Rescaping My Nano Tank

Hey all, 
 
In light of my former post, have started with the rescape of my tank, purchased a few plants online and went out to get some new black substrate for the plants to be planted in. In addition, grabbed a 19l tank for £20 just so I can move the fish whilst I replace my current setup add a few plants that sort of thing. 
 
At the moment as it stands my new plants I ordered are:
 
Tall: 

• Hygrophila polysperma 
• Polygonum sp. sao paulo 
• Alternanthera rosaefolia 
• Microsorium pteropus green 

 
Foreground: 

• Anubias barteri 
• Lobelia cardinalis 

 
Carpet: 

• Eleocharis acicularis 
• Micranthemum umbrosum 
• Java Moss Cup

 
Want to try incorporate my two pieces of Java Wood as well. Will keep this thread updated with photographs. Also, at this stage, I am going to use liquid Co2 rather than diffusion or any other of the various method available. I had a quick browse around looking at the most reputable and that seems like diffusion, but for my tank size liquids should be sufficient enough from what I have read. 
 
I am using this product for my Plants called "Neutro CO2" so if anyone has used it before would be great to hear your opinions:
 
Tank as it currently stands below. 
 

 
After this, when I manage to get the tank all up and running again effectively, looking to increase the shrimp family. Got two Yamato shrimp in there at the moment and one of them malted there shell the other day! Think they are fascinating. 
 

nice, looking forward to seeing this develop, i used to use neutro co2 and there fertiliser but in my opinion it didn't offer the same plant growth as injected co2 which i now use, also the plants i like vali don't like liquid co2 and die off when using it so thats another reason for me to not use it, but i did have gd results with some of my old plants. 
 
what sort of lighting do you have and do u dose any other fertiliser for the plants?

Zikofski said:

nice, looking forward to seeing this develop, i used to use neutro co2 and there fertiliser but in my opinion it didn't offer the same plant growth as injected co2 which i now use, also the plants i like vali don't like liquid co2 and die off when using it so thats another reason for me to not use it, but i did have gd results with some of my old plants. 
 
what sort of lighting do you have and do u dose any other fertiliser for the plants?

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Update for today. 
 
All the plants arrived as expected and very prompt delivery. Being very a hectic day. I got rid of all the old gravel in there before and have replaced this now with new gravel. I just have a black gravel and white substrate now. I wish I would have had a look into it further online as I have now found out for planted tanks, there are far better substrates available than your bog standard gravel and these are highly recommended for there nutrients ... 
 
During this process I moved all my fish to a 19l tank which was filled with water from my main tank. I had a heater and a filter running round whilst they were all in there. Trickiest part in all of this? Moving the fish. The shrimp were climbing up my net whilst I tried to transfer them to the other tank!! And then the rummynose and silvertip were fidgety little buggers jumping around and dashing about. I suppose you would though if you thought your life was in jeopardy... 
 
In total was close to 2 hours or so to complete this full move. Got the fish back into the main tank with all the plants planted and learnt quite a few things a long the way. Mainly, if I had to do this again, I would make sure I have a good amount of substrate. I realise it needs to be really deep to have it planted and I was struggling with some of the plants with it mine being quite sparse. Carpet plants are fiddly to try and plant.
 
I think the most annoying thing was when I was filling the tank up. I poured into a little box but it forced most of my plants out of there position. The strength of the water must have being too strong. When I finally filled the tank up (used at least 50% from my old tank water and then 50% new water [higher then what I would usually do for my water change]) it was a mess to say the least. 
 
There were bits floating around, still fairly cloud from the gravel, and plants were out of place. I left this a few hours and when I came back it was pristine. 
 
I had done a bit of research and from what I could gather, people said that airstones aren't necessarily required and just help with circulation. I didn't particularly like the long bar airstone as it spoils the aquascaping. I decided I wanted to remove these and did. So in the tank working away was a cheap mini filter in the main section and then the original filter which came with the tank the Aquaone maxipower head 101. When I came back to it, it looked unbelievable, so much better, and crystal clear. I could see in the tank and the colours of the fish were illuminated. It looked like the pictures and videos you see it was that clear. 
 
At this point I was happy, plants were in place, fish were back in there home, and now it was a case of letting the biological filter process start again. When I came to look at the tank later on in the evening, I noticed that nearly all of the fish was swimming at the top of the tank. Some were at the bottom, but they kept going up and back down, up and back down. I panicked thinking they must be gasping for air. So in a hurry I got my pump out again and connected my airstone. This has been on now for a good hour or so and all the fish are back to normal swimming merrily around the bottom. The saddening thing is, one of my Rummynose fish were floating on there back at the bottom . To my worst fear, I'd lost one. So out of the original 3, I am now down to 2 rummynose. All other fish (touch wood) at this stage are looking healthy and swimming around merrily. 
 
Ideally, I do not want to have the airstone in the tank. Would it be a lack of O2 because of an influx of plants? Or is it because of the almost 100% water change? I can't see why there was such a massive drop.  Hopefully I'll do a water test tomorrow just to check that there isn't any drastic peaks or decreases in any of the levels. I can't think of anything else that would have caused it. 
 
The main thing now is the game of patience. I have filled the plants out towards the back which will look brilliant when they flourish (should they). At the moment looks a little dreary so hoping they'll start to pick up a little too. 
 
A few main concerns if anyone could help me to clear up:
 
1. When I was cleaning the tank, there was a lot of dirt, I mean just pure muck
Do I need a better filter? Should I go with an external filter? I thought for a 55l tank the ones I had should be sufficient. Perhaps it is the syphoning system I am using? If I look at the tank now, I can see all this muck just sitting on most of the plants. Not sure how I am going to clean that up. 
 
2. Will I be able to remove the airstone?
I fear if I remove this again I am going to have all my fish going straight back up to the top gasping for breath. Is there some other way or is that again, a game of patience awaiting for the plants to start omitting the o2.
 
Lastly, just to answer your original questions Zikofski. 
 
What sort of lighting do you have?
I use LED lighting which I believe is 20w. 
 
Do you use any other ferts?
At the moment, no. I am just using the neutro co2. I also looked into a few things online. Seeing the different sort of methods you can have for Co2 systems. Pressurised, DIY, injected, liquid, etc. I am not entirely sure which is best. From what I have read, they all say that pressurised is best. 
 
Thank 

okay, firstly do you have a test kit? you mentioned your fish swimming at the top, which is not good , like u said they are gasping for air, because of the lack of Oxygen in the water, now this could have been caused by you taking out the airstone but shouldn't have, do you have surface movement from the filter? you also mentioned "letting the biological filter process start again" ​now this shouldn't happen if your tank was cycled before hand and you are using the same filter, test your water as fish gasping for air at surface is a symptom of high nitrite.
 
okay going to ferts/co2 and lights cool 20w of LED's is fine for your tank i am using 45w on my 88L and that is a lil over kill. altho as you are adding liquid co2 u should be dosing ferts at most micro ferts or TNC trace i would recommend. altho liquid fertilisers are easy but they are expensive and i would recommend Estimative Index method please have a look here any questions il happily awnser this is what i use and i dose as per this site tells me and i am getting good results from my plants.
 
the best co2 by far is injected, as all plants can take that as i mentioned before liquid co2 is a bit of a nuisance to me as vali's that i love die from liquid co2 but flourish under injected co2, injected is more expensive initially but in my eyes cheaper of the long run, using a Fire extinguisher like i do is the easiest. again if u want to know more let me know.
 
okay the airstone i hate them, and don't use them the plants should provide enough o2 in the water providing the plants are growing and happy but adding some surface agitation will also help, test your water first if u have 0 nitrite, then create some surface agitation only needs to be minimal and try taking out the airstone, watch for an hour or two and then see how you go from there, obviously adding the airstone back in to fix any issues. 
 
​filter wise, my rule of thumb for planted tanks is 10x flow rate for a planted tank, so my tank is 88L so i aim for a filter that has 880Lph or what i did and again go over kill and got a filter 1,500lph but for your tank 55L tank a 500 to 600Lph filter will be sufficient for the tank, if you don't care about plants and you just want to cover the bio load of the fish then a filter rated for a 55L tank is sufficient but i would always go up one lvl just to be on the safe side tbh
 
to clean up the gunk just wipe or syphon it out, it is normal for that to happen even on canisters, when i turn my canister off clean it and put it back on i get a bit of gunk come flying out but its never a problem for me it disappears after a while. i always get external canister filters simply i hate seeing equipment in the tank, i even have inline heaters and diffusers for my co2 they all hook up to my filter so all i have in the tank is inlet outlet and a drop checker for the co2 that is it
 
hope this was helpful and i hope i got everything if i missed feel free to ask again sorry and post up some pics love to see your tank

[SIZE=10.5pt]Hey, [/SIZE]
 
[SIZE=10.5pt]Sorry in the slightly delayed response. [/SIZE]
 
[SIZE=10.5pt]In response to a few of your queries and the latest updates for today. I read your post when you replied and checked a few things. It was a really helpful post and gave me a bit of food for thought. I also consulted the fish people I purchased my plants from to get there two piece of the situation. [/SIZE]
 
[SIZE=10.5pt]Good news first of all – No further losses in fish and I don’t have an ugly airstone! Hurrah. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]When you mentioned do you have a test kit, and talking about nitrate levels these sort of factors, it rose alarm bells. Because I had changed nearly 100% of the water my nitrate levels had peaked when I did the water test. I am wondering if this fish was one of the not so hardy bunch and couldn’t handle the peak levels [/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]L[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]… but still slightly confused as to why adding the airstone put the rest back down to the bottom acting normally. As for the test kit I am using, I use API Freshwater master kit which is a fantastic bit of equipment and over the course of the months the tank has been up and running levels have been brilliant. [/SIZE]
 
[SIZE=10.5pt]I did as you suggested in your post to test the theory, remove the air stone, and watch for a few hours see if the same thing happened again. Lone behold, not a thing. The only one up to the top was the labyrinth breathing betta on his usual trips up and down. Happy days. The filters I did have when I lost the Rummynose is the exact same as what I was using before, so not too sure the true cause of death. High nitrate? Low oxygen? Stress? Mystery. [/SIZE]
 
[SIZE=10.5pt]Taking on board your notes in regards to ferts will have a look into that. I know they recommend something in particular with this Neturo C02 for ferts to supplement that, but will have a look into them products. Hopefully I’ll develop or find a suitable co2 system. It seems that all my plants are flourishing but one which is attached to my bog wood. I think I left it out of water for too long. Had to trim some of the dead away today. With the various co2 systems out there choosing just one to satisfy ones needs is hard depending on the person. Seems like you have had a lot of luck with injected C02 so might have a bit of a delve deeper into that too.  [/SIZE]
 

 
okay the airstone i hate them, and don't use them the plants should provide enough o2 in the water providing the plants are growing and happy 

 but adding some surface agitation will also help, test your water first if u have 0 nitrite, then create some surface agitation only needs to be minimal and try taking out the airstone, watch for an hour or two and then see how you go from there, obviously adding the airstone back in to fix any issues. 

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[SIZE=10.5pt]Again thanks for them tips. Tried exactly to this and about 24 hours without airstone we are still all looking nice and healthy. Done a water change today and my plants are swaying nicely with the filters so must be enough flow hopefully. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]Filter wise doing a bit of research into this one as well. Again with these so much choice. I have noticed in the external filters where they have UV light added are always highly recommended and have been by marine biologists for freshwater tanks. Not only do they keep the water in a pristine condition but will help remove any contamination. So might look on fitting one of these and shouldn’t need to be too big (benefits of a nano tank).  [/SIZE]
 
[SIZE=10.5pt]In terms of gunk, it is just because it was sitting on my plants, didn’t look pretty at all [/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]L[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]. I have a syphon at the moment not too sure if it is the best one though. However, I did a water change today and looking at the tank it is looking pretty darn pristine. I could drink the water it’s that clear. Still trying to look at methods to remove it though. Although one would suppose an external filter would probably clear this up. Or maybe some more activated carbon and sponges. [/SIZE]
 

 
hope this was helpful and i hope i got everything if i missed feel free to ask again sorry 

 and post up some pics 

 love to see your tank

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This was super helpful thanks for taking the time to respond. 
 
Picture time
 
DAY 1 - Rescape complete 
 
 
 
DAY 5 - Rescape and one of the plants taking a turn... 
 

 
What I am aiming on now is trying to fill the 'floor'. I want a few more carpet plants. So I can get the carpeted effect. I have been recommended these plants so far listed below. The main game now is the game of patience. Awaiting for plants to grow and take over hopefully!
 
Moderatley hard requiring co2:
Tropica Hemianthus 'Cuba' 
Tropica Micranthemum 'Monte-Carlo' 
 
Easy not requiring co2:
Micranthemum umbrosum
 
 

I like it Dandyman,the real plant really make it look like a natural river bed,am going to def get a load of live plants and java and see how it turns out in the tank,will keep updates once i get the plants in etc and the moss. keep the pics coming dandy looks very good so far

congrats thats a good looking tank there dandyman3

Thanks. Hopefully with a bit of time and patience it might look somewhere as decent as both of yours. Especially your crystal clarity in the tank you have in your footer Zikofski. What filter do you use? External or internal? 
 
Are you just using injected carbon for the plants? Or do you have active carbon in the back to try clear up the water? 
 
Looks really good. Next thing I am going to do now is get some shrimp (after I've filled the carpet). 

Hey all, 
 
Latest update for tank. Some more plants came today for my 'carpet' affect I am trying to achieve. Attached below is the picture showing this and you can also see the difference in some of the plants at the back. They have come on massively. Just need this front lot to start rooting and spreading across the tank now and then I can trim it down properly. 
 
Anyway was just a quicky with latest update. Next part will be adding more shrimp to the tank now. 
 

Sumatra said:

Lovely tank!

Is your Betta okay with the shrimp? I've been considering shrimp for my new tank but people keep telling me that snails would be better due to Betta aggression. 

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Hey thanks. The Betta has been brilliant with the shrimp. They seem to go about there business separately. I am looking to get some more shrimp shortly after I have amended the front of the tank. So will keep you updated. 
 
Personally however, the Betta I have, has not being aggressive. I think it depends on the type of fish you get and obviously not getting two male betta's which would fight. Plenty of hiding places in the tank for the shrimp as well as they particularly like the bogwood with the plants attached or the java moss. 

Dandyman3 said:

Thanks. Hopefully with a bit of time and patience it might look somewhere as decent as both of yours. Especially your crystal clarity in the tank you have in your footer Zikofski. What filter do you use? External or internal? 
 
Are you just using injected carbon for the plants? Or do you have active carbon in the back to try clear up the water? 
 
Looks really good. Next thing I am going to do now is get some shrimp (after I've filled the carpet).

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sorry for the delay i use an aqua manta fx 1500 filter from maidenhead aquatics its rated at 1500lph i have it restricted on power. and coming through a spray bar now and for the carbon i inject co2 but thos dosnt effect clarity its different
to the carbon u speak off in the filter and no i dont run any, the tank is clean because i use filter floss and regular 50 to 90% wc every week plus the plants help keep it clean
oh almost forgot for the best looking pics take it after u done a wc and a clean up that way u have cleaned all algae and it looks clearer

Zikofski said:

 

Thanks. Hopefully with a bit of time and patience it might look somewhere as decent as both of yours. Especially your crystal clarity in the tank you have in your footer Zikofski. What filter do you use? External or internal? 
 
Are you just using injected carbon for the plants? Or do you have active carbon in the back to try clear up the water? 
 
Looks really good. Next thing I am going to do now is get some shrimp (after I've filled the carpet).

Click to expand...

sorry for the delay i use an aqua manta fx 1500 filter from maidenhead aquatics its rated at 1500lph i have it restricted on power. and coming through a spray bar now and for the carbon i inject co2 but thos dosnt effect clarity its different
to the carbon u speak off in the filter and no i dont run any, the tank is clean because i use filter floss and regular 50 to 90% wc every week plus the plants help keep it clean
oh almost forgot for the best looking pics take it after u done a wc and a clean up that way u have cleaned all algae and it looks clearer
 

Click to expand...

 
Thanks for the response. Interesting to know. With the filter floss do you get that from a store? Or do the cheap DIY and get a polyester pillow without any additives? With the filters, because of the size of my tank, I would have to limit the throughput so much. Would probably need to upgrade in size before getting one of the Maidenhead style ones looking at there range. 
 
Using liquid co2 at the moment is doing well with the mix. I just want to re-arrange the left hand side where you can see on the picture. At the moment it has Micranthemum umbrosum there but unless I am planting it wrong... doesn't look like the affect I want to achieve so might be replacing that to Pogostemon helferi which seems to boast the 'flat' carpet look. 
 
Also, I have this plant 'Alternanthera rosaefolia' at the back of the tank. It is doing brilliant. Coming up to the water surface now. I keep trimming them back at the back of the tank as they keep coming back more and more which I'm happy about. I am wondering if I would be able to take a cutting from the plant mentioned though as it has roots on all different layers of the plant from top to bottom sprouting. It'll be great if I can because I can put it to the right side then where it needs a bit more colour. Or could just buy another... lol

the filter floss i use i bought from maidenhead aquatics in an emergency as i had ran out and couldn't wait long enough for it to come in the post from where i usually but it which is Ebay, here is the link they supply different lengths and thickness browse around and see what one you prefer, very cheap much cheaper than an LFS and it is safe
 
http/www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2m-AQUARIUM-POND-FILTER-MEDIA-WOOL-FLOSS-ROLL-12-15mm-/260807656917?pt=UK_Pet_Supplies_Fish&hash=item3cb95905d5
 
yea i wouldn't worry to much about your filter size altho for your size tank 19l i would get a filter that is rated for 200lph you can always go a lil higher than that and see how it goes, i went with the 1500lph mainly because i may upgrade this tank in the future to a bigger one, i do want to get a 6ft + tank so maybe two of those filters would cope on that tank but we are talking way into the future for that. the other reason i wanted a more powerful filter is my old tank 330: altho i had two tetra tech 1200's  that power was not enough and i have problems so i thought having more flow in this and restricting it would help me better also i was planning on getting two bb's for this small tank so i wanted the bio load capacity of a bigger filter but i only have 1 and intend on keeping just the 1 for now, altho my tank is overstocked and its coping very well.
 
with regards to the front of the tank tbh i think i have that plant too for the right hand side and its not a gd carpet plant either, i prefer DHG which is slowly growing on mine starting to spread out a little more now, also if u prefer those sort of leafed plants have u tried cuba? not sure on light requirements for cuba but if you are dosing liquid co2 that may help it
 
and Alternanthera rosaefolia is a lovely plant i have it in my tank but i think its dying back a little, is yours staying red? mines i slowly going green too lack of iron for that but i don't have the time to keep dosing iron ferts at the moment. but regarding cutting it yes you can, cut as much as u want away, generally the stem u leave behind depending on how much u cut way that may die off but will spout new shoots so for example with my tank i have a similar plant but green, i trimmed it a few weeks back its prouted 2 or 3 plants from the original and now I'm ready to cut them off and plant them as there own plant but i will remove the original plant and bin that as its gd as dead. il keep doing this and thats how u make a thick dense bush or new plants to sell or grow elsewhere
 
keep up the gd work and keep the pictures coming 

[SIZE=10.5pt]Great. Thanks for the links there. Will have a look see what I can find. How many times do you put in/change your filter floss as a rough guide? I am thinking it should be quite handy to get all the dirt out which comes to surface on a water change. [/SIZE]
 
[SIZE=10.5pt]The tank in these pics is the 55l tank. The 19l is just a spare one I have in storage at the moment which I had as a quarantine. But yeah makes logical sense. Theoretically could get the one to power the two perhaps at some point, will have a look into it. At this moment in time though, there is no noise coming from the power head and filter I have in the front. It is bliss. Your plans sound interesting though and like you say if you expand you have the option there available too. [/SIZE]
 
[SIZE=10.5pt]In terms of the front of the tank, I have included an updated picture below where you can see the vast amount of growth if you compare it to the first pics. Have you got any links for your plant reccomendations so I can check them out? I know Aqua Essentials do a cuba 123 easy grow but the plant I have found is going great. You can see the [/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]Micranthemum umbrosum [/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]is all pointed up which looks a lot different to how it is on the picture. I thought this would be ‘flat’. So it is laid on the ground if you get what I mean. The other plant seems to be doing that and is growing rapidly. So I was thinking of getting around 3-6 of them to replace this section. But will check your recco first.[/SIZE]
 

 
 Alternanthera rosaefolia is a lovely plant

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[SIZE=10.5pt]You said it in one. Mine at this point in time is staying red. The top two leaves on the plant are quite pale which I am surprised about as that is where the most co2 is dosed into. And they say that with a lack of nutrients etc. the plant will suffer and leaves will become pale in colour. So not too sure about that. Could just be an off day. But beside that it is doing brilliant. Glad to hear about cuttings. Will give that a go and try move some to the other side now. [/SIZE]
 
Here's the update. Hopefully you can spot the vast difference in growth: