70l Dennerle aquarium

[EmmaS]

Hello all,

I decided to rescape my 70l Dennerle aquarium again. This will be low tec and snail free home for my fish. I will be using all in vitro plants and some cuttings from my other tank. I'm still learning myself but have gained valuable experience with the help of the Internet and reading articles. This has helped me breed fish and feel more comfortable about the hobby.
Anyway......
I've placed gravel in bags and used aquabasis plus substrate. I also placed some root tabs about.
Don't expect good quality photos on a budget phone.

 

[EmmaS]

I have reused my dragonstone and a piece of bogwood. The Range do some nice smal pieces bogwood at cheap prices.
I have capped it with Unipac silica sand. A 20kg bag for £15.63 including delivery. That's a bargain.
Unfortunately the hardscape pieces are a bit small so lack a bit of height.

 

[EmmaS]

I'm using the Fluval nano light on full power for 6 hours. Another hour for ramp up and down. I will take it easy as it's a non co2 aquarium.
For filtration I'm going with a mini Nicrew Hob and a surface skimmer as I didn't wash the sand.
In the back of the tank is a sponge filter not connected yet.
Plants used....
Hygrophila Polysperma and Sunset
Limnophila Sessilflora
Taiwan Lilly
Frogbit
Dwarf Lettuce
Java fern
Anubias Petit
Cryptocoryne Lucens, Flamingo, Green Gecko, Affinis, and I think Mioya.
Ordered
Water Sprite, Cryptocoryne Petchii and Moneywort
Fish stock
Cherry shrimp
1 amano shrimp getting some more
8 Galaxy Rasboras home bred. Want to breed more. I would like about 12-15 in this aquarium
A pair of Borellii
Waiting now for tank to clear up and some more plants arrive and to settle in.
I will be dosing Easylife Profito weekly as recommended straight away
Fish fed mainly live foods only

 

[Fishmanic]

Nice looking tank. You might enter it in our April Tank of the Month contest which will feature tanks sized at 17 to 30 US gallons.

 

[MattW3344]

Looks great! and will be even better when the plants establish

 

[noahm]

Should be a nice grow-in. Some nice rocks in there.

 

[EmmaS]

If I can offer any advice to new setups then please wash your substrate before adding to your aquarium. I still have very cloudy water and adding chemicals is pointless as it goes cloudy next day. Don't follow what people do on YouTube. It's basically the lazy way. It's difficult for me though as I don't have access to a garden with an outdoor tap.
My two pink flamingo crypts are melting/struggling ? I knew this was a risky plant to use. I'm not going to touch them though even if they completely melt.
I've noticed some bba on my java fern that I put into this tank. I will monitor that
Thanks all for the replies.

 

[EmmaS]

I also got a new batch of baby galaxy rasbora fry. Roughly 6-8. Hopefully they mature healthily. These will be added to this aquarium in the future. Having around 15 of them would be perfect for this tank. The parents are in another tank and I will continue to harvest eggs from them. 1 male and 3 females is a good ratio.

 

[JackGulley]

I love the way you've arranged your substrate, it feels very "rock garden"

 

[EmmaS]

Tank has been set up about 11 days now. I took out the surface skimmer and put on big Bertha(Tidal55) as water was still very cloudy. Changed a lot of floss. Its clearing up now.
I added water sprite but decided not to plant it. Its floating now. I've put in Cryptocoryne Petchii and Moneywort.
Algae on Java fern now gone. I've added two more Amano shrimp. They have been munching on the Taiwan Lilly. They love this plant.
Added another sponge filter at the back. Haven't made my mind up if I will use them yet.
Plants growing well apart from the Flamingo.

 

[MattW3344]

The Hygrophila + Limnophila has grown a lot since the first pic of plants. I have Hygrophila corymbosa '53B' in my new tank and it hasn't grown much sadly The tank looks amazing by the way, and the hardscape works really well with the plants.

 

[EmmaS]

The Hygrophila + Limnophila has grown a lot since the first pic of plants. I have Hygrophila corymbosa '53B' in my new tank and it hasn't grown much sadly The tank looks amazing by the way, and the hardscape works really well with the plants.

53b is a superb plant but I find it grows a bit more slowly. It was out of stock online in tissue culture form.I also noticed on your setup you are using the Allponds light. I struggled with this. Found it very bright and caused problems. You can use the metal rods the other way so the light is further away from the water.

 

[MattW3344]

Yea im starting to realise that light purchase may have been a bad idea I Only have lights on now for 6hrs now, I wish it had a dimmer. I might change the metal rods as you suggested. I had seen a twin star light that looked decent but it’s just the cost. That’s the problem with this hobby.


edit - I had also thought of a cover for the light as it blinds the room it is in. A 3D printed one was the idea I had. Something similar to 2nd pic

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

It's a gorgeous tank, and really encouraging me to be brave about layering something for plants beneath sand, and also using gravel bags for height in a tank with sand!

When I tried that, I really struggled with keeping the sand covering the bags (gravel was much smaller grain size than you seem to have used, whether that makes a difference?) and got so frustrated with it I gave up on that in the end and just went with sand, which of course won't stay sloped and just settled flat again. Did you use the hardscape to help secure the gravel bags and sand so the height difference was more secured? I'd love any tips since I'll be setting up revamped tanks again soon, and still have the bags!

Plants are growing so well, and I really love the scape. I'm sure the crypts will be back. The fact they can grow back from just some roots is one of my favourite things about crypts.

If you ever feel like sharing tips about how to breed the fish you've been breeding, I'm sure I wouldn't be alone in wanting to read every detail! Thank you for sharing this, it's very motivating to crack on with preparing my own tanks, and nice to see new set ups and how quickly they show progress even within a week or two!

 

[EmmaS]

It's a gorgeous tank, and really encouraging me to be brave about layering something for plants beneath sand, and also using gravel bags for height in a tank with sand!

When I tried that, I really struggled with keeping the sand covering the bags (gravel was much smaller grain size than you seem to have used, whether that makes a difference?) and got so frustrated with it I gave up on that in the end and just went with sand, which of course won't stay sloped and just settled flat again. Did you use the hardscape to help secure the gravel bags and sand so the height difference was more secured? I'd love any tips since I'll be setting up revamped tanks again soon, and still have the bags!

Plants are growing so well, and I really love the scape. I'm sure the crypts will be back. The fact they can grow back from just some roots is one of my favourite things about crypts.

If you ever feel like sharing tips about how to breed the fish you've been breeding, I'm sure I wouldn't be alone in wanting to read every detail! Thank you for sharing this, it's very motivating to crack on with preparing my own tanks, and nice to see new set ups and how quickly they show progress even within a week or two!

Gravel size doesn't really matter. The sand will make its way down and fill in where it can. There's a terminology for that but I cannot remember. I much prefer silica sand over play sand. Doesnt compact as much. Make sure you put a lot of sand in.
Substrates like Tropica plant substrate becomes like clay over time. You will notice this when you take it out. This is great because sand or even fine gravel won't penetrate it.
Unless you start putting in borders the sand will level out over time. Especially when you have fish that shift through the sand.
If you notice in my first picture there is just gravel and no real nutrients in the back corners. This is because I'm using stem plants. They draw in nutrients mainly from the water column. In the middle at the back is actually a bag of tropica soil capped with a clay base substrate. I was going to plant a sword plant there but didn't in the end.
I like to use quite a bit of clay base substrate so Cryptocoryne roots can spread. I've used soils only before and it isn't for me. To much grief.
The only boring advice I can offer for low tec setups which you probably heard before is to stick to weeds/very easy plants. Stay away from reds. Plant heavy and do water changes. Feed your plants. Water alone won't make them grow healthy.
Understock with fish and feed lightly. I often skip feeding days on purpose. My fish are fed mainly live food.

I've spent lots of money on equipment and rare plants and it has proved very costly. We have all seen lovely aquariums on YouTube. Medium/hard plants made to look easy without co2 etc.. Take these channels with a pinch of salt. You get to see what they want you to see and when. They are also flogging you sponsored products.