My Tank 120X50X40

[Aquamaniac]

Hi

After weeks of reaserching,decisions and waiting for all the equipment i purchased online to arrive i finally got my new tank up and running.

This is the tank the day it arrived home.

Layout studies

The tank is filling,after weeks and weeks of keeping this two pieces of wood under water they still float i ended up removing them and put it on hold.

The tank on its third day

My co2 (currently empty) and my fluval 305 filter

Setup

Tank: 150x50x40 (240 lts aprox)
Heater: Fluval mirrored series M 300 watts
Filter: Fluval 305
Co2: pressurized 2kg bottle
Light: 4x54 watt
Fertile soil : tropica aquacare
Substrate: Akadama

Plants:

Eliocharis parvula
Cabomba
Limnophila aromatica
Diplidis diandra
Blyxa
Egeria densa (added later)
Bacopa australis (added later)
Valisneria gigantea (added later)
Heteranthera zosterifolia (added later)

After one month i added my first fish and been adding them slowly ever since usually adding some every week.

Currently in the tank i have:
4 angelfish
5 neon tetras
6 rummy nose tetras
8 ottocinclus affinis

Right after adding my first fish i got algae,alot of them.
-So i started by cutting the number of hours with the light on from 12 to 8.
-Water changes of 20% every two days

It did not work,algae were still growing out of control.I would clean and the tank would be covered after a few hours.
-Added more plants
-increased water changes to 30%

It slowed down a bit but still out of control.Buy now the plants where completely covered in algae,they were growing fast but new growth would only stay out of algae for one day or two.
-removed all the plants and cleaned them one by one.And replanted them again.

No more algae growth on plants,rocks and gravel.
But next day i arrive home from work and the water was completely green i hardly could see 1 cm inside the tank.
-Cut down the light from 4x54 to 2x54 watts (i realise now this should have been my first step to begin with,or worse it should never have been 4x54 watts in the first place)
-Parcial changes of 50% daily or every two days depending on time available.
- Added 8 ottocinclus affinis (algae eaters)

At the same time i run out of co2 and been like that for almost for 2 weeks dunno if it made any difference with the algae. It shouldn't has far as i know. But who am i to tell.
It did affect the plants as now they take one week to grow what they would take one day before even with algae.

Wich brings us to now.

Been keeping the tank with less light and big water changes for almost 2 weeks. Today the tank is free of algae (as much as is possible in a planted tank), and there is no green water anymore.Its still not crystal clear but i think with another water change it will get there.

My main problem now is where to refill my co2. I must either made a mistake and used to much co2 or the system was losing co2 somewhere and i did not notice,because a 2kg bottle should not run out in 1 month.Something to have a look.

I will post more photos of the tank as it is now tomorrow i arrived late from work today and the light was already off.

I know its a big post and most wont bother to read it but its my return to fishkeeping and planted tanks after along time and i feel oudated so by sharing my experiences,sucesses and failures here maybe i can learn a bit more or other inexperienced people can learn from my mistakes.

I will keep updating this post with news about the tank.

If you reached here thanks for reading.

 

[ian]

this has a lot of potential, do you want me to move this journal over to the planted journal section? You'll get more help regarding the plants over there. If not, i'll leave it here.

as for the C02, do you have any independent LFS nearby, as they will normally get the refills filled. As for it only lasting you a months, it should last you about 6ish months on there. You must a leak somewhere in the system?

 

[Aquamaniac]

this has a lot of potential, do you want me to move this journal over to the planted journal section? You'll get more help regarding the plants over there. If not, i'll leave it here.

as for the C02, do you have any independent LFS nearby, as they will normally get the refills filled. As for it only lasting you a months, it should last you about 6ish months on there. You must a leak somewhere in the system?

Yes you can move it. I apreciate that.
The shop i've been going is Aquatic design in london (i don't know if can say the name,some foruns do not allow publicity if its not allowed tell me and i'll remove it),they only refill JBL bottles. But just to say this shop's behaviour towards me and my project has been 5 star.
Everytime i go there they ask me alot of questions about the tank,the setup,how its doing.
The first time i bought fish they asked me as much as possible about the tank and how the cycle was done,gave me some advices to avoid stressing the fish.
Sometimes they lose half an hour just with me its something i was not used from the LFS in my country where i used to have tanks before.
I know that profit is still the goal but this shop is one that every time i go there i spend money but i leave the shop a happy costumer.

As for the co2 i also think the same.i have a leak somewhere and i need to find where. For moments i was afraid one of my kids could have opened the valves and made a mess,but if the full bottle had been dumped in to the tank so fast the fish would have been all poisoned and they were fine.

thanks anyway i'll keep updating

 

[festo]

Hi,
Tank looks great,
What type of Rocks do you have?

 

[Aquamaniac]

The rocks are dragon stone.

 

[Aquamaniac]

Hello

Here's some of the photos i promised you days ago. Sorry that the quality its not the best one but the i seem to have misplaced my camera so these were taken from my cell phone.
Before the photos an update:

- The water remains a bit cloudy so i did another 50% water transfer.But at this moment the water looks more brownish yellow than green so i'm starting to think that its more due to the wood i put inside the tank last week than algae.Anyway while i was taking water i noticed there was a lot of small loose particles floating in the water wich made me question how efficiently my filter is working.

*So with that in mind on my weekly trip to my LFS today i was going to buy one of those foams from fluval that are use to pick up smaller particles and clear my water. But the people there already know me and the guy told me not to waste my money and sold me one meter of the foam they use in their own tanks. It was nice of him, i got enough to last me ages,and it was alot cheaper.
I went home and put it on the last compartment of my fluval 305 right before the outflow,this way i'm expecting that all the small particles that are passing trough the other media,will end up getting stuck in here before the water returns to the tank. After a few hours the results were more than obvious,even though still cloudy,the amount of floating particles as decreased drastically.

Apart from that nothing new from my trip to the shop,except i talked to them about co2 refills and they agreed to replace my 2kg bottle for another 2kg bottle. Its nice of them but its not that cheap so i'm still checking other options.

-In the afternoon i took some time to do some DIY. Been having some trouble with my electrical installation.

1- It was loose inside the cabinet.
2- It was too visible for my younger son and for 2 times already he messed up my light timer.

So before he decides to get my tank in trouble buy switching off everything i decided to do some DIY.I wanted it to be cheap,and functional,and also to find away to organize some way of organizing of the equipment i'm starting to pille up and doesn't look good anymore running around loose in the cabinet.


So apart from that my fish look and act very healthy,the neon tetras and the rummy noses are running around the tank togheter all over the tank wich makes a very beautifull effect,and my angelfish are always swimming together and as soon as they see me in front of the tank they come to the glass asking for food.

I still don't have all the water tests:

So far my PH is 7,0. It comes from the tap at 8,0 and i want it to go to 6,5, so i'm adding a buffer in my water transfers.
And my KH is 7. Have to research a bit more on this one,i know that if it's high it will make difficult to low the pH,and i'm really having hard time getting it down without the co2 running.

Well this is long already so here are the photos:

Water transfer this morning,water still not at its best.

My angelfish swimming in group.Really sorry about the picture quality,with the cell phone the water looks even more cloudy than it really is.

The tank this afternoon

Some DIY. The plastic shelves did not really fit in the cupboard because of the electrical stuff so some cutting here and there was required,but it will do the job.

The tank is stabilizing slowly,and except for planned water transfers i have not messed with it much. I know that the wood does not look nice with the green wire and rocks attached but its only untill it stops floating.Then i will organize to fit in the layout. I could have buried the rocks under the akadama but after my algae bloom i don't want to take risks with the fertile soil spreading to the water.
My fish are fine and that's all that matters. This week i decided not to add any.
Noticed some plants are showing nutrient defficiency,leaves dying,black spots on them and holes,so as soon as the co2 is running i'll have to start liquid fertilizer.

Thanks for reading

Will keep updating.

 

[KkAaNnEe]

Looks really good, i will keep an eye on this, i also go to aquatic design centre, its a really great lfs

 

[Aquamaniac]

Hi

A minor update,it has been a very busy start of the week so apart from planned water changes i haven't had the time to really enjoy my tank and fish.

(Heres one to remember,this afternoon after work i took some minutes to watch my fish,i was so tired and watching them was so relaxing that i ended up falling a sleep,woke up 2 hours later and already late for a staff meeting at work)

Anyway as for updates:
- I'm sad to say i had a fish dying on me. A rummy nose tetra. I found him already dead when i went to check the tank before going to bed.This was saturday night
I was pretty upset,i spent hours the next day watching the other ones checking for any symptoms of what could have killed him. Saturday they were all fine. As of today i still don't know what killed him. I need to buy the rest of the water tests.
The other fish seem to be ok.
By the way i'm buying the tests from SERA?Been checking this API test kit? is it ok?Sera is quite expensive if you want to have all the tests.

-Did my normal water change,only 30% this time.The water is not green anymore is still a bit cloudy,but more of a yellow cloudiness wich i still believe might be coming from the wood.

-Made the deal with London beer gas for the CO2. Hope to get a 3,15 kg bottle this friday. So this coming weekend i have to put it to work. And find the leak in my system.
My 2kg bottle lasted me 1 month so theres got to be a leak somewhere.

-With the CO2 i have to think of adding nutrients,don't want more algae,and plants are already showing lack of nutrients.

I'm not experienced with liquid fertilizing,my old planted tank had worm castings for a fertile soil. Its not really meant to be used in tanks but its extremely cheap and used in Portugal.The good thing is that aside from side effects in the beginning this thing lasts forever (maybe not forever),but i kept my tank heavily planted for a year and a half no liquid fertilizing and they still kept growing,trimming plants every 2 or 3 days.

So i never really used liquid fertilizing,but been researching for it for awhile already.

In the future i want to go for the NKP,macros and micros separately.
But for start at least to get me started i decided to use the TROPICA PLANT NUTRITION+

When i feel more confortable i will go for the more advanced fertilizing.

Sugestions accepted for for fertilizing.

- Apart from that i have a question about fish,not planning to add some for some time untill i figure out if what killed my rummy nose is really a problem. But since the start of this project i had the idea to put some RAM CICHLIDS in this tank.
I already know that i can keep them with angelfish. But i always heard that they are not one of the most easy fish to keep,any advice?

Thanks for everybody that been following this journal.

 

[james_fish]

this has a lot of potential, do you want me to move this journal over to the planted journal section? You'll get more help regarding the plants over there. If not, i'll leave it here.

Nice tank! Very nice infact, shame about the algae situation though. I like the wood you have, i'm after a couple of pieces like that myself.

Nice job!

James.

 

[Aquamaniac]

this has a lot of potential, do you want me to move this journal over to the planted journal section? You'll get more help regarding the plants over there. If not, i'll leave it here.

Nice tank! Very nice infact, shame about the algae situation though. I like the wood you have, i'm after a couple of pieces like that myself.

Nice job!

James.

Thanks. Yes it was a shame,but at the same time it was also a lesson for me. Never had algae blooms before so i did not even thought about it. Next tank i'll take that in mind when setting up the tank.
It was too much light,4x54,co2,and not enough plants to start with.
This is a mistake i plan to learn alot from.
As for the wood i bought it from my local LFS.Bought two actually they have alot of those in the shop.

 

[Aquamaniac]

Here goes a photo update.

The tank today after a water change. The water looks much better.

Hope you guys like it.Once again sorry about the quality of the pictures still using the mobile phone.

 

[Aquamaniac]

Hello

I need some advice.
My co2 is now up and running.And i want to start fertilizing tomorrow.
I don't have much experience with liquid fertilizers so to start i'm using the Tropica nutrition plus.
I am thinking to do a daily fertilization instead of weekly.With to small (25%) water changes per week instead of one big one (50%).
My doubts is how much should i dose?
In the box says add 5ml a week per 50l of water. wich means for a 240 litre tank like mine i should use 25 ml a week yes? Is that ok,too much or less.

I apreciate if someone can help.

 

[Aquamaniac]

Hello

Here is a video of my tank made yesterday. I'm a bad cameraman but i hope you enjoy the tank.

 

[ian]

sorry i didn't move this earlier Aquamaniac, regarding the TPN+, we normally give a guide of a mil per 20 litres of water. Thats a lot for a 240. It would be cheaper for you to go down the EI route of fertilisers.

http/www.theplantedtank.co.uk/EI.htm

ps the tank looks great and when it grows in will look really good!

 

[JenCliBee]

Hello

I need some advice.
My co2 is now up and running.And i want to start fertilizing tomorrow.
I don't have much experience with liquid fertilizers so to start i'm using the Tropica nutrition plus.
I am thinking to do a daily fertilization instead of weekly.With to small (25%) water changes per week instead of one big one (50%).
My doubts is how much should i dose?
In the box says add 5ml a week per 50l of water. wich means for a 240 litre tank like mine i should use 25 ml a week yes? Is that ok,too much or less.

I apreciate if someone can help.

Tank is looking good mate, new video shows a nice clean healthy looking tank .


For the ferts.... i would be inclined to dose daily at around 5ml to start with and see how it goes (this is considered quite a low dose). If the plants look like the are still struggling.. up the dosage a little more and so on.

How are you measuring the amount of co2 into the tank?.... getting a nice balance of co2, ferts and flow with the current lighting your using is the most important factor to a successful tank.

I would also be inclined to add an extra powerhead to the tank... from experience the fluval 305 isn't sufficient for a 125 litre tank never mind a 240l planted tank. Adding this will aid a better distribution of ferts and co2 ensuring all plants and tank is saturated. Before all this though, you need some method of measuring co2 levels... a drop checker is the most accurate way of doing this.


Excellent start though mate and keep up the good work