HIGH TECH VS LOW TECH PLANTED TANKS

[REscapes]

I cant believe my little scape is still running, all thanks to great maintenance from tropica!
Even though i have a high tech/high energy scape, I feel like I enjoy my low energy scapes the most, theyre the right balance of having something beautiful but manageable.

[darrenderousse]

I’ve only ever done low tech and I’ve found a good combo of plants that thrive and give it that high tech look after about 6-8 months! I want to dive into co2 one day, but I’m very happy with my current low tech 9 gallon fluval flex scape! It’s completely full of plants and the background is full of eleocharis montevidensis and helanthium bolivianum quadrostatus! And helanthium tenellum green has formed really thick carpet in the foreground! Plus my buce’s and anubius nana petite! I love the ease of maintenance and no need to trim every week! Hope all is well George! Thanks for the great content!

[haitch]

I was using CO2 back in 1990 when few others were using it. Had a small aquatic shop and people were amazed as many had never see CO2 used.
Since retiring I now have just 3 tanks and have gone Low Tech on all 3, my reasons being I enjoy not having to change cylinders, clean pipes and diffusers, monitoring parameters etc.
I have lovely tanks with superb plant growth and with a little practice and experiment it's surprising just how many species will grow.
Using lots of stems to use up nutrients keeps the tanks lovely and clean and algae at a minimum. In a tanks full of fast growing plants I find higher lighting helps, even in low tech. I like quality filtration and plenty of steady water movement and I fed the plants daily at recommended doses. Now 83 years old and I still love the hobby as I did back in the '60's.

[lilirose]

I have both high tech and low tech among my nine tanks. I love them both, but for me low-tech wins out. In the short term, you get far better results with injected CO2, but in the long term, I find low tech to give stable, lush growth without the need for replacing substrate and so on. I realise many people look forward to rescaping, but I have tanks that have been ticking over nicely for years on low-tech, low-light, slow growing plants.

[Daydreamer-om]

I love low tech. I've been in the hobby over 50 years and have no intention of changing to high tech

[RainiervanSlingerlandt]

I had low energy set ups Cichlid tanks with little planting and switched to planted tanks with CO2 and better lights. I noticed that the high energy tanks, take more time but are much easier to maintain. They are much more forgiving. You see, when I now make a mistake, I can tweek things, I can reduce the lighting or increase it I can add more CO2 or I can add more or less fertilizer. With a low tech setup, there is not much more you can do then do a water change.

[mikeinca]

Im a low tech kind of guy. I have been running g it for years and am really enjoying it without all the extras. I know the co2 and better lightning are great improvements but I am really enjoying it. Plus I learned from the best! Thanks George!

[dannettepeters]

Always been low tech, primarily due to overall cost. I have found oodles of plants that do very well in a low tech environment.

[christophm.]

My recent scape is a high tech nature aquarium, that i run in a "low energy style". So with Co2 and strong light, but with a shorter photo period of just 5 hours and fewer fertilizer. And it really works amazing! But i do also have a small fluval flex lowtech tank (everything stock) with a single Betta and a big root with just bucephalandra on it! Really both styles have a place in the hobby!

[aquaticsbynature]

Huge fan here of ultra low energy tanks. There’s just something so satisfying about sitting back and watching how they evolve over the years.

[rterte]

Have both! I like both. All depends on the plants/ setups I have done. I have seen the pearling happen in both kinds of tanks. All seem to do well with the good lighting and filters.

[sjfarrell.]

I moved to C02 a few months ago and I wouldnt go back to not running it. The plants grow healthier and algae is non existent. I dont go mad with fertilizer and only do water changes every two weeks. And so far everything is running well. Plants, fish and shrimp happy 👍

[BravoDNonly]

I'm a bit of both. Love doing low tech Nanos. And go high tech with my bigger tanks.

[Jan_Marsal]

"I am too hot, Cheerio" You are killing it George : D

[frankvermeulen]

I am somewhere in the middle.

I used to have "low-tech/energy" aquariums: tubes for lights, filters with just enough capacity and a heater. And algae, always and everywhere.

But since going "high-tech/energy": pretty powerfull LED-light, large filter capacity, and CO2 (but lower temperature, and only using the heater during winter) I doubt I''ll go back. Because in this particular tank (a Dennerle 55l), there's not a spot of algae to be found, anywhere. I guess I should thank the Otocinclus as well.

Somehow, I dialed in enough of everything to get the "best" tank I ever had. A Twinstar 450 CIII at not even 50% during 8 hours, an Oase Filtosmart Thermo 100 at 23 degrees Celsius, roughly one bubble of CO2 per second. I don't even clean the glass, just change some water from time to time and trim the plants when I feel like it.

It's a miracle. 😅

[a.n.]

Another great Video. After all i am a Fan of "Strietman-Tech" - greetings from Germany.

[rcaquaria]

Low tech for me; creating an ecosystem that requires little in the way of intervention is what I love.

[tompage]

My experience is that soft Vs hard water is equally if not more important. Of course soft water naturally carries more co2.

[DylanRenke]

I've always preferred the plants that grow well in lower energy conditions. CO2 can be enjoyable, especially if you're short on patience. Nothing as satisfying as a lush jungle in low tech conditions though.

[alexthetaxi]

Another great video Matt. Definitely would love to see more like this.

How does the plant ferts affect algae? My concern was always that more nutrients might mean more algae? I’ve always only doses as I see nutrient deficiencies. Would love to know your thoughts :)