What is the beaslbob method? From some of your posts it looks like it works well enough that you don't have to do much work once it's started.

How should I know?

basically it is the planted method I use.

bottom line is you start the aquarium with a mix of fast growing (anacharis, vals) and slower growing (crypts, small potted) and a centerpiece amazon sword. then let the tank set for a week as the plants condition the water. I also add a single fish and not add food for a week, then add more fish and start very light feedings.

the idea is to get the plants in control and thriving right from the start and then do the rest.

More specifically what makes a "beaslbob build" is my use of a 1" peat moss, 1" play sand, and 1" pc select (or aquarium gravel) as a substrate combined with no mechanical filtration or circulation (not even an air stone). Plus not doing water changes (just replacing evaporative water) and using untreated tap water suitable for human consumption.

From what I understand it is very similiar to dianna walstad (spelling?) methods in the book "ecology of the planted aquarium".

now everyone else can chime in and explain what they do differently. I think the bottom line is the term "beaslbob build" just sounds cool.

my .02

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fw leiden since 1979, fo salt since 1979, mixed reef 55g 2002-2009. Strong emphasis on the tank taking care of itself. Balanced with plant life, no water changes, tap water, no filters in FW. Only dosing calcium, alk, mag in marine reef tanks. http://www.aquariumforum.com/f15/my-...ods-26410.html
recent tanks (till 2009) 7 years- 10g FW leiden 7 yrs, 55g mixed reef 7, 2 yrs, 20g FW leiden, 10 g fw leiden , 29g mixed reef, current tank 55g leiden

I have two aquariums setup and running this way. One is a 10G keeping red cherry shrimp, and the other is a 2.5G holding a single male betta. In the 10G I still have a sponge filter, and in the 2.5G I finally pulled out the little filter from it once the plants had grown in well. I think the only piece I would add is to be sure you have adequate lighting for the plants in the tank, since they're the ammonia/nitrate filter. In my tanks (and even in the other tank with just plain gravel and plant fertilizer tabs) the plants are thriving and all the fish seem content. I do water changes on the big 30G with just gravel, and on the 10G. The 10G still gets water changes because the tannins are still leaching into the water and my wife doesn't like the brown water.

Good luck

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Matthew
30G AquaClear50: Lightly planted, platies, ottos, kuhli loaches.
10G Sponge filter: Heavily planted, ottos, red cherry shrimp

i have the Beaslbob build in my tank, after my first mistake i asked him to explain it to me and from day one i started this tank till now is amazing it really do work,

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What happens if you get scared half to death, twice?

I'm eventually going to set up my 75 gallon as a low maintenance planted tank. I already have a good filter that I'm using for it and I'm getting the lighting setup. Have any of you used compost? I'm thinking about using that but I don't know if that would work well.

never used compost, just peat moss, i have a canister filter in my tank for filtration witch beaslbob does not use filters

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What happens if you get scared half to death, twice?

I have not used compost so can't actually say.

Some tanks I setup with peat moss that was for potted house plants and had added fertz. Those tank seemed to have more algae problems.

I would recommend not using compost because more of the nutrients come from the fact you have fish in the system. Compost IMHO is just too rich for a tank environment.

that said Dainna Walstad does use potting soil in her setups and recommends it.

To me the main thing with the peat moss is that KH and GH did not rise as they did with just a sand substrate. Which allowed (in my testing) neon tetras to thrive. that's probably treu for some other fish but that is just my limited testing.

besides a big huge "bale" of peat moss in only $11 or so but then that is probably more expensive than the free compost out back.

So I suspect that if you limit lighting to kill of any algae blooms, the compost will probably work.

But that's just my .02

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fw leiden since 1979, fo salt since 1979, mixed reef 55g 2002-2009. Strong emphasis on the tank taking care of itself. Balanced with plant life, no water changes, tap water, no filters in FW. Only dosing calcium, alk, mag in marine reef tanks. http://www.aquariumforum.com/f15/my-...ods-26410.html
recent tanks (till 2009) 7 years- 10g FW leiden 7 yrs, 55g mixed reef 7, 2 yrs, 20g FW leiden, 10 g fw leiden , 29g mixed reef, current tank 55g leiden

I'll try it out in a bucket to see how it affects my water first. I don't think peat would be good for my tank because my water is already really soft and neutral and I don't want it softer or the pH too low.

PH will rise because the plants are consuming carbon dioxide.


my .02

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fw leiden since 1979, fo salt since 1979, mixed reef 55g 2002-2009. Strong emphasis on the tank taking care of itself. Balanced with plant life, no water changes, tap water, no filters in FW. Only dosing calcium, alk, mag in marine reef tanks. http://www.aquariumforum.com/f15/my-...ods-26410.html
recent tanks (till 2009) 7 years- 10g FW leiden 7 yrs, 55g mixed reef 7, 2 yrs, 20g FW leiden, 10 g fw leiden , 29g mixed reef, current tank 55g leiden

After soaking the compost for a day in a bucket, this is how the water tested:

Ammonia 0.5 ppm
Nitrite 0
nitrate 5 ppm

pH didn't change

I don't think the GH changed but I have a hard time telling when the color changes for this test.

It did turn the water black.

If I soaked the compost (not in my aquarium) and did water changes for a while, would the ammonia be removed? Would carbon clear up the water? After during all that would there even be any nutrients left in the compost?

How do you balance the pH with peat moss in the tank? Or do you even have to?

I use peat as a media for plants and it keeps the pH around 4-5. It's obviously a very different ratio of water to peat in an aquarium, but still it seems like it should make a difference. I'm still new to aquariums, so I'm sure I'm just missing something. For my plants I have to use distilled water, so is there something in tap water that buffers the pH? the concentration of salt is enough to "overpower" the peat?

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Just starting:

10 Gallon
1 Honey gourami
3 Peppered corys
3 Ghost shrimp

Wisteria
Aponogeton
Amazon swords
Anubias nana
Marimo moss ball
rotala indica

In my aquariums I do not have to do anything pH wise. pH starts out around 7 or less but then climbs to over 8 as the tank matures. That pH rise is from the plants sucking carbon dioxide out of the water.

I use tap water and tap water generally does have stuff to help buffer ph and feed the plants as well.

I did have a mess with dark water, surface scum and the like before I started "trapping" the peat moss under a layer of sand. And additionally planting the plants before filling the tank with water. That prevented stirring up the substrate up into the entire tank.

With that method I have a clear tank almost immediately and the only main effect is that kH and gh remain constant for at least 2-3 years. With just plain sand kh and gh rose to high values over a couple of years. Plus neon tetras did not live long as well. With peat moss they lived for years.


my .02

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fw leiden since 1979, fo salt since 1979, mixed reef 55g 2002-2009. Strong emphasis on the tank taking care of itself. Balanced with plant life, no water changes, tap water, no filters in FW. Only dosing calcium, alk, mag in marine reef tanks. http://www.aquariumforum.com/f15/my-...ods-26410.html
recent tanks (till 2009) 7 years- 10g FW leiden 7 yrs, 55g mixed reef 7, 2 yrs, 20g FW leiden, 10 g fw leiden , 29g mixed reef, current tank 55g leiden

Depending on what pH the fish you have need and the pH of your water it might not need to be adjusted. If your tap water has a high pH peat will make it more neutral (it will also soften water).

Thanks very much!

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Just starting:

10 Gallon
1 Honey gourami
3 Peppered corys
3 Ghost shrimp

Wisteria
Aponogeton
Amazon swords
Anubias nana
Marimo moss ball
rotala indica

The ph lowering effect of peat will decrease over time as the tannins are relaesed and diminished, guessing around 6 months. No different than dw. It may continue to soften the water a little, but I don't see that effect lasting very long either.

Bob, what I don't understand is how you refer to ph rising from plants. The ph of my tap after I age it should be no higher than it is at that point (before the tank) providing the excess, if not all, CO2 has gassed out of the water. A lot of people will let their water age before they put it in their tank. Anyhow, if the ph goes slightly up and down during lighting periods from photo-action (which I am fully aware of and understand) or whatever technical term there is for what occurs, how does having plants push up the ph? You refer to it as if it is more than the plant using the CO2 in the water, which I know pushes up the ph, albeit very slightly. If the plants respire and CO2 levels rise and fall I get the minor up and down of the ph.

If you refer to more than this, I would say that my tanks have never seen that. Maybe this was by-product of the method which you used with no water changes and/or filter? Not an arguement, but just not getting what you're trying to say or how it is possible for it to occur - other than the normal slight daily up and down from the build up and use of CO2.

\

The rising pH is my experience and even test results I did with 1 pint jars. All of my tanks including those iwth peat moss and marine tanks had the pH rise to the hightest api test kit levle purple (8.4-8.8) over time. I did keep keep records but the test jars with no plants had the pH stay at normal FW levels (7-7.3 or so) even jars with crushed coral substrates.

so I get those pH values with or without peat moss, and with kh and gh values all over the place (both rise in tanks with no peat moss).

In my marine tanks Idid have to dose baking soda to keep kh up but ph was 8.4-8.8 regardless of the kh values. pH did drop down at night to 7.9 with lower kh however. pH during cycle before adding macro algaes was down to 7.6 or lower. One day after adding macro algae the pH was above 8 and rose to 8.4-8.8 and stayed there for years. the marine tank also had a sump with circulation and so on.

So all in all it is just my experience. Even with those high pH values fish like neon tetras, hatchetfish all thrived and lived for years even though they re reported as needing pH values of 7 or less.

the only thing IMHO that expains all that is the plants are making the tank a co2 sink and oxygen generator. the lowest ph after adding the plants is much higher then the highest pH before adding plants. 7.9 vrs 7.6 in that marine tank for instance. I also thing bumping up alk (with bakind soda) limited the nightly pH drop as well. But the key was getting the just before lights off pH high. That indicates to me the co2 is being fully removed by the plants.

Of course dosing co2 lowers pH. Which I don't do.

Just my experience.

Worth at most .02

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fw leiden since 1979, fo salt since 1979, mixed reef 55g 2002-2009. Strong emphasis on the tank taking care of itself. Balanced with plant life, no water changes, tap water, no filters in FW. Only dosing calcium, alk, mag in marine reef tanks. http://www.aquariumforum.com/f15/my-...ods-26410.html
recent tanks (till 2009) 7 years- 10g FW leiden 7 yrs, 55g mixed reef 7, 2 yrs, 20g FW leiden, 10 g fw leiden , 29g mixed reef, current tank 55g leiden

What I find confusing is the fact that my big planted tank, lots of plants. very few water changes my ph drops and not rise after awhile. I think a lot of it has to do with the kh and gh. Usually tap water will out gas and will raise in value, but having plants doesn't really have anything to do with it that I can see.

Even when I had the 75 running for a couple years as a walstead tank, the ph never rose but dropped but only by a couple of points.

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SUCCESS IS MEASURED BY YEARS, NOT MONTHS!!!
220 Tank build
http://www.aquariumforum.com/f15/sta...late-3253.html

I ran my 75g heavily planted for 5-6 months before I went pressurized and never saw the effects you refer with a slow climbing ph and as much as I read over on "The Planted Tank" forum, I have never read of anyone with lo-tech tanks describing it. I just wonder if it is something you saw, but not may not apply to everyone. I don't recall Walstad referring to anything like that either.

<<<<------ just a wierd guy.

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fw leiden since 1979, fo salt since 1979, mixed reef 55g 2002-2009. Strong emphasis on the tank taking care of itself. Balanced with plant life, no water changes, tap water, no filters in FW. Only dosing calcium, alk, mag in marine reef tanks. http://www.aquariumforum.com/f15/my-...ods-26410.html
recent tanks (till 2009) 7 years- 10g FW leiden 7 yrs, 55g mixed reef 7, 2 yrs, 20g FW leiden, 10 g fw leiden , 29g mixed reef, current tank 55g leiden