Barneys 160l Planted Tank Using Ada Substrate/ferts - Journal

[xxBarneyxx]

Note: this is a repost from the members aquarium section. have reposted here on Georges suggestion to get some more feedback. Any suggestions or tips would be very appeciated.

Well it took me months to get round to it but I have finally got my Planted tank up and running.

I decided to go the ADA route with substrates and dosing because it was just a lot simpler to get to grips with and means that I don't have to make any major changes to my tank maintenance.

Equipment bought:
X3 9L Bags of ADA Ama Soil
X3 2L Bags of Power Sand
Tourmaline BC
500ml Brightly K
500ml Green Birghtly step 1
JBL CO2 kit
JBL Bubble Counter
Ferplast soloniod (needs to be replaced I think as it is so hot it melts the CO2 line!)
Eheim 2324 Professional Thermo (Replacing a Fluval 305 which was very loud and the in tank heater).
Arcadia 120cm Freshwater with T5 lamps 4x54W
Shed load of Plants

Setup:
Originally I did intend to to have part of the tank covered with small pebbles. When I actually did this though it looked really crap so I had to scoop out all the pebbles (which is why there are still a few mixed in with the soil ).

I think everyone here has seen substrates put down before so I will skip them pics. Basically put down 2cm of power sand and 6-12cm of soil on top. The main hardscape feature (and only hardscape) is the slate "pile". I used 2inch diameter PVC pipe to make stable "caves" under the slate then piles the slate over the top to cover the pipe. This actually took about an hour to get it looking natural (and to get it together in a way so it won't fall down!)

From this angle you can see the pipe but in the finished tank you can't see it at all.

I ordered about 200 plants from an online store they had “Collectionsâ€￾ which suited me as I know nothing about the different plants so I wanted to get a selection and see how they all grow. The plants weren't in brilliant condition though and I'm still waiting for my riccia which is going to go over some of the slate.

Planting took ages. Then once I had it all planted and filled with water I didn't like the layout so I took most of it out and replanted it

This is the (almost) finished tank. I still need to cut down the pipes for the filter and if my riccia ever turns up this will be tied to the slate.

I have too many different plant types in there at the moment for my taste but I wanted to get it planted up as much as possible and like I said I wanted to see how they all grow. As time goes on I will probably take out the ones I don't like and spread the others out.

CO2 is currently on about 3-4 bubbles per second and the drop checker is showing green. I'm going to build an internal reactor soon as a lot of the CO2 is getting waste in the diffuser. I'm not sure how much CO2 is actually in there at the moment. The drop checker is green (was yellow until I put the new lights on and dropped very quickly once the light was turned on). When I checked the KH and PH today though the CO2 worked out to be about 8ppm, with the buffering of the Aquasoil though and the poor accuracy of the KH test kit I was using I'm pretty sure this is not correct. I'm going to have a go at making the 4dkh drop check solution which will hopefully give me a much closer idea of the actually CO2 content.

Plants are all bubbling nicely which I take to be a good sign

Floating plants who's name I cant remember

Some pearling which doesn't show up so well in this picture.

This is the Slate with the water and plants in. There are actually 5 entrances to the pipes inside and they are all connected. I plan on getting clown loaches so this is their home
You can't see the pipes at all and I'm really pleased with how it looks.

For dosing I'm just going to use Brightly K and the Step traces. Once these run out I might look at cheaper alternatives but will see how things go.

Tomorrow I'm going to cut down the filter pipes and go out and grab a powerhead to build a CO2 reactor.

 

[mlawson]

Nice start

I think it's good how you put plenty of plants in, dense plant growth is vital at the start and it gives yuo plenty of options to play around with. At the moment it looks dutch, but obviously when you remove plants it should look more ADA nature aquarium style. I think perhaps it would be good to have another smaller pile of slate on the left somewhere, as it is, the hardscape is a bit heavy on the right.

I like how it looks so far and it should look brilliant, especially with all your great gear.


Cheers,
Mike

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Nice start

I think it's good how you put plenty of plants in, dense plant growth is vital at the start and it gives yuo plenty of options to play around with. At the moment it looks dutch, but obviously when you remove plants it should look more ADA nature aquarium style. I think perhaps it would be good to have another smaller pile of slate on the left somewhere, as it is, the hardscape is a bit heavy on the right.

I like how it looks so far and it should look brilliant, especially with all your great gear.


Cheers,
Mike

Thanks, I did try some slate and also some drift wood on the left but neither of the looked "right"

I think once I get some riccia on the slate it should soften the look of it a bit. If not I think I might try putting some Redmoor root on the left with branches pointing into the tank to balance it out.

The CO2 diffuser that came with my kits wasnt working too great so I now have the CO" going into the outflow of my canister filter which is doing a much better job. I have made an external CO2 reactor but need to get some sealant for it so will have to leave that until tomorrow.

Couple more pics from today (day 4)

 

[Dave Spencer]

It`s nice to see a predominantly ADA tank on here. I don`t think there are too many on around.

I`m not keen on the slate, but covering it in Riccia should look good.

Are you controlling your light levels during these early days to combat algae?

The tall hairgrass at the back looks like Eleocharis vivipara to me. I tidy up the look of mine by using an afro comb. It`s hard to tell from the picture whether it is dying or not. If it is dying it could be because the original leaves were grown emersed, so you will need to cut off the original leaves near to the substrate to avoid having the dead matter becoming an algae magnet.

You could start a journal for this tank in the planted section sub forum.

Dave.

 

[reggieschuey]

its certainly a very nice setup, perhaps what you can do is plant the plants a bit denser or get more, planting denser will create faster growth. Good luck in it !

 

[xxBarneyxx]

It`s nice to see a predominantly ADA tank on here. I don`t think there are too many on around.

I`m not keen on the slate, but covering it in Riccia should look good.

Are you controlling your light levels during these early days to combat algae?

The tall hairgrass at the back looks like Eleocharis vivipara to me. I tidy up the look of mine by using an afro comb. It`s hard to tell from the picture whether it is dying or not. If it is dying it could be because the original leaves were grown emersed, so you will need to cut off the original leaves near to the substrate to avoid having the dead matter becoming an algae magnet.

You could start a journal for this tank in the planted section sub forum.

Dave.

I think they are getting too much light at the moment. I have two lights on for 6 hours and then the other two come on for 1-2 hours.

The Hairgrass at the back arrived dead (and the rest of the plants wherent great condition either ). i have since trimmed it right down low and tried to remove as much of the dead part as possible (some of it is green). I will give it until the end of the week and see what it looks like then most likely remove it and put something else in.

The Vallisneria doesnt seem to be doing great either. A lot of the leaves have died off or are going brown. i trimmed the dead leaves back and there are new leaves coming through so will see how it goes. I'm quite gutted because i went to my LFS this weekend to find they now stock a good range of plants and they are much better quality then the ones I got.

That being said the rest of the plants seem to be doing well. All looking fairly healthy, new shoots and leaves coming in.

Edit: Forgot to say that I have the lights going off for an hour during the middle of the day.

 

[Lion007]

how did you get that amount of oxygen being let off! lol
I do like this setup

 

[mlawson]

how did you get that amount of oxygen being let off! lol

With high-light, CO2 and fertilisers. This makes the plants have intense photosynthesis and the excess oxygen creates an effect, planted tank fans call 'pearling'.

 

[xxBarneyxx]

PS can someone move this to the journal section please?

New updates:

Tank has now cycled so tomorrow I go out and get some Oto's

I have moved a few of the plants around and taken out the hairgrass at the back that was half dead. Everything in there now is growing really fast but I have been swamped with hair algae. I think this was due to the high ammonia levels while the tank was cycling and hopefully it will settle down now (and the oto's should help).

Some new pic's:

Salvinia Auriculata is spreading like mad. I will have to take some out tomorrow when I do the water change and clean up. It's the same on the other side of the tank

Front view: the brownish over tone is due to the damn algae despite all the algea though everything is growing fine.

Left side of the tank. I have had to trim the stem plants down twice as they grew out of the water. The mini Amazon swords are spreading nicely and have tons of runners.

Right side of the tank. The two stemmed plants are bushing out nicely. The little carpeting plant in the front never recovered (it was half dead when I got it) and I will remove it tomorrow. the dwarf hair grass is spreading but is the worst covered by Algea. I have been removing as much as I can every day but it grows back quickly.

Fishes tomoz

 

[ShoC]

Absolutely stunning,
how is your over head light when looking up at the tank from a lower level?
I have been looking at buying one ALOT
and my g/f will kill me if it blind us while in bed,

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Absolutely stunning,
how is your over head light when looking up at the tank from a lower level?
I have been looking at buying one ALOT
and my g/f will kill me if it blind us while in bed,

It's bright... You have to be right next to the tank looking up at it from the bottom to see the lights though.

 

[Dave Spencer]

Hi Barney,

I would consider persevering with the healthier stems of your carpetting plant (Hemianthus callitrichoides), because it can turn in to a very nice plant. Your example may have arrived in its emersed form.

If you are having algae problems with your dwarf hairgrass (Eleocharis acicularis), it may be, once again, that it is in its emersed form. Cut it all down to substrate level to get rid of the algae, and it should grow back in no time.

The stem plant on the right at the front looks like Ludwigia arcuata to me, which should start to turn a nice orangy red soon.

Dave.

 

[john starkey]

Hi there barney welcome to the journal section, well from what i have seen you are on the way to a very nice setup with patience and lots of care you should do very well, one small point, i agree with Dave Spencer i dont think the slate complements the setup at the moment but if you cover it with the riccia i think it will be a great improvement and you could if you wish move around the tank for a different look from time to time good luck regards john.

 

[ShoC]

if you could post a link to the exact one your using that would be great,
so at an angle say 5 foot away laying on the bed its not likely to shine in my eyes?

I love the photos of the plants with bubbles would love some more,
they do great as a desktop background,

I'm not to great at identifying plants but Dwarf hair grass makes superb carpet

 

[Dave Spencer]

if you could post a link to the exact one your using that would be great,
so at an angle say 5 foot away laying on the bed its not likely to shine in my eyes?

I love the photos of the plants with bubbles would love some more,
they do great as a desktop background,

I have a cheap luminaire that does leak some light in to the room, but a decent one like Arcadia should reflect the light down in to the tank.

Here is a link to some pictures of pearling plants.