30gallon Planted With Diy And Ferts

[keeton]

cheers for the heads up,
i have high fish, and will probs have medium plants. so TPN should be sufficient.

do i need a drop checker/bubble counter?
how long does it take for the pressure to build up to go through the diffuser?

sorry for all the questions

 

[Andeekaii]

No you dont need one, DIY c02 is hard to control anyway so having something telling u what the levels are is irrelevant. Also they take 2 hours to change so pretty pointless.
I dont know about the pressure, mine isnt working at the moment, even if i squeeze the bottle i still get no bubbles, something tells me somethings wrong lol.

 

[keeton]

Update
think i've deciced on the plants

Carpet/Foreground:
Dwarf hair grass (Eleocharis parvula) - 10 - £2.90
Pygmy Chain Sword (Echinodorus tenellus) - 10 - £2.40
Riccia Fluitans - 2 - £3.50

Foreground:
Anubia Nana (Anubias nana) - 1 - £4.40
Blyxa Japonica (Blyxa japonica) - 5 - £2.66


Middleground:
Amazon Sword (Echinodorus amazonicus) - 5 - £1.50
Crypt Wendtii (Cryptocoryne wendtii 'green') - 5 - £1.50
Corkscrew vallisneria (small)(Vallisneria spiralis var. tortissima) - 5 - £2.40
Didiplis Diandra - 5 - £1.75

Background:
Giant Hygrophila (Hygrophila corymbosa) - 5 - £1.40
Vallis Torta (Vallisneria spiralis) - 5 - £0.90
java Fern (Microsorum pteropus) - 5 - £1.35
giant vallisneria torta - 5 - £2.40
Cabomba - 5 - £0.95

Cost: £30.01
Delivery: £4.95
Total: £34.96

anyone want to change anything?

 

[Geoff1991]

I wouldnt get 5 green wendtiis, get some red ones as well. Would look much nicer

Also try some becketti and parva

 

[lljdma06]

Yeah, pink lights are good for plants, i am running a pink bulb, for the plants and then a white skylight bulb for aesthetics - looks nicer.
Im guessing its probably T8, it should be fine for growing plants

Yes, T8s are fine for growing plants.

That is too low for co2 and ferts, the light will limit the growth.
You should aim for about 2 - 3 wpg for co2.

I disagree. The plants will benefit from CO2 injection no matter the light level. They will just not use as much so maintaining ridiculously high levels isn't necessary. I have injected CO2 into my low-lights with success, especially when the tank is newly setup, and that saved me a lot of algae headaches while my tanks were young. You can then retain it if you wish. I get rid of my CO2 when the tanks mature, but I am very lazy and I probably have enough CO2 naturally occuring in my water column that allows me to do this. I also grow plants that are not especially CO2 dependant. To grow almost everything readily available in the trade, you probably will not need more than 2wpg, if you must have a figure, probably less if T5s are used.

llj

 

[keeton]

thanks for the help guys

Update
Updated the plant list. i dont intend to use all the plants but works out cheaper for 5 plants than single ones potted.
extra plants with be price of postage or postage +50p of similar.

on friday i should get my ema and my bonus, so should have £45 towards things, i think im going to save it so i can order all together then i only pay postage once.

gravel:
dark/black/grey/dark natural colours
lighting:
AquaEl Ballast 30 Watt £19.99
Arcadia Freshwater lamp - 30" £14.99
ferts:
not sure which to use, help?
Easy Life EasyCarbo - 250ml - £5.99? (should use this?)
Tropica Plant Nutrition+ (250ml) - £9.99? (this? whats the difference between tpn and tpn+?)
co2:
2 - 2 litre coke bottles
air line
T piece
glass diffuser - £10.99
sugar (how much)
yeast (1 teaspoon?)(any yeast)
silicone - £5.99

 

[keeton]

well managed to start the tank this weekend
tank:
127L/34Gallon

lighting
arcadia plant growth 30watt
arcadia freshwater daylight 30watt
7 hours aday

Filtration & powerhead
rena 405 (about 10 years old)
eheim classic 2213

CO2
nutrafin with "home brew" mixer
beer brewing yeast

Heating
sera 75watt
26C

Nutrients
Tropica plant nutrition plus
4 ml daily

Maintenance
50% water change weekly

hardscape
bogwood, rock, slate


Substrate
argos play sand.




well after a few weeks of debating i decided to go for the nutrafin DIY co2 and a sand substrate.

16/7/09
just ordered 500ml of tpn+ and a nutradin co2 kit


24/7/09
bought two nice piece of bogwood, which are currently boiling for 2 hours then soak for a week changing the water twice a day. hopefully this will get all the tannin's out but we'll have to see.


1/8/09
went to one of my lfs this morning after work (half day saturday) and bought an arcadia light ballast and arcadia classica natural daylight bulb. Then i blagged the mother to give me and the missus a lift to meadowhall and on leaving bought 2 bag of argos play sand (30kg) and had to carry them and get the bus across sheffield, has the be said that i have arms like swart negger.


2/8/09
works commenced(pics):

both bags of sand in the bathroom ready for washing.

half of one bag of sand washed using barbie pillow case lol

one bag all washed.

plants and bogwood removed

fish in storage box with heater and filter.

empty tank

one bag of tank in after tank scrubbed and gravel removed

another half a bag and wood and rock

.....

.....

......

plants in, with just plant growth bulb

fish floated and in, added second bulb, tank still very cloudy.




3/8/09
tank has cleared and looks nice, also added a baby angel only about half inch tall.

tank will be densely planted next week.

pictures:

left:

middle:

right:

wood and rock:

angel:

.....:

cory's:

apple snail trying to fit in outlet tube:

updates soon
keeton

 

[Curiosity101]

Aww my lil snails

Tank looks really really really nice.
How deep is that sand bed, might just be me, but it looks a bit deep?

 

[keeton]

thanks

its about 1.5inch at highest but it uneven for the more natural look

 

[keeton]

4/8/09
UPDATE
im booking thursday and friday next week off (13th & 14th), so will be ordering the following plants early next week and hopefully arrive on the thursday or friday to start planting. Cant wait

Carpet/Foreground:
Dwarf hair grass (Eleocharis parvula) - 10 - £2.90
Pygmy Chain Sword (Echinodorus tenellus) - 10 - £2.40
Riccia Fluitans - 2 - £3.50

Foreground:
Anubia Nana (Anubias nana) - 1 - £4.40
Blyxa Japonica (Blyxa japonica) - 5 - £2.66


Middleground:
Amazon Sword (Echinodorus amazonicus) - 5 - £1.50
Crypt Wendtii (Cryptocoryne wendtii 'green') - 5 - £1.50
Corkscrew vallisneria (small)(Vallisneria spiralis var. tortissima) - 5 - £2.40
Didiplis Diandra - 5 - £1.75

Background:
Giant Hygrophila (Hygrophila corymbosa) - 5 - £1.40
Vallis Torta (Vallisneria spiralis) - 5 - £0.90
java Fern (Microsorum pteropus) - 5 - £1.35
giant vallisneria torta - 5 - £2.40
Cabomba - 5 - £0.95

Cost: £30.01
Delivery: £4.95
Total: £34.96

 

[Truck]

where did you order your plants from?

 

[keeton]

i ordered my plants from java plants, which seem to be really cheap

 

[Bobtastic]

Looking good! I really need to start thinking about getting some plants ordered. I'm getting bored of looking as a simply hardscaped tanks...

 

[lljdma06]

Looking forward to seeing the tank fully planted.