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Back but because of health reducing bio-mass

Bertie

Bertie

Member
Joined
18 Apr 2013
Messages
489
Hi All, I have not been on for quite a while. I had an MI and a Stent fitted in my Coronary Artery and as part of my heart is now dead I am taking things easy and at the moment just growing a few Anubias.
I did have a new 300L tank made from ND Aquatics and with help from family this is now cycled with a few Anubias and fish. It is basically set up with a nice 2 foot tall Mangrove root and various pieces of bogwood and some rock. Not to my liking just yet but it will do until my health hopefully improves a bit.However I am looking at some floating plants that do not like being splashed on top and maybe not too invasive? I did try some frogbit but that rotted away due to being constantly being covered in water due to the ripple and as I have only a 4hr lighting period may also have been lack of light but I am afraid it is going to have to be low maintenance for the forseeable future. Water change is not a problem as I use a submersible pump to empty and hose to re-fill. Any advice on suitable plants would really be appreciated.
Thanks
 
You can have a lush and beautiful low tech with cero effort almost. I would go with a variety of Crypts, anubias, Vallisneria, Water Wisteria etc.. They would supply a nice biomass to start off with plus they are all really hardy. But you still need ferts IMO. I would keep a photoperiod of at least 6 hours, Ideally 8. I would also plant the tank as dense as possible from the start. Get it looking as you want it to instead of having to wait until it fills in. Also I recommend following Tom Barrs low tech aproch which is really just dosing some ferts once a week. In a low tech I would also get some beautiful fish to be the centre of attention since the plants will grow slower and you might get bored of them easier than in a high tech.

Good luck!
 
Hi Jose and thanks, At the moment I am going to just stick to my Anubias as the tank is 60cm tall plus the height of the lid. I have to stand on steps just to clean the glass and am not allowed, at the moment, to bend down over the tank to that extent. I still have my Fert salts ready for when I am able but to be honest all I want at the moment are some floaters. I will mix up some trace and add that on a bi-weekly basis and as for fish I have some Anglefish and will be re-stocking with my favourite rainbows as and when. At the moment I only have a 1550L turnover on my filter and as I am on a state pension will not be increasing that any time soon. I still have my diy spraybars for when/if needed and all of my regulators, full co2 bottles etc and apart from being hopefully able to add them, I will also have to convince the wife and family not forgetting the doc, to allow me to go back to co2 etc. Thanks
 
Thanks Troi, I am taking it a day at a time and so far...................................I am still breathing :)
 
Thanks all, I am taking each day as it comes and day by day I am feeling better. Long road ahead but hopefully I will get back to at least where I can do some medium intensive workload :)
 
Hi Bertie, good to see you back, sorry to hear about you're health problems, I hope you have a speedy recovery.

My previous set up was like what you're describing - very low light and very low maintainence, I had the same problems with the floating plants not liking the turbulence and couldn't find any that really worked, I didn't try water lettuce though. A couple of Microsorums might look nice in there as well as the Anubias.
 
Thanks James, I have purchased 20 dwarf water lettuce and will see how they go although the frogbit all died off. Hopefully they will do ok.
 
As it is not a high tech you could lower the outlet slightly deeper into the water maybe 2" and reduce the flow using the filter taps. This should reduce the splashing. I was never happy with kettling the floaters. salvinia nana are pretty bombproof floaters. What you might want to do is throw some in your tank and some in a container on a window sill to try and get them to multiple to greater numbers. The key I found in high flow tanks was to have a critical mass so that production was greater then deteriation due to splashing.
 
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