Hi everyone, I've been lurking on this excellent forum for a while, and now that I actually have an aquarium again I decided to register. I'm a biologist with a keen interest in pretty much all living things, and I've kept aquariums of various sizes almost all my life. My latest project was a 55 gal reef tank, which introduced me to the very best and worst aspects of aquarium keeping. The tank was a huge success in terms of looks and coral/critter/fish life, until the day my sea anemone was overcome with wanderlust and wandered too close to the main powerhead while I was away for a weekend. Result: shredded anemone and tank crash. Practically everything in the tank died. I swore never to set up an aquarium again.
It's been three years, and here I go again, this time setting up a planted freshwater tank. So, let me introduce you to my latest (and currently only) aquarium project. Here's a criminally bad photo of the tank (I don't have a proper camera at the moment so I took this with a cell phone) in its early stage, two days after planting the first plants:
I wanted to set up a reasonably low-maintenance (aside from plant-pruning, which is something I love doing), low-cost planted tank. Some of the choices I've made regarding filtration and substrate are rather major leaps of faith for me, so we'll see how it goes.
Tank size: ~200 liters / ~55g
Lighting: 150W 14,000K metal halide (leftover from my reef tank days) and two 40W halogen spots (2700K; these probably won't do much for the plants, but the warmer light is visually pleasing).
Heater: none. I'll get one if I need it, which doesn't seem likely.
Water circulation: A Fluval powerhead; no idea about the wattage since the specifications plate became encrusted with calcareous algae and critter shells back in the reef tank. I'll probably have to add a foam pad to the inlet to prevent the powerhead from clogging.
Biological filtration: Nothing. I don't want a bacterial colony competing with my plants for ammonia. This is probably the biggest leap of faith for me, and I hope I won't regret it. I guess I'll have to keep the tank fairly lightly stocked.
CO2: A DIY yeast-based generator, the famous soda bottle system. It won't explode, one hopes. The CO2 is bubbled into the powerhead inlet.
Substrate: Here I decided to experiment a bit. I plan to focus on mostly root-feeding plants, allowing me to use mostly substrate fertilization and (hopefully) starve out algae, but I didn't want to buy expensive aquarium soil. Instead, after some research, I decided on using 2 - 4 inches of cactus soil (mix of peat, clay and sand; pH 6.2; low in nutrients), with one inch of fine (0.1 - 0.6 mm) sand on top. The sand will hopefully keep the cactus soil from clouding the water. I mixed in some (a couple of cups) substrate from a local fishless pond to help the microorganisms and any little critters get going.
Fertilization: Nutrient tabs. I'll consider fertilizing the water column later on if it seems necessary.
Water: The tap water is pH 7.5 with a carbonate hardness of ~3. We'll see what the peat-based substrate and all that bogwood will do to it. I raised the KH to 4 with baking soda just to be safe.
Plants: Since I wanted root-feeding plants with extensive root systems, swords seemed like the obvious choice. I started with some "microswords" for the front. They were sold as E. tenellus but they look a lot more like Lilaeopsis to me. Also got some E. boliviensis and a large "Echinodorus sp." that looks like E. osiris. To get rid of excess nutrients in the water, I got plenty of Hygrophila polysperma; most of these will probably be removed later in favor of more interesting plants.
Decor: Three pieces of bogwood, a big piece of beautiful white granite.
"Cycling": This is where I am now, at day three. There's no filter to cycle, so I just need the plants to establish themselves until the water chemistry looks OK. At that point I'll bring in a bunch of Malaysian mystery snails and red cherry shrimp to deal with any algae.
Fish (planned): Apistos and/or Rams. Either that or I end up going for Kribensis again because I love them. A small school of some sort of tetra. SAE if I have to.
So that's my current project. Looking forward to being a part of these forums, especially since I've never tried a heavily planted tank before and will probably require quite a bit of advice.
It's been three years, and here I go again, this time setting up a planted freshwater tank. So, let me introduce you to my latest (and currently only) aquarium project. Here's a criminally bad photo of the tank (I don't have a proper camera at the moment so I took this with a cell phone) in its early stage, two days after planting the first plants:
I wanted to set up a reasonably low-maintenance (aside from plant-pruning, which is something I love doing), low-cost planted tank. Some of the choices I've made regarding filtration and substrate are rather major leaps of faith for me, so we'll see how it goes.
Tank size: ~200 liters / ~55g
Lighting: 150W 14,000K metal halide (leftover from my reef tank days) and two 40W halogen spots (2700K; these probably won't do much for the plants, but the warmer light is visually pleasing).
Heater: none. I'll get one if I need it, which doesn't seem likely.
Water circulation: A Fluval powerhead; no idea about the wattage since the specifications plate became encrusted with calcareous algae and critter shells back in the reef tank. I'll probably have to add a foam pad to the inlet to prevent the powerhead from clogging.
Biological filtration: Nothing. I don't want a bacterial colony competing with my plants for ammonia. This is probably the biggest leap of faith for me, and I hope I won't regret it. I guess I'll have to keep the tank fairly lightly stocked.
CO2: A DIY yeast-based generator, the famous soda bottle system. It won't explode, one hopes. The CO2 is bubbled into the powerhead inlet.
Substrate: Here I decided to experiment a bit. I plan to focus on mostly root-feeding plants, allowing me to use mostly substrate fertilization and (hopefully) starve out algae, but I didn't want to buy expensive aquarium soil. Instead, after some research, I decided on using 2 - 4 inches of cactus soil (mix of peat, clay and sand; pH 6.2; low in nutrients), with one inch of fine (0.1 - 0.6 mm) sand on top. The sand will hopefully keep the cactus soil from clouding the water. I mixed in some (a couple of cups) substrate from a local fishless pond to help the microorganisms and any little critters get going.
Fertilization: Nutrient tabs. I'll consider fertilizing the water column later on if it seems necessary.
Water: The tap water is pH 7.5 with a carbonate hardness of ~3. We'll see what the peat-based substrate and all that bogwood will do to it. I raised the KH to 4 with baking soda just to be safe.
Plants: Since I wanted root-feeding plants with extensive root systems, swords seemed like the obvious choice. I started with some "microswords" for the front. They were sold as E. tenellus but they look a lot more like Lilaeopsis to me. Also got some E. boliviensis and a large "Echinodorus sp." that looks like E. osiris. To get rid of excess nutrients in the water, I got plenty of Hygrophila polysperma; most of these will probably be removed later in favor of more interesting plants.
Decor: Three pieces of bogwood, a big piece of beautiful white granite.
"Cycling": This is where I am now, at day three. There's no filter to cycle, so I just need the plants to establish themselves until the water chemistry looks OK. At that point I'll bring in a bunch of Malaysian mystery snails and red cherry shrimp to deal with any algae.
Fish (planned): Apistos and/or Rams. Either that or I end up going for Kribensis again because I love them. A small school of some sort of tetra. SAE if I have to.
So that's my current project. Looking forward to being a part of these forums, especially since I've never tried a heavily planted tank before and will probably require quite a bit of advice.
