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First Low Tech Planted Tank... Now High Tech!

MrHidley

Member
Joined
13 Jan 2014
Messages
352
Location
Ipswich, United Kingdom
My girlfriend asked that I set up a scape for the lounge. Because I'm pretty busy and don't have much time for maintenance right now I decided to set up something low tech and easy to care for, this is what I came up with. Having only previously had high tech planted tanks I couldn't believe how easy and low maintenance this has all been. Tank has been running for about a month and i've barely had any algae to deal with and the plants have really looked after themselves.

Tank- Cheap 27 Litre 45x28x28
Stand - DIY Cabinet made from MDF, cost around £40 to build and paint
Heater - Interpet Nano 25w
Filter - Boyu HoB 300lph
Lights - Boyu 3x8w T5 with only one bulb running
Substrate - Tropica plant growth substrate below Tropica powder substrate, Unipac Kivu sand.
Hardscape - Oak Root and Lava Rock
Flora - Microsorum Pteropus Windelov, Rotala Rotundifolia, Anubias nana 'mini', Hydrocotyle Tripartita, Echinodorus Tenellus, Taxiphyllum 'Spiky', Staurogyne Repens, Micranthemum Monte Carlo.
Fauna - Ramshorn Snails, 6 Microrasbora erythromicron and one cherry shrimp which made its' way home in the same bag as the microrasbora.

Fish only went in today and are still shy so don't really appear in any of the pictures.

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6 Microrasbora erythromicron

They will find a nice dark corner at the back of the tank and hide there away from the light. They will be active during day light hours when the light isn't on. If you want activitity I would get 4-5 more cherry shrimp :D
 
Looking very good and healthy. This one is running without co2?

Yep, no co2, no liquid carbon, just occasionally fert dosing.

They will find a nice dark corner at the back of the tank and hide there away from the light. They will be active during day light hours when the light isn't on. If you want activitity I would get 4-5 more cherry shrimp :D
Thanks for this, I didn't really want the cherry shrimp just the lady at the lfs couldn't be bothered to take it out, would Amanos or other shrimp work the same way? I don't fancy having a massive colony of cherries again...
 
Very inspiring set-up!

I hope to have a low tech at some point, and this shows that it really can look superb
 
Awesome little tank, looking foward to seeing more and hopefully the Emeralds make an appearance next time the cameras out.
 
It's been almost two months since i started this thread so here's a little update.

I've done almost no maintenance with the plants apart from trimming the moss. Rasboras went back to the shop as they just weren't active enough, been replaced by 10 neon tetras which i feel work really well in the tank.

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Comes across much better in reality than in this particular picture.
 
Great example of how it should be done! Great cabinet build!
 
Flowering Hydrocotyle tripartita
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beautiful little tank. I didn't know Hydrocotyle tripartite came out of the top of the water. I better keep an eye on mine! What ferts do you use?
 
beautiful little tank. I didn't know Hydrocotyle tripartite came out of the top of the water. I better keep an eye on mine! What ferts do you use?

Thanks! At the moment i'm just dosing my ei mix, but only a couple ml of it about once every two weeks. I'll probably move to something simpler like Tropicas ferts though.
 
Thanks for all the kind comments guys, I want to assure anyone thinking of setting up a low tech tank that this was super easy, and also really cheap when compared to setting up a high tech tank. I pretty much just used left lots of spare bits and bobs i had laying around from other tanks. The only plant that struggled was the r.rotundafolia and i think this was just because not enough light was getting past the ferns, to be honest though it's still surviving, just doesn't really grow. I'm moving house sometime in the next 6 weeks and i'd like to keep this running, if anyone has any tips on moving the scape, I'd appreciate it.
 
Just take as much water out as possible and cover the tank top with cling film, it should be fine. But I suppose it depends on how far you're travelling.
 
Just take as much water out as possible and cover the tank top with cling film, it should be fine. But I suppose it depends on how far you're travelling.

Thanks! Travelling less than 5 miles, so that shouldn't be a problem, I was thinking of using some bags full of air to support the oak root as my main concern is that falling over and uprooting stuff at the back.
 
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