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crypts and roots. scapers tank 50l

jbirley

Member
Joined
3 May 2012
Messages
94
Location
York
So i took down my last tank around 2014. I went away for Christmas and came home to a failed heater and an ice cold and lifeless tank. After that i decided to tear the tank down and store all of the equipment.

Tank before the crash
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Well a few years have passed and i decided i wanted to set up a new tank. Most of the equipment is stuff i already had lying around with a few exceptions.

Tank : Dennerle scapers tank 50L (new)
Lighting : Chihiros A-Series Plus (updated 10/10/17)
Filter: eheim 2215 (already owned)
Filter media : course sponge, medium spone, ceramic rings, filter floss (new)
Heater : Hydor external 200W (new)
Hardscape : redmoor and rock (already owned)
Substrate : Dennerle scapers soil (new)
Co2 : Co2 Art Pro-Elite dual stage regulator and inline atomiser (updated 10/10/17)

The tank is currently setup with a rough hardscape in place cycling away and waiting to be able to remove the rocks currently holding the redmoor down. I had an inkbird thermostat to control the heater as im fully aware 200W will boil that tank in no time but it came faulty so i need to get a replacement.

I have some lily pipes ready to go on when i do the final scape and plant up once the wood will stay put
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Currently i'm not 100% set on what i want to do, i have a full set of EI salts presuming these are still ok, they have been stored in airtight bags and have not clumped up or anything and a bottle of easycarbo which is new. I was originally planning on just doing light dosing of EI ferts and daily easycarbo. But i may get pressurised co2. What are peoples thoughts on lighting for both of those situations? Lighting is always the part i have trouble with being hard to measure. If i dont do pressurised will 1x 8W T5 be enough, how about with pressurised would 3x 8W be enough/too much? Any help would be great.

Anyway the tank
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and the scape
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As far as the scape goes the rock right in the centre, the red rock and the one on the top of the large piece of redmoor are just weighing wood down. I think the main piece of wood needs to turn slightly so its coming more towards the front, at the moment it lacks depth, i think the back needs to be a bit higher in the middle and the valley i made in the centre filled in a bit when i was a bit too vigorous filling the tank so that needs sorting. Plants will depend on if i go with pressurised or not.


Joe
 
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Replacement thermostat arrived and thankfully this one works!
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Filter and heater
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So i decided to go with a non pressurised Co2 setup as i figured i could always add it down the line. I went with predominantly crypts and all tissue culture plants. In my last tank i had a constant battle keeping the snail population down that came in on my plants and i wanted to avoid that this time, tissue culture seemed the best bet.

Plant list:
Anubias sp. 'Nangi'
Cryptocoryne Lutea 'hobbit'
Cryptocoryne Pygmaea
Cryptocoryne wendtii 'Mi Oya'
Cryptocoryne Willsii
Marsilea Hirsuta
Limnobium laevigatum

I know the marsilea is not going to go crazy and carpet like mad without pressurised co2, but i will settle for just healthy slow growth for now.

Still unsure how much lighting to use, the bulbs i have are around 400 lumens each i think so even with all three its not hugely bright.
 
nice! can't wait to see it planted. Do you know what type of rock you are using? lava rock?
 
Thanks, not 100% sure what it is, its from a LFS about 5 years ago. Its not Lava rock though, looks a lot like Seiryu to me :)
 
Final scape and some of the plants (anubias and Cryptocoryne Lutea 'hobbit' coming next week). All the plants are tissue culture so quite small at the moment I think once the crypts grow in and hide the wood some it will look much more natural.

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lovely, what fish are you going to add?

I suppose with the lighting you can start with one lamp while it is growing in and add more if you need it.
 
Its going to be for a Betta, hence the floating plants i'm not actually 100% keen on the floating plants but if it makes it bring out more natural behaviour in the fish like making bubble nests that's more important to me,other than that probably some Otos and some Amano shrimp, possibly harlequin rasbora.

I set up a dose of DIY co2 because i had the bits already kicking about, im hoping it will just help the plants transition to submerged forms easier but i have no way of controlling it so once i stock the tank its coming out.
 
one week of growth update.
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as you can see i moved the inlet as i did not feel i was getting much flow behind the wood, not convinced it did much. you can also see the DIY co2 i added. Unfortunately the anubias i ordered cannot be sourced as apparently the supplier stopped producing it so and it was the only tissue culture anubias i could find other than the tiny pangolino one so im having to have a rethink. Im going to order some more larger types of crypts and move some of the ones from around the back a bit. that way i can have some of them just in font of the main root i think so the branches stick out through the leaves when grown in.
 
Two week update.

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Still growing in nicely, added in the Cryptocoryne Lutea 'hobbit' at last and also some Cryptocoryne undulatus 'Red'. All planted up now. I'm away for two weeks so when i'm back its going to be time to start stocking.
 
Week 4 update.

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Not much changed this week, a bit more fluff grown on the wood. Tank is now fully cycled and has been stable at 0 ammonia and nitrites for over a week, so i can now start thinking of stocking it. I'm going to head down to the LFS soon to see if i can pick up some otos and amanos.
 
First fish are in! 8 Otos and 6 Amanos. I'm going to let those guys settle in then maybe in a month or so get a Betta and that will be it for stocking i think. Photos to follow later when the lights are on and they have had chance to settle.
 
Week 5 update. Lots of growth this week. All fish settled in well no losses. Ended up getting rid of the floating plants, they were just not doing much for me and kept clogging the outlet of the filter. Looking at the week 4 - 5 pictures before and after the otos and shrimp i cant believe just how good a job they have done of cleaning it up. The difference in the rocks is particularly noticeable
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So i missed a few weeks worth of updates, approaching week 7? now I think but there are a few large updates. First i decided i wanted to go down the Co2 route after all, so i have added pressurised Co2 to the tank, I got my hands on one of the new Co2 Art dual stage regs and an inline atomiser. The light has also had an upgrade to a Chihiros A-Series Plus. Its only been up and running for a few days now but the Co2 output seems stable and the drop checker is a nice green colour through the photo period. Second big update is the tank is now fully stocked with the addition of the fighting fish the whole tank was setup for :)

Say hello to Qwerty (for all you Mr Robot fans out there)
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