A little experiment: Enriched vs Non-Enriched Eco-Complete

[pepetj]

Recently I experienced a painful eye-opener: Eco-Complete is mostly a good looking expensive inert hard substrate.

I intend to use a Marineland 56gal Column tank (30"L x 18"W x 24"H) to compare plant growth of two "gardens".

Right hand "garden" has a mixture of Carib-Sea's Eco-Complete, Nature's Ocean's Pure Water Peebles jet black inert gravel, and a locally produced top-soil substitute (toxics free, mineralized, organic compounds).

Left hand "garden" has a mixture of Eco-Complete and the jet black inert gravel.

To divide the two gardens a layer of White inert gravel was placed in between (as I intend to simulate a "walk path").

Being in the same tank, all other variables remain somewhat constant (lighting, temperature, pH, GH, KH, TDS, Conductivity... as well as same fertilization regime. However there's one variable I won't be able to control: the release of nutrients from the top-soil substitute into the water column that may play a role in the growth rate in the non-enriched Eco-Complete "garden".

I'll keep posting on this.

I will get plant specimens grown in the same environment (some from my tanks, others from a low tech aquatic plants farm). I will try to mirror the specimens planted as much as I can.

Feel free to suggests improvements or critique this "comparative" experiment.

Pepetj
Santo Domingo

 

[SuperColey1]

The leeching element is what will make this experiment pretty worthles IMO. You may find that both sides grow the same due to the eco complete using solely water column nutrients. Where the other side may use both the sediment and water column.

I wouldn't be surprised if both sides actually take water column mostly with no or minimal sediment dosing.

Would be more useful to split the tank and seal a divider into the centre so you can acurately see what is happening. Even then you would probably need to remove the water column dosing to truly compare the sediments.

I would suspect with water column dosing that both the inert and enriched sediments may play a minimal part if any at all. More likely the enriched substrate's leeching may add to the water column and provide results that way rather than the roots/sediment making the difference. In that case with both being in the same tank then both sides ill benefit from the leeching into the water column.

It maybe better to use 2 large vases on the windowsill. One with Eco and the other with soil. You can top both with sand or gravel.

Then chose a couple of stems and place in each vase.

You will se this way what difference the substrate makes.

After that test which should only need a week or 2 you can then restart and try the same experiment with water column dosing and then see if there is any difference on either.


Keep us posted though

AC

 

[pepetj]

Thanks for your input. The idea of sharing here is to learn so I'll change the design of my little experiment.

Since I do want to compare enriched vs non-enriched Eco-Complete I shall use four separate containers and try to replicate the set up; one pair of comparison sets receiving no dosing while the other pair does. I have a shelf by a window that I use to place water samples for testing; I figure I could place the containers there and use the limited sunlight that area receives through the day as lighting source.

I'll get things ready, post a picture of it and let's see how plants adapt and grow.

Pepetj
Santo Domingo

 

[SuperColey1]

You may get algae because of the new setups and natural daylight but that doesn't matter for this experiment.

At the end you should have a crude test of how well each substrate does with and without extra dosing.

You should also be able to compare if you get any extra or differnt growth when you have water column dosing and sediment dosing at the same time

AC

 

[Tom Barr]

We use pots and then a continuous dripping to remove any effects of nutrients in the water column.
Some use a DI unit to scrub the water continuously etc.

Not that easy for most aquarist. and few bother to do it for more than 2-8 weeks, not enough time to see how the long term growth is effected.

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[Whiskey]

I like this experiment!

It may not be strictly scientific, but it does tell us one very important thing for a pratical application,.. and that is,.. how necessary a better substrate than eco complete is in the average planted aquarium.

Most of us dose water ferts,.. if it turns out that having a rich substrate provides for the plants better than simply having ferts in the water, that's very important information for us! And,.. if it turns out that the water column ferts are all that's needed we may see a new trend of planted tanks with rainbow colored pea gravel

Whiskey

 

[SuperColey1]

Indeed. I would expect (I have never done an experiment on this) that the water column dosed pots both the inert and soil will be similar results.

The non water dosed soil may be similar too as it leeches into the water column where the inert witout water column dosing would be way behind if not defficient.

That would say to me that water column is all that is needed, however substrate is useful as a backup etc.

AC

 

[Whiskey]

OOh! I want to make a guess too
Or,.. maybe I should call it a hypothesis here.

My bet is that stem plants will grow about the same on both sides; however, I believe that plants like Crypts, and Glosso, and Sords will grow far faster, and look healthier on the enriched side.

Whiskey

 

[Tom Barr]

Simple bare bottom tanks and pots with different sediment and frequent water changes etc should do the trick reasonably well.

CO2/or not.........etc

I've got some nice examples from the lab vaults:

L cuba grown in non CO2 conditions

Giant pondweed native to CA:

UG etc in non CO2 systems:

It's a continuous drip flow through, so the water is changed all the time.


Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[pepetj]

Well this is what I will do then: I'll purchase a two 2gal plastic tanks. Measure 3" deep Eco-Complete in both. Enrich substrate and let the other one as is.

If I use the same water for both set ups using RO processed drinking water with Seachem's Equilibrium and perform total water changes weekly I figure we could observe how plants grow there. Place them side by side and allow indirect sunlight to both. I would use plants from the same source. Would this work better to compare both?

I could set another pair and dose ferts to that second pair as well. Then we could see what happens.

Pepetj
Santo Domingo

 

[SuperColey1]

Use a few stems in each. You don't want to compare single plants as you may be comparing a good specimen with a bad one etc.

AC