Hello everyone, here we are at the final article of this beautiful project.
Over the course of the 4 articles that followed, we saw this tank grow with a step by step of its journey, and we learned about some Wabyscaping techniques that really allow us to create anything, without curbing our imagination… we cultivated plants rooted directly on a root kept out of the water… and we created a type of tank where the emerged area, stronger and more dominant, blends in a very natural and harmonious way with the submerged part of the setup.
I take the opportunity of this last article to briefly retrace the history and growth of this tank with some images:
Plants inserted:
o Ophiopogon Kyoto;
o Bucephalandra mini Catherina;
o Anubias Petit;
o Christmass Moss;
o Cryptocoryne Parva;
o Elocharis Acicularis;
o Elocharis Sp. Minima;
o Ludwigia Glandulosa Red;
o Hygrophila Polysperma Roseanerving;
o Rotala Colorata;
o Hydrocotyle Sp. Japan;
o Juncus Repens.
As you can see, the growth was really important… and it was a succession of periods with great vegetative growth and periods with more calm… as I had also mentioned in the previous article, the fertilization protocol was personalized and managed in a directly proportional way to the response of the plants.
Maintenance and Pruning:
The maintenance that this type of tub required from me is as follows and must be considered on a weekly basis:
0 Constant water change at a rate of 25% – approximately 20/25 litres;
0 Sand suction and cleaning;
0 Moss cleaning;
0 Manual removal and suction of filamentous algae (there was a period of approximately 20 days during the maturation phase which had appeared in the tank);
0 Checking the irrigation system (porous tube) and the root state of the plants grown on the bare root, the roots must always be white and of good consistency, which indicates that they are in good health;
0 I check for the presence of dangerous mold and fungal attacks, especially among plants in emergent cultivation. Every day I check that among the bushes and especially at the base of them where the air struggles to circulate freely, that no areas of high humidity with poor oxygenation are created. environment favorable to the formation of very dangerous pathogenic and fungal attacks;
0 Check for the presence of parasites daily on the emerged part of the crop;
0 Cleaning rocks using a toothbrush;
0 Cleaning the windows with the help of a plastic card or simple perlon wool;
0 Pruning of emerging plants, frequent thinning of bushes to allow the plants to “breathe” and avoid humid areas with poor ventilation;
0 Pruning of mosses, to keep them low and promote direct rooting on the root;
0 Replacing the sand, in particular the first centimeter directly in contact with the water column, because it inevitably becomes dirty and loses shine over time, to be carried out if necessary on a quarterly basis;
0 Weekly cleaning of the sponge that protects the pump for the irrigation system with porous pipe, to prevent the pipe itself from becoming saturated.
Daily fertilization, approximately as per the table below:
Water values:
o pH = 6,8/7;
o GH = 10°;
o KH = 4°;
o NO2 = 0 ppm;
o NO3 = 0 ppm;
o PO4 = 0,5 ppm;
o K = theoretical, administered through fertilization and not measured: around 15/20 mg/l;
o Fe = 0 ppm (not measurable);
o CO2 = 25 ppm;
Ambient temperature without heater around 21/22 °C.
Note:
I’m not particularly fond of water tests… but since this is a project aimed at testing the fertilization line of the super expert protocol, I forced myself to do the tests on a weekly basis (during the first month and fortnightly in the following months). to try to understand how the plants react after each administration of fertilizers and how long they remain available.
I had particular difficulty in keeping at least a minimum of macro elements constant in the tank… evidently the presence of emerged plants absorbs a large part of the nutrients present in the column, always exponentially lowering their concentration. For this specific reason I reiterate the concept that to support a fertilization plan suitable for tanks of this type, one must more or less understand the consumption capacity of the tank and the growth speed of the plants.
Bio_system E’quo
A very important consideration, and not to be underestimated, is the construction of the Bio-System created with the products E’quo.
The company supplies the highest quality products in the organic sector, the use of Bacterya, associated with Bio-alganex, Nutrobact and Remover NH3, at each water change effectively helps to prevent fungal and/or pathogenic attacks in the emerged area, and above all it helps to prevent the formation of algae and/or cyanobacteria in the water. Bio-alganex, if used with particular consistency and precision, eliminates the algal spores present in the water and colonizes the tank and the filter with selected bacterial colonies. Bio-Soil inserted during the construction phase of the base immediately allows the establishment of strong bacterial colonies in the substrate, which will guarantee healthy growth for the roots.
The biological balance reaches stability in a short time, thus guaranteeing an effective bio-system.
We must try to recreate what nature operates in an extremely long time in a faster way, and above all in an effective and safe way… always remembering that a bio-system enclosed in 5 glasses constantly undergoes inevitable variations… whether for changes water we make, either due to the fact that we insert our hands into the water and therefore become carriers of harmful bacteria and/or spores in the tank… you understand well that keeping the bacterial colonies active and constantly renewed becomes of fundamental importance to guarantee a long-lasting bio-system and in balance.
Allow me to say a huge thank you to E’quo S.r.l. in the people of Mauro Calabrese and his wife Natasha Grishcenkova, because they wanted to continue to believe in my abilities, and they demonstrated once again that they are the owners of a company that is constantly moving, not afraid to get involved and not fears no confrontation.
Hi everyone
Roberto Bielli
