Si's Low Tech Tank Journal

[PDSimon]

I've added the All Pond Solutions 1000LPH filter, really pleased with it, it seems to be doing a great job. First of all, its actually sucking up all the amano poo that was driving me mad - how can these things poo so much?!. Secondly it seems to be circulating the tank much better because all the plants are moving now rather than just some of them.

Space for some more plants now that the internal has gone

Oh and the hygro. difformis is growing out of the aquarium... I guess I just cut a chunk of the bottom of and replant it?

 

[PDSimon]

Update on the tank:

New filter has freed up a bit of space in the back left corner for something behind the ech.

new leaves on the echinodorus 'rubin'. The new leaves are really red, which I didn't expect, but they are quite small, a lot of leaves have died on the outside (it was a big plant...)

the ludwigia repens, possibly the 'rubin' version. Not tall but there is loads of plant you can't see in that picture.

 

[Biulu]

You still have space in the upper part of your tank. Why don't you up the rummy nose numbers and look for a nice centrepiece fish? Could be a trio of gouramis for instance or some killies.

 

[PDSimon]

Cheers for the post Builu but you were too late! I got 2 apistogramma cacatuoides today.

Heres the little female (to the right of the ram)

Can't get a good enough pic of the male as of yet.

Theres a tiny bit of space left in my tank now so I may be interested in increasing the rummys, adding some black phantom possibly if there is enough space, maybe even some smaller killis but I don't have a clue about those really.

You can also see in the pic that the tiny ozelot below he ram isn't doing very well. I think its because at the green machine it was in different conditions to my tank so when I moved it the stalk that went to it died. I should have planted it in soil or however you plant ech. but couldn't be bothered..

 

[Biulu]

Good choice! Would love to get the cacatoide myself, but they say they are hard to keep and come too expensive...

 

[lljdma06]

This is looking really good. Love the rubin sword. One of my favorites...

 

[PDSimon]

Good choice! Would love to get the cacatoide myself, but they say they are hard to keep and come too expensive...

Thanks I'm really happy with the little guys, they've been exploring the tank today and heres a pic of the male! He is only a little bit bigger than the female so a lot of growing to go

They are fairly easy to look after compared to most dwarf cichlids, no harder than GBRs I believe... I got two for 8 pound, not bad for a 'double red' strain. My nitrates are low anyway and the pH is about 6.3 thanks to all the bogwood in there so provides a nice little habitat

This is looking really good. Love the rubin sword. One of my favorites...

Thanks! I do love echs..I could have a tank full of them.

That space that I had left has been filled up with a cyperus helferi, not the easiest plant to look after I think? but I really wanted a vallis-look-a-like as my vallis spirallis mostly died so I binned it. I think the easycarbo melted it and my water hardness didn't suit it very well either.

I've also got a new bottle of TPN+ so going to increase that to 5ml per day now and 4ml a day of easycarbo. If growth is good i'll also increase the lighting from 6 to 7 hours.

 

[PDSimon]

My java ferns have atleast a dozen baby plants growing off them, I took one of the bigger plants and put it at the front. I don't really want them but I could sell them/give them away. I'm just wondering is there an easy way of growing them outside of the aquarium?

and also, my new filters doing a good job but there are still deadspots, which is understandable as there is quite a few pieces of bogwood. People talk about hydor koralia(something like that..) but they all seem to be 1000LPH+. I already have 1000lph (10x) turnover so I don't really need a heck of a lot especially as rummy nose and dwarf cichlids wouldn't appreciate it, just for the back where there isn't much circulation. Any ideas? what sort of turnover should I look for?

A good example is that repens picture above^^^^ its at the back and you can see waste gathering on it but the front of the tank is really clean.

 

[ian]

Koralias are very good as the bush a body of water, rather than a jet. You can get a nano version that pushes 900lph. I reckon you'd get away with one of them, you can get em for £20 of the net. They are well worth the money.


ps, the Rummy's will love it.

pps, i also started off with the same substrate as you Si, and it was blowing all over, so i changed it over because it started look really untidy blowing on the bogwood.

 

[PDSimon]

Thanks Ian,

The current filtration does a great job of removing waste of the sand without moving the sand, I would hope the powerhead had the same effect, do you think the only way to do that would be to get a lower output? I've seen some even less powerful wavemakers, around 500lph, would that not be more suitable to what I want?

I take it you mean the koralia wavemaker version? there aren't any disadvantages of using them is there?

 

[ian]

i have only used the koralia powerheads, not the wavemakers, however i have read a bit about em and the cheaper ones are just the same a koralia powerhead, but others are more like 'wavemakers' as in the impeller will switch from clock-wise to anti-clockwise, to create a wave. I really can't see a nano, blowing your sand about.

 

[PDSimon]

Great, may well invest in of of these in the not so distant future

Also, my stocking is almost full but there is a bit of space left! I have:

2 bolivian rams
2 apisto. cacatuoides
8 rummy nose tetra
8 kuhli loach

If anyone has any ideas i'm welcome to them

I'm thinking a small shoal black phantom tetra or something similar, something interesting or that looks nice.

 

[Biulu]

You have quite a lot of fish for the bottom. What about something top level as I said before? Epiplatys, hatchetfish are 2 that come to mind.

 

[PDSimon]

I am trying to find something top level, I really like killifish, I just can't EVER find any from a decent supplier that will suit my tank! Theres actually a couple of species i'm looking out for but just can't find them anywhere. Hatchetfish... a lot of people say they're boring, I quite like them but I think they'll just jump out and it'll probably make me keep counting them everytime I do a waterchange!

 

[Biulu]

Ask BigC in the killifish forum to get you some. He will not only get you the right species, but might be able to send them to you, or provide you with a reliable breeder. Are you in Europe or NOrth America? BigC is in Ireland... Europe has many good killifish breeders