Tom Raffield
Member
I recently started a thread in the General forum about potentially shutting down my tank completely. However, if you have a read you will see that I have had a change of heart (as I would probably miss my tank) and want to go for an easier, lower maintenance and lower tech aquarium. I won't go through the whole story again or give too many details so please have a read if you want to catch up: https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/heavily-planted-to-no-plants.61458/
To summarise the key points of my current setup:
Juwel Vision 260L.
Eco-Complete and gravel mix (to be fully cleaned and some reused as base layer for height).
Fluval FX4 with custom spray bar.
CO2 art dual stage regulator and 5kg CO2 pressurised system (I aim to keep this but seriously reduce CO2 inputs).
Liquid CO2 dosed daily (to stop fully or use in small quantity)
Stock T5 tubes (to be replaced with new tubes in the short term or an LED system one day)
Hand mixed ferts as macro and micro (Aquarium Plant Food) which were dosed EI (aim to dose using duckweed index and floating plants).
Range of plants - most to binned but some to be reused (crypts and java fern).
I have been researching my next steps and have decided to empty and restart the tank from scratch. I have been looking at my order ready to start the journey and would welcome thoughts on the following ideas.
I am aiming for a slow growing tank based around crypts with others thrown in. My current list (ready for ordering in the morning) is this:
Various Locations:
Tropica Aquarium Soil 27L plus 9L of Tropica Aquarium Powder
T5 tubes Day and Nature from Juwel or similar (although I still have my JBL Solar LED kits that I bought in error - see Sale/Swap/Wanted forum!)
Aqua Essentials:
Crypt Wendtii Compact (3 pots)
Crypt Affinis (3 pots) and
Crypt Lucens (3 pots).
Aquarium Gardens:
Crypt Wendtii Brown (3 pots)
Crypt Mollmanni (3 pots)
Sagittaria Sabulata (2 pots)
Rotala Rotundifolia (3 pots)
Hygrophila Siamensis 53B (3 pots)
Vallisneria Spiralis Tiger (3 pots)
Vallisneria Gigantea Americana (3 pots).
UKAPS:
Limnobium Laevigatum (a few more handfuls)
I have no idea if I am going way over the top on the numbers of pots and range of plants - I have tried to go for slow growers and a few faster to get things going. I am planning to reuse some of the current plants so might reduce the number of pots or keep the density for some plants and remove others altogether. I don't want to waste money but I also don't want to set the tank up with too few plants as that will lead to problems early on.
What do you think? Thanks in advance guys. I will probably create a journal thread with my progress as and when it happens.
To summarise the key points of my current setup:
Juwel Vision 260L.
Eco-Complete and gravel mix (to be fully cleaned and some reused as base layer for height).
Fluval FX4 with custom spray bar.
CO2 art dual stage regulator and 5kg CO2 pressurised system (I aim to keep this but seriously reduce CO2 inputs).
Liquid CO2 dosed daily (to stop fully or use in small quantity)
Stock T5 tubes (to be replaced with new tubes in the short term or an LED system one day)
Hand mixed ferts as macro and micro (Aquarium Plant Food) which were dosed EI (aim to dose using duckweed index and floating plants).
Range of plants - most to binned but some to be reused (crypts and java fern).
I have been researching my next steps and have decided to empty and restart the tank from scratch. I have been looking at my order ready to start the journey and would welcome thoughts on the following ideas.
I am aiming for a slow growing tank based around crypts with others thrown in. My current list (ready for ordering in the morning) is this:
Various Locations:
Tropica Aquarium Soil 27L plus 9L of Tropica Aquarium Powder
T5 tubes Day and Nature from Juwel or similar (although I still have my JBL Solar LED kits that I bought in error - see Sale/Swap/Wanted forum!)
Aqua Essentials:
Crypt Wendtii Compact (3 pots)
Crypt Affinis (3 pots) and
Crypt Lucens (3 pots).
Aquarium Gardens:
Crypt Wendtii Brown (3 pots)
Crypt Mollmanni (3 pots)
Sagittaria Sabulata (2 pots)
Rotala Rotundifolia (3 pots)
Hygrophila Siamensis 53B (3 pots)
Vallisneria Spiralis Tiger (3 pots)
Vallisneria Gigantea Americana (3 pots).
UKAPS:
Limnobium Laevigatum (a few more handfuls)
I have no idea if I am going way over the top on the numbers of pots and range of plants - I have tried to go for slow growers and a few faster to get things going. I am planning to reuse some of the current plants so might reduce the number of pots or keep the density for some plants and remove others altogether. I don't want to waste money but I also don't want to set the tank up with too few plants as that will lead to problems early on.
What do you think? Thanks in advance guys. I will probably create a journal thread with my progress as and when it happens.
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