (saw it once in a shop in china, was really cool). Not sure what rio negro means? the lily pipes are just ADA's version of canister intake/output tubes, except they are hand made glass and cost $100 each :( This tank is definitly low tech, otherwise wouldnt use bamboo/moss.
 
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