4ft Planted Tank Questions

[Offelias]

Hi guys,

Hope you can help. Sorry if its not the right forum.

I have a few questions about setting up a planted tank.
I currently have a small 10gallon tank and am acquiring a 4ft tank from a friend pretty soon.

I plan to do some aquascaping with this tank. As such, I'm not going to move any fish over for quite some time as I want to establish the scape before I add stock so that I'm not continuously disturbing unestablished plants.
So my question is more about how to set up the tank to establish the plants prior to stocking.

In other words being such a large tank with no stock, do I have to run the filter as I would as if it were stocked or would there be some downtime?
Also regarding water levels. Can I get away with filing the tank enough to cover the plants but not fill the tank completely?

The filter from the previous owner is included but I plan to move some filter medium from my current setup over to the external filter as well as use some existing tank water to help with cycling.
However due to no stock at this point, I'm guessing that cycling won't be possible just yet due to no food source for the bacteria and therefore they'll die off anyway. So If that's the case, I'd wait until I'm a few months away from stocking before moving filter medium, or equally I could move one or two fish over at this point.

At this stage, I'm just concerned with somewhat establishing a healthy planted tank prior to stocking.

My second query is that I'll be moving flat in what could be six or eight months. Given that, would it be best to wait until I've moved to start any sort of setup? Or if unstocked but planted will it be relatively easy to move? It'll only be a fifteen minute drive.

Thank you for any advice x

 

[Dazzer87]

I just acquired a 4ft tank with inhabitants as well and went quite smoothly. I had several cheap 15l buckets, on eBay you can buy huge fish bags 250 micron thick nice and tuff. Place inside bucket so you can get all 15l inside to tie off. This way I took 150 litres of water with me with fish and filters all tied up and secured in the buckets. I think bags where 18x30in so had enough room for air as well. Got the tank setup, added prepared cleaned soil 1inch depth and 2.5inches of sand. Plugged in filter which took a couple of hours to clear slightly brown water from the soil did a small water change and added the remaining old water and fish and everything is fine. I haven't got round to upping the lighting or getting more plants yet but they are easy enough just to stick ur hands in and Bury them without disturbing anything. Moving might be an issue, if its just sand u could just repeat above again. Don't worry about moving established plants, I just pulled the existing swords that where in there and trimmed roots as they reached either end of the tank lol and replanted simples.

 

[Dazzer87]

In regards to the scape it depends how complicated you want to get with it really, I would leave the filter running and half fill tank but If you're moving in that time frame I would resist going in to deep and maybe do some research and make sure you are prepared with everything. Have you considered a soil base? It would benifit a planted tank well. I would be tempted to put some sand down add fish and some plants and @ a l8r date do above and scape away with fish in a big bucket and already having established a filter and some plants it would be less bother with making sure the filter media is ok over such a long period without fish.

 

[Offelias]

Hi fish fanatic,

Thanks for your reply. It sounds relatively straight forward to move.
I popped into the LFS on the way home from work and they have plenty of bags to hand if I'd like to have some at that time.

I think given that I don't know whether it'll be six or eight months, I'm planning on starting the tank up as soon as I get it, otherwise I may be staring at bagged substrate for six months. Since it sounds easy enough to move down the road, I figure the downtime won't be too great. Certainly not any worse than mail to order fish. I'm planning on setting up the 10 gallon at the new place in preparation so that they have a good home to go to while the larger gets moved. I'll just hold off of new stock until the move.


I'm interested in the substrate for planted tanks. There seems to be a lot of information around, and a lot of opinions.
I was thinking of Eco complete or similar as a base, capped with a fine grained gravel (unsure about capping with sand).
Although this won't matter too much once things are established as the substrate may not be as visible eventually.
I'm going to attempt a considered design to work towards prior to kitting out so that I know the plants and requirements before purchasing. Being my first scaping, I'm going to start with some bogwood, Anubias nana, and move the current plants over to the larger tank. I have some java fern that's doing great in the ten gallon. I also have some lovely wisteria that's currently going well, as well as some that I don't know the name for.
I'll be attempting a carpeted area to approx two thirds of the tank, the nana for some small mid ground around the bogwood, the java fern on the bogwood mainly at the focal point. I'd like some larger plants to add to the focal area but this can be addressed a little later through some research. Possibly echinodorus cordifolius. I'd also like some java moss to cover sections of the bogwood.

I realise this will take some frequent care and parameter checking, but I'm really looking forward to the trials.

Off to continue reading about substrate, lighting, CO2 and the like
I suspect I'll understand a lot more once I start getting my hands dirty.

As a note about the time, I figured if the bogwood and substrate is purchased in advance and placed correctly, I could scape around it easily without having to bucket the fish at a later date. My thoughts: designlace:cycle:move two or three current stock: plant around what's there.

I read about mineralised soil. Ill read a little more about this and will post some questions.

Many thanks,
Oph

 

[Dazzer87]

Not used eco complete before but from what I understand you dont need to cap it if you're going to carpet so I would assume its down to preference. Seems you have a good plan for plants and design I was slightly rushed in the fact that I was given the tank "fully stocked" and had to temporarily home them in a plastic tub while I sorted my substrate out; luckly I had enough time to mineralise soil before I got the tank. Best of luck with the research as I have been doing with my 50L tank thats full with plants, diy co2 and uprated lighting. Its a fine balance, I have only sand in my small tank and use a concoction of fertilizers, Micro/macro all in one, PO4,FE,Easy Carbo. I have no algae on the glass and have a small amount on plants which I believe is due to me not making my co2 very strong this time round. I now will attempt like you to get this right in my big tank when I get some new tubes.

The reason I used soil instead of eco complete was price. I bought some John Innes No.2 £3 which covers the whole tank 1inch which is all you need and the sand was free from previous owner. I did buy some Api Laterite (iron) from a lfs @£20 which I mixed into the soil and capped with sand so £23 and I have 3.5inches of subtrate which is the price of a small bag of eco complete. The process of cleaning the soil is mucky and time consuming though so that's what makes pre-made substrates more attractive. You have to wash and mix the soil round in a rubble bucket leave overnight and drain off the floating debris and scum, this process can be repeated although I only did this once. spread the soil out so its bone dry and sieve the soil so there is no wood or organic stuff that will rot and produce excess ammonia and nitrate. you will be left with a fluffy soil that i spread out on the tank and mixed with laterite. moisten the soil and mix to remove trapped air then add sand. 2 inches of sand is all thats required to be able to plant big plants and all you disturb is the sand and not the soil itself.

Daz

 

[Offelias]

It's a tough decision and I have to say, I'm finding substrate choice really is quite difficult.
I want to get it right before anything else so that I don't have to strip down later on.

I'm not going to carpet the entire bottom, so I'm currently thinking about some sort of pre made substrate capped with sand. As far as I can tell, most plants will do ok rooting in sand, and given a larger grain underneath, this would allow more root spreading from what I gather. The sand would be aesthetic rather than functional, so the depth wouldn't need to be too thick in comparison.

At least as far as I can tell.

I'm researching plants and I'm going low tech for the time being, but I'd like a substrate that will allow for higher tech if I so choose later on. I think that nutrient dosing is going to be where the real considerations lie? As long as the substrate can provide some sort of base nutrien/nutrient leech/absorbtion that can complement the dosing rather than the other way around, I think that might be the way to go?

It's all been so easy with my 10 gallon. Everything survives and grows so I must be doing something right at least on a small scale. I might be over thinking it a little

Anyway, bogwood is here! Some nice looking pieces! It'll be slow and steady until its all ready to flip the switch but it'll be worth the patience to know that I understand. Not to mention the following years of growth and upkeep.