New Planted River Reef, Name Ideas Please People

[mattbond]

been a long time in the planning (still not finished deciding)

just bought from work a 48 litre river reef, after much admiring of members tanks on here i thought go for it

specs:

Tank

48 litre river- reef (interpet)
43cm high x 40cm wide x 42cm long

Lighting

2 X 18W T5s and 6 "moonlight" LEDs

Filtration
built in high capacity filter along the back wall, turn over the aquarium volume 10 times an hour and has adjustable spray head

Heating

interpet deltatherm 50watt heater

CO2 none?

Nutrients

tetra aquasoil substrate
tetra plantmin
root tabs
flora grow 24 i think and some other droplet thing

Plants

Cryptocoryne wendtii, becketti, balansae

marsilea quadrifolia (will this still carpet, i cant find hirsuta on the plant order lists at work?)

Decor

sumatra branchwood
small peice of bogwood
2 homemade coconut halves with 20mm hole (enquire if interested in custom made ones)
unipac fine gravel

Future livestock

1M + 1F apistogramma borelli
6 x ember tetra
3 dwarf/ pygmy corydoras
3 ottocinclus


any suggestions amendments welcome, pictures will follow, ive got all the kit at work

 

[Truck]

leave the ottocinclus out for 6 months.

there is no way you can put plants in that tank without CO2

also the substrate and ferts you have chosen contain no N or P

youll need a lot if plants too if you wish to keep algae low

 

[mattbond]

leave the ottocinclus out for 6 months.

there is no way you can put plants in that tank without CO2

also the substrate and ferts you have chosen contain no N or P

youll need a lot if plants too if you wish to keep algae low

not sure about the tetra substrate as its sold as being nutrient rich for planted tanks, but the other ferts are by red sea?

i was told that i wouldnt need CO2 in such a small tank?

im getting two pots of each plant species mentioned

what fish should i put in 1st?

 

[Truck]

leave the ottocinclus out for 6 months.

there is no way you can put plants in that tank without CO2

also the substrate and ferts you have chosen contain no N or P

youll need a lot if plants too if you wish to keep algae low

not sure about the tetra substrate as its sold as being nutrient rich for planted tanks, but the other ferts are by red sea?

i was told that i wouldnt need CO2 in such a small tank?

im getting two pots of each plant species mentioned

what fish should i put in 1st?

the tetra stuff is rubbish IMO, get yourself a bag of tropica plant substrate

you always need CO2 if lighting is this high regardless of tank size.

two pots is very little and you will get a lot of algae if your not careful.

you will need pressurized CO2 with this amount of light.

 

[mattbond]

woops ive already bought and paid for the tetra stuff lol, do i really need pressurised CO2, i was thinking about one of the yeast ones to do it?

surely 6 crypts and to bulging pots of marsilea if enough?

does marsilea quadrifolia still carpet well?

 

[Truck]

yes you must have pressurized with this lighting...yeast based CO2 is too unstable and demands wont be met.

marsilea quadrifolia cannot be fully submerged it must be left free floating, which will be a good thing as it will cut down light.

now that you already have the substrates etc...i would sell the plantamin, its not good stuff, buy some tropica plant nutrition+

6 crypts is not enough...a good few pots say 4 or 5 would be

 

[Geoff1991]

I agree, even while i was still tweaking my pressurized co2 setup, i had it too low and i saw the start of an algae outbreak, but obviously i didnt keep it like that.

 

[mattbond]

pics!

1st 3 hours after first set up

2nd this evening, after the addition of airstones

more plants on thursday when they're ordered in!

 

[Truck]

your best bet is splitting the plants up into individual plants, and then re planting...that way you will get better growth.

 

[mattbond]

your best bet is splitting the plants up into individual plants, and then re planting...that way you will get better growth.

agreed im definately doing that with the marsilea, but the cyptocorynes were a bit fragile at work and i wanted to keep those together

 

[mattbond]

just got all my plants in at work today, i swear the stuff at the back isnt balansae though? i took it anyway as it seems to be a taller cryptocoryne?

anyways heres the nearly finished article:

 

[Truck]

the 4 leaved clover will rot. and the crypts look like wenditii tropica or brown

 

[mattbond]

the 4 leaved clover will rot. and the crypts look like wenditii tropica or brown

the ones at the back you mean? i was hoping they'll grow quite tall, will they?

at for the clover, ive checked it out, it is a proper underwater plant, ive seen carpets of it online, apparently it will will carpet the bottom with lots of little leaves like glosso and then you can cut away the taller older growth once its carpeted?

have you kept it before?

 

[Truck]

the 4 leaved clover will rot. and the crypts look like wenditii tropica or brown

the ones at the back you mean? i was hoping they'll grow quite tall, will they?

at for the clover, ive checked it out, it is a proper underwater plant, ive seen carpets of it online, apparently it will will carpet the bottom with lots of little leaves like glosso and then you can cut away the taller older growth once its carpeted?

have you kept it before?

its a non aquatic bog plant, there are some species which look a lot like it.

the crypts will get to about 15cm, they dont look like blansae to me

 

[mattbond]

i'll leave it two weeks and see how it goes, theres no fish in there yet so ive got time

what algae eaters for this tank do you think?