Andy's First Attempt At A Planted Setup

[scouse_andy]

So here it is, my first journal. I have decided to start reporting on my progress with my new 240 litre Juwel Rio tank.

Firstly, the story so far, I bought this tank second hand off Ebay at the end of March this year. It sat idle for a couple of weeks until I had the time needed to set things up.

In the meantime, I ordered some Juwel rock background, two new flourescent lamps, two reflectors and one or two other bits for the tank.

At the start of April, I siliconed in the background and filter column, added some silica sand from my LFS, put the new lights and refelctors in the hood and started a fishless cycle on the tank with some mature media.

By mid April, the tank had cycled. I ordered a couple of tropical plant collections from Greenline and planted the tank, adding in a nice, if rather dominant piece of bogwood, some bits of slate and an artificial slate ornament. Once I had checked the water stats for a few more days, I added the tank’s first inhabitants – 3 leopard danio and 3 zebra danio. They loved the open space of the tank, having spent the last month or two couped up in a 30 litre Biorb!

I took great pride in my achievement, my first real tank after the very basic setup of a Biorb.

Here is a picture of how it looked:

Three weeks later and very little had changed, the danio were still charging round and having a great time, I added 5 male cherry barbs from the buy/sell/swap board on this forum but plant growth was about nil. However, brown algae had begun to grow low down on the glass at the front of the tank and all over the rock background by the filter outlet. Green beard algae was also growing rather rapidly on the bogwood at the front of the tank.

So, after spending ages researching and posting on the forum here, I decided to add far more algae busting plants and get some CO2 into the tank.

 

[Underwurlde]

Great! I hope it goes well for you!

Q) What substrate are you using?
Q) What plants have you got in there?
Q) What are the lights (you know, name & make)?
Q) What ferts etc are you dosing?

Andy

 

[scouse_andy]

I ordered a big selection of fast-growing plants from Greenline, dispensed with the slate and bogwood decoration and set to work re-aquascaping.

My setup is now as follows:

Juwel Rio 240 with rock background

Basic silica sand substrate with no laterite or root tabs

2x Arcadia 38 watt bulbs (one freshwater and one tropical) with reflectors - about 1.25 WPG

Pro Aqua Plant bag in the filter column to dose fertilisers for the next three months

A far more heavily planted tank containing from left to right:

Background: Green Cabomba, Egeria Densa and Hygrophila Polysperma

Midground: Creeping Jenny, Indian Fern, Red Ludwigia, Myacca Fluviatilis, Mexican Oak Leaf, Straight Vallis and Bacopa Baby Tears

Foreground: Cryptocoryne Wendttii, Narrow Swords, Dwarf Sagittaria

Floating: a few bits of Hornwort

Here are a few pictures of my tank straight after I replanted it.

Full view of the tank, a bit of an improvement on my tank before, which I had considered heavily planted

The left side closer up

The middle section

The right hand side

A good shot of the Ludwigia, Indian Fern, Elodea, Green Cabomba and one or two of the fish

I am expecting the algae to clear up over the coming weeks and the plants to make a steady amount of growth. Clearly growth is not going to be spectacular given the level of light but steady and prolonged growth is what I'm looking for. I will be gauging which plants are unable to succeed in the light levels and reaquascaping as appropriate.

My plan is to add CO2 via the DIY route, 2 two litre coke bottles connected to a 2-way gang valve with CO2 tubing, a Gamba bubble counter and a Rhinox 2000 diffuser. I'm looking forward to monitoring the difference that this will have in the levels of growth. The equipment is currently on the way from Malaysia via ebay.

I am planning on seeing how far this setup will take me with plants. The light is low, I realise, but I do not want the expense and inconvenience of playing around with the hood and adding extra lighting units - why don't manufacturers design the standard units to house a more beneficial level of light?

In a couple of months I will be looking at the fert situation when my Pro Aqua Bag runs out, I may get some laterite to add to the substrate or add some liquid ferts such as Seachem Flourish Excel. I've been reading up on the EI method, which seems ingenious and very cheap but the 50% weekly water change on a 240 litre really puts me off this idea.

I would really appreciate your comments (good or bad!) as I update this journal in the weeks, months and years (!) to come.

Andy.

 

[Underwurlde]

Good set up, good choice of plants: Background, Mid & Fore. Cool. Once they all start to grow in then I think it will be 'wow'.

Gotta say it: I don't like the background, it's too 'noisy' and hence distracting. I'd have used just plain old black, but if YOU like it then so be it.

why don't manufacturers design the standard units to house a more beneficial level of light?

Bloody good question: Now there's a gap in the market if ever I saw one!

I may get some laterite to add to the substrate

If you do, wash, wash & wash again the laterite. Adding it will NOT be an easy job, rip up and start again IMHO.

Andy

BTW Excel is not a fert per-se, it is only for dosing CO2. Did you mean to say Flourish?

 

[scouse_andy]

I think you're right on the background, when you see it, it does look good but I could have put the 55 quid to far better use, especially seeing as it will be mostly covered by background plants, but you live and learn!


I'm not quite up to speed on the ferts to be honest so it's flourish or an equivalent that I may need in time then - thanks for pointing out. I'll do nothing on that front for a couple of months until the pro aqua plant bag runs out.


Glad I appear to have chosen wisely on the plants front. Just going to leave things to get started in there and add my CO2 kit when it arrives.

 

[ryguy]

its loocking very good im starting a planted tank soon to and you gave me more ideas thanks!

 

[Underwurlde]

55 quid

You're kidding me right!?!?!? If i'd have known you had spent that much on it, I would never have mentioned it! Sorry mate!

Don't worry about the ferts, plenty of help here for that. (Being a cheapo git - in other words, married, I buy the ferts dry & teaspoon them in. Well 1/8th teaspoon actually....)

Andy

 

[Dave Spencer]

It`s a big improvement now that you have got rid of that slate and Mopani wood. Your first tank has an uncanny resemblance to how my 120l tank started out. Getting rid of the structured background for a plain black one was one of the best things I did.

You may find that you will have a lot of pruning to do if you wish to keep plants such as Ludwigia as mid ground.

Looking forward to seeing this tank develop.

Dave.

 

[Themuleous]

Loads better, loads and laods, now stand by with the scissors and watch it grow!

SAm

 

[RadaR]

Nice tank.
Just wanted to say if you still wanted to add laterite then add it to some water, freeze it and then simply push it into the gravel where you want it. Laterite isnt necessary, you can have a beautiful tank without out it if you provide all the ferts in the water column.

 

[lljdma06]

Nice tank.
Just wanted to say if you still wanted to add laterite then add it to some water, freeze it and then simply push it into the gravel where you want it. Laterite isnt necessary, you can have a beautiful tank without out it if you provide all the ferts in the water column.

Your foreground plants will require root supplementation of some kind. The primary form of nutrient absorption for crypts, dwarf swords, and sags are via the roots, not the leaves. They will need some nutrients in the substrate. If you don't want to go through the trouble and mess of adding to your substrate, sticking a few well-placed rootabs in the sand where these plants are is a good idea. In addition, watch for sand compaction. Make sure you stir around the substrate a bit to keep it from compacting.

RadaR's suggestion regarding laterite is great. I've used it on occasion to get laterite into the tank in some spots that I felt were a bit thin when things got moved around.

Otherwise, nice tank! It's great to see the substrate really covered with fast-growing stems. This will help with algae a lot. The brownish algae you mentioned are diatoms and should clear up on its own once the tank settles. Go ahead and add some more fish.

llj

 

[scouse_andy]

I can move the Ludwigia and any other tall midground plants as they hopefully begin to grow, I only have about ten stems or so. I'm kind of regretting putting the Egeria Densa and Green Cabomba together in the back left as they are very similar in colour and kind of merge together. The trouble is that the outlet pipe from my filter column is rear right and this blows about the plants quite a lot so I put the lower Hygro under here for now. I'll probably change it in time and move the Ludwigia to the centre back, and swap around the Hygro and the Egeria. Are there any other plants I have in my midground which I can expect to shoot up too tall?

Thanks for the information about root feeding for the crypts, swords and sagitarria, I will look out some root tabs or other form of nutirent, any suggestions? The glass along the front bottom of my tank is growing a green fuzz just above the sand. What type of algae is this and is it due to no fertiliser in the substrate for these foreground plants? What can I do to prevent it?

Here is a picture:

I can't add any more fish just yet, I added the cherry barbs just over a week ago and I'm waiting for at least another week of steady water stats before I continue to stock. My plans are to move my three black phantom tetras from my 20 gallon tank into this one and add another five at the same time. In the long run, I am hoping to add some danio juveniles that I am raising to join their parents in a big shoal. After that, I have plans for 6 corydoras, 6 congo tetra as my centrepiece fish, such a beautiful colour in the right light and 6-10 rummynose tetra, I love the way these guys shoal. I will have to check stocking levels and will obviously be doing the additions gradually over the next few months. I may have to get rid of all / some of the danio to avoid overstocking, although I am attached to them as they were my first fish and I am relishing raising about 15 baby danio at the moment.

 

[SuperColey1]

Its looking quite good there plantwise. Not too sure on the background.

When I started I was on the lookout for backgrounds then thought about DIYing a Styropak one, then got a printed one, then took it off and said WOW it looks good without, so wil probs now leave without and just use some black card for any 'real pics'.

That green stuff down the front is an algae build up. Easiest way to avoid it (and the dark messy bits that build up bewtween the glass and sand is to go along the edges with a credit card (when you water change) and it removes the dark messy bits. (Stolen from George I'm afraid, wasn't my idea)

You may need to scrub t the green first though and then for future use the credit card, as the green algae there would probs have been a side effect of the 'mulm' gathering in the same place.

Otherwise keep it going. looking very nice.

Have you though about a moss wall as background?
Take a look at Liam's tank for inspiration and ideas. I sound like his promotional guy at the moment lol. but I love his tank so much

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showto...74502&st=64

Andy

 

[lljdma06]

Thanks for the information about root feeding for the crypts, swords and sagitarria, I will look out some root tabs or other form of nutirent, any suggestions?

Seachem makes a great little rootab that I personally use for all my rootfeeders. It's not too pricy, especially if you buy online. Just insert the rootab into the substrate near the rootfeeders and replace every 3-4 months.

llj

 

[scouse_andy]

Well I have good news and bad news...

good news is the CO2 kit has turned up from Malaysia, bad news is that I have had a nightmare putting it together and indeed have given up!

I siliconed in the tubing to my pop bottle tops, left it 3 full days to seal properly and then started to set things up this evening. I then tried for ages to poke the bubble counter into the airline tubing but it refused to go. I tried putting the tubing in boiling water to soften it but this didn't really do much good. I could only just push it onto the first few millimetres of glass. In the end I was pressing so hard that I shattered the bubble counter. I then tried to push the CO2 tubing leading out of the bottle top into the non return valve and in the process pulled the tube clean out of the bottle top so my sealant certainly wasn't up to the job.

At this point I decided to give up!

I have been grubbing around on here and have two alternatives, I feel. Alternative 1 - go the pressurised CO2 route. Alternative 2 - just buy some flourish excel to dose.

I am thinking method 2 as I am fairly low light and I'm not trying to grow the amazon rainforest just promote steady growth in some easy growing plants and win the algae battle.

What do people think?

My plan is probably to get some Seachem Flourish Excel to dose daily, plus some Seachem Flourish to dose twice a week and some Tetra Crypto root tabs for my crypts and swords at the front. Do you think I need any other ferts for my low tech tank considering that the 50% water change required for EI on my 240 litre is going to be a bit of a struggle for me to do every week.

Just out of interest, how much would a pressurised system cost? I hear the setup is quite expensive but then routine costs are reasonable. I don't really think this is viable as I am only running at about 1.25 WPG and have fairly undemanding plants.

Please let me know what you think is the best way to go, I've had it with DIY. I should have known really, you should see the state of repair of my house!