My Attempt At A Low Light, Low Tech Nano

[goin_all_out]

that looks fantastic, personally i wouldn't add anymore plants then what u have in there right now. let them fill out more and see what you get. keep us posted on what u get out of this!

 

[Themuleous]

Look good

Sam

 

[ulster exile]

Little update:
Moved the filter to the side, but the background needs removing and sorting as there's condensation in there (but not this weekend!). Some cladophora has survived the bleach dip, but I'm trying spot treating it with excel and removing as much as I can.

I was sent some ambulia and bacopa so I'm hoping they'll do well and I bought a pile more anubias but getting them to stay rooted without burying the rhizome is a right bugger (I'm particularly hating the substrate as it isn't helping either). The hygro is being used as a bed by the betta, so it isn't growing fast but it will get there in the end hopefully.

The mono refuses to stay stuffed in under the wood, so I'm having to keep sticking it back in there until it does but I do want to keep it there so I'm not giving up on it.

 

[Gill]

Lovely tank,
By any chance fif you get your wood and Ember Tetras from World of Water

 

[ulster exile]

No, got the wood from Ripples at a Wyevale near Shenstone (Lichfield) and the fish from Coxwell Aquatics at a Wyevale near Cosford. I really like both shops, although the latter probably does a bigger selection of unusual fish and a their wood is much bigger than Ripples - I've been toying with the idea of going back for more because they have branchy bits of wood which would easily fill my 200l!

 

[Gill]

No, got the wood from Ripples at a Wyevale near Shenstone (Lichfield) and the fish from Coxwell Aquatics at a Wyevale near Cosford. I really like both shops, although the latter probably does a bigger selection of unusual fish and a their wood is much bigger than Ripples - I've been toying with the idea of going back for more because they have branchy bits of wood which would easily fill my 200l!

Cool, thanks for the info. May have to check them out in the morning

 

[ulster exile]

Latest pics - got rid of the dwarf sag which was doing ok and some bacopa which wasn't. Added some cryptocoryne undulata which should grow a bit bigger.

Removed the background as it was ticking me off since some condensation obviously got in there (despite the tape sealing the top and sides ). I can't decide what to do instead so for the time being it will be backless.

The hygrophilia back left is growing really really slowly but it is looking nice (to me) nonetheless.

Pic of the undulata at the back of the tank. PS All those little white dots are nerite eggs - nerite is now in the big tank as the eggs were annoying me!

Finally, a gratuitous shot of the owner

 

[lljdma06]

Nice little nano you've got setup there. With the lighting you have, you'll get nice, slow growth that's really managable. How are you doing with algae so far? I really enjoy all of my low-light systems. Some of them haven't changed much since December. Others still need some tweaking with the scape.

I've ordered mono in the past, but received an extremely poor shipment (most of it was dead), so the remaining fragments sort of drift about my 2.5g planted, growing bigger. I see the potential of the plant, but you need patience, and enough plants to actually make something out of them, and at this point in time, I have neither.

Keep up the good work!

llj

 

[ulster exile]

Thank you

The slow growth is definitely a test in patience so I'm glad I put the ambulia in there just so that I had something to trim occasionally!

I know what you mean about the mono - as it took over my big tank despite being tied down, this time I have deliberately left it to free float as I want it to gather in and around the anubias and hide the slate they are attached to.

As for algae, I have a bit of brown algae which can just be seen on the filter. A bit of the clado is coming back too and I'm manually removing it and spot treating with excel - it hasn't ran rampant as it did in my last tank so I'm not too stressed about it (yet).

 

[GobyMaster]

Nice bogwood!

That tank looks great!