No problem. Here’s his Rotala Kill Tank Journal detailing his experiments which he then presented on - Rotala Kill Tank. Unfortunately to watch his talk you have to pay to be an AGA member and then pay for access to the 2019 convention presentations.Thank so much for your response.
I'm actually having a little trouble finding Vin Kutty's 2019 AGA talk, I've found the Rotala Kill Tank thread though.
If you were to be so kind, and if it's allowed, could you post the link here?
Greatly appreciated
Beautiful. Can’t leave out the KH though which in this tank was ~2-3 KH right?
My tap water runs 20 to 35 ppm as alkalinity, so 1-2 dKH basically. The no dose tanks with the soil, they are around zero because of no water changes. Likely 5ppm or less. So 0.3 dKH or less. I'm sure there is some, just not much. Growth with most any Rotala is good in the no dose tanks. Folks talk about careful low dosing, but I grow the plants just as well without any fert dosing other than food, and that's pretty light for those tanks. On the other side, I grow them at rich ferts. They both grow well, but the richer ferts, more water changes, etc, more cleaning, well, that's the price you pay. Slow things down, cooler tanks, mostly algae eaters, rich soil, mostly N limiting, with certain species that do well under no dosing, well............ a lot of species would die in such tanks. Erios and Rotala's, Crypts, Anubias etc, things will a lot of roots....seem to do well on no dosing.
Great to have you here, Tom. Hard to imagine the hobby without your contributions.
Just make sure to try both extremes, then if that works, you can explain most of the rest in between. Even if you cannot do it, but you find someone else that appears to do say no dose, while you can do mega dose, then you can snuff out the fert myths and then focus on the basics of working on the tank: light/CO2, trimming, consistent care, big water changes. While I can get away with no water changes, I do not suggest it for the OP's tank. Nope, that's a chore and a lot of work to keep a garden dutch like tank. Nature style is very easy by comparison in terms of care once the hardscape and planting is done. Diorama's can quickly turn to crap also if good care and good light management are not done. As fa as skills, I think you need much more skill to grow a Dutch tank than the top winners of any scaper contest. Yes, scaping and such is tough and you can spend a lot of time of the design and set up. Different skill set, but once the hardscape is done, it's relatively easy thereafter. Not so with Dutch style tanks. BUT.....Dutch style tanks make more $ than top winning scapes via plant sales. And those dirty rats beat the USA team, but they totally deserved it too.
Well, you have better skills than most people, and particularly for a recent aquatic gardener. Steep learning curves are typical for many. Collectoritis, you have that disease. Many do. If you cannot help yourself there, I suggest a terrarium as most plants grow GreAt that way, like Hygro Chai, both species of Cuphea, any Rotala, any Ammannia etc. A 90 cm x 45x45 tank with a glass lid and some plastic pots with some decent soil, maybe 2-4" cm of water, a shop light, wham. You can keep the plants easily for years. Put in the garage, basement etc, somewhere inside if possible if it's cooler than say 14C, outside in the full shade otherwise. This way you have plenty of species you can try, and you can focus on nice bunches in the garden. Arms in the tank, cleaning algae, wood, sides of the tank, filter intakes, the filter media, preventing intake clogs, BIG water changes(2-3x a week, after any big uprooting event or large trim job or filter cleaning). I often do 50-80%. The water goes to the landscaping outside and the automated version has a 700 liter cistern. Generally this frequency is done to whip the tank into good shape, then after everything is settled in nicely, you return to the once a week routine. Foreground plants love to uproot, so make sure to give them plenty of room and trim the plants closest to those farther back. The other taller plants grow back faster.....and will easily fill in, so do not be scared to hack things back. I think those few things I mentioned should help a lot. You will find many pesky plants, but later you will grow them nicely. Might take a few times. And if you have some growing emergent, you'll have plenty of chances haha. Some things to ponder. CO2 is an art and visual cues really help a lot. Eyeballs are what I use, slow step wise increases and focus on plant growth/health. Good O2 is also a big overlooked factor. You can use more CO2 if the O2 is also good. They are independent mostly.
