Hi,
This will be my first proper planted tank! I have an Aqua Medic 120 bow front tank that i have used as a reef tank. However due to time constraints and money i have downgraded that to a 2' cube and am now changing the AM into a planted tank.
I considered a trop tank, but i have a 120L Goldfish tank with 3 x fancies (2 x 'rescue' ones and a good quality panda moor) which will need upgrading at some point, and didnt think it was overly responsible to leave them in a tank they would outgrow and re-stock the big tank with new fish..
SO.. i had to think of an interesting way of having a 120G/450L goldfish tank! I was finding it difficult to get enthusiastic about having such a simple 'boring' set up.. a giant goldfish bowl... but then i had a thought... inspired by the floating pond plants at the LFS..
I am therefore building a 'sort of' indoor pond...
Its not going to be a biotope, and will be an 'el natural' set up, as i am looking for a bit of downtime from the technical side of reefing... but so far, its looking really good and i am very pleased.
OK, spec...
the tank is 49" x 29" x 26". It will have 2 x 54W T5's for lighting.
The substrate has gone in and is made up of John Inns type 1 covered by a thick layer of sandstone coloured gravel.
The tank has been filled too 3/4.
I have prepared, boiled, cleaned a large section of dead vine that we stripped off an apple tree a year or so back. This is sitting in the water looking like a root system, but the top of it, and thickest parts are sitting proud of the water and stretch to the top of the tank. I have cut it so it doesnt sit above the tank line as i didnt want to go that far.. although that may be a consideration as i progress.
One of my other hobbies is Orchids, not in an serious way, i just seem to be able to grow them and keep them re-flowering. This means i have many pots of orchids around on window sills, all of which are re-flowering. So i have taken three orchids to start with and intertwinned them around the branches above the water. I believe this is how they would live in the wild and plan to see how they do. The tank should hold a reasonable amount of humidity due to the lights, but i will also spray them a couple of times a week.
So this is the stage i am at. I will see how the orchids fare under aquarium lights, they are under 10,000 spectrum T5's at the moment and i'm not sure if i should change this for more plant friendly spectrums...
does anyone know if 10,000K is good for plants, or should i be looking at warmer spectrums?
Next is to begin planting the tank itself... i have tons of vallis in the other tank so will be bringing that across, then i am just considering low light loving plants, nothing too high maintanence as i want a natural feel to it, not a manicured feel.
I also need to know if the compost based substrate needs time to cycle or if i can transfer my other mature tank straight across? Thoughts would be appreciated.
The idea is to move the 3 x fancies i currently have into the tank, consider a few more fish to go with them, but this will take time. I need to match the new fish to the needs of my current ones as one is totally blind, and the other has fins far too long so struggles to swim with any speed.
I may however consider a shoal/school of WCMM or danios to act as dithers as i believe the tank is big enough to avoid food competition.. as long as i'm careful.
I want to plant the tank to create a jungle of green surrounding the tree branches/roots, and the use the hidden back section of the tank to plant marginals that will hang into/around the waters edge. Hopefully the orchids will like their new home and continue to grow and flower.
I also have 2 x water lettace plants and 2 x hyacinth plants on the surface. I will manage these so they dont take over and block the light out.
The overall effect in my head is an indoor pond, with lush green planted life above and below the water, with orchids and ferns etc above, and long flowing vallis etc below.. (my fish dont eat vallis for some reason) and i'm hoping that if i plant densely enough then even if the new ones nibble, there will be enough planting for it not to be a problem.
Sorry, very long winded introduction.
I need help on knowing if the tank needs a cycling period before transferring the old tank due to the John Inns substrate
I also need help on picking the correct fert system for the tank
I also need more help on identifying fast growing (ideally but not essential), low light tolerant, cold (ish) water plants for the tank...
any help, advice, warnings, guidance much appreciated. I will add pics tomorrow to show where i am with it all.
This will be my first proper planted tank! I have an Aqua Medic 120 bow front tank that i have used as a reef tank. However due to time constraints and money i have downgraded that to a 2' cube and am now changing the AM into a planted tank.
I considered a trop tank, but i have a 120L Goldfish tank with 3 x fancies (2 x 'rescue' ones and a good quality panda moor) which will need upgrading at some point, and didnt think it was overly responsible to leave them in a tank they would outgrow and re-stock the big tank with new fish..
SO.. i had to think of an interesting way of having a 120G/450L goldfish tank! I was finding it difficult to get enthusiastic about having such a simple 'boring' set up.. a giant goldfish bowl... but then i had a thought... inspired by the floating pond plants at the LFS..
I am therefore building a 'sort of' indoor pond...
Its not going to be a biotope, and will be an 'el natural' set up, as i am looking for a bit of downtime from the technical side of reefing... but so far, its looking really good and i am very pleased.
OK, spec...
the tank is 49" x 29" x 26". It will have 2 x 54W T5's for lighting.
The substrate has gone in and is made up of John Inns type 1 covered by a thick layer of sandstone coloured gravel.
The tank has been filled too 3/4.
I have prepared, boiled, cleaned a large section of dead vine that we stripped off an apple tree a year or so back. This is sitting in the water looking like a root system, but the top of it, and thickest parts are sitting proud of the water and stretch to the top of the tank. I have cut it so it doesnt sit above the tank line as i didnt want to go that far.. although that may be a consideration as i progress.
One of my other hobbies is Orchids, not in an serious way, i just seem to be able to grow them and keep them re-flowering. This means i have many pots of orchids around on window sills, all of which are re-flowering. So i have taken three orchids to start with and intertwinned them around the branches above the water. I believe this is how they would live in the wild and plan to see how they do. The tank should hold a reasonable amount of humidity due to the lights, but i will also spray them a couple of times a week.
So this is the stage i am at. I will see how the orchids fare under aquarium lights, they are under 10,000 spectrum T5's at the moment and i'm not sure if i should change this for more plant friendly spectrums...
does anyone know if 10,000K is good for plants, or should i be looking at warmer spectrums?
Next is to begin planting the tank itself... i have tons of vallis in the other tank so will be bringing that across, then i am just considering low light loving plants, nothing too high maintanence as i want a natural feel to it, not a manicured feel.
I also need to know if the compost based substrate needs time to cycle or if i can transfer my other mature tank straight across? Thoughts would be appreciated.
The idea is to move the 3 x fancies i currently have into the tank, consider a few more fish to go with them, but this will take time. I need to match the new fish to the needs of my current ones as one is totally blind, and the other has fins far too long so struggles to swim with any speed.
I may however consider a shoal/school of WCMM or danios to act as dithers as i believe the tank is big enough to avoid food competition.. as long as i'm careful.
I want to plant the tank to create a jungle of green surrounding the tree branches/roots, and the use the hidden back section of the tank to plant marginals that will hang into/around the waters edge. Hopefully the orchids will like their new home and continue to grow and flower.
I also have 2 x water lettace plants and 2 x hyacinth plants on the surface. I will manage these so they dont take over and block the light out.
The overall effect in my head is an indoor pond, with lush green planted life above and below the water, with orchids and ferns etc above, and long flowing vallis etc below.. (my fish dont eat vallis for some reason) and i'm hoping that if i plant densely enough then even if the new ones nibble, there will be enough planting for it not to be a problem.
Sorry, very long winded introduction.
I need help on knowing if the tank needs a cycling period before transferring the old tank due to the John Inns substrate
I also need help on picking the correct fert system for the tank
I also need more help on identifying fast growing (ideally but not essential), low light tolerant, cold (ish) water plants for the tank...
any help, advice, warnings, guidance much appreciated. I will add pics tomorrow to show where i am with it all.
