Daize's Planted Photo Journal - 64L 1Wpg Low Light

[daizeUK]

This is my first tropical fish tank as well as my first attempt at a planted tank so this is very much a learning journey for me.  I'm afraid that this won't be up to the high standard of some of the other beautiful tanks you see on here!
 
Tank philosophy
The theme for this tank is fish playground!  The original motivation was to allow my two young children to experience having pets (can't get the usual furry pets due to allergies) so the emphasis will be on colour and activity rather than artistic style.  My primary concern is to have happy, healthy fish that are interesting and natural to watch.
 
As a beginner I wanted a low maintenance tank with easy plants that are suited to my water & light conditions, so I'll be sticking to low-light plants that don't need CO2 and are fairly hard to kill.  I've never been very good with terrestrial plants so I don't have a lot of faith in myself! 

 
Tank & Lighting
The tank is an Interpet Fishbox 64L (17 US gallons), which I bought for the looks and did very little research beforehand.  As it turns out, it comes with terrible lighting - a 15W bulb on each side of the tank and very little wiggle room for upgrades or modifications.  Short of removing the whole hood, I'm pretty much stuck with <1WPG!  I quickly realised that the 'cool blue moon' bulb supplied on the left side of the tank is absolutely useless for growing plants so that's already been replaced with a second daylight bulb.
 
Other boring details
Interpet PF2 filter, Pets at Home aquarium sand substrate, Water pH 8.2 GH 15°d (hard), Flourish trace ferts.
 
Location
In my kitchen, right next to the back door.  The tank gets direct sunlight from about 10am until 2pm and I've been using the curtains to help shield it on sunny days.  I've had a few diatoms, not too bad but the water is definitely getting a greenish tinge, as you can see in the photo.  It's not the most ideal location I know

 but it's the best place for viewing the tank so I'd like to see how it gets on.
 

 
 
 
Planting
 
This was the tank on 18th March, a few days after first setup:
 

 
 
 Three weeks later, April 4th:
 

 
Still a couple of fake plants in there - those will be going! 
 
1. Elodea - it's completely melted and despite producing fast new growth, even the new growth seems to be melting so this one might be a total washout.  Not too disappointed as I wasn't a big fan of elodea to begin with but just bought it as temporary filler.
2. Limnophila sessiliflora - this one was a gamble.  I've heard it was a low-light alternative to cabomba but wasn't sure how well it would do.  It seems to be growing well and getting bushier but also lost a lot of colour on the tips.  They seem to be greening up again but a couple of fronds have started to disintegrate, so we'll have to see.
3. Vallis - melted after a couple of weeks but has lots of healthy new growth and is sending out lots of runners so I think it will bounce back.
4. Crypt balansae - yeah there's a balansae hiding behind the log there.  Seems to be doing well but it's in the wrong place and I can't see it! 

5. Crypt beckettii - is valiantly producing new leaves despite me uprooting it every time I hoover the sand!
6. Microsorium mini - my mini java fern is doing very well but I'm not sure about the location, I think it gets lost against a backdrop of vallis.
7. Java moss - is growing quickly and seems very happy.
 
 
Next steps
This is the mopani wood I bought.  It's fixed to a rock with epoxy resin so that I can stand it upright in the tank like an arch.  I'll cover up the base with java fern/moss for a natural look.
 

 
It's been soaking and about ready to add to the tank now so I'm gathering ideas on how to place things.  I'm thinking:
 
1. Remove the fake log and replace with my mopani arch.
2. Move the crypt beckettii further right to snuggle up with the mopani and move the crypt balansae front left corner
3. Move the java mini fern to help cover the resin at the base of the mopani
4. Move the limnophila and add a large anubias to flank the mopani on either side as background filler plants
5. Move the heater to the left side of the tank, close to the filter, to be better hidden behind the mopani arch
6. Attach Anubias nana to the mopani
 
I'm open to comments or ideas if anyone has them.  I'm new at this and sure it could be done better!  Please do criticise, I don't offend easily and welcome the feedback so say what you think!  Thanks for reading!
 

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I like the look of it Daize.  I'm not a "fake" wood fan, but my son picked out a piece, and with a bit of fern added to it, its softened its look and blends really well.
 
I started fishkeeping again for the exact same reason as you.  My 3 year old (at the time) figured out that we couldn't have pets with fur, and that fish didn't have fur.  He asked for a fish.  My wife told me, and we were off and running!  She was thinking a 10 gallon.  I was thinking about how big I could get away with, without her being upset about it taking up a huge amount of space.  (She now loves it almost as much as me.)
 
 
I know its been a long road to get where you are now.  Enjoy it!  Getting the tank "just right" will probably never happen.  You'll always see something that you'd like to change, improve, etc.   Changing it is enjoyable as well.  Don't rush into making changes and enjoy each moment with the kids and the tank - and let them get in on the act as much as possible.
 
 
A word of caution, be careful about direct sunlight with that big window/door. 

 

[Joshwainwright]

Oooh, another detailed journal for me to follow! 

 
I'm already looking forward to seeing that wood in there, I can't really think of anything to suggest before it's in though. If you're anything like me, you'll never be able to decide what angle to have or where to place it so good luck with that. You could maybe tie the java moss to it? That would look nice, as would the java fern
 
Seeing your plants grow in low light is reassuring too, I've just planted a new load after everything I bought died in a matter of weeks last time. I've managed to keep everything alive for 2 days now though so that's a good start! I just need to keep up dosing liquid CO2 and ferts and keep my fingers crossed.
 
Anyway, have fun and I look forward to what's to come!

 

[daizeUK]

Photoperiod
I forgot to mention my photoperiod - lights are on a timer from 7:45am to 1:45pm, then 4pm to 7pm.  Nine hours total.
The tank instructions state that the lights need to be left on ten hours a day to achieve plant growth - yep that's how weak they are!  Obviously it's in a bright position so there is plenty of natural light as well and in fact most of the plants are pointing their leaves towards the front of the tank rather than up at the lights.  The two hour 'siesta' breaks up the day and helps to replenish CO2 levels - this is meant to be a good idea in a low tech tank since the CO2 mainly comes from gas exchange at the surface.
 
 
Eagle - that's a bright three year old! 
"She was thinking a 10 gallon." that made me laugh!  Sounds exactly like my situation with my other half, except I think he's going to be harder to persuade if I want to get anything bigger!
Good advice about getting the kids involved - I must confess I've been quite protective of the tank so far.  Maybe I should let them be more hands-on if I want to keep them interested.  Do you let your kids feed the fish?
 
I've been in two minds over the fake wood for a while.  The fish love swimming through it and they like to hide behind it and sleep at night.  I've been tempted to keep the log but remove the fake leaves and tie some anubias to it instead.  In the end I think the deciding factor is that the log just blends too well with the brown sand and looks boring - I'm actually starting to think about replacing or topping up with black sand at some point in the future to provide more contrast.
 
Josh - hello and welcome!  Yes I think I will be tweaking things for quite some time!  I started out thinking I would tie java fern to the mopani arch and now I'm leaning more towards anubias nana.  I'll just have fun trying things out and see what works best!
 
 
In the meantime I treated myself to these for £13 so that I can pretend I know what I'm doing when I prune the plants

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I only have the one boy.  He's allowed to feed, but only under supervision.  I have cories, so he's in charge of the "cory pellets" - easy to count out and not overfeed.
 
 
He has also helped me with testing of the water.  Again, just counting the drops, then I let him tell me what color he thinks it matches best - When I was cycling he was helpful with this.  I'd let him do the nitrite test when that one wasn't as important (early on) and later he "graduated" to the ammonia test when that one became less important (it has TWO bottles and more drops!).  He thought he had actually gotten promoted, but what he really got was to do more that mattered less.  He loved it.  He's less enthused about that now.  He also was VERY involved in the shaking of the nitrate test.
 
 
He also was instrumental (with a little leading and pushing in the right direction) when we selected plants, fish, and some decor.  (Limited options for him to choose between.) 
 
He repaid all this by being the first one to find a baby panda cory in the tank when they first starting breeding.  He saw it, and told us there was a baby in the tank - I was doubtful, but he was right on.  He's also found other babies that came later before anyone else.
 
 
So, definitely, get the kids involved! 

 

[Joshwainwright]

Ahah! Classic
 
Great to see you've got confidence for them though, knowing you'll reach the time when you'll be able to prune. I feel as if the only pruning I will be doing is dead leaves and more dead leaves. That's why I only have a pair of pincettes, dead leaves will be easy enough to just pull off
 
I think with letting the kids feed the fish, you'd be best off putting the amount of flakes you want to feed into a little cup - otherwise you're going to have them all in and you'll have a job of fishing out the waste and going down to your LFS for some more! I think they'd love helping out though, they'd definitely get a little bit more attached.
 
Black sand could be interesting. I sometimes think I wish I'd have paid a little more than the £3 for a bag of playsand when I look at my substrate. The light sand shows off too much waste and it's so frustrating now I've got my plants in! Never mind though, I'll get over it

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Good suggestion for the feeding with flakes.
 
 
Next: I have both play sand and dark sand in different tanks.  I like the look of the dark sand best.  Its more costly, but it does make a BIG difference in what you see.

 

[RCA]

Looking good can you confirm, is the Java Fern attached to something or planted in the substrate?
 
Be careful with the Java Moss and the light you will be getting through the window.  I eventually threw mine out as every tank I put it in, it just produced stringy pest hair algae, not sure what I may have been doing wrong with it?  Put me off mosses for now...

 

[Lunar Jetman]

Good suggestion for the feeding with flakes.

My daughter is quite good now as I explained how much she should feed and why. She's 6 so not sure if she's older/younger than your "helper" but she wants a tank in her room so has to show me she can be responsible for it first.

I did have my 2 year old niece round yesterday and let her feed the fish. We had to ration the portion though or it would have all gone in!

 

[eaglesaquarium]

My helper is 7 now.  He also wants his own tank.  My wife isn't sure about that just yet.   She's also going through a 2 year allergy shot series, so we may get a furry friend eventually instead.
 
He helps sometimes, and not others.  It doesn't bother me, as I rather enjoy feeding them!  They recognize me more than anyone else in the house, so anytime I come near the tank, their activity level always increases, even if I'm just sitting down at the dining room table for a cup of coffee.  They see me and they go crazy for a little bit.

 

[daizeUK]

I've had a small setback, as I was taking the mopani wood out of the bucket to transfer it to the tank and I dropped it and broke the base rock off!    I'm such a klutz.  I'll have to get the epoxy out again.
 
The kids have started to help me feed the fish - that didn't go too well at first, I advised my five year old to add one more flake and turned my back and he dumped about 12 in the tank!  I think he interpreted 'one' as 'one pinch'!
 
RCA - the java fern is tied to the rock with cotton, it's sitting on a little rock ledge.  The cotton is only temporary as I'll move it soon anyway.
 
Did a 50% water change today - the green tinted water is making me uneasy and there is a constant low ammonia reading in the tank.  I got out my new pruning shears and tidied up the plants and vacuumed the sand as best I could. 
 
Thanks for all the comments and advice!

 

[eaglesaquarium]

You should know better than to turn your back on a 5 year old! 

 
 
"green tinted water" - algae outbreak? 

 

[daizeUK]

Yes from what I understand, green water is unicellular algae floating in the water column.  It can turn into pea soup, although thankfully it's just a tint for me so far.  I've read that it can be caused by ammonia, too much light, not enough flow or nutrient imbalance.  I'm confident that my flow is good as all the plants are swaying slightly, so I think my prime suspects are the low ammonia readings and exposure to sunlight.  By 'low' I mean above zero but below 0.25ppm. 

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Based on where the tank is located from the pic I saw, I think the light is clearly too much.  You might need to consider blinds or curtains to cut that down, because it will probably get worse as the days get longer.

 

[Joshwainwright]

the java fern is tied to the rock with cotton, it's sitting on a little rock ledge.  The cotton is only temporary as I'll move it soon anyway.

You may find that fishing line works better, that's what I use
 
Hopefully you'll be able to get the algae under control one way or another!