Beginnings Of A Complete Re-aquascape

[emo]

Hi there, well it's been about a year since I first started my 10 gallon planted tank, and everything was great until the move! Long story, but the tank smashed in the car but all fish and plants were Ok.

I thought this would be a good time to completely re-aquascape my now 15 gallon 24"x12"x15" 70litre (approx) tank, and over the last few months have been doing a lot of researching and now feel i'm ready to make a start... with some help!

My last tank consisted of mainly stem plants, and I have now decided to stay away from them as much as possible, however not ruling them out completely. Below is the beginnings of a tank plan, map and a plant listing (sorry for stealing pics from your various tanks, jimboo, psued and gf225!!! )

Plans

(black squares are the filter+c02 ladder)

Plants
1- Echinodorus 'Red Flame'
2- Vallisneria (Probably Vallisneria Torta)
3- Java Fern
4- Hygro Polysperma**
5- Amazon Sword
6- Tiger lotus lily (Nymphaea Maculata)
7- Riccia Fluitans
8- Dwarf Sagittaria**

** are plants which I currently have in my tank. I also have Bacopa Caroliniana, and Common Hornwart (Ceratophyllum Demersum), which I can't really see looking great in this tank... but I could be wrong.
The Java Fern and Riccia will be tied onto a piece of moapani I have.

Stock
2x Female Hi Fin Platys (1x Female juvenile)
1x Dwarf Gourami
10x Neon Tetra

I have another tank which i'll be setting up probably at the same time as this, and will probably be swapping stock back and forth, however I am hoping to get a pair of German Blue Rams in this tank once it has been set up and stable.

Equipment

Lighting
Interpet Daylight Plus 36w T5 Power Compact (7000k)
14w T8 Arcadia Fresh Water Lamp (7500k)
The T8 has a reflector, but I can't find any reflectors for the T5 compact. The hood is DIY and will be coated on the inside with tinfoil. So the WPG will be roughly 3.3.

Substrate
Play Sand and First Layer Laterite

Heating
15w Rena Cor heater cable, which will be timed with the lights (probably 5 hours on/2 off/5 on)
75w Visitherm. (Rated up to 50ltrs however room is always warm, heater hardly ever comes on to keep temp steady at around 26oC)

Filtration
Internal Fluval 2+ with added media big filled with Eheim Substrat Pro.
I also have a spare Eheim Aquaball 2208 (+Substrat Pro) if required, however the 2+ should suffice.

C02
I will be using a single Nutrafin CO2 Natural Plant System with a DIY yeast mix.

I currently don't have a KH/GH test kit, but it will be ordered at the same time as the c02 and laterite. I can test pH and nitrates tomorrow if needed. I don't think at this moment I will be using EI dosing, I am going to be extremely busy over the next year (it's honours year at Uni... Dissertations-a-plenty ) however, I am not completely ruling it out!

I would appreciate it a great deal if I could get some help on my plant choice, maybe offering some ideas on what other plants I could use, possibly more towards the back right, and also advice on my setup in general.

Thank you!

 

[kenneth_kpe]

i was going to ask about the dosing routine you were going to use but i read the last part of your post you have to take some sort of fertilization into account, how about going for a not so high light, minimal c02 and minimal fertilization so that your plants dont really grow mad! so you would not have to maintain the tank too much

anyway you have there sag mixed with VAL right ? tell me how it goes, ive always wanted to set up the experiment tank to see if the sags really did have an allelophatic effect on vals, in my tank all my vals died but everything else grew fine anyway tell me how the vals go

 

[jimbooo]

sounds like a good plan, you really should consider ei though. i was hessitant at first because of the hassle envolved but i must say i'm 4 days into ei and apart from the initial fuss of mixing up the solutions it's a piece of cake. for 1 tank you'll make up 2 500ml bottles of stock solution and dose a tiny ammount every day. takes all of 30 seconds.

honestly this is so easy anyone could do it. once you work out the dosages make a time table for the week and just look up the day, find the ml needed and add to the tank. thats it, simple

by the way what pic did you nick, i cant spot any of mine in there?

oh one more point, get some mylar off ebay rather than tin foil, it it 100000x better (well not quite but worth the purchase)

 

[RYO]

Hi m8, wish i was this thorough when i started.
What is the hood made of ? I ask this because the power compacts are a pig to fit and run really hot . Personally i would go with 3 X 18" 15w t8 tubes ,easier to fit and reflectors are easy to come by. This will also give you more choice with the spectrum choice.
Any reason why your going with an internal filter rather than an external ?

 

[emo]

Thanks for the replies so far everyone!

sounds like a good plan, you really should consider ei though.

by the way what pic did you nick, i cant spot any of mine in there?

oh one more point, get some mylar off ebay rather than tin foil

I have put a lot more thought into it, and I am starting to think that it really isn't as time consuming as I first expected. So I would say EI is now definetally on the cards.

I took a sample of the riccia!

I'll see if I can get my hands on mylar too, thanks!

What is the hood made of ? I ask this because the power compacts are a pig to fit and run really hot . Personally i would go with 3 X 18" 15w t8 tubes ,easier to fit and reflectors are easy to come by. This will also give you more choice with the spectrum choice.
Any reason why your going with an internal filter rather than an external ?

I've not actually built the hoods yet, possibly the task for this weekend. It will most likely be made of something like marine ply or pine, i'll need to see what I can get. The design will be similar to that of the hood you made and the one daza made. If there's any tips you have found yourself trough trial & error then it would be great to know.

I will be attatching the lights somehow to hood using the clips that come with the convertagears

It has actually been puzzling me for a while now on how to attatch those white clips to the hood.

In hindsight I probably should have gone for 3x 15w tubes, but I already have the T5s. However I shall see what they are like, and I can always get a lower K rating tube for my T8 if that will help a bit.

The only reason I went for internal over external was cost really!

Thanks again.

 

[RYO]

Im using 2 power compacts on my 60L and had too wire the tubes onto a secured reflector. The clips are pantsand release far too easily.

 

[zig]

Sounds great emo

My *2 cents*

You are definatly going to have to go EI with this tank, T5 lighting is very intense and you are going to have to be on top of the game here as regards fertiliseation, this is going to be a highlight tank and its going to need co2 and proper ferts, and like jimboo said it isnt that hard, just ask you shall recieve (advice on EI that is)

I must take a photo of my T5 lighting setup to show you how i attached the lights to the hood, if i think of it i will post it here tomorrow.

 

[zig]

emo this is how i attached the lights to my hood, first of all i got an oversize reflector that went the full length of the light and the fitting, i attached the reflector to the hood with screws (my hood is wooden) and on one end with the clip you have shown above, i cut off the white nipple type part and let this clip lie between the reflector (now attached) and the hood, i then attached the other part of the clear plastic clip you have pictured above, at the other end because the reflector was big enough i was able to use a cable tie and tuck it underneath the reflector and this holds this end of the light in position, i havent had any problems using this method, i use glass condensation covers between the hood and the lights.

 

[emo]

Brilliant, thanks so much zig! I take it you used a regular T8 reflector? I was ligning up the T8 reflector I have at the moment with my new T5 Powers and it looks like it will fit.

 

[zig]

Brilliant, thanks so much zig! I take it you used a regular T8 reflector? I was ligning up the T8 reflector I have at the moment with my new T5 Powers and it looks like it will fit.

Its just an ordinary Arcadia T8 reflector they work well, the plastic clip that comes with the Interpet fitted through the gap on the reflector perfectly, if you do it this way you just have to find a way to secure the reflector to the hood properly, with my hood being wooden it was quite easy.