Si's Low Tech Tank Journal

[PDSimon]

I'd appreciate a little help on lighting. So 2x 20W T8 bulbs... with approx 100L/30 US Gallons

So that means its 1.5WPG... Good for low tech, however I want to add some sort of water surface plant. Any ideas? I'm not sure of suitable ones. The green machine is near me and they have a duck weed type plant in loads of there tanks, its not duck weed though as it has little air pockets on. Not sure what that is?

I basically want subdued lighting as its a bit bright for the bolivian rams, they're really shy when the lights are on, along with the light sand substrate I feel a mean

also might add some rummy nose/silver hatchets/black phantom tetra and they would all appreciate it too. Hopefully this won't cause too much bother to plant growth but I thought maybe I could tie them to the front of the tank where there are less plants for cover so that the lighting is reduced there.

Any guidance here would be great, thanks

edit: also Ian mentioned of putting a plant in the back. I was thinking maybe giant vallis or would that be a stupid idea? If you leave it up to me i'll put another ech. there

 

[Biulu]

I'm waiting for the difformis to grow higher, still lots of little plants at the bottom growing but not high enough yet.. and the vallis doesn't seem to be doing anything! Might get something

I don't mind the tannins, there is too much in that picture but there is less now

Do you know anything about echinodorus ozelot? Mine has two black spots on one of the leaves and one of the big stems has 2 tiny leaves growing on the end which I assume you can take of when they're big enough? Problem is though that half way along the stem its going yellowy! not a good sign?

cheers for the input

The black spots are actually 'reddish' and a typical feature of the ozelot. Nothing to worry about...

 

[ian]

I always like the look of amazon frogbit as a floating plants and it'll cope with you lighting SI. I think the Vallis is a great idea!

 

[PDSimon]

I'm waiting for the difformis to grow higher, still lots of little plants at the bottom growing but not high enough yet.. and the vallis doesn't seem to be doing anything! Might get something

I don't mind the tannins, there is too much in that picture but there is less now

Do you know anything about echinodorus ozelot? Mine has two black spots on one of the leaves and one of the big stems has 2 tiny leaves growing on the end which I assume you can take of when they're big enough? Problem is though that half way along the stem its going yellowy! not a good sign?

cheers for the input

The black spots are actually 'reddish' and a typical feature of the ozelot. Nothing to worry about...
[/quote]

haha I hope you're joking! If you look carefully on the biggest leaf, there are 2 round dark spots on the leaf. They look like they are disintergrating now so I cut them off I've also taken a other few leaves of, split the plant in half and planted one of the shoots, its not doing very well though as it was only tiny. The stem was dead. I think and hope that this was because the plant was about to flower above water and I shoved it under water!

I always like the look of amazon frogbit as a floating plants and it'll cope with you lighting SI. I think the Vallis is a great idea!

Cheers

 

[PDSimon]

#41#### it, you can't dose easycarbo in a big block like TPN+ can you? going on holiday tomorrow you see..

 

[Nick16]

1ml per 50 litres mate.

i have doubled and tripled dosed before with no ill effects but i would not recommend it. your plant mass isnt enough and your fiush may not be up to it. if you regularly double dose then they get used to it, but i wouldnt suddenly pour loads in.

stick with the usual reciepe.

if you are going away, cut down your lighting. (wattage and photo period) that way your plants will need less co2 and ferts. otherwise you might be facing and alga-fied mess when you come back!

 

[SuperColey1]

The 'brown' appearance of the sand is more likely as it 'settles in'. white sand wil never stay white for long but it should return to a much lighter cleaner appearance eventually. It is more than likely just diatoms which should disappear once eaten by the Amanos

I would check the ballast in the hood to see if you are getting 20W of light from 20W tubes. My tank is a Fluval 125 and it came with 20W tubes but alas as most Fluvals (maybe not the newer ones) it had a 2 x 15W ballast meaning each 20W bulb was running at 15W. Thats nothing to worry about its just so you know what you have

Don't worry about that light being too bright for Bolivians nor worry about white sand. You have low light and the sand statements are a load of old ****. I mean balony. You have nothing to worry about. As long as there is cover and the tank isn't somewhere where there is constant movement directly in front of it there shouldn't be a problem

This is 60W T5 over a Fluval 125Ltr. Look bright Does the sand look bright? (That sand is already a year old in that picture. Its still the same sand in my tank now, still looks light and now 3½ years old. lol.

The Bolivians didn't mind though I had 2 pairs in mine and they spawned whenever they wanted to then ate all the fry after a week or so In these pictures the bright ones are the dominant pair and the lighter ones are the 'beta' pair.

Keep up the good work

AC

 

[PDSimon]

1ml per 50 litres mate.

i have doubled and tripled dosed before with no ill effects but i would not recommend it. your plant mass isnt enough and your fiush may not be up to it. if you regularly double dose then they get used to it, but i wouldnt suddenly pour loads in.

stick with the usual reciepe.

if you are going away, cut down your lighting. (wattage and photo period) that way your plants will need less co2 and ferts. otherwise you might be facing and alga-fied mess when you come back!

Cheers nick,

I did a big dose of TPN and just a slightly bigger than normal carbon dose and the tanks looking great, really green, slight bit of algae on the front of the glass but only very little. Looks really fresh so quite pleased

 

[PDSimon]

The 'brown' appearance of the sand is more likely as it 'settles in'. white sand wil never stay white for long but it should return to a much lighter cleaner appearance eventually. It is more than likely just diatoms which should disappear once eaten by the Amanos

I would check the ballast in the hood to see if you are getting 20W of light from 20W tubes. My tank is a Fluval 125 and it came with 20W tubes but alas as most Fluvals (maybe not the newer ones) it had a 2 x 15W ballast meaning each 20W bulb was running at 15W. Thats nothing to worry about its just so you know what you have

Don't worry about that light being too bright for Bolivians nor worry about white sand. You have low light and the sand statements are a load of old ****. I mean balony. You have nothing to worry about. As long as there is cover and the tank isn't somewhere where there is constant movement directly in front of it there shouldn't be a problem

This is 60W T5 over a Fluval 125Ltr. Look bright Does the sand look bright? (That sand is already a year old in that picture. Its still the same sand in my tank now, still looks light and now 3½ years old. lol.


The Bolivians didn't mind though I had 2 pairs in mine and they spawned whenever they wanted to then ate all the fry after a week or so In these pictures the bright ones are the dominant pair and the lighter ones are the 'beta' pair.


Keep up the good work

AC

Thanks for the info I will check that, never knew about the ballast so will check it out thank you. I just thought about the light/coverage due to them being shy when the lights were on.

Although about the brown bits, i've watched the shrimp and they excrete every 30 seconds, they are like machines...they're making one hell of a mess!

 

[SuperColey1]

Although about the brown bits, i've watched the shrimp and they excrete every 30 seconds, they are like machines...they're making one hell of a mess!

Indeed they do but in those pictures above and still to this day there is a huge colony of cherry shrimp in there. Whilst Amanos are bigger and poo more they are very hard to breed where cherrys are prolific. The colony in mine is probably between 100 and 300 but impossible to count.

AC

 

[PDSimon]

added some amazon frogbit it was practically free so

also added some ludwigia rupens 'rubin' and getting an external filter on monday/tuesday which will fill up some space so may put a big vallis there... will see...

also added 6 rummy nose tetra which have settled in nicely

 

[ian]

just keep an eye on the Rummy's.

Now you can throw away that test kit!! Rummy's noses are the best water test kit in the world.

 

[PDSimon]

Cheers ian, I am keeping a good eye on the rummys, their noses were very pale in the bag but as soon as I let them out it went back to a bright red colour, must be good conditions *crosses fingers*! I'll probably add 2 more as I wanted 8, but was a bit skeptical of the bioload.


Might also add some pearl blue shrimp tomorrow


One question about the filter that I recieve on mon/tues, it works at 1000lph which is approx. x10 the volume of the tank. Including a spray bar will this be too much and therefore should I restrict it to about x8?

There will be the current internal filter (fluval U3) temporarily as well whilst the bacteria move from one filter to the other.

Also, the internal filter is just below the surface, is it possibly that the vallis aren't doing well because the current is to strong for them? there is a 'plant setting' where the flow goes along the whole of the filter but I wasn't sure this would achieve enough surface agitation.

 

[ian]

10x is perfect for a planted tank, it works out that this is enough to push nutrients/c02 around the whole tank (obviously when positioned properly). Why not, just move all the media out of the U3 and put it in the new external? As for vallis, some people can grow it well, others struggle, I can never grow vallis.

Rummys have a very low bioload, you haven't got much in there have you?

if its still the 2 Rams and the loaches, i'd up that to 10. The more the better, you'll get better schooling, and they look great when they school.

 

[PDSimon]

Excellent... looking foward to playing around with it, I may put the media straight into the new filter.. not to sure yet.

Bit annoying about the vallis I just thought maybe the flow was too much for it.

there are 2 bolivians, 8 kuhli loach and 5 amano shrimp, I put in 6 rummys, was going to make it 8 but wasn't to sure whether the filter could handle the bioload increase. Not to sure what else to stock it with so will definately have 8 rummys, maybe some black phantom tetra and possibly 1 more female bolivian ram. Not sure because it would take up the rest of the stocking if I had 6 black phantoms in as well and filling up the last of the space will be difficult