Hi guys, I've had my 175L South American biotope set up for about 5 months now and all is going well, however the last day or two I've been thinking and started looking at ways to take it a few steps further in terms of making it more natural, yesterday I started a topic about using RO to lower the pH but have since decided against this. There's now a few things that I'm going to look to do which I could use a few opinions and advice on;
Lighting - As my tank was second hand I intended to get new bulbs straight away but after the initial cost of setting up the tank I didn't deem it too much of a concern, however since then one of the three bulbs in the hood has gone (3 bulbs, 2 switches) so I've only been running the tank using 1 or 2 bulbs. I'm looking firstly for bulbs which will look natural in this biotope setup, not too bright which I can put straight into my hood, so if someone could point me in the right direction because I'm not too sure what to look for in a bulb. The second option is that I quite fancy a shadowy, shimmering look (sort of like this http
/www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sN6u3DyJQM ) and to do so I read the lighting needs to be a bit further above the water, in which case I'd have to look at a new unit which either hangs or is attached to the wall in some way (I have a corner tank so it's a bit of an odd shape to fit most of the units I've looked at). Once again if anyone could advice me on the unit or ways to create the effect it would be much appreciated.
Tannins - The waters slightly stained already from the wood I've got in but I intend to use Indian Almond Leaves to darken this further.
Plants - I know generally in a SA biotope plants don't really make an appearance but for a short term fix I added some Jungle Vallis, which just don't seem to be growing after looking promising for the first week or two, and some Amazon Swords which also don't look in great shape with thinning leaves. This is probably due to the lack of light but in the long run I'll likely remove some of/all the plant life. I also had some Amazon Frogbit which looked great, but died off but this was due to having quite a lot of surface movement which they don't like apparently, so I'll look to get some more soon and reduce the flow.
Stock - I'll be making a separate topic just for this soon but I'll stick it in this one as well, I currently have;
11x Rummynose Tetra
9x Panda Cory
2x Keyhole Cichlids
1x BN Catfish
2x Banjo Catfish
Looking to add a Royal Whiptail Catfish once they're out of QT in my LFS then I'm not too sure after that, preferably something colourful (Dwarf Cichlid perhaps?) and happy in tannin stained water. So if anyone has anything to add about that would be cool (will be going into more detail in the separate topic).
So this is basically my plan for my tank, so if you have any advice or opinions at all I would love to hear them!
Lighting - As my tank was second hand I intended to get new bulbs straight away but after the initial cost of setting up the tank I didn't deem it too much of a concern, however since then one of the three bulbs in the hood has gone (3 bulbs, 2 switches) so I've only been running the tank using 1 or 2 bulbs. I'm looking firstly for bulbs which will look natural in this biotope setup, not too bright which I can put straight into my hood, so if someone could point me in the right direction because I'm not too sure what to look for in a bulb. The second option is that I quite fancy a shadowy, shimmering look (sort of like this http
/www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sN6u3DyJQM ) and to do so I read the lighting needs to be a bit further above the water, in which case I'd have to look at a new unit which either hangs or is attached to the wall in some way (I have a corner tank so it's a bit of an odd shape to fit most of the units I've looked at). Once again if anyone could advice me on the unit or ways to create the effect it would be much appreciated.Tannins - The waters slightly stained already from the wood I've got in but I intend to use Indian Almond Leaves to darken this further.
Plants - I know generally in a SA biotope plants don't really make an appearance but for a short term fix I added some Jungle Vallis, which just don't seem to be growing after looking promising for the first week or two, and some Amazon Swords which also don't look in great shape with thinning leaves. This is probably due to the lack of light but in the long run I'll likely remove some of/all the plant life. I also had some Amazon Frogbit which looked great, but died off but this was due to having quite a lot of surface movement which they don't like apparently, so I'll look to get some more soon and reduce the flow.
Stock - I'll be making a separate topic just for this soon but I'll stick it in this one as well, I currently have;
11x Rummynose Tetra
9x Panda Cory
2x Keyhole Cichlids
1x BN Catfish
2x Banjo Catfish
Looking to add a Royal Whiptail Catfish once they're out of QT in my LFS then I'm not too sure after that, preferably something colourful (Dwarf Cichlid perhaps?) and happy in tannin stained water. So if anyone has anything to add about that would be cool (will be going into more detail in the separate topic).
So this is basically my plan for my tank, so if you have any advice or opinions at all I would love to hear them!
Stocking wise I've got the fish I originally set out to get so anything from now on I change my mind every time I think about it! Haha Wills advised me a couple of months back to go for Krobia Xinguensis, which I do believe is a type of Dwarf Acara which should get on with my Keyholes but are proving difficult to find! I also read some Dwarf Cichlids don't go well with Corys and end up taking their eyes out which is something to consider.
