# Substrate + Co2 + Light + Secret Sauce



## cb1021 (Sep 21, 2009)

Hey guys

Just wanted to share this. I read planted aquarium forums pretty often. A lot of algae discussions. A lot of what we have in the planted tank space is not scientifically proven, not much academic budget to prove this stuff I guess.

I feel like too much of the stuff is regurgitated. Whenever somebody has an issue with algae, people chime in with specific advice but never follow it up with "it worked for me".

GF and I visited Japan (Tokyo, Myoko, Niigata) about a year ago. Boy time passes fast. There were zen gardens around every corner and potted plants or bonsai in most windowsills.

The visit to ADA Gallery in Niigata priority. It was a full day trek, several hours bullet train ride, multiple stations, taxis. It was the last day they were open for the year. By the time we arrived at the front door, they were 20 mins from closing.

I quickly went in and began studying the aquariums in detail. The caliber at which ADA aquascapes and maintain tanks is #1 on average - the difference was apparent.

I immediately understand the essence of their aquascapes, otherwise known as Nature Aquariums.

By the time we arrived home, I knew exactly what I need to change in my sub-par planted aquariums. I'll share this advice to you now since it is seldom mentioned in planted aquarium forums.

*Myth:* Battle algae with flow and EI.

First of all, ADA tanks have very low flow. Their plants do not sway. A 75g aquarium deserves as much flow as what an Eheim 2217 on lily pipes can put out. I'm not sure how much flow in GPH those ADA filters output, but by visual examination, I'm comparing them to the Eheim 2217s. Regarding ferts, look at ADA's fertilizers and doses they recommend, very low by EI standards.

*2 Secret Sauces:
*

This applies to preventing/battling algae and general plant health. In order to apply techniques, simply knowing is not suffice, execution is key.

*Secret Sauce 1: *Manual labour. The Japanese gardening and bonsai culture transcends into ADA aquariums. The plants are grown in a controlled environment, controlled by growing expertise and manual labour. You need to observe your plants in detail, identify issues early, deal with issues, and make trimmings in separate stages with the end goal as objective.

When you see algae, remove it by hand. When you see dead leaves, remove by hand. When you see damaged leaves, remove by hand. Do not just let it be. Remove the problem by hand.

*Secret Sauce 2:* Time. When people add high light, co2, and ferts, they are only accomplishing one thing which is fast growth. High levels of all 3 are not required to enable growth. In other words, we all want lush tanks but issues arise when we rush the growth of plants.

In order for aquascapes to reach maturity, when it's most beautiful and bloomed, they actually don't require high light, co2, or ferts. They most definitely require you not to crash the tank.

Last note about ADA. The fish are huge, even tetras are larger than I've ever seen. The only way to reach this level is to *not *kill them before maturity. It's not so much feed them as much as they can. It's the same philosophy as growing mature aquascapes.

Here are some photos. Hope people can try medium light, co2, and ferts.


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## planter (Jun 9, 2008)

Nice post. It's an art form for sure. I can't speak for anyone here but I often fall under the high light trap. Meaning I will aquire a plant that is know to need higher light so after about a week if a plant with high light demands is not doing so well I crank the light in an attempt to save it. Causing all sorts of problems.

It takes time to really get the knack of this part of the hobby. Especially the co2 part of it. I've seen ada tanks in pictures that were 180 gallons or larger using ceramic disks for co2 delivery. Most folk's would claim that a simple diffusor like that with little flow would ever be able to supply a large tank.

I think another part of Ada's secret sauce is the ability to pair plants together that have the similar grow rates and demands. I don't remember ever seeing an ada tank that had more than a handful of plant species regardless of the tank size.


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## infolific (Apr 10, 2016)

Thanks for posting this. I think the best approach is to go in prepared for trial and error. To think you're going to end up with an ADA-level tank on your first go is going to lead to frustration. After many months I'm still at the "what grows in my tanks" and "what plants grow well together" stages. Luckily I'm still having fun.



cb1021 said:


> *Myth:* Battle algae with flow and EI.


When I first started I was so good that I could get algae to grow everywhere regardless of flow  My favourite being the tuft of BBA flapping on the spray bar.



planter said:


> It takes time to really get the knack of this part of the hobby.


I think this is the real secret for most of us. I lost a lot of plants at the beginning despite what I read and thought I was doing right. I'm now on round 2 or 3 with those same plants and all except 1 are growing.


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## cb1021 (Sep 21, 2009)

Yea I agree with you guys.

The issue is that people quantify light levels, co2 levels, and flow rates. But they seldom quantify the number of hours they are maintaining the tank and the amount of patience they have. 

The latter two being key success factors.


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## default (May 28, 2011)

For photosynthesis you need the following parameters in the tank to be working alongside each other (aside from water); light, co2, and nutrients.
However, for a tank to be successful you need to calculate the following into the parameters; time and maintenance - this is where many hobbyist overlook.

Like many members who have spoken to me regarding parameters, I have always recommended; lower lighting, co2 diffusers, and non EI approaches. As I haven't really met many planted enthusiast that have enough time to invest into super high tech systems that would just flat out become 'grow tanks' - you can have the best lights, 100% co2 saturation, and a huge surplus of nutrients, but if you don't have the time to clean up and trim, it'd be a time bomb.

These ADA systems are gorgeous, but these require daily maintenance - no skipping on regimes, and daily grooming/trimmings. Which seems obvious as it's a showroom and there are lots of hired help just for this purpose, but for us hobbyist, to get results like these, time becomes a major hurdle. Also, one more aspect many seem to forget about is; these tanks can range from high and 'lower' light systems, all of which almost always use co2 diffusers, a lighter fertilization regime*, and *very densely planted from the get-go*.
*When compared to EI or other bulk fertilizing.
Your chances of success if you plant heavily from the beginning with properly prepared plants will ensure a better planted aquarium almost every time, these are skills that are difficult to learn through readings, but instead easily picked up through enough practice.

The way I see it, planted aquariums are the best examples of equilibrium, and you really have two choices:
a) increase or invest more into your weakest parameter(s) (light, co2, nutrients, time) to match the rest.
b) decrease the highest parameter(s) (light, co2, nutrients) to match the rest. (not really much of a positive to decrease time to match lower parameters - but for some people, you are your worst enemy, some just fiddle too much in hopes of generating faster growth which would normally result in unnecessary stress and transplanting.)


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## nofrillz (Jan 19, 2015)

Some good advice thanks


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

In my experience, flow does nothing to algae. Not even to cyano in SW tanks.

I'm not sure how this myth was spread, but it's a pretty common myth.

The way I see Light + CO2 is that light is a scaping requirement, and CO2 is needed to support the light.

What I mean by that is, if you want certain types of aquascapes, you need a certain amount of light. Carpeting plants, especially, require a good amount of light. CO2 is necessary only to match the amount of light you are using.


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