100Litre F8 Puffer Tank (Brackish Water)

[Livewire88]

Here is my new 100litre tank, I am using this for growing plants only. (was planning on not having any fish in this tank)

At first it was going to be kept on the garage and dirt (soil/compost) was going to be used for the substrate, It turned out to be a bit to cold in my garage so I managed to persuade the partner to allow a third tank in the house I will be filling the tank with as many plants as possible.

I also got given a sick Betta which I added to the tank and he is now a lot better, I may give him away in the near future.

Here is a list of the spec;

Tank = Clearseal 100 Litre
Lighting = Home Made Using Plastic Guttering, Foil, T5 Hagen Glo Duo 39W Balast, and 2x Philips T5 High Output Fluorescent 39Watt Coolwhite Bulbs (£2.83 Each )
Heater = Fluval 200W Heater
Power Head = Koralia Nano 900
Filter = APS 600 L/H Aquarium Hang-on External Filter (awaiting delivery on this) once this is added I will remove the air stone.

Substrate = Argos Play Sand

Plants At Present;

Various Stems
Floating plants
Amazon Swords
Coconut Caves With Moss Attached

Ferts/Co2

I will be dosing 5mm of TPN+ and 3mm of Excel every daily and will be doing a 50% water change every week.

Also due to the amount of light I have I am expecting a lot of Algea to grow and hopefully I can get some advice on what to do if this does happen.

Any comments or advice are welcome

***PS; THERE IS NO METHOD TO MY PLANT PLACEMENT I JUST CHUCK THEM IN***

 

[mike455555]

looks good =D i see your light arrived then ;p

i still think you should turn it into a display tank >.>

 

[Livewire88]

Well just as I finished writing this my APS HOB filter arrived,

I unpacked and fitted it to the tank, turned it on and GOOD GOD this thing sounds like a Jet Engine!! no way could I leave this running 24/7 so I will be sending it back on Monday for a refund.

So I am now on the hunt for a decent filter, no real rush as the PH will keep the circulation good, and as it is only the betta in the tank the weekly water changes should keep the water good for now.

 

[minnnt]

Nice job matey. I see the lighting trick is taking off

Display tank for sure!

 

[Xraymark]

Do you need a filter if there is going to be no fish? Maybe showing my ignorance.
The tank has a nice clean look.

 

[Clarousel]

***PS; THERE IS NO METHOD TO MY PLANT PLACEMENT I JUST CHUCK THEM IN***

It still looks really nice though! Love how simplistic it is

 

[Fishy friend2]

looks nice! i hope everything goes well and that you dont have to dal with a lot of algae

 

[Livewire88]

Nice job matey. I see the lighting trick is taking off

Display tank for sure!

Thanks, your puffer tank was my inspiration for the lighting

Do you need a filter if there is going to be no fish? Maybe showing my ignorance.
The tank has a nice clean look.

I dont need a filter realy, but I am quite sure that as the tank is in the house I will end up adding fish to it so we will see (maybe 20 Neon's once the tank has matured)

***PS; THERE IS NO METHOD TO MY PLANT PLACEMENT I JUST CHUCK THEM IN***

It still looks really nice though! Love how simplistic it is

Thanks, I dont like having all sorts of stuff in my tanks so less is more IMO

looks nice! i hope everything goes well and that you dont have to dal with a lot of algae

Thanks, I am sure I will have issues with Algae but I am ready for the challenge

 

[mike455555]

id add some shrimp into the mix... combat some of the algae problems
maybe cherry's or amano's?
you could breed the cherrys as well
you could add other algae eaters as well? like 6 Siamese algae eaters


then have a few neons just for the look

 

[Fishy friend2]

is that plant in the middle Ludwigia repens

 

[Livewire88]

is that plant in the middle Ludwigia repens

I believe it is, and it is red at the moment but Ludwiga Repens normally turn green in my main tank.

Hopefully they will stay red in this tank with the higher light but im not sure if it will (fingers crossed)

At the moment I am struggling to find a reasonable priced filter for this tank, I want a small external filter but dont have much £$£ left to spend on fish tank equipment

 

[minnnt]

How much money are you thinking of Sparky? TT ex700 off of ebay maybe?

I would definately go for Shrimp. They always sell really well too, even Cherries. You could sell them for 50p each all day long. If given loads of room they breed even quicker. Offer them plenty of moss to lay their young in and you will be laughing mate. Might aswell keep something that will give a nice return rather than just an empty tank. If you could spend a little more in something a little more rarer/exotic then you would make even more back when they bred.

I don't think you will get Amano's to breed as they usually need brackish water to breed, so you would be left with whatever you bought.

If it was a bit warmer weather i would send you some shrimp, but it's a little chilly and i can't be bothered with heat packs and poly boxes etc. lol.

 

[Livewire88]

A EX700 would be great but dont have the cash for one at the moment. I will keep my eye out for one selling second hand for a good price.

Also I have plenty of Cherry shrimp in my main tank so will take a few from there once this tank has some Algea for tgem to snack on, First things first I need to get a filter and I was hoping to buy a small external from a member in here but I was a bit slow so think I have been beaten to it :0/

 

[minnnt]

How much are you thinking of spending mate?

 

[Livewire88]

Well the small external filter I was hoping for was selling for £23 so I was hoping to spend no more than £25.

Bearing in mind I have to send the rubbish HOB filter back to APS for a refund once I have that ££ back I will have a bit more to spend, its not I cant afford it but I just cant justify it at the moment.

Why do you have a filter you wanna sell me?