The Tale Of A Transformation

[phishyphil]

INTRODUCTION​

After a recent Re-Scape of my 75 Gallon 4' Tank, I look at it and realised, this is how all my tanks Have looked. Same Substrate, Same Lay out, Same Fish Set Up. I needed a Change. Untill today, I have been using the 25 Gallon as a grow tank for my stem plants and a few grasses, this however is a waste of a tank I feel, so a transformation was due.

With this new set up, I wanted to do something I have never done before, and create an appealing planted tank, without the High Tech runnging costs and methods. Here enters the Low Tech Tank Set up. After countless hours of research looking at forum posts here on FF.Net, Videos on youtube, Information collated from books, I have decided on how I will look to run this tank. I will be using a more 'advanced' cheap substrate in this tank, minimal Ferts will be added to the tank, and a DIY CO2 system will be run. Below are the details of the tank and the intended Set up.

Tank Dimensions: 36" x 12" x 15"

Tank Volume:100 Litres (This will be the Volume of water available in the aquarium as the tank will not be filled to the brim

Lighting: Will be running 1 x 28w T8 tube. This will be increased to 2 x 14w T5 lights when the new Overhead T5 unit is ordered

CO2 Dosing: This will be a DIY system ti stay true to the "low Tech, Low budget style of the aqauarium hobby. 2 x 2 Litres Changed Weekly on separate occasions

Substrate: The base layer will consist of 3 components. The majority of this will be an appropriate dirt substance, in this case, John Innes No3 £4.50 from Homebase. Added to this will be a suitable cat litter substance to utilise the clay components to store nutrients to feed plant roots. The cat litter which I have chosen is Tesco Low Dust Lightweight Cat Litter. The final ingredient of the base layer mix will be a small amount of play sand from the original Tank substrate. Im using this to give the soil a more grainy texture and hopefully allow smoother passage for burrowing root systems. In total, the depth of the base layer will be 1"-1.5". On top of this will be a further 1"-1.5" of dark pea gravel.
Ferts: Being a low tech setup, I will be dosing minimal fertilisers, once per week in a DIY all-in-one solution, namely, James "PMDD+PO4" forumla.
The ingredients can be shown here:
10g Potassium Nitrate
2.3g Potassium Phosphate (monobasic)
4.0g Potassium Sulphate
8.0g Magnesium Sulphate Heptahydrate (Epsom Salts)
0.5g E300 Ascorbic Acid
0.2g E202 Potassium Sorbate
6g EDTA Chelated Trace Elements Mix (TNC Trace, CSM+B)
500ml distilled water

This is a totally new path for me in the aquarist's hobby, and many of it will be trial and error. Plants will be added, and marked on there success rate. I intend to add the plants which thrive in these conditions, rather than alter the setup to cater for the species, thus keeping everything as simple as possible.

And now, the journey begins

 

[phishyphil]

The Begining​

Original Tank Setup

All the Plants Removed and placed in the sink with Tank water

Tank Torn down, Washed with vinegar/water mix, and left to dry

The Cat litter I am using

The soil used is John Innes No3

Decided to Spray the back of the Tank Black Using Halford Gloss Black. £6.99

Cleaning Cat litter in between coats of paint, this takes so long to get the water clear

Tank All clean, painted and positioned

Base Layer ready to go in

Initial Scape without plants and pea gravel

I'm Really happy with the black baground, tanks a little dirty now after adding the soil, but will upload pictures when the gravel added and filled. Loads of plants ordered from LTP on ebay, so should be here friday ready for trimming and adding.

NEXT ON THE AGENDA:
Gravel In (should be by Friday hopefully, but working non stop at the moment so possibly Saturday
Plants In
Stand - I will be creating a new DIY Stand for this setup, which will require me to drain to around 30% to lift the blighter on to the new stand.
T5 unit - Canopy will be ditched and new overhead T5 Unit will be added
Moonlight - LED unit will be added in due course for late night "moon light"

Keep posted

Thoughts, suggestions and comments welcome

 

[mike455555]

looks great =D... why did you wash the cat litter?... so it sinks?... isent it clay based so it would go runny in the water?... well i think mine does... cant wait to see the plants in =D

 

[phishyphil]

looks great =D... why did you wash the cat litter?... so it sinks?... isent it clay based so it would go runny in the water?... well i think mine does... cant wait to see the plants in =D

Washed it due to the dust thats in the cat litter mate. Seriously took me over an hour constantly running water through it You not washed yours yet mate? Went for the Tesco One in the end, £3 for a bad. I washed way too much only used a quarter of what I washed lol

The mix went together really well, Looks good, Tank was spotles untill I added the dirt. Grrrr. Im getting the gravel tonight and hopefully in tomorrow

 

[L_Plates]

Looks good so far. I will be following this one.

Just a side note. As soon as you add Co2 this no longer falls under the low tech banner.

Look forward to updates.

LP

 

[phishyphil]

Looks good so far. I will be following this one.

Just a side note. As soon as you add Co2 this no longer falls under the low tech banner.

Look forward to updates.

LP

Cheers L_Plates. Might give the Co2 A miss, Will not be running it for the first couple of months anyway due to the excess nutrients in the water column from the soil, so if all goes well with the new T5 unit that will be on there, then hopefully no need for it.

Just need to think what to put in here

As I will be using small grain gravel, I think Cories will be out as there delicate to gravel substrate arent they, and don't fancy putting sand in there for the risk of it mixing with the dirt/litter mix.

Looking at a simple set up, 2-3 species I reckon. And mayybe a few shrimp

 

[L_Plates]

Cory's do definitely prefer sand to gravel. However i have pea gravel in my main tank with cory's and they are ok.

But i am not saying do it as when i redo my main tank next year the pea gravel will be gone.

LP

 

[phishyphil]

Cory's do definitely prefer sand to gravel. However i have pea gravel in my main tank with cory's and they are ok.

But i am not saying do it as when i redo my main tank next year the pea gravel will be gone.

LP

Will probably leave it then, rather they be in my 75G sand substrate tank, than put them on to the gravel and "risk" doing them an injury. Oh well, cant have it all eh

 

[mike455555]

na iv not washed mine. i dident see the need there was hardly any dust...

 

[phishyphil]

na iv not washed mine. i dident see the need there was hardly any dust...

Lucky boy then

 

[mike455555]

yer lol as well im mixing it with soil instead of doing a layer of each. so any dustwill be left in the moister of the soil/ as im capping with sand the smaller particals will sink =D

 

[phishyphil]

yer lol as well im mixing it with soil instead of doing a layer of each. so any dustwill be left in the moister of the soil/ as im capping with sand the smaller particals will sink =D

Was going to reuse my sand, then realised you were using it, so decided to go with gravel and see how are results pay off.

 

[mike455555]

ohh fair enough =D i think i might start investigate substrate mixes after the tanks set up. see if i can make a really nice one =D

 

[phishyphil]

UPDATE

Okay, so today I went to the Local Fish store to pick up up some gravel and found 25Kg for £10, which I thought was pretty reasonable, so home it came and let the rinsing comence

Gravel Washed and Placed In the Tank

A Few Plants added, waiting for an order to come in, and in they will go too

Will upload a Full tank shot when it has cleared a little. Hardly any cloudyness though

 

[Tizer]

You might want to ask what exactly is in the cat litter that neutralises odours. Sounds like they add something to it.

I wouldnt use it, should have gone for 100% clay cat litter from pets at home. ^^