Are there any videos or RUclipsrs you recommend that cover the brewers method? Or do you think you'll make one? I'm interested in learning more about that process
Great question! It was about ten years ago when I did the brewery method so my memory's pretty fuzzy about sources of information other than searching for information on Google! There's a heap of stuff I'd love to demonstrate in future videos when I have the space. I need to get electricity plumbed into the garage before I can start the REALLY fun projects, like fish breeding and the likes but the brewery method is something I'd like to try out again, even if just for a simple at-home experiment. 🙂
Great video! But using Lumens as a measure of brightness can be often quite misleading, since it is based around perceived brightness by human eyes, and doesn't correlate to the light plants can actually use. A better alternative is PPF / PPFD. It's a measure of how much of PAR (photosynthetic active radiation aka. light that plants can actually use for photosynthesis) a lamp emits. Most proper grow light companies will list the PPF of their lamps and it's a great way to know for sure that your plants are getting what they need.
If you've got a rich soil/compost base capped with sand and loads of plants, decent lighting and water flow you don't need to add or change anything. The tank will naturally produce CO2 on it's own and flourish!
@@heaven7360naturally, deep nutrient rich substrate with a sand cap. Plants, shrimp, snails and fish and it all happens naturally. Never do water changes either. My oldest tank is almost a year old now and thriving. Have a look if you like 👍
I think maybe a bit of a miss conception that co2 injected tanks are more maintenance this is where you might be surprised at how little work you may need to put in once you find a balance, a tank of slow growers like anubias, crypts, ferns and buce can look beautiful with minimal effort, the added co2 increases their health and so you get denser growth and better colouration. Its up to you how demanding you make a tank, a tank with fast growing carpet plants, stem plants and moss(which can be a pain to trim) may require dedicating hours every week but a perfectly planned tank with slow growers could save you time and money spent on fertilizers yet have more impact with dense growth of healthy plants. Plants in a non co2 tank, even slow growers can become leggy and unhealthy due to lack of light, supply them with enough light they end up being even more unhealthy as they do not have any carbon to build new growth with and so algae takes advantage of this.
I find CO2 injected tanks are much harder to balance. Yes, we get much healthier plants, but comes with it more headaches such as BBA, and other types of algae. I tried both low tech and high tech planted tanks over my 30 years of planted tank keeping and I am all for low tech tanks!
@TalukderE I've found similar. It's something I'd like to experiment with in the future again, but just for fun rather than anything serious. I have some ideas about how to achieve a better balance with CO2 that I'd like to try out but it can't happen for a while yet as I'm waiting to get the garage in a place where it can be used to house aquariums. Watch this space! 😉
EXCEPTIONAL information!!! Great for the hobby and those with questions. SHARE... share your experience. As you say... everyone has different needs and must adjust to their specific needs. I don't use fancy plants, I'm a hobby breeder, so Its mostly java moss and guppy grass. Mine grow like MAD without adding CO2. First... they are easy plants... but the level and rate of growth is outstanding. I contribute it to my many ramshorn snails. Snails produce excessive amounts of CO2 in their digestive process. I use NO SOIL... gravel substate only. The plants are getting ALL of their nutrients from the water column. Due to heavy levels of breeding, I also personally change water weekly. That contributes to replenishment of nutrients, particularly the micro-nutrients which we rarely if ever even consider or measure. Again... my scenario is based on MY needs as a breeder. Everyone will have different situations and needs. GREAT VIDEO TAM!
It's funny that the longer I'm in the hobby, the more I appreciate simple low tech setups. When I'm on IG or YT, I seek out these types of setups. The cookie cutter high tech scapes don't appeal to me anymore. They can be very beautiful, but they look so manicured that they lose their natural appeal in my opinion.
I see both sides. 🙂 I prefer low-tech tanks because they remind me more of the reality of nature; if I stuck my head into a pond or a river full of life, it'd mimic low-tech tanks (usually). High tech makes me think of the world from Avatar. It's gorgeous, gloriously otherworldly, and a fantastic jump into a world of fantasy. A high tech tank can feel almost ethereal, where you can't help but turn your head in its direction. Having said that, I'll be sticking to low-tech for the foreseeable! There's a lot of nuance in the high-tech versus low-tech debate and both certainly have their drawbacks and merits. Really, it comes down to the health of the animals within the system and how much work the aquarist is happy to put into maintenance. 🙂
My one CO2 tank is not producing results as I'd like to see and I think it's because I use sponge filters and CO2 isn't being able to be utilized. It's helping a little for growth of some stem plants, but finding I still am getting algae...just different kinds...HA! Do you know why algae still is growing? I don't think my lights are so strong...maybe I have too much organic waste detritus in the tank. So anyway, don't want to have a TON of plants to trim and dicker around with. Right now just want them to be healthy, not struggle so much...and I did want to just try CO2. CO2 doesn't solve the issue of growing plants I think or it won't unless you have all the "requirements for success" in place. I need a lot more information on the subject, but that's what happens. All of the other tanks I have are low tech and over time they've been heading towards being balanced because of changes in the lights I had and I think all balance elements finally in place. Nothing worked at first. It was just a bunch of things I tried as I learned and that happened on its own that finally helped. I wish I was more versed on the complicated nutrient needs but any science requires a lot of patience to absorb but I imagine it is super helpful for growing plants and then to a healthy tank. Thanks for the topic dive!! Getting plants to grow will work if we have enough knowledge on the subject and also patience.
If its a sponge filter it could be either your degassing the co2 from excessive surface movement or its simply not circulating the tank very well as sponge filters don't cause strong enough flow to carry it throughout the tank
@@JoshuaMansfield-kk1rv I really don't want to get a cannister filter for a variety of reasons. One last thing I'm going to try is a simple corner box filter where the flow is pushed through the lower levels of the tank which might thrust the CO2 further into the tank instead of up to the top and out. I've also heard though that surface agitation doesn't entirely negate CO2 distribution...one video on the topic was made on Bentley Pascow youtube channel. I will say that somehow my stem plants are really starting to perk up and grow a bit more than the same plants growing in my other low tech tanks. One is the Mayaca fluviatilis and Bacopa caroliniana. It's growing in my low tech tanks fine but in the CO2 tank a bit more aggressive. If the CO2 was circulating really well perhaps it would be even more dense who knows. I am just trying to figure out the next step. In particular this algae has began growing in the tank with CO2 and I have lots of plants and now have successful stem plants growing as well as many others..perhaps less aggressively, but still living and not rotting. Don't know if I need less light, more light....to clean up possible excess detritus. I have enough filtration as it's only a 20 gallon tank. Guess things will sort out if I poke around and find out some more information. I haven't found much discussion out there about balancing out CO2 tanks. It's like .... pooof...use CO2 and your plants will grow and aquarium life will be good.
It’s difficult to balance amount of light, soil and co2. My experience is regular water changes solves a lot of problems and prevents algae growth. Also balance your light with the amount of co2. No external co2, not a heavy soil and an intensive light source? 8 hours of light max otherwise the plants can’t keep up and will suffer. You want to avoid the disbalance of modest soil fertilizer, modest co2 and a LOT of light! Also for light loving stem plants. If the soil and co2 can’t keep up with the amount of light, they will crash. Prolong the light hours slowly if you want and if the growth accelerates and see how it goes.
Thank you for your videos.
It's a pleasure to make them! Thanks for tuning in! 😁
Thanks for another really good video Tam . Really good info x 🐟🐠🪼🦐🐡
Thank you! ❤️
Are there any videos or RUclipsrs you recommend that cover the brewers method? Or do you think you'll make one? I'm interested in learning more about that process
Great question! It was about ten years ago when I did the brewery method so my memory's pretty fuzzy about sources of information other than searching for information on Google!
There's a heap of stuff I'd love to demonstrate in future videos when I have the space. I need to get electricity plumbed into the garage before I can start the REALLY fun projects, like fish breeding and the likes but the brewery method is something I'd like to try out again, even if just for a simple at-home experiment. 🙂
Thank you for a really helpful video.
Great video!
But using Lumens as a measure of brightness can be often quite misleading, since it is based around perceived brightness by human eyes, and doesn't correlate to the light plants can actually use.
A better alternative is PPF / PPFD. It's a measure of how much of PAR (photosynthetic active radiation aka. light that plants can actually use for photosynthesis) a lamp emits. Most proper grow light companies will list the PPF of their lamps and it's a great way to know for sure that your plants are getting what they need.
That's fantastic information; thanks so much for putting that out there! I love learning. ❤️
Make a video where you review your subscribers aquariums. It'll be fun 😁
If you've got a rich soil/compost base capped with sand and loads of plants, decent lighting and water flow you don't need to add or change anything. The tank will naturally produce CO2 on it's own and flourish!
How does the tank produce the CO2?
@@heaven7360naturally, deep nutrient rich substrate with a sand cap. Plants, shrimp, snails and fish and it all happens naturally. Never do water changes either. My oldest tank is almost a year old now and thriving. Have a look if you like 👍
@@heaven7360I answered although RUclips deleted the comment
I think maybe a bit of a miss conception that co2 injected tanks are more maintenance this is where you might be surprised at how little work you may need to put in once you find a balance, a tank of slow growers like anubias, crypts, ferns and buce can look beautiful with minimal effort, the added co2 increases their health and so you get denser growth and better colouration. Its up to you how demanding you make a tank, a tank with fast growing carpet plants, stem plants and moss(which can be a pain to trim) may require dedicating hours every week but a perfectly planned tank with slow growers could save you time and money spent on fertilizers yet have more impact with dense growth of healthy plants. Plants in a non co2 tank, even slow growers can become leggy and unhealthy due to lack of light, supply them with enough light they end up being even more unhealthy as they do not have any carbon to build new growth with and so algae takes advantage of this.
How often do you change the water and what percentage?
I find CO2 injected tanks are much harder to balance. Yes, we get much healthier plants, but comes with it more headaches such as BBA, and other types of algae. I tried both low tech and high tech planted tanks over my 30 years of planted tank keeping and I am all for low tech tanks!
@TalukderE I've found similar. It's something I'd like to experiment with in the future again, but just for fun rather than anything serious.
I have some ideas about how to achieve a better balance with CO2 that I'd like to try out but it can't happen for a while yet as I'm waiting to get the garage in a place where it can be used to house aquariums. Watch this space! 😉
EXCEPTIONAL information!!! Great for the hobby and those with questions. SHARE... share your experience. As you say... everyone has different needs and must adjust to their specific needs.
I don't use fancy plants, I'm a hobby breeder, so Its mostly java moss and guppy grass. Mine grow like MAD without adding CO2. First... they are easy plants... but the level and rate of growth is outstanding. I contribute it to my many ramshorn snails. Snails produce excessive amounts of CO2 in their digestive process. I use NO SOIL... gravel substate only. The plants are getting ALL of their nutrients from the water column.
Due to heavy levels of breeding, I also personally change water weekly. That contributes to replenishment of nutrients, particularly the micro-nutrients which we rarely if ever even consider or measure.
Again... my scenario is based on MY needs as a breeder. Everyone will have different situations and needs.
GREAT VIDEO TAM!
It's funny that the longer I'm in the hobby, the more I appreciate simple low tech setups. When I'm on IG or YT, I seek out these types of setups. The cookie cutter high tech scapes don't appeal to me anymore. They can be very beautiful, but they look so manicured that they lose their natural appeal in my opinion.
I see both sides. 🙂
I prefer low-tech tanks because they remind me more of the reality of nature; if I stuck my head into a pond or a river full of life, it'd mimic low-tech tanks (usually).
High tech makes me think of the world from Avatar. It's gorgeous, gloriously otherworldly, and a fantastic jump into a world of fantasy. A high tech tank can feel almost ethereal, where you can't help but turn your head in its direction.
Having said that, I'll be sticking to low-tech for the foreseeable!
There's a lot of nuance in the high-tech versus low-tech debate and both certainly have their drawbacks and merits. Really, it comes down to the health of the animals within the system and how much work the aquarist is happy to put into maintenance. 🙂
My one CO2 tank is not producing results as I'd like to see and I think it's because I use sponge filters and CO2 isn't being able to be utilized. It's helping a little for growth of some stem plants, but finding I still am getting algae...just different kinds...HA! Do you know why algae still is growing? I don't think my lights are so strong...maybe I have too much organic waste detritus in the tank. So anyway, don't want to have a TON of plants to trim and dicker around with. Right now just want them to be healthy, not struggle so much...and I did want to just try CO2. CO2 doesn't solve the issue of growing plants I think or it won't unless you have all the "requirements for success" in place. I need a lot more information on the subject, but that's what happens.
All of the other tanks I have are low tech and over time they've been heading towards being balanced because of changes in the lights I had and I think all balance elements finally in place. Nothing worked at first. It was just a bunch of things I tried as I learned and that happened on its own that finally helped. I wish I was more versed on the complicated nutrient needs but any science requires a lot of patience to absorb but I imagine it is super helpful for growing plants and then to a healthy tank.
Thanks for the topic dive!! Getting plants to grow will work if we have enough knowledge on the subject and also patience.
If its a sponge filter it could be either your degassing the co2 from excessive surface movement or its simply not circulating the tank very well as sponge filters don't cause strong enough flow to carry it throughout the tank
@@JoshuaMansfield-kk1rv I really don't want to get a cannister filter for a variety of reasons. One last thing I'm going to try is a simple corner box filter where the flow is pushed through the lower levels of the tank which might thrust the CO2 further into the tank instead of up to the top and out. I've also heard though that surface agitation doesn't entirely negate CO2 distribution...one video on the topic was made on Bentley Pascow youtube channel.
I will say that somehow my stem plants are really starting to perk up and grow a bit more than the same plants growing in my other low tech tanks. One is the Mayaca fluviatilis and Bacopa caroliniana. It's growing in my low tech tanks fine but in the CO2 tank a bit more aggressive. If the CO2 was circulating really well perhaps it would be even more dense who knows.
I am just trying to figure out the next step. In particular this algae has began growing in the tank with CO2 and I have lots of plants and now have successful stem plants growing as well as many others..perhaps less aggressively, but still living and not rotting. Don't know if I need less light, more light....to clean up possible excess detritus. I have enough filtration as it's only a 20 gallon tank. Guess things will sort out if I poke around and find out some more information. I haven't found much discussion out there about balancing out CO2 tanks. It's like .... pooof...use CO2 and your plants will grow and aquarium life will be good.
It’s difficult to balance amount of light, soil and co2. My experience is regular water changes solves a lot of problems and prevents algae growth. Also balance your light with the amount of co2. No external co2, not a heavy soil and an intensive light source? 8 hours of light max otherwise the plants can’t keep up and will suffer. You want to avoid the disbalance of modest soil fertilizer, modest co2 and a LOT of light! Also for light loving stem plants. If the soil and co2 can’t keep up with the amount of light, they will crash. Prolong the light hours slowly if you want and if the growth accelerates and see how it goes.
@@MarijkeWillemsen990 Thank you!!