And So It Begins- The York Saga

[BigIan]

Well t`wife and i have just moved into our new house and decided to start again from scratch, we have a new lighting rig as the Mrs was sick and tired of my diy attempts, we also have a new filter and new heaters.

I have been told in no uncertain terms that this tank is to remain low-tec no Co2 however i will be planting the tank with less demanding plants but hopfully it should still look pretty.

so what do we have......

220 litre tank 2ft tall and 4 ft long.

2 x 54w HOt5 tubes

and JBL manado substrate.


The Plan

We want to keep it simple and managable with less demaning plants such as criptocoryene, echinodorus, and easy stems such as ludwiggia and hygrophilia.
We also want to keep our stocking simple, with 2 large shoals (15 to 20) of tetras or rasboras, such as cardinals and harlequins, we also want a pair of angels with natural coloring,a small school of corrys and some sort of apistograma.

Pics will follow as soon as i finish planting my first batch of plants

 

[ian]

sounds good Ian, however, you might want to think of a carbon suppliment with the lights you're using.

 

[BigIan]

we`ll see how it goes, i may just have to get a massive algae scraper

 

[Miss Wiggle]

i don't mind you using excel or something like that, just can't be doing with the hard work of EI/CO2 etc all over again.

 

[BigIan]

As promised pics: tank is now planted with echinodorus red devil x3, unknown echinodorus x 2, crypt bulosa x lots.

 

[BigIan]

Well today we have nitrite in the tank so our cycle is developing well considering we only dosed with ammonia less than a week ago.
We also popped into the local LFS to browse for our potential stocking and have fallen in love with fork tail rainbows so we will definitely be having some of them. We also picked up some more plants, some hygrophillia polysperma, some more crypt bulosa, and some form of nymphea species. i should also find out on Monday if the LFS can get hold of some crypt crispatula for me.

Oh heres some pics......

right side of tank:

Left side of tank:

full tank shot:

 

[ian]

looks nice Ian, did you get any Easycarbo? or should i say, did 'she' let you get any Easycarbo?

 

[BigIan]

Thanks Ian, will look better when i dig out my planting tools it will look better, as i can plant my crypts propperly and smooth my substrate.
As for the easy carbo, not yet i need to do some research into what carbon products are on the market, Still definitely not allowed a pressurized co2 unit, ~(yet)~ but i did find all my dry chems from when i was doing EI and i`m gonna mix up a batch of trace to start adding to the tank.

any advice as to what carbon type stuff to use?

 

[ian]

you are running approx 2.1wpg, (even though we don't really use this as a marker anymore, due to the t5ho) so i'd have to say pressurised would be your best option (you know that already though, sorry). Aqua essentials sell there own version of liquid carbon now for 250ml 5.99, 500ml 9.9, 1L 14.99.

 

[BigIan]

yep pressurized is not an option. simple as.

whats happened to aqua essentials? its gone down hill since i last looked on there.

 

[BigIan]

And we`ve just done the full barrage of tests we have ammonia at 4 ppm, nitrite at 0.25 and nitrate is at about 5 ppm, so yeay

 

[coldcazzie]

I thought a fishless cycle in a planted tank was a big no-no?

Like your scape though very nice

 

[BigIan]

so people keep telling me, i should find out why at some point, it didn`t do any harm before though.

 

[Wills]

Hi Brilliant looking tank there love the wood.

From what I know the main reason not to do plants in a fishless cycle is because of algae growth which can be a problem.

Im from Hull and always on the look out for good fish shops and since the mrs likes to frequent York I want to pick your brains for good shops in that area. Any ideas? Ive been to the MA and its okay but not one of the best in the area. So yeah any suggestions

Wills

 

[BigIan]

We`ve only been here a few weeks just moved from Leeds so can`t help you really, we have only used the MH which is just 5 mins away from us.

we are on the look out for others though.