Tranquil (Medium Tech Low Budget) Planted 75L

[Million]

Hi all,
I've been a member of this forum for a while now, but never really got around to doing a proper journal. I had one abortive attempt a couple of years ago but student life gets in the way of such things. Now, however, I'm a grown-up(!) so I can indulge my hobbies a bit more. This 75L tropical setup began it's life back then in my fourth year of uni, when I set it up in my room on a low budget to be a low maintenance tank. I planted it with crypts, java fern, anubias and red lily, and populated it with ember tetra, cherry barbs and japonica shrimp.

The tank was pretty low tech, and for one reason or another suffered from terrible crypt-melt. The fish were happy and looked great. I kept the tank as best I could while also studying hard and playing harder (yeah). When the time came to graduate I got assigned a job three hours away from my student house, and got a flat without a space for the tank, so I had to return it to my parents' house for my mum to care for it. She didn't do a great job. A fair few deaths and some massive overgrowth resulted, and also the lighting unit failed.

When I finished my first year's contract I got another job back in Cardiff so I was very excited at the prospect of getting my tank back. I transported it back from Bristol and set to returning it to it's former glory. I restocked with ember tetra, and gave the remaining cherry barb to the LFS. I got four Kuhli loach for lower tank interest - they're such great little gribblies to watch wriggling about in the substrate. Last weekend I added one male and two female Apistogramma agassizii, Brad, Jen and Angelina.

A couple of weeks ago I set about building a hood for the tank after reading a couple of DIY threads on this forum, using MDF skirting board and 9mm sheet. I had planned to do pure LED lighting, however I picked up a 'seconds' Aqua One lighting unit from a tank that broke in transit from my LFS, so it now sports 2x 15w T8s, one in warm and one in cold white. I plan to add 6x 1w high power bright white LEDs soon, which is why there are aluminium flanges on the edges of the hood.


IMAG0060 by maxhowes, on Flickr


IMAG0061 by maxhowes, on Flickr


IMAG0063 by maxhowes, on Flickr

I'm quite happy with how it turned out:

So, with the FTS, here are the specs:

Tank: Clearseal 24x12x18"
Lighting: 2x 15w T8 fluoro tubes
CO2: Yeast based reactor, glass diffuser
Substrate: tetra plant complete substrate, coarse gravel, limpopo black sand
Filtration: Fluval U2 internal filter

Plants: Anubias nana, Anubias nana var. 'bonsai', Christmas moss, Nymphaea rubra, assorted Cryptos, Java fern, Java fern 'narrow'
Livestock: 13 ember tetra, 4 kuhli loach, 3 Apistogramma agassizii, 3 japonica shrimp

Some detail shots for you now:

Angelina

Brad

Shrimp

Jen

Kuhli

Microsorium pteropus

Moss

Anubias nana var. 'bonsai'

Crypts

So, to end with, things I'm thinking about - I hope the red lilies emerge from their bulbs soon, as they will add a nice background for the tank. The upgrade in lighting and the increase in CO2 seem to be promoting crypt growth, and the moss is putting out flower-heads (or the moss equivalent - spores?). I'm contemplating getting some gold tetra (that look silver to me...) to go against the copper embers - might look nice - comments?

Thanks for looking/reading,
Max

 

[ian]

I like this...a very good scape Max!

*thumbs up*

 

[minnnt]

 

[Ps3Steveo]

Very nice, liking this layout a lot.

 

[L_Plates]

Very nice tank, the light unit looks great also.

My diy skills would not allow me to even attempt that

LP

 

[Million]

Thanks for the nice words everyone.

I've entered my tank into the tank of the month competition for the first time as I'm really happy with how it's looking right now. I'd be very grateful for any votes if you think it compares favourably!
Tank of the month - October

Cheers,
Max

 

[coldcazzie]

I'd be very grateful for any votes if you think it compares favourably!

I voted for it already

I like it very much.

 

[minnnt]

I'd be very grateful for any votes if you think it compares favourably!

I voted for it already

I like it very much.

Yep it also got my vote buddy. A very professional looking scaped tank! You should be very proud of it!

 

[three-fingers]

Beautiful tank, nice work on the hood too!

 

[stu40]

Thanks for the nice words everyone.

I've entered my tank into the tank of the month competition for the first time as I'm really happy with how it's looking right now. I'd be very grateful for any votes if you think it compares favourably!
fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/375505-tank-of-the-month-voting-for-october-2011/

Cheers,
Max

Shameless self promotion (wish i'd thought of it

)
Looks like you're going to get a lot of votes from around here. Excellent work

editops, forgot that Caz & Steveo have entered as well

 

[Spurry]

looks great well done m8

 

[Ps3Steveo]

Might try that lol

 

[coldcazzie]

Shameless self promotion (wish i'd thought of it

)
Looks like you're going to get a lot of votes from around here. Excellent work

editops, forgot that Caz & Steveo have entered as well

Lol, it's ok Stu - this is kinda how I envisage mine when it's grown in. Hope it looks as good as this!

 

[Million]

Well, picless update I'm afraid. What's new:

CO2 - my yeast reactor is dead, so using a Tetra CO2 can, BUT - I picked up some kit for an amazing price - JBL proflora 500g cylinder, JBL proflora 2Kg cyliner, regulator, solenoid, non return valve, all for £50! I was chatting to a guy at work, and it turned out he keeps fish, Just so happened I was after CO2 kit and he wanted rid of it, so a great bargain was had. The only problem I'm having is getting the tanks filled with gas. I've called round a lot of places to try and get this done, but to no avail. Fire stations, fire safety shops, aquarium suppliers, no luck so far. If anyone knows a place in Cardiff, please tell me! I ordered glassware from eBay - bubble counter, drop checker, diffuser, along with some tubing, ckeck valves and suction cups - from Hong Kong, so hopefully they'll be decent.

Livestock - I had issues with a few of my ember tetra, namely three of them exhibiting symptoms including swimming in tight little circles as if neurologically damaged, appetite loss/wasting, and general darkening of colouration. Two died, and I had to put one down. There is still one with dropsy in there - may be unrelated as the others didn't get dropsy, and he isn't spinning. I treated with eSHa EXIT and 2000, but who knows if it helped. I became concerned that there was a water quality issue, so onto the next change, I got an Eheim 2213+ external canister filter from Aquacadabra in an attempt to improve it, as well as the aesthetic of the tank.

Filtration - So, new external filter. Delivered very promptly, for a great price, so I was happy with that. I installed it without much difficulty, using the spray bar attachment which I had to cut short and drill some more holes in to get a reasonable flow that wouldn't upset my livestock. Upon starting it up I noted it was noisier than I thought it would be, with a grinding plasticky character. It was working, so I put up with it while it 'burped' out any air, hoping this would fix it, but it didn't. I disassembled the powerhead and found that the ceramic shaft that holds the impeller in the middle of the powerhead was fractured in the middle. So, I thought, mystery solved. I phoned Aquacadabra and told them, and they immediately posted the replacement part, which I was very impressed by. When the part arrived, I fitted it, re-primed the pump, and started it up. It was marginally quieter, but not quiet by any means. This is a problem, as the tank is in my living room, and we have guests sleep in there too. I phoned Aquacadabra for advice and was told that I should try removing or readjusting the media, and if this didn't work they gave me the number for Eheim's rep. I have yet to have time to try this trick, but I don't think it'll work. The top of the canister, where the powerhead is housed, feels like quite thin plastic, and the sound it rattly. If I press on the top or put weight on it while it's running, it gets a lot quieter. I think I may just need to ask for a replacement.

Plants - Crypt melt continues, but the other plants are quite happy as far as I can tell. I got some Hydrocotyle leucocephalia which I had been looking for for a while, and planted it at the back-right of the scape. With the increased lighting and increased CO2 I have been researching EI, and will be embarking shortly on a trial with home made solutions from dry powder.

Fertilizing - I used www.fluidsensoronline's blog for information (they have a great calculator page http/blog.fluidsensoronline.com/calculators/estimative-index/ which makes it easy to work out how much of each dry powder you need and how to make it into a stock solution for dosing. I bought enough dry powder to make about 3L plus (more than a year's supply for my little 75L tank) for about £12! Bargain.

Lighting - Using my amateur electronics knowledge, I put together my LED lighting circuit, and it didn't work. Bonus - I didn't get electrocuted, and I got to play with my glue-gun and soldering iron. I don't really know what I did wrong, but I think what I may do is take it all to Maplin and give them a pack of biscuits to help me get it going...

So, that's aboout where I'm up to. Any advice would be gratefully recieved as always, and I'll get some pics up soon as I can.
Thanks for reading!
Max

 

[creg]

the pics from october are awesome dunno how you didnt win totm. im planning to do similar with my next tank, crypt only low tech (with a couple java ferns) hopefully it will look as good as yours.