Not So Much A Journal ( More An Experiment)

[JenCliBee]

15, June.. 2009


Hey peeps, after getting rid of my planted nano i thought i would move the mosses and HC over to my cycling 180 which has wood soaking at the moment (Thanks Aaron wood is superb )..... and just thought i would start this sort of journal on how it progresses.

The low light in the nano was growing the HC quite well after it eventually took off so i thought i would uproot and plant it properly this time after seeing geoff's .

More of an experiment in which to see if the HC would actually grow enough to form a carpet, even half a carpet would do lol.

Wood hasn't fully submersed yet so it's pretty much all over the place, once it actually does it will have tied to it various different mosses all ready for the shrimp, snails and fry


Little run down on whats in the tank.....

Sand as substrate

Bogwood covered with Xmas moss

A rock covered in flame moss (moss will be removed from the rock onto somethink else when the time comes)

HC hopefully to form a carpet

Lighting is 2 x T8 bulbs ... 30 watt bulbs which i think gives ... 1.2/1.3 wpg? ish

Filtration.... 1 x TT EX700 and 1x 900ltr/h powerhead connected to a 380l sponge filter (more for flow but adds as extra media)

Plants are so far flame moss, xmas moss and HC will be adding various other mosses including java moss

May add the nutrafin CO2 off the nano but not to sure yet... may be a little unstable and cause me to have algae, however i dont mind the algae because it will be another source of food for the inhabitants ontop of there own diet so.... we'll see lol

Photo - period..... 6hrs .... 12pm-6pm

Dosing with TPN+ (anyone know the amounts i SHOULD be using) ... currently dosing around 10ml daily, ive goto get some more easy carbo.


Anyways the pics, far from setup completely right yet becasue as i said the wood needs to sink before it can be placed

Full tank shot

Right to left showing the planted HC

Thanks for looking

Jen

 

[fifefish]

hey, I like the use of the sponge filter

 

[aaronnorth]

nice job with the HC, i would definatley add CO2, preferably pressurized if you want HC to survive. It loves lots of CO2 and Nitrate. 10ml Tropica is fine,

 

[AdAndrews]

what a qwerking idea! good luck jen

 

[youngfisher]

Carnt wait to see how good this develops

 

[lljdma06]

nice job with the HC, i would definatley add CO2, preferably pressurized if you want HC to survive. It loves lots of CO2 and Nitrate. 10ml Tropica is fine,

I agree that is this generally the case. Mine did well without CO2, which was why I was tempted to try it again, but I had T5s, a more shallow tank, and a lot more fish. Platies, the little nitrate factories of the tropical fish world.

The tank has a great start and the wood is fabulous! However, I honestly think you need to add some hardy stemplants to prevent ammonia issues that may arise with the rescape. Any scape, initially can have more plants. You then remove them once you get your regimen down and the tank matures.

The sponge filter is an eyesore, sorry. I understand why you have it, though. You might want to lower the power on that powerhead. Based on your photo, it looks a might strong. I just think you'll have a whirling mess of fry and shrimp. Maybe it is just the setting you have it on.

All of this is just my opinion. How long do you plan on having the tank setup?

llj

 

[JenCliBee]

nice job with the HC, i would definatley add CO2, preferably pressurized if you want HC to survive. It loves lots of CO2 and Nitrate. 10ml Tropica is fine,

Thanks m8, I want this tank to stay as low maintenance as possible hence the low light etc etc... may add the DIY CO2 just to see how it goes tbh, i guess a little can sometimes be better than none lol.

I agree that is this generally the case. Mine did well without CO2, which was why I was tempted to try it again, but I had T5s, a more shallow tank, and a lot more fish. Platies, the little nitrate factories of the tropical fish world.

The tank has a great start and the wood is fabulous! However, I honestly think you need to add some hardy stemplants to prevent ammonia issues that may arise with the rescape. Any scape, initially can have more plants. You then remove them once you get your regimen down and the tank matures.

The sponge filter is an eyesore, sorry. I understand why you have it, though. You might want to lower the power on that powerhead. Based on your photo, it looks a might strong. I just think you'll have a whirling mess of fry and shrimp. Maybe it is just the setting you have it on.

All of this is just my opinion. How long do you plan on having the tank setup?

llj

Not to sure what you mean by ammonia issues?, the tank is been fully cycled so the bacteria should be able to cope with any ammonia or as i missing what your trying to say?.

I agree with the sponge filter, initially it was going to be the only filter in the tank hence the 380l compasity but i decided to leave the TT EX7 in and just add a sponge cover for the intake so the sponge will probably come out after the cycle and moved to another tank to keep the bacteria alive

Again not to sure from the pictures lol,

it looks a might strong

If anythink i thought it was a little under filtered in a sense?..... it actually doesnt casue that much flow rate only works out at around 8-10 times flow rate in total but that will probably drop anyways IF i do decide to remove the sponge filter.

All of this is just my opinion. How long do you plan on having the tank setup?

Tank will be setup indefinitley as a shrimp tank come grow out tank, a few changes here and there but the basic layout i doubt will change much.


Thanks all for the comment and suggestions , all is very welcome


jen

 

[Nick16]

looks good, but could you not have put a nice nutritious substrate on the bottom and then capped it with sand?

 

[lljdma06]

With an extensive rescape, you can run the risk of an ammonia spike, which can trigger an algae bloom.

 

[bagu]

With an extensive rescape, you can run the risk of an ammonia spike, which can trigger an algae bloom.

thats answered my problem =/

is it due to all of the poo being kicked up and not being broken down?

 

[Honeythorn]

Can I ask, what are the twiggy pieces of wood? Is it redmoor root? Or branches from outside? If the latter, what tree are they from?

 

[JenCliBee]

looks good, but could you not have put a nice nutritious substrate on the bottom and then capped it with sand?

By adding stuff as people have suggested slightly takes away from the low maintenance/tech planted tank, i have another tank already which is going to be a fully presurised CO2 high tec planted, the reason for this tank is solely becasue i needed to put the moss/hc in becasue there tank was sold, if the hc doesnt take.. then it doesnt take but i wanted to see if it would or even could in such a basic setup.

Can I ask, what are the twiggy pieces of wood? Is it redmoor root? Or branches from outside? If the latter, what tree are they from?

Hi hun, as far as im aware its manzanite drift wood?, was purchased off Aaronnorth and im sure he will corect me if im wrong

jen

 

[aaronnorth]

looks good, but could you not have put a nice nutritious substrate on the bottom and then capped it with sand?

By adding stuff as people have suggested slightly takes away from the low maintenance/tech planted tank, i have another tank already which is going to be a fully presurised CO2 high tec planted, the reason for this tank is solely becasue i needed to put the moss/hc in becasue there tank was sold, if the hc doesnt take.. then it doesnt take but i wanted to see if it would or even could in such a basic setup.

Can I ask, what are the twiggy pieces of wood? Is it redmoor root? Or branches from outside? If the latter, what tree are they from?

Hi hun, as far as im aware its manzanite drift wood?, was purchased off Aaronnorth and im sure he will corect me if im wrong

jen

A tank only becomes high tech once you add high lighting and CO2 or liquid carbon. Nutrients in the substrate dont make much difference as they do not control growth speed.
Yes it is manzanita, see my journal and there is details on the front page where i purchased it from.

 

[Nick16]

i know i know, but in a hi tech or not, i would still have a nutritious substrate. even if its only somethinglike Aquabasis. your plants will tank you for it in the end. if you are not regular in dosing a good substrate really helps.

 

[lljdma06]

With an extensive rescape, you can run the risk of an ammonia spike, which can trigger an algae bloom.

thats answered my problem =/

is it due to all of the poo being kicked up and not being broken down?

Not being broken down quickly enough, In my opinion, yes. The filter can only handle so much at a given time.

On the subject of nutritious substrate, you can have one and still consider you tank low-maintenance. The tanks of Diana Walstad often use soil of some type, and if that isn't nutrient-rich, I don't know what it. I use a layer of laterite under sand, very old school, but still effective and rather cheap.

llj