The Dry Start Method Aquarium - Incredibly Easy Results! (Extra Tip)

[@AquariumPlantLab]

I propagate and sell aquarium plants! All sales help to support this channel 🌱 nwaquahobby.com Thanks for watching don't forget to like and subscribe!

[@xXxDolanxXx]

Instead of installing an air pump you can just once or twice a day lift of the cover for about 30 mins and that would be just fine as well :) You have to re mist the tank anyway, so it's easy to pair this actions together.

[@AquariumPlantLab]

Ya that would work too. I actually didn’t mist this setup though. It was basically just a set and forget scenario 🌱

[@Mahhkz]

I planned on doing this for covering wood with moss, but I never thought about doing all the substrate plants that way!

[@hypexzombie7908]

A nice test you could do is setup twin tank exactly the same with the only difference being the airline tubing. Would be interesting to see how effective it really is

[@rodneywalat8956]

I would like to try this someday. My question is what about meltback after flooding? Especially in a low tech setup with no CO2? Another question is: Does this work for all species of what we call aquatic plants? Which plant species would be most likely to die back or melt long-term after flooding in a low tech, no CO2 environment?

[@sudeepnarasimha]

Well the plants will do melt even w co2 tank , however it will be very less since the roots are established and easier for them to convert , also this is how it is in the Amazon basin the plants every year , due to weather changes

[@michaelgrouse7850]

I'm surprised you did not get Algae at the beginning since you had water and light hitting the substrate. Are you using an inert substrate here or aquasoil?

[@HisValor]

Thank you for the video, I’ve done DSM a week ago and it seems like some of my plants are browning. I have light on about 10 hours a day, I water them once in the morning and once at night, I have saran wrap covering the tank, feels humid when I put my hand inside the tank to give them a little air for 5 to 10 minutes. What am I missing that’s causing some of my clumps of plants to start browning?

[@TomTeysen]

Great video and like the hack with the airline!

[@dr.vivekganesan2116]

Hi really love your videos… your in-line air tube inside the tank won’t it reduce the humidity ??cos air from outside when pumped inside using the air pump… kindly help me out!

[@AquariumPlantLab]

Thanks! To answer your question, yes, but not by much. My tank still collects large amounts of condensation on all glass surfaces so the humidity is still very high in there 👍

[@dr.vivekganesan2116]

@@AquariumPlantLab hey thanks for the quick reply, I followed your method and my humidity drastically came down and yea it was like but dry inside hmmm

[@AquariumPlantLab]

@@dr.vivekganesan2116 do you have most of the air gaps closed up? I use packing tape to seal most visible gaps

[@dr.vivekganesan2116]

@@AquariumPlantLab yea I drilled a hole and fixed the airline tube inside to it

[@AquariumPlantLab]

What is your water level? Above or below the substrate? What substrate do you have?

[@paullb2440]

When you use this method do you get the non submerged leaf variant growing for each plant ? If so do you trim back aggressively once you add water, so you use the dry start essentially as a way of establishing root growth ?

[@AquariumPlantLab]

Nope! I’ve found that as long as humidity is high it doesn’t really matter what the leaves look like, raise the water and they should grow pretty well under most circumstances. Humidity is key!

[@bala397]

What is the tank dimension size?

[@sophia3a9]

I know its a bit late, but did you manage to make a video of you flooding the tank and results afterwards?

[@AquariumPlantLab]

Here’s one 😃 kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y4KlpoynbZdledksi=3nXAQkZhmJvtwdk2

[@keesbrouwers7592]

Hi the air input must that alone the hole day of when the light are on Regrets Kees

[@paskasiusevanfernando9059]

so how should i position the tube? is it just like a straw where i just put the end of the tube inside and the other one outside? or is it attached to some machine? i still dont get it

[@AquariumPlantLab]

One end of the tube goes inside the tank the other end goes outside and is connected to an aquarium airpump as shown in the video. Consider adding an airline control valve so you can dial the airflow way down. Too much will dry out the plants.

[@paskasiusevanfernando9059]

@@AquariumPlantLab ahh i get what you mean now, so the point is just transferring those co2 into the tank by 'force' which is the air pump.. I thought it was just like a straw that acts simillarly as if it was a mini ventilation for gas exchange

[@AquariumPlantLab]

@@paskasiusevanfernando9059 you got it. You could drill a hole or leave a small air gap in the lid for passive ventilation, but I find the positive pressure created by the pump to do a better job of distributing fresh atmospheric gasses, including co2, into the tank. 🌱

[@thedoujinguynico7315]

Im going to do this for my tank its been running for 1 year and 1 month but my monte carlo stopped growing a few months ago, also thr air line in the tank doesent just help with the plants grow it helps prevent mold 😀 another thing i would try is a diy co2 bottle just letting the co2 in the tank leaving it without a cap this is done when growing cannabis it 3x the grow rates 😉😀

[@HenhousetheRed]

What might be the impacts to the cycling of the tank to later adding fish? Wouldn't the dry start method just delay a completed cycle if you're going to want to add fish later? Asking because I needed to restart an aquarium from the ground up with new substrate, couldn't keep algae under control and screwed up the addition of ammonia.

[@AquariumPlantLab]

So here’s my take on this, others will disagree with me but that’s okay. If you add a small amount of fish I would bet that no cycling is needed given how many plants are in there now. With that said I would monitor the water closely for a few weeks just to be sure. The reason I say this is because the large amount of plants should be able to absorb the small amount of ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate produced by the fish. Studies have shown that plants can take up all three so if the plant load is high then you should be able to skip cycling with a small amount of fish. Hope that makes sense!

[@jandomingo9806]

The low water already has bb during the dry start. When full cycling will b super quick.

[@matiasmorgan1472]

Now. That is something that I have to try

[@jamestheengineer256]

Do you have to spray your aquarium everyday or that small amount of water in the surface is enough to keep the humidity high?

[@lsxg]

Your dry start method is the same as emmersed planting ?

[@AquariumPlantLab]

Pretty much! High humidify is the key 🔑

[@lsxg]

@@AquariumPlantLab appreciated very much for your information !

[@tommypham1101]

Pro tips use regular wrap to cover the top and use a toothpick to add in small holes and it does the same job

[@AquariumPlantLab]

That helps, I had some air gaps in the lid before adding the airline which helped but the positive pressure created by the airline definitely boosted growth noticeably. 🌱

[@blindstrom4968]

@@AquariumPlantLab Do you need to pump the environmental air in through the tube? If so, what do you use for that? Thanks!

[@AquariumPlantLab]

@@blindstrom4968 Yes, I use an aquarium air pump 👍. I would recommend getting a control valve so you can adjust the flow. Too much and youll dry out the plants, too little and you dont get the benefit.

[@GoodSamaritan1972]

I live in the tropics and the temperature within a tank with a setup like this could really get high...any ideas how i can overcome this?

[@AquariumPlantLab]

If you live in a tropical humid location you may not even need the lid! We have cool dry air so in need one to simulate tropical air :) I didn’t have any algae issues but I did have snails in there, in fact I kept the cm of water specifically for them. If you don’t have any snails you could lower the water to be level with or just below the surface of the substrate. 👍

[@stefan00123]

This is looking awesome! Just buyed a 3th aquarium so we are going to do it like this 👍👍 Thanks for the information & love from the netherlands ✌

[@vinratensei7935]

What if the airline tubing is hooked to c02?

[@AquariumPlantLab]

Even better :). Growth without though is already great so I don’t bother personally.

[@byz513]

What do those plants eat? Spinach??

[@njzharr4312]

What the name of the stand in your aquarium?

[@pa.fishpreacher6166]

Do they melt once going into the water (full tank)

[@napaquatics3639]

I'm gonna guess yes. Which makes wonder what's the Point of dry starting stems? Monte Carlo or Eleocharis maybe but can't see any benefit to dry starting lids or rotalas

[@AquariumPlantLab]

Good question! Make sure to keep tabs on the update videos. I’ll be flooding this setup at least above the S. Repens, so your question will be answered in the follow up videos :)

[@thewidow710]

what about subwasserton?

[@kenjiro2676]

4:27, most, if not all the plants used in this scape can be grown as marginal plants and are flood tolerant (even adapting to living underwater, growing passed the surface line).

[@AquariumPlantLab]

Yup! I grow all of these aquarium plants commercially at my farm. They serve as great aquarium plants but they are the also excellent choices for ripariums provided humidity stays relatively high. My plan is to turn this setup into a riparium, flooding to about 50%

[@kenjiro2676]

@@AquariumPlantLab that is going to look awesome!

[@fishiemon64]

Thanks for the advice 👀✌🏽👍🏽

[@kkiiization]

Did your plants melt with the dry start? Because my Monte Carlo is melting

[@joeq327]

How do you set up a dry start system?

[@naikodimama9700]

Those S.repens grow so fast!

[@Ryan0Gray]

Put the airline tube in a bottle filled with water and another airline tube above the water line going into the tank forcing humid air into the system preventing having to spary daily. You jusylt have to seal the hole for the airline tubing with hot glue.

[@AquariumPlantLab]

Good idea! This setup doesn’t need to be sprayed though. As long as the lid fits pretty snug it stays very humid in there 👍

[@Ryan0Gray]

@@AquariumPlantLab Right on! With all my starts I usually put 3 cut holes about a 4"^2 total with a fan over one of them to keep the air flowing out and humid inflow to prevent mold. Works best for long term set ups for dwarf hair grass, monte carlo and hydrocotyle tripartita. Carpets

[@AquariumPlantLab]

Nice! I bet that works well! Give the airline a try sometime, I’d be curious to see how it compares 👍

[@thanatosor]

Plan to build aquarium, ended up a terrarium.

[@sherlockbonez]

That airline is a good idea, ppl put fans in cannabis grow tents.

[@romancharak3675]

That aquarium is almost too nice to flood with water!