Aquamaniac
Fish Crazy
Hello
Here I am again with a new journal.
This tank is not yet working. I have already set up the hardscape and substrate and I am moving to the plants in the next few days. But I decided to make a journal about the development of it since planning stage.
Since my return to fishkeeping and planted tanks in 2011 I have sticked to the personal rule of do one year projects and starting a new one every year. This is about to change though.
These are my last two projects:
Desired return 2011
http
/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/373680-my-tank-120x50x40/?p=3125390&fromsearch=1#entry3125390
Green Hills 2012
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/396691-my-planted-tank-the-green-hills/
Both these projects were on the high-tech side, with pressurized co2,EI fertilization,fertile soil and high light ( from 0,5 watts/litre up to 1watts/litre).
This time i decided to turn my 240 litre high-tech into a low-tech.
Reasons to do this?
1-I don’t have the time for maintenance that a fully High-tech requires.
I love High-tech tanks with lush and healthy growth, but the fact is these tanks take a lot of time to keep it like that. Between trimmings, water changes, fertilization, and everyday checking of everything to make sure there’s no problem they do take time.
Do not misunderstand me I love to do this, but with work, kids and all the affairs of everyday life I find sometimes I do not have the time to keep up with regular maintenance. And High-techs do tend to be unforgiving if left on their own design.
I need to have a tank that can endure time, a tank that can stay healthy even when my life is too busy for it.
2-I need to finally have a project that sticks to a tight budget.
My wife’s 200 litre low-tech planted tank, was a very cheap tank to assemble, it has now reached it’s one year of life, she hardly loses any time with it and it is still going strong, having already supplied plants a couple of times to other tanks.
After a year with this tank she obviously questions my need to use pressurized co2,high-light,heavy dosing of fertilizers and plants that simply die or look bad at the minimum mistake.
Besides for some time now I have evolved beyond the concept that you can only have a beautifull scape if you go hight-tech.
3-This is the main tank of the house.
Basically this is the main tank of the house, right in the middle of the living room; it’s also the biggest one I’ve got. My reasoning is that it needs to look well all the time, because it’s in an area of the house where everyone can see it, it’s big so it’s a lot of work to maintain and it requires a lot more plants,hardscape,fertilizer,light,co2 which makes it more costly.
I have a small 75 litre cube that I might use in future High-tech adventures if I feel the need to have one. But for now this 240 litre tank High-tech days are over.
Transforming a High-tech into a low-tech:
There is no rocket science here I think. But to make it a low-tech I had to downgrade a bit.
1-Removed the pressurized co2 system.
Basically if there’s co2 it’s high-tech, specially pressurized. My experience with co2 is that it can be as rewarding if used properly as unforgiving if misused. Basically with it you get the fast growth and ability to keep a much wider variety of plants but at the same time you get a much bigger challenge.
It normally requires stable flow of co2, good flow around the tank, more light, and fertilizers and a very tight control over these to avoid problems.
By removing my co2 system I lost the ultra-fast growth and reduced the amount of plants I can actually keep in the tank but increased its stability.
2-Light downgrade
This tank had an over the top light system of 4x54 watts T5. Most of the time I only used half of it in my previous projects but it’s still too much light for a non-co2 tank and I didn’t want to cause any unbalance that would lead to algae. That light in itself will not lead to algae but the lack of enough co2 will. Most algae problems are related to low or unstable Co2 , not enough flow or dirty tank.
I wanted to make this tank cheap so going out of my way to buy a new light even if it’s a weaker one just would not do.
Luckily for me I still had in the basement the original hood and light system that came with the tank.
It was never used and it’s been collecting dust for two years.
After cleaning the dust of it and some testing it is still working so I removed the high-light system and restored the tank to its original form with a hood.
Tank looks like this again:
I reckon that it will save me some time also in not having to restore evaporated water since the tank is now completely closed and my high-tech projects always had some crazy evaporation.
Other changes:
My previous project was using two canister filters, a Fluval 305 and a Eheim 2215. This was not just for enhanced filter capacity but also for enhanced flow. Something my tank always had a problem.
The tank is a fluval roma 240 and the filter is connected to two holes in the bottom of the tank. Problem is that with this setting the intake of my 305 was always half way up the tank and it had problems picking up rubbish in the substrate and flow was also not the best.
So on my last project I added a eheim 2215 to the setting.
However my tank has been deactivated for 4 months so this filter was moved to my wife’s low-tech because she only had an internal filter.
So to start I will only use the Fluval 305.
Setup
Tank: Fluval roma 240
Size: 120x40x50 (aprox.240 litres)
Lighting: 2x40 watts T8 (original fluval roma hood system)
Filter: Fluval 305
Heater: Fluval Mirrored M
Substrate:
Tropica aquacare capped with Tesco cat litter for the planted areas
Argus play sand for non-planted areas.
Hardscape:
Redmoor wood
Lots of rocks but I can’t remember the name of them I’ll check next time I go to the fish shop and put it here.
All this hardscape is used from my previous projects so I did not have to actually spend any on it. Or break my back carrying it half way through London from the fish shop.
Choosing the substrate
I have mentioned before I wanted to keep this tank under budget so it would never be any specialized type of substrate.
So I have decided to use tesco lightweight low dust cat litter. I have used it in the last high-tech with good results so the choice was obvious. It’s a pain to clean, but last time I had clear water from day one so I just repeated the formula again. I washed the litter as much as possible.
You cannot use just any type of cat litter. The one I used is made of clay not much different from akadama.
You can find the one i used here:
http/www.tesco.com/groceries/Product/Details/?id=265235247
It’s been used by planted tank people for quite some time, some successful others not so successful, I tried it last time and was happy enough to give it another go.
Besides at 3£ every 10 Kg it’s the cheapest thing around.
I used Akadama in the past, a type of substrate used for bonsai’s and honestly I do think it’s better than the cat litter but it is a pain to wash too and even though it was very cheap some years ago it’s becoming expensive and rare to find these days.
Because of the type of layout I want to do I will need to do different types of substrate. I wanted to use sand for the other one and the obvious choice was argos play sand.
It’s cheap and inert and to be honest looks great in the tank. In the past I have used silica sand because in Portugal I could just go to the extraction and get it for free. But in London I have no such chance so last year we used argos play sand on my wife’s low-tech.
It’s actually much better than silica because it’s much less dusty so it’s easier to clean, and the yellow colour resembles beach sand much more than the clear white silica.
In time silica also gets a more yellowish colour because it gets dirty but play sand gives that effect from the go. I will use this only on non-planted areas, beware that sand compacts and makes it more difficult for plant roots to spread but to be honest I planted heavy with silica in the past and the plants never complained one bit. They just kept taking over the tank.
At 2.99£ 15kg bag this is the cheapest thing I could find. And considering it’s in my opinion the best sand around to use it’s a bargain.
As said before you can use silica, play sand or pond filter sand to get the same effect. Being that silica is clear white while the others have more yellowish colour.
You can find the sand i used here:
http/www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/3650574.htm
Fertile soil yes or no
Most low-techs do not use this or some don’t even use any form of fertilization and the plants live only on organic waste from the fish.
I decided to use the fertile soil because at least for a while will fit in the low hassle idea I have for this tank. I am hoping that the fertile soil will stop the need for me to do any fertilization for quite some time , it was done on the 200 litre low-tech I assembled for the Mrs. And plants have grown with no form of fertilization apart from the fertile soil during the entire year.
Or to be honest it’s just that I’m just so stubborn and used to this for years that I couldn’t just let go of the idea of using it again. Anyway the chosen fertile soil was tropica aquacare, hardly what I would call a bargain, but still one of the cheapest around for its quality. And I’ve had good experiences with it.
The fertile soil will be capped by the cat litter and I will plant only in this area.
This is the one i used:
http/www.thegreenmachineonline.com/products/aquatics/substrate-system/tropica-plant-growth-substrate-2-5-litre
Best alternatives are : any fertile soil from specialized companies like ADA but these are expensive.
Cheaper alternatives:
Dirt: For a while now I have seen people that use dirt as a fertile soil. I have never used it myself but apparently this works for a lot of people. It has its disadvantages. First you need to really cap it off really good with good amount of substrate so the dirt does not move in to the water column otherwise you’ll have some severe algae blooms. The other one is if you like to constantly rescape than cheaper is not better for you as the constant uprooting of plants will make a mess.
Worm castings: This method I used before I moved to the UK. It’s a cheaper alternative I first heard of being used in Brazil, and later adopted in Portugal many other planted tank enthusiasts (including me) who could just not afford specialized substrates.
It’s probably the most fertile soil I have ever used. This thing just keeps going for ever and ever, I used to have to cut plants every two days or they would start coming out of the tank.
Not everything is perfect though, it’s the only fertile soil I ever used that requires cleaning, and it’s the hardest thing I ever cleaned.
Needs to be capped really well, you really don’t want this in the water column. ( capped it off with silica sand).
For the first weeks to a month the water was yellow cloudy, but with a good water change regime it was crystal clear in a few weeks.
Brown algae blooms in the first weeks were also a big problem.
After that no problems at all even with rescapes.
Never found it selling in the UK anyway.
Picture of a 120 litre tank I had that used this method:
Evergreen Forest 2006
Plants
I am still researching on the plants. So it’s still not a 100% confirmed.
Anubias
Anubias nana
Anubias petite
This ones are confirmed, reason is because I plan to attach as many as I can to rocks and wood , also because I have a tank here with more than enough cuttings to supply after one year of growth.
Valisneria Gigantea
Java Moss
Bacopa australis
Cyptocoryne wendii Brown
Java fern
Sagittaria Stubulatta
Egeria densa
These are some of the plants that if I am not wrong will do well in low-techs but I am still researching this so they are not confirmed.
I am open to suggestion on good plants to keep on low-techs preferably from people that actually kept them successfully.
Fish
Angelfish
It’s my favourite fish; I have had them in many of my planted tanks. On last year’s project though I gave up on them for a desire to try something new and for the fact that smaller fish normally have a better visual impact on planted tanks. This time I will ignore this and go back to my beloved angels.
Corys (corydora albino)
Another of my favourites that was sacrificed lately to my desire to try and grow carpet plants, since I am not trying to grow any carpet they will be back in this project.
Rams (ramirezi)
Been saying for years I want to try them and so far I have not. This time I want to go for them, they’ll be fine together with the angels as I’ve seen people grow them together before.
Ottos (ottocinclus affinis)
Even in a low-tech they might come in handy. Besides I have become acostumed to having them in my setups.
Amano Shrimps
My new passion, out of my trying new species last year a new passion has emerged. I love these tireless workers in my tank, they are useful yes but for me it’s more how much alive the tank looks with them running around non-stop.
My problem is I never used them with angels and I am not sure if they will see the shrimps as supper.
Maybe some neon’s or rummy nose tetras I had them before with angels and there was no problem. The trick is to add them with the angels when they are still young and small to get accustomed. And also have a lot of hiding places.
Setting up the tank:
This is how the tank looks so far. All the hardscape i had is in place. The substrate is also in place. I do think the left side is rather empty so i'll try to get some more rocks or wood to fit there. After that i'll move into the plants to see if i can get the tank moving as fast as possible.
For those who reached the end of this long post.
Thanks for reading.
I'll update as soon as i have more progress.
Here I am again with a new journal.
This tank is not yet working. I have already set up the hardscape and substrate and I am moving to the plants in the next few days. But I decided to make a journal about the development of it since planning stage.
Since my return to fishkeeping and planted tanks in 2011 I have sticked to the personal rule of do one year projects and starting a new one every year. This is about to change though.
These are my last two projects:
Desired return 2011
http
/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/373680-my-tank-120x50x40/?p=3125390&fromsearch=1#entry3125390Green Hills 2012
http
/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/396691-my-planted-tank-the-green-hills/Both these projects were on the high-tech side, with pressurized co2,EI fertilization,fertile soil and high light ( from 0,5 watts/litre up to 1watts/litre).
This time i decided to turn my 240 litre high-tech into a low-tech.
Reasons to do this?
1-I don’t have the time for maintenance that a fully High-tech requires.
I love High-tech tanks with lush and healthy growth, but the fact is these tanks take a lot of time to keep it like that. Between trimmings, water changes, fertilization, and everyday checking of everything to make sure there’s no problem they do take time.
Do not misunderstand me I love to do this, but with work, kids and all the affairs of everyday life I find sometimes I do not have the time to keep up with regular maintenance. And High-techs do tend to be unforgiving if left on their own design.
I need to have a tank that can endure time, a tank that can stay healthy even when my life is too busy for it.
2-I need to finally have a project that sticks to a tight budget.
My wife’s 200 litre low-tech planted tank, was a very cheap tank to assemble, it has now reached it’s one year of life, she hardly loses any time with it and it is still going strong, having already supplied plants a couple of times to other tanks.
After a year with this tank she obviously questions my need to use pressurized co2,high-light,heavy dosing of fertilizers and plants that simply die or look bad at the minimum mistake.
Besides for some time now I have evolved beyond the concept that you can only have a beautifull scape if you go hight-tech.
3-This is the main tank of the house.
Basically this is the main tank of the house, right in the middle of the living room; it’s also the biggest one I’ve got. My reasoning is that it needs to look well all the time, because it’s in an area of the house where everyone can see it, it’s big so it’s a lot of work to maintain and it requires a lot more plants,hardscape,fertilizer,light,co2 which makes it more costly.
I have a small 75 litre cube that I might use in future High-tech adventures if I feel the need to have one. But for now this 240 litre tank High-tech days are over.
Transforming a High-tech into a low-tech:
There is no rocket science here I think. But to make it a low-tech I had to downgrade a bit.
1-Removed the pressurized co2 system.
Basically if there’s co2 it’s high-tech, specially pressurized. My experience with co2 is that it can be as rewarding if used properly as unforgiving if misused. Basically with it you get the fast growth and ability to keep a much wider variety of plants but at the same time you get a much bigger challenge.
It normally requires stable flow of co2, good flow around the tank, more light, and fertilizers and a very tight control over these to avoid problems.
By removing my co2 system I lost the ultra-fast growth and reduced the amount of plants I can actually keep in the tank but increased its stability.
2-Light downgrade
This tank had an over the top light system of 4x54 watts T5. Most of the time I only used half of it in my previous projects but it’s still too much light for a non-co2 tank and I didn’t want to cause any unbalance that would lead to algae. That light in itself will not lead to algae but the lack of enough co2 will. Most algae problems are related to low or unstable Co2 , not enough flow or dirty tank.
I wanted to make this tank cheap so going out of my way to buy a new light even if it’s a weaker one just would not do.
Luckily for me I still had in the basement the original hood and light system that came with the tank.
It was never used and it’s been collecting dust for two years.
After cleaning the dust of it and some testing it is still working so I removed the high-light system and restored the tank to its original form with a hood.
Tank looks like this again:
I reckon that it will save me some time also in not having to restore evaporated water since the tank is now completely closed and my high-tech projects always had some crazy evaporation.
Other changes:
My previous project was using two canister filters, a Fluval 305 and a Eheim 2215. This was not just for enhanced filter capacity but also for enhanced flow. Something my tank always had a problem.
The tank is a fluval roma 240 and the filter is connected to two holes in the bottom of the tank. Problem is that with this setting the intake of my 305 was always half way up the tank and it had problems picking up rubbish in the substrate and flow was also not the best.
So on my last project I added a eheim 2215 to the setting.
However my tank has been deactivated for 4 months so this filter was moved to my wife’s low-tech because she only had an internal filter.
So to start I will only use the Fluval 305.
Setup
Tank: Fluval roma 240
Size: 120x40x50 (aprox.240 litres)
Lighting: 2x40 watts T8 (original fluval roma hood system)
Filter: Fluval 305
Heater: Fluval Mirrored M
Substrate:
Tropica aquacare capped with Tesco cat litter for the planted areas
Argus play sand for non-planted areas.
Hardscape:
Redmoor wood
Lots of rocks but I can’t remember the name of them I’ll check next time I go to the fish shop and put it here.
All this hardscape is used from my previous projects so I did not have to actually spend any on it. Or break my back carrying it half way through London from the fish shop.
Choosing the substrate
I have mentioned before I wanted to keep this tank under budget so it would never be any specialized type of substrate.
So I have decided to use tesco lightweight low dust cat litter. I have used it in the last high-tech with good results so the choice was obvious. It’s a pain to clean, but last time I had clear water from day one so I just repeated the formula again. I washed the litter as much as possible.
You cannot use just any type of cat litter. The one I used is made of clay not much different from akadama.
You can find the one i used here:
http
/www.tesco.com/groceries/Product/Details/?id=265235247It’s been used by planted tank people for quite some time, some successful others not so successful, I tried it last time and was happy enough to give it another go.
Besides at 3£ every 10 Kg it’s the cheapest thing around.
I used Akadama in the past, a type of substrate used for bonsai’s and honestly I do think it’s better than the cat litter but it is a pain to wash too and even though it was very cheap some years ago it’s becoming expensive and rare to find these days.
Because of the type of layout I want to do I will need to do different types of substrate. I wanted to use sand for the other one and the obvious choice was argos play sand.
It’s cheap and inert and to be honest looks great in the tank. In the past I have used silica sand because in Portugal I could just go to the extraction and get it for free. But in London I have no such chance so last year we used argos play sand on my wife’s low-tech.
It’s actually much better than silica because it’s much less dusty so it’s easier to clean, and the yellow colour resembles beach sand much more than the clear white silica.
In time silica also gets a more yellowish colour because it gets dirty but play sand gives that effect from the go. I will use this only on non-planted areas, beware that sand compacts and makes it more difficult for plant roots to spread but to be honest I planted heavy with silica in the past and the plants never complained one bit. They just kept taking over the tank.
At 2.99£ 15kg bag this is the cheapest thing I could find. And considering it’s in my opinion the best sand around to use it’s a bargain.
As said before you can use silica, play sand or pond filter sand to get the same effect. Being that silica is clear white while the others have more yellowish colour.
You can find the sand i used here:
http
/www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/3650574.htmFertile soil yes or no
Most low-techs do not use this or some don’t even use any form of fertilization and the plants live only on organic waste from the fish.
I decided to use the fertile soil because at least for a while will fit in the low hassle idea I have for this tank. I am hoping that the fertile soil will stop the need for me to do any fertilization for quite some time , it was done on the 200 litre low-tech I assembled for the Mrs. And plants have grown with no form of fertilization apart from the fertile soil during the entire year.
Or to be honest it’s just that I’m just so stubborn and used to this for years that I couldn’t just let go of the idea of using it again. Anyway the chosen fertile soil was tropica aquacare, hardly what I would call a bargain, but still one of the cheapest around for its quality. And I’ve had good experiences with it.
The fertile soil will be capped by the cat litter and I will plant only in this area.
This is the one i used:
http
/www.thegreenmachineonline.com/products/aquatics/substrate-system/tropica-plant-growth-substrate-2-5-litreBest alternatives are : any fertile soil from specialized companies like ADA but these are expensive.
Cheaper alternatives:
Dirt: For a while now I have seen people that use dirt as a fertile soil. I have never used it myself but apparently this works for a lot of people. It has its disadvantages. First you need to really cap it off really good with good amount of substrate so the dirt does not move in to the water column otherwise you’ll have some severe algae blooms. The other one is if you like to constantly rescape than cheaper is not better for you as the constant uprooting of plants will make a mess.
Worm castings: This method I used before I moved to the UK. It’s a cheaper alternative I first heard of being used in Brazil, and later adopted in Portugal many other planted tank enthusiasts (including me) who could just not afford specialized substrates.
It’s probably the most fertile soil I have ever used. This thing just keeps going for ever and ever, I used to have to cut plants every two days or they would start coming out of the tank.
Not everything is perfect though, it’s the only fertile soil I ever used that requires cleaning, and it’s the hardest thing I ever cleaned.
Needs to be capped really well, you really don’t want this in the water column. ( capped it off with silica sand).
For the first weeks to a month the water was yellow cloudy, but with a good water change regime it was crystal clear in a few weeks.
Brown algae blooms in the first weeks were also a big problem.
After that no problems at all even with rescapes.
Never found it selling in the UK anyway.
Picture of a 120 litre tank I had that used this method:
Evergreen Forest 2006
Plants
I am still researching on the plants. So it’s still not a 100% confirmed.
Anubias
Anubias nana
Anubias petite
This ones are confirmed, reason is because I plan to attach as many as I can to rocks and wood , also because I have a tank here with more than enough cuttings to supply after one year of growth.
Valisneria Gigantea
Java Moss
Bacopa australis
Cyptocoryne wendii Brown
Java fern
Sagittaria Stubulatta
Egeria densa
These are some of the plants that if I am not wrong will do well in low-techs but I am still researching this so they are not confirmed.
I am open to suggestion on good plants to keep on low-techs preferably from people that actually kept them successfully.
Fish
Angelfish
It’s my favourite fish; I have had them in many of my planted tanks. On last year’s project though I gave up on them for a desire to try something new and for the fact that smaller fish normally have a better visual impact on planted tanks. This time I will ignore this and go back to my beloved angels.
Corys (corydora albino)
Another of my favourites that was sacrificed lately to my desire to try and grow carpet plants, since I am not trying to grow any carpet they will be back in this project.
Rams (ramirezi)
Been saying for years I want to try them and so far I have not. This time I want to go for them, they’ll be fine together with the angels as I’ve seen people grow them together before.
Ottos (ottocinclus affinis)
Even in a low-tech they might come in handy. Besides I have become acostumed to having them in my setups.
Amano Shrimps
My new passion, out of my trying new species last year a new passion has emerged. I love these tireless workers in my tank, they are useful yes but for me it’s more how much alive the tank looks with them running around non-stop.
My problem is I never used them with angels and I am not sure if they will see the shrimps as supper.
Maybe some neon’s or rummy nose tetras I had them before with angels and there was no problem. The trick is to add them with the angels when they are still young and small to get accustomed. And also have a lot of hiding places.
Setting up the tank:
This is how the tank looks so far. All the hardscape i had is in place. The substrate is also in place. I do think the left side is rather empty so i'll try to get some more rocks or wood to fit there. After that i'll move into the plants to see if i can get the tank moving as fast as possible.
For those who reached the end of this long post.
Thanks for reading.
I'll update as soon as i have more progress.
