Reddit reviews Ecology of the Planted Aquarium: A Practical Manual and Scientific Treatise for the Home Aquarist, Second Edition

Well, what do you want to do?

If I wanted a cheap tank today, I'd go with a Walstad Method tank.

Lower light + lower maintenance = lower cost

Unfortunately, you won't be able to stock fish as heavily (or as exotically) as you might with a more conventional setup, or leave the light on as long, but it can still look very pretty. But those are generally the tradeoffs you have with less money. this is a pretty pricey hobby, overall. Good luck. :)

ROTFL.. well.. you don't need all that crap (although I do quite like the top quarter being a terrarium kind of thing, actually doing that with my new brackish setup for mudskippers). What you want is a Walstad tank.

http://www.amazon.ca/Ecology-Planted-Aquarium-Diana-Walstad/dp/0967377315

That is literally the book on it and it is often called the Walstad Method or the NPT (Naturally Planted Tank) method. I use it for my freshwater tanks. Yes, you don't NEED to do water changes, but every once and a while it is a good idea. The plants take care of all the nutrient export and you remove it by regular trimming. Pure Walstad uses no filter, just flow, but I have a canister, however I only use BioMatting (like bio balls) and no sponges. I use a bit of carbon and multi filter pad for heavy metals and water polishing as well in there.

The setup is very simple. 2" of mud or good potting soil (I am using Stream Mud, as smelly and black as I can find myself, but good plain potting soil from the hardware store will do. No ferts or anything, just dirt) then capped with 2" of aquarium gravel or substrate. Aragonite is a good choice.

That, in a nut shell, is it. From there you can do a dry start or a wet start. A dry start is where you plant everything in with just a little water. It is generally good to fill it up half way and let it settle to get the dirt down anyhow. After a while it will clear up and you will see the substrate start to out gas, which is normal. You plant heavily from the very very first, and that is the key. Very very heavy planting.

I love the method. I have a friend who is running a cray fish tank using it with just a power head right now. The key is lots of plants and LOTS of flow.


EDIT: Under gravel filters are bad bad bad bad. You don't want it for any number of reasons. Tends to work for a while and then goes bad very quickly.

Think about it--how much do humans have to mess with lakes and rivers to keep them running? Nature provides most of what's needed to keep a body of water self-sustaining.

The tricky part is the setup. You need lots of nutrients in the substrate, but also have lots of plants to absorb those nutrients before algae can take hold. You also need a relatively light fish load. It takes quite a few plants to support one oxygen-breathing creature.

This is easier with a larger tank, but also a shallow one so you can get lots of light to the bottom. However, even a sealed jar with a Ghost Shrimp can be self-sustaining. If well done from the start, the aquarium won't even need water changes (though it will need evaporation loss topped off).

The book on this is Diana Walstad's Ecology of the Planted Aquarium.

First off, I don't really know my stuff-- I'm relatively new and not much farther along than you, but I've been doing a ton of research lately. SO take what I say as booksmart, not lifesmart, OK?

Next, if you're interested in planted aquariums, it's absolutely essential that you get this book by Diana Walstad. You don't need to fully understand everything in there, but you need to get at least acquainted with the methods and theories. This will keep you from spending many more hundreds of dollars on ADA-type stuff, should you choose to go with this method. This will also answer a bunch of your questions about stuff like CO2, filtering and lighting. It will direct you on the proper methods and ideas regarding starting the nitrogen cycle in your tank. Your local fish store can also help out as well.

However, briefly:

• Lighting. The traditional approach used to be at least 2 watts per gallon (this is with fluorescent tubes). However, recent technology has allowed this to be less, with the advent of High Output bulbs (you'll typically see someone reference their lighting setup as 35WHO, with the W being watts). The Walstad method says you shouldn't need as much, but also that you don't need CO2. LED lighting doesn't work with watt-per-gallon equations, you need to need to know coverage and PAR value. This thread on plantedtank should help guide you. Know that LED's are rather new to aquariums and there's not any set rules, with many people just building the arrays that they want.
  
  
• Filtration. Generally, people like to go for the ability to cycle the water in your tank at least 3 times the capacity. That means that if you have a 10 gallon tank, you want the filter to be able to filter 30 gallons per hour. Don't go by the "50 Gallon Filter" rating on the front of the box-- look at the specs and see that it can filter he appropriate gallons per hour that you need. Like I said, 3 times the capacity is a good starting point. Some say double, some say 5 times. I say 3.
  
  
• CO2 and Oxygen are absolutely polar opposites. A diffusor for a CO2 line is not an aerator. Your fish will suffocate if you use the CO2 like an aerator. Again, you need to read that book. However, if you're really at this level, I would suggest you hold off for a while and make the tank without CO2. Later on, when you get more of a handle on things, then move up to CO2. Overdosing the tank with the stuff will kill everything in there, and you don't need that when you're beginning.
  
  
• In terms of getting the cycle started, most people say that you have to add some biological load to get the cycle started. Traditionally, this has been adding a platy or two to the tank right after start. This is because platy's are considered "JAW"-- just add water. They will acclimate to incredible differences in water quality. However, recently, people have started seeing this as cruel and have opted to just add a little fish food into the tank, though this takes substantially longer to get the tank cycled. Again, just read that book and it'll answer all your questions.
  
  Hope that helps.

If you're interested in some reading you should check your library for this book, it's a great read and actually where I think I read about the bamboo