Aquatopia - 6x2x2 Low-Med Light, High Tech Angelfish Jungle

[Aquatopia]

This is the journal for my 6ft x 2ft x 2ft (180 US Gallon - 680 Litre) planted tank, which I haven't got yet but I will be getting, hopefully, in the next two weeks. I'm starting this journal to keep track of my decisions prior to getting the tank.

I have bought the tank and cabinet from AC Aquatics and have opted for the Opti white front and side panels. The tank is going to have a black background, cover glass and a hood.

I have decided to go high tech with low-med light. I'm going to use a low level of the Estimative Index (EI) for dosing nutrients and will be using pressurised CO2 but the CO2 will be at a fairly low level as well. I will be doing 50% water changes with tap water on a weekly basis, though I will be doing lots of them at first, when the tank is first setup and over the first month.

Here is what I have planned for the build so far:

Substrate - Aquatic Compost and Peat mix capped with black sand, blush brown sand for foreground - already here!
Rocks - Black Lava rock. - already here!
Wood - Mopani wood with some Spider Wood roots for detail. - already here!

Lighting: 4 x Fluval Plant 4.0 46w LED Lights - already here!
Filtration, heating & surface skimming - Oase BioMaster 2 Thermo 850 x 2 and an All Pond Solutions SKIM-2 Sufrace Skimmer. - partially here!
CO2 Equipment - Co2 Art PRO-SE Dual Stage Regulator with Integrated Solenoid, Aqua Medic CO2 Reactor 1000 and 2Kg CO2 Fire Extinguisher. - not here yet.
Dosing equipment - D-D P1 Dosing Pump - not here yet.
Monitoring and control - Reef Factory Thermo Control - already here!

Plants:
Anubias barteri v. coffeefolia
Anubias barteri v. nana
Anubias barteri v. nana 'petite'
Anubias barteri v. nana 'pinto'
Aponogeton madagascariensis
Bolbitis heudelotii
Bucephalandra - several species
Christmas moss
Crinum calamistratum
Cryptocoryne crispatula v. balansae
Cryptocoryne spiralis 'red'
Cryptocoryne 'Flamingo'
Cryptocoryne hudoroi
Cryptocoryne nurii
Cryptocoryne parva
Cryptocoryne wendtii 'green gecko'
Echinodorus ozelot green
Eleocharis acicularis
Fissidens fontanus
Hygrophila pinnatifida
Java Fern Trident
Limnophila hippuridoides
Limnophila sessiliflora
Ludwigia repens 'Super Red'
Nymphaea tiger lotus red
Nymphaea tiger lotus green

Inverts:
Amano shrimp
Horned Nerite Snails
Malaysian Trumpet Snails
Ramshorn Snails

Fish:
12 Blue Zebra Angelfish
200 Cardinal Tetra
4 Honeycomb Bristlenose Plecos
4 Clown Plecos
10 Kuhli Loaches
20 Orange Venezuela Corys
30 Otocinclus
2 Kribensis (Pair)
20 Red Platys

Once the tank has been setup I will keep this first post updated with the latest full tank shot.

If anyone has any questions, comments or feedback please feel free to join in.

 

[Aquatopia]

50Kg of Lava rock that arrived on the 10th of September, ready for the hardscape.

 

[Aquatopia]

Pieces have been arriving for a while but now I have a total of 18 pieces of Mopani wood.

I think that may be enough for a decent scape.

 

[Aquatopia]

Here's some of the substrate. Westlands Aquatic Compost and Peat.

This is the blush brown sand. The bag split so I had to dump it into bowls.

These are some pleco caves, made from slate.