Low Tech 144L - Take 2!

[Nick Norman]

After almost a year of my first tank I decided to re scape. The previous lay out was flat and full of crypts as not much else stayed healthy. I have created more of a slop to the back and have add a variety of low light plant, going to see what i have success with. Also added more wood to fill more of the tank. Managed to do it all in one day while the kids where out the house!

Tank: 80 x 40 x 45 H cm 144 L
Lights: TMC Aquabar 50 cm x2
Filter: Sunsun 302 1000L Canister
Substrate: used ADA aquasoil
Rocks: Probably slate (from a quarry in wales)
Wood: Red Moor

Plants: Crypt Lucens, Crypt Wenditt, Crypt Parva, Sagittaria Subulate, Microsorum Trident, Microsorum Narrow, Java Moss, Limnophila sessiliflora, Anabias Nana, Vallisneria Nana, Bacopa Compact, Hydrocotyle Japan, Hygrophila difformis, Limnobium laevigatum (frogbit)

Inhabitants: 7 Cardinal Tetra, 9 Hengeli Rasbora, 12 Amano shrimp. (more fish to come)

Previous layout

Temporary Tank

 

[Nick Norman]

Still waiting on some plants so will have to add them next week. Will probable have to move some around. Waiting on: Hydrocotyle Japan, Hygrophila difformis and Vallisneria Nana. Going to add the Vallis at the back behind the wood, the Hygrophila to fill out the right side, not sure where to put the Hydrocotyle yet.

 

[Dominik_K]

Hi,

I like your layout. Looks awesome from my point of view and gives me some further inspiration for my next project, thank you .

Whats your experience with the SunSun canister? Is it loud? And can you clean it easily?

 

[Nick Norman]

Thanks! I also got inspiration from journals on here.

I don't have any experience with any other canister but I'm really happy with the sunsun. it is very quiet and seams well designed/made for the money. from reading reviews the actual flow is more like 600lph but i think most canisters are less than stated. I find it easy to clean, it comes apart easy and the connection to the tubes doesn't leak when disconnected. Takes a bit of pumping to prime if it is empty and have to tip it a bit to get the air through but not much hassle.

 

[rusticdr]

Hi,

Whats your experience with the SunSun canister? Is it loud? And can you clean it easily?

I have a sunsun 303b and eheim 2217 running on my 95g. Although eheim is made of more sturdy plastic i found the sunsun to be vfm. Almost as silent as the eheim. And easy to clean up too. U just have to be a little careful while handling due to the quality of the plastic but if u r ready to do that then it's definitely worth it.
Only niggle I found was that recently the flow has reduced a bit even after a cleaning process. Haven't figured out the reason yet.
Recommendation: 4/5

Sent from my SM-G920I using Tapatalk

 

[Dominik_K]

Hi,

thanks for your experiences I am thinking about buiying a SunSun canister for my future 128 Liter (~ 33G) tank. You helped me a lot.

 

[Eduard18]

nice transformation

 

[Nick Norman]

All plants are now planted! Now have to wait and see how they grow. In my first scape I have the aquabar LED's on 100%. Growth was good but the older leaves on the stems eventually disintegrated, the fern grew fast but soon browned and became full of holes so i am going to try the lights on 75% and monitor growth/health and try and get continued grow without the signs of co2 deficiency. I dose Macro and Micro so assuming my problem was light/co2.

 

[Nick Norman]

After 6 month I think I might be heading in the right direction. After the rescape the plants slowly deteriorated showing signs of co2 deficiency at 75% light so i thought i would experiment with the light. I gradually reduced the light every 2 weeks or so to see how low I could have it with plants still growing/not dying as I don't actually know what low light is. At the lowest light my crypts and anubias were ok but stems didn't do well almost dying away. With Increased light the old leaves got holes and died away. I decided it was time to try pressurised co2 as I was able to get 6 Fire extinguishers from work. I Have been injecting co2 for about a month increasing the light back to 75% while i get the co2 stable. I had a bit of green spot and brown algae at first but hasn't come back too much after a liquid carbon treatment.

The plants are responding well with healthy growth and the old leaves are finally looking OK for the first time since i set up the tank. Some of the stems died right back so they are taking a bit of time to recover but are growing, even the moss needs to recover. Think I went too low with the light! I am planing to gradually increase the light back to 100% eventually but going to wait until all plants are healthy. I plan to fill the back with stems.

All the plants I have had are supposed to be easy but I have struggled!