# Planted Tanks > Plant Talk >  Super easy method to set up new tank without any algae (really!)

## Plantbrain

I've been toying with a few ideas that are I suppose radical to most, but not really when you think about it.

This method allows you to set the tank up flawlessly in the start up phase which is arguably the hardest and toughest phase of planted tank care.

You can grow in many species of plants such as HC, or gloss or most any nay pesky foreground plant without any water other than enough to soak the sediments well for 4-8 weeks first then after it's well grown in, add water and fish. You simply cover the tank with a glass lid or plastic like a terrarium, there's plenty of water in the sediment.

By not adding the water, you can grow the plants flawlessly, no algae, no water changes every 2 to 4 days etc, no NH4, no fish uprooting things etc. The tank is also completely cycled buy the time you add the water to fill things up.

This is the Easiest method to start up a tank without dosing, water changes, any algae, completely cycled tank etc.

The first 2 months are the toughest and this avoids it all.

Just cover the tank, add light and sediment(ADA AS works great BTW and cost about the same most sediments, you can mist the plants if you use flourite black etc with a NPK and trace solution 2x a week otherwise)

You can add the taller stem plants after you fill the tank up and/or other plants that ADAPT FAST.

Pretty darn easy.

I made a nice rug of HC this way using nothing more than a 1" layer of ADA aqua soil, filled the water to about 7/8" depth, added more water about once every 1-2 weeks to keep it moist and after 4 weeks, the tank is entirely grown in.

No dosing, no water changes, no CO2 issues, no uprooting, no nothing. Easy as it gets.

Bacteria will cycle after about 3 weeks or so, about the time frame the rug grows in using the ADA AS. So the NH4 is now been converted to NO3 and has plenty of bacteria to keep it low.

Some will say they wanna add their fish right away, then can do the old way if they want to, but this method makes life much easier and a little patience can make the tank look very nice with virtually no work.

Not many trade offs here.
And the success rate ought to be near 100% without any issues with algae, growth etc.

I do not think there are any other methods that can come even remotely close to that for the general plant hobbyist.

Crypts have long been grown as well as swords, Anubias, hair grass, Gloss, Dwarf clover, Utricularia grammifolia, as matter of fact, most of the plants that Tropica carries are emergent grown.............

I'd wait to add most stem plants later as you add the water. Then a week later, add shrimps, algae eaters and another week, the main fish.

If you dose well, do the water changes etc, good tending of the CO2.......the system should start off and stay looking good from then on.

I think this method can make many folk's life far easier and less labor and far better results than the "water in the tank methods" to start a new tank up.

I've grown Crypts for many many years this way, but given the issues, taking the next step with the start phase of the tanks that submersed seems pretty reasonable.

Don't you think so?
Many want a nice rug of various foreground plants and this is dang easy way to get a massive rug pre rooted.

Regards,
Tom Barr

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## ranmasatome

nice thoughts there Tom... certainly worth a try..

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## Shadow

Does it mean that you grow HC, Glosso, etc immerse? Would it melt when you fully filling the water?

I'm currently growing HC, instead of fully filling the tank, I only fill just enough until all the leaf submerse. It was suggested by one of the forumer, I can't remember the name.

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## Ah_ZhaN

> Don't you think so?
> Many want a nice rug of various foreground plants and this is dang easy way to get a massive rug pre rooted.
> 
> Regards,
> Tom Barr


Tom, 
Yes, that really sounds like a good method to grew and acclimatise plants. I do believe some folks in Singapore or AQ have already been trying out this so. 



> Does it mean that you grow HC, Glosso, etc immerse? Would it melt when you fully filling the water?
> 
> I'm currently growing HC, instead of fully filling the tank, I only fill just enough until all the leaf submerse. It was suggested by one of the forumer, I can't remember the name.


As the filling up of water is over a transition of period of time, your emmerse plants will take this chance and "time" to get acclimatised, change form and adapt to the overall eco system.

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## Aeon

So no filtration?

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## soulfinder78

do not understand something here. do you moist the substrate or you fill it up to cover the entire HC?

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## Shadow

Tom Barr said:

"I made a nice rug of HC this way using nothing more than a 1" layer of ADA aqua soil, filled the water to about 7/8" depth"

So it is not fill up to cover the entire HC. My question is will it melt when the time of filling to whole tank? Tom Barr growing his HC immerse and as we know it will melt when converting its leaf from immerse to submerse.

Ah ZhaN was suggesting to "fill up of water is over a transition of period of time". I think it might work, it will still melt but not at the same time. While the leaf under water melt, the top leaf which is on top the water surface will support the plant grow.

Problem is when your scape isn't flat, then you will have several transition. That will take quite sometime.

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## bryan

This would be great for the HC and glosso to get a good grip before some pesky corydoras tries to do some pruning.

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## Plantbrain

All you do is add the sediment, ADA As works super.
Then add enough water to keep it saturated but not enough to cover the plants etc, just enough to keep things good and moist, just like a terrarium.

Then add HC, U grammifolia, Hair grass, Gloss, Crypts, etc.......... whatever... a few plants and stem plants will not work well, but they adapt rapidly so they can be planted later on after the sediment and other plants have grown in well.

Then after 4 weeks(or what time you think things are ready), you fill the tank up with water.

There's no filter, no water changes, no dosing, no CO2 added etc.

This works for non CO2, Excel and CO2 methods.
So low tech and high tech folks can do this method.

It gets past the initial grow in period.
Plants often melt because their roots are damaged.
Less so due to the transition between emergent to submersed conditions.
Aquatic plants are good at that, this occurs in nature, uprooting and transplanting does not, the plants just melt/die.

Makes starting a nice foreground/mid ground cheaper, algae free and easier.

then you add ther faster growing weeds afterwards with water, CO2, ferts etc.

When a tank has high plant biomass, then algae is not an issue and your tank is well cycled.

The trick is getting the tank to this state without algae and other labor issues.

While dry terrarium tanks, wasabi, using emergent aquatics is nothing, the application for a new tank start up that will be filled with water and add CO2, fish etc, is rather new. I've long grown Crypts emergent as well as many aquatic plant species, that's not "new".

If it was not new, why haven't folks been telling us all along about it then? :Idea: 

Why would such an idea that sells itself not be popular?
Why would someone not do this method to get a nice rug of HC growing aggressively, no water changes, no CO2, no hard issues and 100% algae free?

Put another way: why do lots of water changes, fret over algae until the HC(or what ever species) fills in and stops being uprooted, and dealing with algae?

We do not have to do things that way.

We never did(as I kick myself for not considering this  :Exasperated:  )

Regards, 
Tom Barr

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## Maazo

Great idea Tom. Can't beleive it's never occured to anyone before. Maybe it has, but they sure as shit didn't tell anyone about it.

The obvious limitation with this is that is you have any great slope in your tank, there'll be areas that you'll have a hard time keeping the moisture up to, unless you pay a pimply-faced kid to sit there with a water spray and give it a good misting every 20 minutes.

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## illumnae

wow, didn't know the emmerse to submerse melting thing was a myth and the melting was due instead to damaged roots

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## Shadow

yeah me too, I was thought that emmerse to submerse causing it to melt. I guess this misconception, assuming it is true, does not allow us even think of growing it emmere.

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## illumnae

i might try this out with my nano tank to get the foreground of japanese hairgrass and eriocaulon cinerum settled in before filling water and putting stem plants in. will the leaves of the plants dry out/shrivel due to lack of water though?

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## vinz

Sometimes you can get entire mats of foreground plants from the plant farms here. This method will be great for those.

Same thing, set up the substrate, fill enough water to keep it moist and then lay the mats on the substrate. Throw a thin layer of substrate on top the plants and brush the plant lightly to make the gravel drop below them. Give it a few weeks to grow the roots into the substrate. No floating.

An extension on the idea. Plant rosette plants, or stiff stem plants that can remain upright without water, before you fill the tank. For larger plants like echinodorus and nymphae, dig a hole where you want the plant, put the roots in, bury, compact slightly. Then fill the tank. Less mess this way.

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## Plantbrain

> Great idea Tom. Can't beleive it's never occured to anyone before. Maybe it has, but they sure as shit didn't tell anyone about it.
> 
> The obvious limitation with this is that is you have any great slope in your tank, there'll be areas that you'll have a hard time keeping the moisture up to, unless you pay a pimply-faced kid to sit there with a water spray and give it a good misting every 20 minutes.


No, the capillary force and moisture inside has no such issue.
the water goes throughout the sediment regardless of much height(within reason).

I have a 4" slope.

Regards, 
Tom Barr

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## Jaffar

Taking up your advise. Have personal experience with abundant algae growth in tank which overwhelmed my aquatic plants. 
Starting up a new 3ft tank planting japanese hairgrass and glosso. No filter, no CO2, no fertiliser. Just sufficient water and light.

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## Plantbrain

FYI, this method will not cure folk's algae issues once you fill the tank up............

No dry method will........

It can help grow in a lot of plants for the larger % foregrund pklant species easily and get them going/well rooted.

If you cannot grow them with this method after you flood the tank, then it's not the method's, it's still your own fault, most likely with CO2(for HC and many of the other species).

The plants can clearly grow with out any nutrients added to the water column, because they grow just fine in air and wet soil.

The only difference we find is that once you flood the tank, gas exchange issues with the leaves(not the roots, they are saturated already and have been all along), in other words, CO2.

I used this method to illustrate how to isolate a CO2 issue as well.

That's the only difference with flooded vs non flood plants if you have a super lean water column and nutrient rich sediment.






Regards, 
Tom Barr

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## jowy_ham

Tom, how come the 2 tanks (showing how you started off) and the final tank is not the same ? the HC over-grown and have to be transferred ?

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## wasabi8888

Interesting. Do you think it's possible to grow HC this way ie little water initially and fill up the water after 8 weeks and NOT adding CO2 in the end? Since the HC was doing well without CO2 initially, do you think's necessary to add CO2 after filling up the water?

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## baranne

> Interesting. Do you think it's possible to grow HC this way ie little water initially and fill up the water after 8 weeks and NOT adding CO2 in the end? Since the HC was doing well without CO2 initially, do you think's necessary to add CO2 after filling up the water?


I believe the CO2 during the initial setup was taken from the air?

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## wildfish

> Interesting. Do you think it's possible to grow HC this way ie little water initially and fill up the water after 8 weeks and NOT adding CO2 in the end? Since the HC was doing well without CO2 initially, do you think's necessary to add CO2 after filling up the water?


I think the tank eco  :Roll Eyes: condition is entirely diferent after filling up. Access to air surface is "isolated" with higher water level. So adding Co2 becomes necessary as plant need to absorb them readily from water itself.

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## Plantbrain

> Tom, how come the 2 tanks (showing how you started off) and the final tank is not the same ? the HC over-grown and have to be transferred ?


Because these photos where taken all at the same time at various stages to show a progression.

The first tank is merely a starter, the second is planted, the 3rd is filled in. Tank difference, eg, all the same tank does not matter.

Give a few more days and I'll post the other tanks.

I'm not into taking photo progressions of tanks, they are nice, but my habits are rarely that way for photography  :Well done: 

I like to take pictures of places like this:



Regards, 
Tom Barr

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## uklau

Hi folks,

I tried this method on my new tank with Glossostigma as the foreground plant.

For the first 7 days, I blasted it with 2 x 39W T5HO (with individual reflector) & the soil was kept moisture. I'm using mixture of Seachem Flourite & Onxy. Liquid fertilizers were mixed to the water to keep the substrate moisture. The plant is growing healthly but straight up.

On the 8th day till today (7 days), I blasted it with 6 x 39W T5HO to see if it helps to keep the plant low. I also tried with about 1cm of water above the substate. It only managed to slow down the plant from growing taller. It is still crawling.

Would appreciate some help on how to proceed from here. Attached are the photos of the plant. Thanks.

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## ranmasatome

Lau... trim anything that grows striaght up... just simply cut everything off..

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## uklau

Oh. Thanks, bro. I'll do just that!  :Jump for joy:

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## uklau

Trimmed the glosso twice over the last 2 weekends. Still, growing upwards  :Sad: . I'm sure the plant is doing well as there are lots of new leaves sprouted everyday. The only problem is that they are not crawling  :Crying: . With 6 x 39W T5HO tubes, they are growing upwards, although at a much slower rate compared to when only using 2 x 39W T5HO.

I'm also positive that the nutrients & lightings are sufficient as I already seen green algae covering my damp substrate. What else could go wrong?

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## ranmasatome

i dont understand..didn't you want them to crawl?? so how can that be a problem?

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## Shadow

maybe typo.

Anyway if it i not crawling yet and you want it to crawl, you might want to try to force it crawl. Use a bamboo tooth pick, bend it until it break but not until seperate. Use it to pin down your glosso to the ground. It was suggested by StanChung but I never try it though  :Grin: , my glosso craling without any help  :Razz:

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## uklau

> i dont understand..didn't you want them to crawl?? so how can that be a problem?


Sorry, bro. Typo error...perhaps, too depressed  :Grin: .

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## uklau

> Use a bamboo tooth pick, bend it until it break but not until seperate.


Oh, thanks. I'll try that out to see if it helps. Another weekend with backache  :Sad: .

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## chaosdiablo

Quite a good idea

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## dialow

Hi,

I'm really keen to grow some HC using the methods above. Saw at Colourful today that they have very beautiful HC carpets on sale. Very tempted to grow that for my new tank. However, I'm quite puzzled by the earlier posts.

1) For a start, do we cover the tank?
2) No CO2 needed at all?

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## Shadow

It would be good if you cover the tank, keep the moister lock. No CO2 injection needed at all, it submerse, CO2 from atmosphere.

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## torque6

For a moment, i thought tom "back to the future2", then noticed he posted this last year. 

Dialow, you can just post the link and create your own.

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## PeterGwee

> It would be good if you cover the tank, keep the moister lock. No CO2 injection needed at all, it submerse, CO2 from atmosphere.


Emergent growth...not submerse.  :Opps: 

Regards,
Peter Gwee

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## dialow

> For a moment, i thought tom "back to the future2", then noticed he posted this last year. 
> 
> Dialow, you can just post the link and create your own.


Hey Torque6,

Yeah sorry but I was just browsing thru the forum today wanting to know abt more abt such planting method. Know the post was quite some time bad.

Anyhow, I'm very new to this forum. How do i post the link and create my own?

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## Shadow

> Emergent growth...not submerse. 
> 
> Regards,
> Peter Gwee


O yeah my mistake  :Embarassed:

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