Plant, Lightin & Deco Help, Whats Suitable For My Tank?

[steve_b21]

Ive finally got time to finish off my 'project'

Tank has been running well with 3 Widow Tetra's for a year now, i just have not had the time to add some silk plants, lighting and deco.

I have a very slim tank which is fitted in a wall.


The depth of the tank is only 5" ,height is 28" and length is 47"


Picture is here...

I cant seem to find silk plants that are large enough.

I was wondering what silk plants, lightin, deco you guys & girls would suggest?

Has any one had any dealings with artificial coral?....

Link 1

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[Corleone]

Not that much you can really do with only 5" depth. You've got a good pick of fish so far - small tetras, barbs, male guppies, etc are probably best.

For plants, Valis and other tall growing plants would be best. There's some artificial plants that will be tall enough, but valis will grow to fit the height you give it, and is easy to care for and likely won't require much special fertilization. Maintenance is going to be a nightmare, borderline impossible, with such a tank, though. You'll want some long planting tongs - with some practice, those'll be useful for holding the siphon to clean the substrate, since you can't easily put your arm in the tank.

There are a lot of artificial corals on the market. Most of them are plastic. The problem you'll run into is the lack of floor space with 5" being the limiting factor on anything you put in.

Do you know anything about the filtration on the tank? I've only seen one similar system for sale. It wasn't the same brand, but it was unfiltered, which will create serious problems.

As for lighting... The lighting will probably have to shine in from the side - not much room for top lighting. Provided you can work out a way to do this, a number of fish really look much better in side lighting than top lighting.

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, very interesting. I too am curious about the lighting and filtration. Are you not showing it lit because it doesn't have lights?? How do you get in to the top?

~~waterdrop~~

 

[steve_b21]

I have 2 strips of lights at the top, which create a very bluey moon light effect which i dont really like, so that is the hanging wires from the top. I am thinking of getting a more whiter lighter.

I got the tank customer made, and have done a fishless cycle, it has a Fluval 3 internal filter.

Tank goes back jus a touch over 5" into the wall. Its 47" across... and it goes 32" high, and 28" high around the sides and front. I really should have gone a bit lower than 28" as its a pain to get my hand in lol.

I have a syphon that leads out to the garden when i do a water change (50%) every 2 weeks or so. Again this also is used for when topping the water back up. 50% water change takes me about 15 mins or so.

I do not really want real plants, and it would be much easier to have fake silk.... especially as its more difficult to reach the bottom fo the tank while in the wall.

 

[waterdrop]

wow, so it actually holds about 108L/28G of water? That's more than what I would have thought but that's what the calculator gives me.

With all the excitement about white LEDs these days, you should be able to find something less blue. Good luck on that.

Maybe you could make your own "silk giant vals" .. no idea where you would get the silk/plastic they use for those plants.. maybe you could figure out who makes some of those silk plants and get through on the phone to somebody. They might get a kick out of hearing somebody is trying to make their own tall ones.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Corleone]

If you wanted to go the DIY route like waterdrop suggests, hit fabric stores and craft stores. Not sure about the plastic portions, but you could easily get silk that would pass for leaves.

Possible idea if you can't get plastic, attach them to something that'll sink, like a heavy glass bead or a ceramic ring, with nylon fishing line, then bury the weight in the gravel so just the silk leaves protrude.