Day 1: Low-tech Tank

In planted aquariums, a "low-tech" tank is typically defined as an aquarium that uses only low light and does not inject CO2. Dosing fertilizers is also optional and certainly not as aggressive as in a high-tech tank. Because of the limited resources in this environment, only certain type of plants can thrive and is expected to grow slower than when planted in a high-tech tank.

My goal for this experiment is to observe how certain plants grow in a low-tech tank with respect to their growth rate and quality. Bacopa caroliniana and christmas moss are the plants I choose to grow in this tank. however, I may add new ones in time in order to have a variety of plants to observe.

The following equipment is what i'm going to use for this setup:
1. 2x1x1 feet glass tank (65L)
2. EHEIM 2215 Canister Filter with Eheim Substrat Pro(0.5L) and Seachem Matrix(1L) as media.
3. Aquazonic T5HO light fixture with 24x2 light bulb (only one build will be used to meet low-light requirement of 1.3WPG)
4. light brown colored drift wood to tie christmas moss

The tank will also be occupied by 7 siamese algae eaters and 4 otocinclus.I was told that SAE's typically nibble on mosses but I will take my chances on this one. If after a few weeks and I noticed the moss is getting eaten then I will relocated the SAE's.

The driftwood is not fully water logged but it's fully prepared and water boiled for several hours before using. I did not have a lot of christmas moss so the "tree" is not fully covered with mosses.

"Christmas Tree"

One issue that I will likely have with christmas moss is temperature. The temperature where this tank is located ranges between 30C to 32C which is not the ideal temperature for this type of moss. Again, I will take my chances here and if after a few weeks I don't see any growth at all then I will probably replace it with java moss which is expected to grow at this tank's temperature range.


Bacopa caroliniana are cuttings from my other tank. 7 stems of about 10cm each are used.

Bacopa Caroliniana trimmings

Two pots are prepared, one with only stones to hold the plants. This is to observe if bacopa can grow floating and without a soil to attach its roots.
Another pot is filled with GEX plant aqua soil. In my other tank where bacopa thrives, this is the soil used.

Bacopa planted on 2 pots

This is the tank after the setup and a water pump is used to increase water flow.