Plantation Of A 780 Litre (171 (uk) Gallons Or 206 (us) Gallon Tank) P

[fozzy_wozzy_woo]

Ok all,

Over the past two months i have started a project where I am building an aquarium of 780 Litre (171 (UK) Gallons or 206 (US) Gallons

I have done the DIY
Concept of the whole project Whole project idea and plan
Background Phase Bulding of a styrofoam background
Building a Bio Sump filter and flow control system DIY Sump and flow control

So this post is going to be about the planting and population of plants into the aquarium.

Ok so before i start asking for adivce over the planing of the aquarium this wat will be coming into the aquarium.

There will be a fully programable DIY CO2 system.

The lighting will be T8 lamps approximatly = 8 x T8 54w lamps
2 x sylvania aquastar tropical light spectrum 10000k
2 x sylvania Growlux Healthy Plant Growth
2 x Osram Lumilux Daylight 5000 lm
2 x Narva Colourlux Daylight 5000lm

Also there will be 12 x T8 Lamps 18W

I havn't purchased the bulbs for these yet.

I also have 2 x 80w l38 spots.

I haven't built the hood yet so this hood project will go hand in hand with the plant, CO2 system.

Ok so you now have a basic idea of the lighting and CO2 that i will have. I now need ideas, suggestions, pointers, for planting and running my tank.

A member pointed out that i should also be looking into some type of fertiliser. I havent got a clue over this i will be needing your help with it.

Oh and i will be looking as a medium to heavy planted tank. This will be good for breeding and hiding for the fish.

And another thing is i will be having a small fish max 10cm well except for the angel fish and the plecco's

I will be posting questions here but if you know of any good threads i should read please post them here.

Many thanks

Fozzy

 

[Luke_e]

"780 Litre (171 (UK) Gallons or 206 (US) Gallons"
That sure got my attention

 

[Themuleous]

For starters read all the pinned threads, they'll give you lots of info, but im sure they'll throw up lots of questions too so post them and we'll see what we can do

BTW thats a chuffing huuuuge tank!

 

[fozzy_wozzy_woo]

Ok for a bit of back ground to the tank here are a few diagrams that i have made to explain the iner workings of the tank.

The first picture is a TOP VIEW of how the aquarium is setup.

The struts you see are glass struts but they have been coated with Cement so they looklike fallen logs. I have done this so my crabs can go and sun bath.

The second diagram explains the suction and flow of the water in the tank.

The third photos is the idea i have for the type of plants i will have.

E.g Tall plants at the back, MEdium growing plants in the middle and grass or low growing plants at the front
Also you can see they high, medium and low light locations of the tank.

The last diagram you see shows the positionng of the bog wood. I am going to make it that the plants grow between the bog wood

So you all now have an understanding of how the tank is going to be layed out.. now i need to work out which plants to buy.

 

[Themuleous]

Thats some interesting diagrams! Looks to be a good project thou, and at least you're planning! I never plan my tanks, but always pay the price at some stage!

 

[fozzy_wozzy_woo]

after readings the forum i have decided to go for the JAva moss as the grass but there is a type of grass i have seen that looks like real grass but it grows between the gravel. im still looking for that.

There are so many decissions to go for for the plants but i still dont know what i want.. i will see what comes up

 

[danski]

so you gonna run an undergravel filter also? your plans look great..cant wait to see this go on..

 

[lljdma06]

That is a big tank. Look forward to seeing it's pogress. Have fun planting that one.

llj

 

[fozzy_wozzy_woo]

Ok so i have spent the day with one of my LFS's and thy helped me with which plants im going to plant in the tank.

Here is the diagram and plants I will plant.

below you will see the plants

1. Bacopa Australis

2. Echinodorus Parviflorus

3. Echinodorus Rubin

4. Vallisneria Americana (gigantea)

5. Altternanthera Rosaefolia

6. Cardamine lyrata

7. Echinodorus bleheri

8. Hygrophila corymbosa Siamensis

9. Echinodorus martii

10. Ludwigia repens Rubin

11. Echinodorus 'Red Special'

12. Echinodorus_uruguayensis

13. Cenatopterus Connuta
no picture

14. Limnophila sessiliflora

15. Cryptocoryne crispatula var balansae

16. Hydrocotyle verticillata

17. Lilaeopsis brasiliensis

18. Hygrophila corymbosa Compact

 

[fozzy_wozzy_woo]

Further to the last post .

I have also purchased fertiliser balls that will be placed when planted.

the liquid fertiliser will be used every other day and start with 5ml per 100L then after a month later it will go up to 10ml per 100L

this will keep the plants nice and happy.

 

[rixy]

sounds very interesting.look forward to seeing the tank pics.what fish are you going to put in the tank

 

[fozzy_wozzy_woo]

sounds very interesting.look forward to seeing the tank pics.what fish are you going to put in the tank

Well im putting loads of small fish in the tank but i dont know which ones at the moment as i was speaking with the LFS and the guy i was speaking wih has abotu 36 years of experiance and he shot down some of my ideas.. but he told me a few other good suggestions.

I will make some posts when im ready to put fish in the tank

 

[Themuleous]

Looks good, the only thing I would say is that most of those species will rpobably get quite big, you miy find you have lots of hight and not much close to the substrate. But guess you'll need to plant it and see! You can always move them around.

 

[fozzy_wozzy_woo]

Looks good, the only thing I would say is that most of those species will rpobably get quite big, you miy find you have lots of hight and not much close to the substrate. But guess you'll need to plant it and see! You can always move them around.

Yea as i was looking in the website i had seen that the middle ones were also longer . i will go back to the lfs and ask him. i will take the pictures and the information how large they grw to the people

 

[fozzy_wozzy_woo]

ok so i have now planted most of my plants in the aquarium.. the LFS has had to order some plants in.

So here are the pictures of the plants now in the tank.

I think if i give it a few months they will really bush out.

I have also placed some bogwood here as well.

middle of the tank

right side of the tank

and finally the full length version