54 Litre Low Light Livebearer Scape

[DevUK]

I spent a lot of yesterday cleaning out an old tank that has been sitting with murky water in it for several months, and cleaning out an old boyu external mini filter which was a bit gunky too. Then, washing sand/gravel, tieing moss and arranging wood. Anywho, after about 4 or 5 hours of toil, this is what I have to show for it:

Tank is 60x30x30cm making it ~54 litres.
Light is 15w T8 (needs a new tube).
Substrate is plain silver sand and pea gravel (will be adding tropica root tabs when crypts go in).

My plan is to fill the front right out by planting some crypts (wendtii, Parva, maybe undulata) along the edge of the wood strategically. I also want to plant some anubias sp. in the nooks. Hopefully the fern at the back will straighten out and grow how I want it. I also hope to plant some Crypt balansae in the back corner.

I also want to get hold of some floating plants, probably sylvia natans, and have them in the far left. Hopedfully this will give a shaded hiding spot with the roots that come down. My worry is I don't have enough light.

The basica idea is to have the long leaves flowing from right to left towards the open space.

(oh, excuse the moss, its just there as a bit of floating cover, though the dwarf platties have been eating the odd bit of hair algae off of it )

 

[DevUK]

Just realised its actually a 15w light. Might have to upgrade the light unit. I have a 36w Interpet PC unit over the other tank which is really a little too big for the other tank. Should be able to mod the hood sufficiently

 

[Genesis]

That's looking awesome!
Very nice job!

 

[DevUK]

Thanks

Got some Sylvia Natans coming from a fellow UKAPS member this week hopefully! Hope it makes a difference. Also will be replacing the light tube with a 15w T6 Realux from NRY. Should give slightly better light penetration. Anyway, the existing tube is god knows how old (came with the tank over a year ago second hand).

 

[tropicman]

looks great dev should be proud and a nice gravid female on top of the tank pic 1

 

[DevUK]

looks great dev should be proud and a nice gravid female on top of the tank pic 1

Yeah, they're both gravid at the min. Already have 6 fry which are literally 7 days old. Hoping they'll drop some more soon but not really sure when...

 

[DevUK]

Well, sadly overnight I lost one of the dwarf platties. It was looking a little stressed last night and had a problem with its lip (had turned white and looked damaged). Fairly sure its not cotton mouth though. They've been moved about a bit in the last few days so I guess it was just too much for the poor thing.

Anyhow, I've ordered some plants from Greenline today:

10 Crypt. Balansae (might split these and add some to existing ones in my main tank)
5 Crypt Wendtii
5 Crypt x Willisii
1 Crypt Undulatus (red) - Spur of the minute, looked interesting

Also, Gill is giving me some Anubias var Nana, and Coffeefolia!

 

[DevUK]

Thought I would update this journal

I've upgraded the filtration to a Fluval 205 external. I also replaced the 15w tube with a 6400k tube. It's a bit pink unfortunately but its better than it was. I hope to upgrade to something like 20-25w in the future though

Took loads of pics this morning. I was playing with some kitchen roll to diffuse the flash. Anyhow, *lots* of pics!

Some pictures of my new Sparkling Gouramies:

Some pictures of the Red Lace Snakeskin guppies:

Corydora Habrosus:

Hydrocotyle Verticillata floating, you can see the large leaves I was talking about:

Shot taken from the end of the tank ('scuse the diatoms!) and full shot:

 

[three-fingers]

Beautiful fish, great planting and nice photos too . Thanks for sharing. That guppy with the red tail is especially nice.

 

[GobyMaster]

Looks great!

 

[Ark]

Hey,
nice tank.. whats the stocking?
also where did you get that wood from as thats exactly what im looking for?

- Ark

 

[DevUK]

Hey,
nice tank.. whats the stocking?
also where did you get that wood from as thats exactly what im looking for?

- Ark

Thanks

The wood is 2 pieces of Unipac Sumatran wood. I got one bit from Maidenhead Aquatics and the other from a different place (forget the name).

Fish in the tank are:

Red Lace Snakeskin Guppies
Dwarf platies
Redline Rasbora
Dwarf Rasbora (Boraras Maculata)
Corydora Habrosus
Sparkling Gourami
Amano shrimp

Also a few spixie and apple snails, and pest snails!

 

[stang1]

Beautiful photos and your tank looks stunning!

 

[DevUK]

Thanks Stang! And thanks for helping me stock this tank! Everything except the guppies and redlines came via yourself and MA Much appreciated!

I'm waiting for the Crypt Balansae to grow out at the back right which I think will look great

 

[stang1]

You're more than welcome,
It's nice to see how the tank is coming along and I can honestly say, it's looking great. I hope my planted tank looks half as good as yours by the time I'm finished, if it does then I will be extremely happy!