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Joe's Low Tech 54L

Joecoral

Member
Joined
24 Nov 2007
Messages
680
Location
Carmarthenshire
Well, after getting fed up of waiting for the gravel to turn up for my Rio 180, I decided to set up (after some persuasion by the gf) a 2x1x1 (54L) I had lying around as a low tech planted community tank, which is as follows:

Tank - 60x30x30 (54L)
Lighting - 18W T8 Triplus, 8 hour photoperiod
Filtration - Fluval 2+
Substrate - Pea gravel
CO2 - Easycarbo, once I get some
Ferts - TPN+, again once I get some
Flora - Spiral vallis, Crypt wendtii, Crypt becketii, Java fern
Fauna - to be Glowlight tetra, Black neon tetra, Otocinclus, Corydoras sp., cherry shrimp

Photo's will follow once the tank has cleared, 'tis rather cloudy atm

Joe
 
Re: Joe's 54L

Well this is it:
tank1-1.jpg


As you can see, its still pretty cloudy
I have to say I'm not all that impressed with my efforts, but then this is the first time i've ever attempted to plant plants / attach plants to wood. It seems a bit bare, but I didn't have an awful lot of cash for plants, so hopefully they'll fill out soon.
What can I say, I'm no George Farmer!
C&C welcomed

Joe
 
Re: Joe's 54L

Joecoral said:
What can I say, I'm no George Farmer!
none of us are mate, it dont matter.

its a good start. firstly, any newly planted tank looks bare. it wil grow in eventually. of course you will need more plants, but all in good time. if your requiring some more plants check out the sale swap section.

secondly, dont give in, even when faced with adversity. :D

if you want i can donate some vallis for your set up. pm if you want some.
 
Thanks for the encouraging words saintly.
I think I'm alright for vallis thanks, from what little experience of it I have, I'm sure I'll have plantlets popping up everywhere before long
Will probably get some more crypts and maybe a sword to go in the back left corner next week once I get paid this weekend
 
I'm sure I read somewhere that when planting java fern, one should cut off all the stalks at the rhizome and just attach the rhizome, and leave the leaves to grow back.
Is there any truth in this, and if so, is it worth doing?
 
Joecoral said:
I'm sure I read somewhere that when planting java fern, one should cut off all the stalks at the rhizome and just attach the rhizome, and leave the leaves to grow back.
Is there any truth in this, and if so, is it worth doing?

Yeah, you can do this because it promotes a lot of new growth, but if you don't I would recommend cutting off at least a few leaves.
 
Finally got a hold of some Easycarbo and some TPN+, have been dosing both at 1ml per day, is this sufficient for low light stuff eg ferns, swords, crypts, anubias etc?
 
Joecoral said:
I'm sure I read somewhere that when planting java fern, one should cut off all the stalks at the rhizome and just attach the rhizome, and leave the leaves to grow back.
Is there any truth in this, and if so, is it worth doing?

The other reason for doing this (apart from spurring new growth, as pointed out by Thomas above) is that it's about a hundred times easier to tie them to the wood without leaves - but it's too late for that in this case!

Tank's looking nice. :D

Mark
 
Well, I saw an amazing sight today folks. Some of my crypts are starting to sprout some new very small baby leaves!!
Whilst this may be no huge thing for most of you, for someone who has never managed to keep plants successfully before, it's a fantastic sight.
Will be getting some more plants this weekend too, probably some swords and a few more crypts
Joe
 
Short update, finally got some more plants in there
IMG_2463.jpg


Excuse picture quality, I haven't used my camera in a few weeks, and have apparently forgotten how to do so properly :?
Stocking is 12 glowlight tetra and 3 amano shrimp, plan to add some otto's as soon as I see some in a local shop
Currently adding 2ml Easycarbo and 2ml TPN+ daily, 50% WC weekly
As I didnt plant heavily at the start, I've had some algae issues, still a bit of GDA lingering about, hopefully it will clear up soon, addition of otto's should help too.
Enjoy,
Joe
 
Am dosing 2ml TPN+ and 2ml Easycarbo a day, and my plants are still not flourishing, far from it.
Swords are starting to yellow at the tips, holes developing in leaves, crypts are still melting overor developing yellow patches on the leaves a month after they've been added to the tank, BBA appearing on the anubias leaves.
What exactly am I doing wrong? Do I need to increase the dosage even more?
 
Have you thought of putting some plant tabs in the gravel?

I used to rely on water column dosing alone and had some issues with poor growth of swords even though doing EI dosing. Then tried some Miracle gro controlled release plant food tablets that JamesC was using in one of his set ups, only about 4 quid from B&Q. Seen a massive improvement mainly in the swords but also in crypts. Admittedly I also upped my water column dosing, but I do think the tablets might have some thing to do with it. I may be wrong but isn't yellowing and holes a sign of pottasium deficiency?
 
Hmm, thats definately worth a shot Spiderpig
I only have inert pea-gravel as the substrate so the plants are relying on water column dosing.
I will get some when I go to work on the weekend as there is a B&Q just down the road
 
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