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s1chris's 675l attempt at keeping plants alive!

s1chris

Member
Joined
2 Jan 2013
Messages
36
Location
Coventry
So here goes. I have a 1000l tank (ex marine) but with sump holes etc blanked off and runing the following equipment -

tetratec external pump.
hydor Karelia stream.
2 x T8 Iights.
air pump running various air stones.

Current stocking is as follows -
2 x 3in silver sharks
2 x 7in Tin foil Barbs
1 x 8in comon plec
1 x 8in salifin plec
1 x ghost knife fish
20 x rasbora

so a bit of a mixed bag stocking wise but it's made up of fish that I have homed for people leaving the hobby so although not ideal it is what it is.

So looking forward the plan is to rip out the plastic plants. Add a few large branches which are currently curing/cleaning in a dustbin of water with bark removed and then get planting. I will update thread with pictures and more detailed plans soon.

ideas and suggestions welcome.

cheers Chris
 
E7505ED6-E131-40CE-A783-A4997A8E0954-6617-00000755F6254D41.jpg


Hello all, not the best picture and just getting used to photo bucket so here goes. More pics to follow.

Chris
 
Hi Chris, that's quite a tank you have there!

You have a couple of stumbling blocks regarding growing plants. The first is those Plecs, they are far too boisterous for traditional planting methods, ie. planting stems into the substrate so you may have to look at attaching plants to your wood and rocks. This is still less than ideal as the plecs will like to sit on the wood and rasp away all day, not giving two hoots about the pain-stakingly attached and somewhat expensive ferns that you're trying to grow.

The next is the very limited amount of light that you have, this kind of lighting generally restricts you to only a few species of plants. Ferns and Anubias are generally considered as the only plants that are this light tolerant. Some mosses will grow under this small amount of lighting but the Plecs will soon put an end to that!

Sorry this sounds so negative, it's just that you rarely see a successful planted tank and large Plecs together.
 
wow its bloomin huge mate :thumbup:

hello, tell me about. It has caused it's arguements with the mrs over time and has kind of pushed me towards getting it sorted and for all. I have junet ever been keen on the artificial look and now the time to change has come. You can just see in the pick that there is amother tank below the main built in that's approx 300l. Currently out of use and may be removed. Step one for main tank is to change the background to black. The only problem is that the blue is on the inside so it will need to be covered from inside again. Also finding suitable black background that doesn't cost the earth is key. Just had my first moss drop through the door as well so ill get that attached to some wood and in the tank tlegible I get my act together.

chris
 
Hi Chris, that's quite a tank you have there!

You have a couple of stumbling blocks regarding growing plants. The first is those Plecs, they are far too boisterous for traditional planting methods, ie. planting stems into the substrate so you may have to look at attaching plants to your wood and rocks. This is still less than ideal as the plecs will like to sit on the wood and rasp away all day, not giving two hoots about the pain-stakingly attached and somewhat expensive ferns that you're trying to grow.

The next is the very limited amount of light that you have, this kind of lighting generally restricts you to only a few species of plants. Ferns and Anubias are generally considered as the only plants that are this light tolerant. Some mosses will grow under this small amount of lighting but the Plecs will soon put an end to that!

Sorry this sounds so negative, it's just that you rarely see a successful planted tank and large Plecs together.

Hello Dan, thanks for the advise but where there is will there is a way.

Amended plan goes like this - plecs are being relocated to the tank below the main tank. This will leave one bristle nose plec who is quite content munching on a bit of wood. Regarding light would adding a single 14000k halide help matters? I have a spare marine set up that I'm not using and could build into a new hood for the main tank?

cheers Chris
 
I would steer clear of the mh to begin with unless you can raise it a suitable distance above the tank. Do the t8's span them length of the tank? & are you planning on.dosing ferts or co2?

Hello Krazypara3, yeah the T8's span the tank all but about 2 inch max either end. I plan to replace tbe tubes anyway so is there a preferd combo for planted aquariums? Also the tank is located infront of our double patio door so also get one side and pretty much the whole front of daylight all day. Ok I will save modding the MH into the lid for another day. Cheers Chris
 
Also the tank is located infront of our double patio door so also get one side and pretty much the whole front of daylight all day
Hiya, do you get much algae in the tank at the minute? This kind of uncontrollable lighting is generally unforgiving.

May I suggest that you have a read of this great article from Ed Seeley?
Setting up a “higher” tech planted tank | UK Aquatic Plant Society
It's mainly based on a high energy planted tank but it gives a great insight into the basics of plants and their growth requirements.

What I suggest you do, to help us to help you is decide what you want as the end result, we can then work backwards in terms of equipment. There's very little point in you buying two new T8 tubes as this is going to limit your growth potential. I would usually suggest that you buy 2 new 2 x T5 units which can span your whole tank, thus giving you a reasonable amount of light to grow many species. But if you're happy with just growing a few ferns etc then there would be little point in upgrading to T5, hence needing to know what you'd like to achieve....

Bear in mind, if you want to go "high energy" then everything will need upgrading accordingly. More light means more CO2 and nutriment is required, as more CO2 and nutriment is added to the water, more flow is required to evenly distribute said nutriment and so on and so on.

I hope this helps.
 
Hiya, do you get much algae in the tank at the minute? This kind of uncontrollable lighting is generally unforgiving.

May I suggest that you have a read of this great article from Ed Seeley?
Setting up a “higher” tech planted tank | UK Aquatic Plant Society
It's mainly based on a high energy planted tank but it gives a great insight into the basics of plants and their growth requirements.

What I suggest you do, to help us to help you is decide what you want as the end result, we can then work backwards in terms of equipment. There's very little point in you buying two new T8 tubes as this is going to limit your growth potential. I would usually suggest that you buy 2 new 2 x T5 units which can span your whole tank, thus giving you a reasonable amount of light to grow many species. But if you're happy with just growing a few ferns etc then there would be little point in upgrading to T5, hence needing to know what you'd like to achieve....

Bear in mind, if you want to go "high energy" then everything will need upgrading accordingly. More light means more CO2 and nutriment is required, as more CO2 and nutriment is added to the water, more flow is required to evenly distribute said nutriment and so on and so on.

I hope this helps.

Hello Dan, again thanks for the information. I've never had an algae problem, but I suppose this may be due to the three plecs munching all day long. The two big ones are always on the glass and the bristle nose is hoovring away at the gravel.

In terms of plan/style I am more focused on the overall finished lthis rather than specific plants. Ill put up a link of what I have in mind later when I get on the lap top and take it from there. Low tech is the key for me though. Lights are not an issue as I am going to building a new hood over he next month or so and they can be upgraded at that point. Plumbing in CO2 is a no no for me at the minute.

Cheera Chris
 
0D6FCC26-1E83-4D0A-BCCC-4B09AB536E3C-6927-0000078A61B1D54B.jpg


Just to show the rest of the tank. This is the smaller tank under the main one. I have just put a new filter in, gravel and water to home the plecs from the top tank. Plant destroying fish problem half solved. Now to try and catch them! Mission impossible is on.
 
Hello Sanj, not sure but will measure it over the next day or so and post them up.

So with regard to inspiration the overall style of scape that I would like to achieve would be close to the one in this link -

Forest of "Congo" | UK Aquatic Plant Society

I understand that maybe the species of plant would either not be available or not acheiveable with my set up.

Chris
 
Small update - all plecs including the bristlenose have been removed from the large tank. I think I now have a plant safe aquarium.

Chris
 
Sorry to break it to you but tinfoil barbs are notorious plant eaters.
To get the best advice you should post up the tank dimensions, light wattage and configuration and the combined flow of your pumps and filters
I used to have a tank of similar size to this, a 200x75x50cm which had Sailfin, Common and Bristlenose pleco's in.
Personally I would leave the plecos in the main tank, add lots of wood (can't emphasise this enough) and attatch lots and lots and lots java fern on thin branches of wood. This way the plecos will ignore the thin branches the java fern is on and go for the more readily accessible 'bogwood', trust me it does work but you tend to need either alot of java fern or just bunches of it across the tank.
Like I said above post up the tank stats and I'll give you some ideas for lighting solutions.
 
Saturday update - so last night I attached a small portion of moss to some bog wood and put it in the top tank to see what happens. What happened was the Tin Foil barbs we're far to stupid to realise anything had been put in the tank and left it alone. Silver/Bala sharks decided that the moss was the best thing since sliced bread and continually peck at it. So after 24 hours i still have a sizeable portion of moss left and have decided that they could not possibly manage to devour a fully planted tank. So I'm happy to take the risk with the current stock.

regarding inspiration and bearing in mind the low tech set up I like this -

Tropica Aquarium Plants

As my tank is 36" deep I would need something which grows up to the surface at either end of the tank and would like a tall growing background plant.
measurements for tank will follow.

Cheers Chris
 
I would go with tall Vallisneria as a background plant, like V. gigantea and V. americana. Chances are sooner or later the tinfoils will eat the plants, even if they don't at the moment so start with a few and see how you go and see which plants they ignore :)
 
I would go with tall Vallisneria as a background plant, like V. gigantea and V. americana. Chances are sooner or later the tinfoils will eat the plants, even if they don't at the moment so start with a few and see how you go and see which plants they ignore :)

That's not a bad idea, while I am waiting to change the light tubes and substrate I may just trial a few plants in the tank as you suggest. Also cures my urge to get purchasing.

cheers Chris
 
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