I'm Back :d Low Maintenance Tank

[houndour]

I'm so excited. Here is the start of my low maintenance tank...

36W light
CO2 to 30ppm (to help keep algae at bay)
Probably not going to fertilise. But will see how things go.

Excuse the algae on the back of the glass ) When I was cleaning it at the weekend I had no light to see properly.

 

[George Farmer]

Welcome back!

All the best with your new set-up, hopefully you wont experience anymore algae nightmares. I really admire to coming back to the planted scene after all those troubles, it certainly would have put me off.

The CO2 is a good idea. Even though you only have 1.6 WPG and slow growers it will still help. Keep up the water changes and that should provide enough nutrients, you can always dose as necessary if you experience deficiency symptoms. One thing I will mention is green spot algae (GSA), it is very common on Anubias and can be easily remedied by adding KH2PO4, for some reason GSA hates KH2PO4, whether it is toxic to GSA or not I do not know, all I know is that it works (for me and many others).

I like the wood scaping, it should look very nice once your Anubias and moss spread.

I look forward to seeing the progress, and hopeful algae freedom!

 

[houndour]

Thanks George. I see it as giving up really. But I don't have the time I use to have to spend on my tank rearranging everything anymore. My bunnies have been ill and now I have a wedding to organise.

Thanks for the tip for the anubias spot algae. I had one anubias in there already. It was suffering from spot alage and black brush, but now that I've had the lights off for a week and cleared the stem plants which had all the algae on it seems to have cleared up. I will keep an eye on the new stuff.

The fish seem to like the wood. Especially the botia..lots of nooks and crannies to explore.

 

[Aqua Essentials]

Thanks George. I see it as giving up really. But I don't have the time I use to have to spend on my tank rearranging everything anymore. My bunnies have been ill and now I have a wedding to organise.

Thanks for the tip for the anubias spot algae. I had one anubias in there already. It was suffering from spot alage and black brush, but now that I've had the lights off for a week and cleared the stem plants which had all the algae on it seems to have cleared up. I will keep an eye on the new stuff.

The fish seem to like the wood. Especially the botia..lots of nooks and crannies to explore.

Don't forget, you'll need to add more plants to your set up if you hope to remain algae free. At this early stage the balance leans towards algae and unless you have enough plants to offset thid, then you run the risk of an out break.

I think it's an easy thing to forget but planted tanks do need to have a lot of plants to avoid problems.

 

[big mick]

Looking very nice, I love the look you've created with the wood.

 

[houndour]

I don't see why I should have anymore problems than if i had a completely plant free tank. Would you mind explaining?

I'm not dosing ferts. Have lowered my wpg. Injecting CO2.

 

[jimbooo]

i must say i disagree with that. as long as you dont over feed and keep up with 25% a week water changes you should be fine. in my experience it is only necessary to add cartloads of plants if your using high light and filling the tank with nutrients. this tank will probably have something in the region of 5-10ppm nitrAte from the tap and as long as the water changes are kept up with phosphate should not be too high. (not overstocked from memory).

it also has co2 which (contrary to popular belief) will help loads.

my 50G cube has 1.3WPG, co2. no macro ferts (just twice weekly CSM+B ) and 25% water change per week. i had a little bit of diatom algae in the first month but plain sailing since. it is only stocked with slow growers so there is no need to add any way near as many nutrients as in my other tanks.

keep an eye on it sam but i doubt you'll have any problems.

if you are going to have algae i would think it would first appear on the wood to the right that reaches the surface. just keep an eye out to be safe.

Good luck with the tank mate and fingers crossed it will be a little easier this time around.

 

[zig]

Hiya Sam

I like it.............i think the wood looks great

A nice narrow leaf fern would look good in their attached to some part of the wood...microsorum pteropus "narrow" i have one in one of my tanks, really nice plant.

Id say you might have to dose some ferts if you are injecting co2, it would be no harm to add some trace at water change or something like that cant imagine you needing any no3 or po4 if the fishload is sufficient.

But looks great, best of luck organising the wedding as well.

 

[Dubby]

Good to see you back in the planted world. Wish you all the best in maintaining it algae free this time.

 

[Jen]

The tank looks awesome. I can't wait to see how things look as the plants start to grow on the wood. I think that will look awesome.

One thing I will mention is green spot algae (GSA), it is very common on Anubias and can be easily remedied by adding KH2PO4, for some reason GSA hates KH2PO4, whether it is toxic to GSA or not I do not know, all I know is that it works (for me and many others).

REally? I keep my PO4 up at 2ppm all the time, and I still have GSA taking over my anubia. It's a bit in direct light, so maybe I should try to get it in the shade a bit more. I think I'll do a bit of work in the tank today and get it out of the way.

 

[EliteFishy]

those are cute rabbits. Are they flemish giants?

 

[houndour]

Thanks guys.

I came home last night to a dead shrimp and 2 missing shrimp (really unusual...checked all their normal places).

Is there any reason why the wood may have killed them? I soaked it for 48 hours as told.

As for rabbits I dont really know. I dont think they are related. One is a dwarf lop and the other just a normal rabbit (altho she's quite big...or at least bigger than what people think a rabbit should be!)...the dwarf lop is really ill at the mo. He's recovering from near death from pasteurella last week and has now developed head tilt Poor eeyore.