200L Low Tech

[mikka23]

I am incredible impatient. Just starting my first ever tank and like the idea of real plants.

Tank is 200L Fluval Roma with Fluval U4 filter (will probably upgrade to exterior at some point).

Received my plants today and will post up pictures when its planted. Ordered 100 plants from Last Trading Post on eBay. Also received a black/blue background and created a coconut cave for the bottom.

As far as stocking goes im interested in simple colorful fish to start with and maybe a dwarf frog, stocking should start early next week and planting should be completed tomorrow.


Oh yeah funny thing happened when I was putting the plants to sit in the tank. Was on the phone and my cat dived into the tank not realising the lid was not on. Poor cat was soaking wet.

 

[Biulu]

Hi Mikka, welcome!

Do you have some more information, like what is the substrate you are using, what lighting, and what kind of plants did you order?

200 Litres is a nice size; you will be able to do lots with it, as well as create a nice community tank with fish. One of my favourites are congo tetras; they would fit nicely there!

 

[mikka23]

From what I gather I have 2 T8 30 watt lights, one PowerGlo and one AquaGlo. The substrate is just a standard aquarium gravel, I have some root tabs for the plants though. Plants are a variety (not sure myself). I am not doing the planting (not my cup of tea) so decided to get a variety and let my mum do the planting and deciding which will fit within my conditions.

Some info about the plants - http/cgi.ebay.co.uk/100-Live-Aquatic-Aquarium-Plants-Easy-Grow-Best-on-Ebay_W0QQitemZ310190431477QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Pet_Supplies_Fish?hash=item4838ca5cf5

Congo tetras are definitely a part of the stocking.

 

[Biulu]

Ok, from the pictures I can make out some hornwort, amazon swords and it looks like some union grass. I suggest that apart from the root tabs you add some liquid fertilizer with trace elements, such as seachem flourish. The root tabs will be especially good for the amazon swords as they are root feeders.

They were the only plants I was able to grow very well with an undergravel filter as they loved all the junk that was collected under the filter!

 

[mikka23]

Thanks for the tip. The plants I received are different from the ones in the picture. Definitely have some vallis and swords though. Would take a photo but my camera is a bit dodgy. Also most of the plants are just soaking in a bucket so its difficult to see.

 

[mikka23]

Tank has been planted (will still be moved around but the plants were tricky to get stuck into the gravel). Also got 6 Penguin Tetras and PlantaMin fertaliser. Will post up some pictures when the water is cleared fully.

 

[mikka23]

Okay so here are some blurry pictures (camcorder, getting new digital camera hopefully). You can see a loose plant floating on the top. This is because the airflow from the filter runs across the tank and pushed out plants on the right side of the tank.

 

[lljdma06]

Good start,

Try and see if you can spread your stemplants a little more. The light needs to be able to reach the bottoms of the stems. You have egeria densa. What temperature is your tank? It prefers cooler water, though it will do alright on the cooler end of tropical. It does not like excessively warm tanks.

llj

 

[mikka23]

Water temp is 25-26 C. Will try and change it up a bit when the roots grow a bit. Also add some plants to the back.

 

[lljdma06]

Water temp is 25-26 C. Will try and change it up a bit when the roots grow a bit. Also add some plants to the back.

This is a bit on the warm end for egeria.

llj

 

[Biulu]

Yes, it starts looking good! But as you say, your plants on the right hand side look like they are getting quite some current. Do you have a way to redirect the outlet of your filter to avoid that your plants look 'windblown'?

 

[mikka23]

Not sure. I can change the filter to slow the current but worry about surface agitation and getting oxgen into the water if I do that.

 

[Biulu]

What is bad about getting oxygen in the water?

 

[mikka23]

I meant not enough oxygen into the water because there is less surfance agitation. I was also thinking about getting an external filter anyways so that would change things up.

Looking at the plants in the tank just now they don't look so healthy. Most of them are looking pretty bad to be honest. Been dosing some liquid ferts.

 

[mikka23]

Just installed an external filter to replace my internal filter. That has solved the plants getting pushed around.

The plants however are mostly dead by the looks of it. I have been dosing liquid ferts, had a lot of root tabs for roots yet pretty much all plants seem to be dead or dying. The water is also cloudly (maybe just due to moving things for external filter) and I have very high nitrites. Any ideas?