68L HighTech Style Planted

[xxBarneyxx]

Looking great, Barney! This could almost be a "Dutch" style scape. It's so fun to see these scapes develop. The gifs are a really cool idea.

Thanks. A lot of my scapes start off looking kind of Dutch. I think I just lack imagination they normally just end up as an overgrown jungle though.

 

[xxBarneyxx]

So ups and downs. Looks like we ended up with 5 Cory's out of the 7 we put in. I found 2 dead and its possible the 3rd missing one is still alive in there somewhere. Lampeyes have been fine, no ammonia/nitrate. Pretty sure it's just not very healthy stock in the first place. My own fault for getting from the local pets at home. It was just a lot closer than anywhere else.

We have got some ramshorns there as well. I know a lot of people's don't like these because they reproduce so fast but I really like them.

The plants in the back right where not doing do great so I have removed them. I trimmed and replant the other background plants in there now.

The crypts are doing amazingly. For a slow grower they are really getting big and spreading well.

Have some staghorn algae still. I'm not dosing this tank, CO2 is being run pretty low and the light is kind of out of whack as well so some algae is to be expected. It's nothing too major though.

Hopefully may get more fish next weekend. Still not sure what yet. I love the lampeyes but they are pretty boring to watch. They are super peaceful and stay almost entirely in the top half of the tank so while they are pretty they really don't do anything. Just sit in one spot in a little group waiting for food. I did read they like low flow but the ones I have sit in the strongest bit of flow in my tank.

Also hoping to get some shrimp in there too. I also want some isopods but some places I have read about them say they may eat live plants a little.

Looking a little sparse as I just trimmed it all back.

And a little video, not much going on though..

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Brief update. Plant cuttings on the right hand side are starting to grow in. Staghorn is dying off now CO2 is back on and things are ticking along.

Also did manage to count all 6 corys so it was only the two from the first batch that died. Lampeyes have gone from being super timid andf hiding whenever someone went near the tank to coming to the front of the tank waiting for food.

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Everything is growing pretty nicely. Background plants are growing super quick and starting to have to trim once a week. Crypts are also filling out nicely and the small 5mm single leaf I stuck in the wood right at the start is now about 6cm long and has 5 or 6 leaves growing on in.

Still some staghorn on the wood but its dying off. Testing my nitrates and they are almost undetectable so I'm going to have to start dosing soon.

I did attempt to add my spare Nicrew light to the tank. Plugged it in, worked for about 20 seconds then died. Its been running for less than 60 hours so not impressed. Hoping its just the power supply.

I'm going to have to remove some of the floating plants soon as it is blocking a bit too much light now.

Seen the first baby ramshorn snails, there are quite a few.....

Few photos from last night before I trimmed and replanted. If you look really closely you may see a fish... The lampeyes are nice but they really do blend in a lot. There normal swimming spot at the front was a bit overgrown too so they have taken to swimming at the back behind the plant on the right now. The corys also blend in a little too well. Really need some bright visible fish in there.

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Had a bit of an epiphany tonight while doing a water change and switching a few bits around.

My tank is pretty old and had a T5 light in it. I took this out and fitted the LED in the plastic hood. Looks ok from the outside but I have never been happy because the front of the tank doesn't get enough light.

It occurred to me tonight that I can just angle the light unit a little so it's pointing more towards the front. Cut off a couple of little bits of hose to wedge the light and instantly brighter at the front of the tank.

Will have to see if it effects the plants at the back buy seeing as these are fast growing stem plants that don't need a lot of light anyway it should be fine.

Hopefully now my alternanthera rosaefolia and pogostemon helferi will do a bit better. The alternanthera has been ok but not really had as much growth as I was expecting and half the pogostemon I put in died off.

 

[FishHobby99]

So after not having a tank running for quite a few years now we picked up a little 60L tank (actually picked it up over a year ago and its been sitting empty).

She who must be obeyed finally kicked me into action so decided to go for a "low tech" planted tank. The idea being to set it up and run it as cheaply as possible. However when digging through my old fish stuff I found a full bag of ADA substrate and enough CO2 to run this tank for about a year so it will be going to a high tech EI "lite" tank eventually.

So the issues I have had so far:
The light unit is not good enough. It was purchased without enough knowledge (Modern LED lighting is new to me) and it is nether long enough to fit the tank properly or strong enough to work for a high tech setup. For now it will have to do and I have tried to scape the tank around the light (using a LUX meter to check for light drop off). The plan is to either get a light the will do the job by itself or to get a second one to work along with this one.

Second issue I have had is I was planning to use my old Ehiem 2324 canister filter. It is old though and when I set it up last night I immediately flooded the living room. I then also snapped the Valve locking handle. It looks like I can get a replacement O ring and handle though but for now there is no heating and no filtration.

Third issue is that the plants I ordered don't fill up quite as much space as I was hoping. Some also turned up in a pretty bad state so not sure they will come to much. Hopefully will pick up a few extras at the weekend.

Plants at the moment are just selected for ease of growing and to try and grow out as quickly as possible. Over time I will probably be switching these out.

Hardscape is basically "make do with what I have to hand". I glued some bits of wood together to make a bit more of an interesting piece and used some slate to make some cave areas (may get Kribs or Rams in the future). Its not ideal. The tank is narrow front to back so making a nice scape is difficult. Add to that the limited choice of material and trying to leave spots where the light is working best and its not the nicest hardscape I have ever made. It's not too terrible either though and once the plants go in it will soften it up a lot.

Stock wise it wont be anything special. Flame Tertras, Cardinal Tetras, Glowlight Tertras, Cory's, pair of rams/kribs and shrimp/snails.

Anyway here is a photo of the mess I left it in last night after attempting to dry the living room carpet....

View attachment 143187

I’m not exactly sure what high tech means. Is it CO2 injection alone or other things?

Beautiful tank there!

 

[xxBarneyxx]

I’m not exactly sure what high tech means. Is it CO2 injection alone or other things?

Beautiful tank there!

Thanks. Surprised how quickly it has come together really and I haven't done that much with it.

Normally high tech means co2/ferts/bright light.

At the moment I'm not sure I would really consider this a true high tech setup. The lighting is a bit low, I'm not using ferts yet and barely putting any CO2 in.

If I can get my other light working and over the tank then I can ramp everything up a bit. Just kind of seeing how things go at the moment.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Well, it's awfully pretty, whatever it is. I love the multicolored ramshorns.

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Well, it's awfully pretty, whatever it is. I love the multicolored ramshorns.

Thanks.

Yeah I really like them too. Good job really as it looks like I might end up with a few hundred of them

 

[xxBarneyxx]

So the Nitrate in my tapwater is no longer much of an issue. Plant growth is at a stage were the nitrates I add in a water change are gone within a couple of days.

So far I haven't been dosing anything and have had pretty good growth all round. However I don't seem to be using as much CO2 as I would expect and I'm not sure if maybe I'm getting to a point were something is being depleted. Going to mix up some ferts tonight and give it a try for a couple of weeks to see how it goes. Still think I need more light as well but angling the light forward a bit does seem to have helped.

For my own reference later:
Macros -
Full dose 10ml/50L X3 times a week.
I will be doing half dose as a supplement to the ADA aquasoil.
5 squirts Tue, Thurs, Sunday Water change so skip.
500ml RO
1 tsp Potassium Phosphate
6 tsp Magnesium Sulphate
4 tsp Potassium Nitrate

Trace -
Full dose 10ml/50L X3 times a week.
Will likely do the full dose.
10 squirts Mon, Wed, Fri
500ml RO
1 tsp Chelated trace mix.

Edit: changed days so Macros are dosed twice a week and 3rd "dose" comes from water change which has around 10ppm nitrate.

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Plants are starting to get pretty dense. Trimmed and removed some of the stem plants rather than replanting for the first time. I need to remove some of the floating plants as it is blocking too much light. Feels so wrong to throw away healthy growing plants though.

Really needs more fish and some shrimp.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

looks nice!

 

[xxBarneyxx]

looks nice!

Thanks. It's filled out pretty nicely considering it was only set up 75 days ago and I've mostly just left it to do is own thing.

 

[xxBarneyxx]

NEW FISH!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!

So Saturday we got a Male Dwarf Gourami and a dozen Neon Tetras. We ummm'ed and ahhh'ed about what fish to get for ages but think this was a good choice.

I was a little worried that the neons might outcompete the lampeyes for food as the lampeyes where fairly timid feeders.

It has had the exact opposite effect, The lampeyes are a lot more confident with more small shoaling fish being in the tank and are feeding better and often swimming in one mixed group.

I have 2 female dwarf gouramis on order which I can pick up next weekend.

Photos aren't great. Will try and get a video of all the lampeyes and neons swimming together as it looks awesome.

 

[xxBarneyxx]

A good chuck of my surface was taken up by floating plants so last night I cut it back to about 1/3rd again and gave the rest away. Took a photo to put on facebook marketplace and it looked pretty cool so here it is.