Folks, please do NOT reply to aga-member-owner, as it will go to me
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stripped on this list. Thanks. Without further ado, forwarded message:
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 13 Jul 2005 14:49:14 -0700
From: John Apsley <japsley@msn.com>
To: aga-member-owner@thekrib.com
Subject: Re: Digest Vol 13, Issue 10
RE: Possibilities of Sozo Haishoku, substrate replacement, substrate
enrichment, etc…
When arguing with success, I have always tried to see the other’s
strategic
reasons for doing what they do. It appears to me that Amano has an
overall
strategy to get his plants to predominately obtain their nutrients
from the
substrate. Why? Well, first, he knows that by keeping the water column
nutrients low, his plants better outcompete algae. Secondly, he is using
8000K lighting, which has a strong representation of both blue and
green.
These two color bands will dilate the stomas on his plants’ foliage,
causing
even more nutrient loss from the water column, thus out competing the
algae
even more. Because he uses high intensity, he still has an algae
problem,
but perhaps this keeps it more manageable while allowing incredible
growth
and pearling.
Next, as to the substrate getting richer or poorer. Again strategy comes
into play. It is quite possible of course to make your substrate get
richer
in nutrients. As was pointed out, bacteria will take the detritus and
break
it down. However, as this occurs, oxygen is required. Plant roots have
adapted to low oxygen substrates to take their food supply because the
bacteria need to oxygen to make the detritus bioavailable to the plants’
roots. Nitrate is one example, and high energy phosphate molecules are
another. When the detritus has been broken down as far as it can go, you
really get BOD, which is detritus with no or little oxygen. This is
bio-unavailable, and builds up water density over time, causing a
loss in
light reaching the plant foliage, especially in deeper aquaria (i.e.,
>18”
deep) over time. Hence, water changes and carbon filtration. If Amano’s
system is near perfect to drive root nutrient uptake, and water column
nutrient efficiency, as I suspect it is, then he has made his
strategy work,
and he needs to replace his substrate as he does. BOD can really
build up
over a time period of 2 years, no matter how many water changes one
makes.
By adding in oxygen either to the water column, or better to the
substrate,
it is possible to extend the life of the substrate because the BOD will
assimilate the oxygen back into itself via bacteria (the biological
filter),
and this then becomes usable by the roots – typically in the same
manner it
does in organic farming techniques – by the dead carcasses of the
bacteria
leaving behind protoplasmic rich waste, called protein. However, in
nature
there are an array of organisms, like worms, that aerate the
substrate. In
the home aquaria, this essential strategy is hardly ever dealt with, and
anaerobic bacteria dominate, lessening the chances of reclaiming BOD.
That’s
the key to composting, and how waste gets converted into energy rich
compost. Composting needs “turning over” on a regular basis to make
the high
grade fertilizer at the end of the 12 month cycle. Hydroponic
gardeners have
long used H2O2 for this purpose, as well as to simply excite the
roots. But
in our hobby, because it is so poorly publicized, people using H2O2
usually
get caught killing their fish. This is from over dosing or using the
cheap
drug store stuff (it has preservatives). However, if using food grade
H2O2
in the right dosages and dilution the strategy is quite sound. I use
H2O2
regularly in all my aquaria, and everything works just fine, including
disease control. Also, H2O2 directly added to the water column on a
regular
basis will keep down the algae. Algae, as a primitive life form,
simply does
not have enough antioxidants to handle a short blast of H2O2 in
sufficient
quantities, whereas plants and fish do, within defined limits. Now,
this is
strategy, and all life forms on the planet have used this to
discriminate
(defend themselves) from lower, parasitic life forms. Therer have
been many
Nobel prizes in medicine or chemistry on this mechanism over the last 80
years.
Composting is the basic purpose of a substrate in nature. Most pay only
attention to the fact that in streams, fresh water is brought in.
This is
shallow thinking, as it ignores the other 50% of the equation going on
underneath the substrate. It is this type of ecosystem that we never
really
see in home aquaria, or for that matter, in most other places – BUT WE
SHOULD. If you look and study remediation treatment plants, and sewage
treatment plants, then you see how poorly these are typically run, or
how
well they are run (rare). It comes down to the BOD and the bacteria.
Amano
has not mastered this yet, but neither has most of the worlds’ sewage
treatment facilities.
In the case where BOD is properly managed, and composting
accomplished in
the home aquaria (with a recycling time in days, not months), then water
changes and substrate loss are all radically lessened. But we should
debate
more on Amano’s rationale and strategy. One down side to his
technique is
that he is unable to place many fish in his aquaria for all of the above
reasons, yet he produces such incredible Aquascapes. To do both must
mean to
master the aspect of BOD reclaiming/recycling at its best within the
home
aquaria. So, I tend to give Amano not only a break, but to see his
genius as
best I can. For example, Amano’s techniques are emerging. He started off
using different techniques from what he uses now. Maybe over time he
will
figure out how to extend his substrate via dual fertilization techniques
(i.e., water column as well as substrate) that support BOD reclaimation,
while at the same time keeping the algae growth down.
Sincerely,
Dr. John Apsley
7327 Silent Creek Avenue, SE
Snoqualmie, WA 98065
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