I suggest you get a drop checker and use it to be sure you are providing enough CO2, instead of relying upon a specific number of bubbles per second of CO2. This would be a good choice for a drop checker: CAL AQUA LABS - Double Check CO2 Checker

Chris, I don't see what size your tank is, and I'm not sure of the wattage of the lights you plan to use.

HI VaughnH,

My tank is 100 cm by 45cm by 55cm. I have 3 40W Flourescent tubes thus 120W in total on for 10 - 12hrs a day.

You should have enough light for the plants to grow, but those 40 watt T12 tubes are not at all efficient compared to T5 or even PC bulbs. Do you have room for a fourth 40 watt bulb? I think that would work better.

I have space, but the thing is that to change to bulbs i have to get rid of all the fittings holding the tubes! I am really not good at these things!! :P

Just one question: Has anyone had problems with mosquitos using this dry method! My tank has become some swamp i think! How can i get rid of them! am tempted to spray some insecticide but this is harmful in the long run!

i ll post some pictures of the tank soon. WOuld appreciate any help with quascaping!

Thanksa million!

Chris

Wow! Mosquitoes? From what I know they require stagnant pools of water to breed in. If you don't flood the substrate, and keep the water level 1/2 inch below the surface I don't see how you could have mosquitoes breeding in there. Do you have any stagnant pools at the surface?

Hi there Orion, Yes i do have some shallow pools, at first i had none but with the daily misting of the plants, thw ater slowly rose up! Shouldi siphone off some of it u think andget rid of them??

Chris

Stagnant water plus light equals algae. That alone is reason to remove any visible water. As far as the mosquitoes go, if their larvae will just take lots of time before metamorphosis your new fish will love you for setting such a great house warming buffet for them.

Haha, what Vaughn says is true. Your fish would love you for it. However as he mentioned you don't want algae all over your substrate. If you look hard enough you might notice some algae on your glass near the substrate since it is always wet with nutrient rich water. I'd definitely get rid of the pools...siphoning can be a pain, a damp cloth or a few paper towels will do the trick.

the evaporation rates are pretty high in many places, so the pools are gone pretty fast in my 180 gallon tank, the HC is starting to grow in pretty fast now after sitting for about 2 weeks.

The same is true in submersed culture.
You will get denser growth in submersed culture after you flood the tank.

I am going to squeeze a few sponge filters worth of mulm into the new filter, that+4-5 weeks worth of HC growth, plenty of NH4 in the sediment, high surface area, will help the system's microbial community better than any other method I know of.

The other thing is that it's almost too easy.
Looking and thinking about how many water changes etc I'd need to do to get to this point and the stages of the algae as well.........

Not a bad deal at all.

I'll pack the back and rear sections with plenty of plants from my other tanks, I have a nice 3000gph wave maker, UV, excellent mechanical filtration, venturi CO2, very flexible lighting.

The tank should be up and running well rather quickly.

Regards,
Tom Barr

Sounds great Tom. I can't wait to see you fill that beast up and pack it with plants. It should be awesome!