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180l low tech

Kerryn

Kerryn

Member
Joined
22 Oct 2017
Messages
51
Location
Cambridge
Hi all,

I posted a picture of my tank on the new members section but here it is in a bit more detail, I have added photos in the same order.

Tank and equipment:
The tank is an aquaoak from maidenhead aquatics, I bought it second hand with a aquamanta EFX300 external filter which is about 1200l/h. I then bought a cheap 42w led light fixture off ebay which seems really good so far. I then bought a hydor external heater to keep the tank as clear of equipment as possible. I then made my own spray bar by drilling holes in a clear pipe.

Hardscape:
For the substrate I used wetlands aquatic soil with rocks in to create two mounds. I then put greenhouse mesh on this to keep it down and topped it with argos play sand. On this I have put a few rocks and bits of wood but I might change this a bit.

Plants:
1 Anabius nana
2 dwarf hairgrass
2 vallisneria
1 amazon sword
1 crypt
1 Staurogyne rubescens
10 dwarf swords
Lots of dwarf lettuce

Plants progress:
The anabius doesn’t seem to want to attach to the wood and hasn’t grown really at all.
The hairgrass is doing OK, a lot of it has died but it has sent out lots of shoots so seems to be spreading.
The vallisneria is spreading but when the leaves reach the water surface, where I want them to get to, they seem to melt then get replaced by new ones.
The amazon sword is doing great, it just keeps growing.
The crypt is growing nicely.
The Staurogyne rubescens hasn’t really grown and get eaten by snails a lot.
The dwarf swords are growing and spreading well.
The dwarf lettuce is just about surviving but only behind the spraybar, I am hoping that once some of the other plants reach the surface it will get going more.

Fish:
12 pentazona barbs
9 harlequins, which I can’t seem to keep alive!
3 dwarf gouramis
3 cories, again having trouble with these I started with a much larger group. Could have been them disturbing gases in the sand?
1 albino plec who clears the whole tank of algae each night
2 rabbit snails which were creating lots of plant distruction but since feeding them carrot this has stopped
Lots of ramshorn, mts and one pond snail who stays on the spraybar for some reason.

Schedule:
I ei dose 20ml of macro and micro just once a week, I guess this is OK as everything seems to be doing well
I do a 25% water change once a week, it was originally twice a week but not sure which is better?

Future plans: (advice and opinions very welcome as I don’t really know what I am doing!)
Plants: I want something that will grow on the wood, maybe a moss? I have had java moss before but never really got on with it, found it too messy.
Fish: add more cories, try a different shoalling fish to harlequins that might be a bit hardier, maybe add some kuhli loaches. I have 10 killifish fry so will hopefully add them at some point.
Shrimp: I really want a group of shrimp but may need to add some more hiding places to give them a chance to get going.

I think that’s everything, any comments or advice please do say. I am very new to this and have learnt a lot by reading though other journals so hope mine will be of interest to others.
 

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Hi all,
Kerryn said:
The anabius doesn’t seem to want to attach to the wood and hasn’t grown really at all.
Click to expand...
It is quite a slow grower, you can <"super-glue it"> on to wood.
Kerryn said:
The dwarf lettuce is just about surviving but only behind the spraybar, I am hoping that once some of the other plants reach the surface it will get going more.
Click to expand...
Just angle the spray-bar down a little bit, so that the flow isn't going horizontally across the surface. You don't have to worry as much about oxygenation in a planted tank because plants are very efficient at improving water quality.

cheers Darrel
 
As Darrel says, super glue works like a charm.. :)

Personaly i noticed Anubias grow new roots rather soon with the use of a liquid Root stimulator Hormones/aminoacids/vitamins based an sea algae extract. It's widely used in the horticulture to jumpstart terrestrial seedlings or young plant cuttings and help plants in general easier through the first stages of transplant shock.

Actualy it's prooven to be a very beneficial stimulant in terrestrial horticulture. So one day i did put it to the test and threw the stuf into the aquarium, plants are plants no matter where they grow.. And i noticed rather soon very positive results, hence on the epiphytes first, these aren't in the substrate. Anubias forms new bright almost white colored pennroots in weeks time, Bucephalandra is like Anubias also shows new roots very obvious but branches more, not a penn root. With the fern sp. it is more difficult to spot.. Java fern roots with a brownish fibre hard to follow, bolbitis again is a bit more easy, this fern developes dark fluffy rhizoids, almost looking like Black Beard Alga.

And note because Anubias is a penn rooter, it'll never root very firmly to a smooth piece of wood.. This plant realy likes nooks and crannies to root realy firmly.. :)
 
zozo said:
As Darrel says, super glue works like a charm.. :)

Personaly i noticed Anubias grow new roots rather soon with the use of a liquid Root stimulator Hormones/aminoacids/vitamins based an sea algae extract. It's widely used in the horticulture to jumpstart terrestrial seedlings or young plant cuttings and help plants in general easier through the first stages of transplant shock.
Click to expand...

Do you have an example or brand, are these products like gainmor phyton from ADA
 
Mannic05 said:
Do you have an example or brand, are these products like gainmor phyton from ADA
Click to expand...

You can get them in about every garden centre, root stimulator based on seaweed extract.. I believe they are all about the same contents, sticky tea from seaweed.
Here is a nice article on the subject. https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/propagation/cuttings/root-stimulating-hormone.htm

Vagely i remember an aquarium brand i believe eastern europian brand, but forgot. As the only one selling it for aquarium use. Further i have no idea why it didn't get popular very much sooner and why it yet isn't. It is that i used it for years in the garden on seedlings and cuttings and always experienced positive effects. And one day thought while cutting aquarium plants, why the hell not, this too it's a plant cutting.. And experienced the same.

Only thing is read the lable closely, if it says it raises pH than start very slowly with very littel amounts to find out how it does that. Start with 1/10 of the adviced terrestrial dose or even less. Depending on how it is concentrated i you need to judge weekly or daily dosing yourself. Same as regular ferts in aquarium we dose much less.
 
I will angle the spraybar down a bit, should I aim it half way down the front glass? I don’t want the fish to get too blasted around!

I should have used super glue when I first put it in, but the bigger piece of wood is quite difficult to get out and I cant tie it on as I cant get two hands in at once.

That sounds like really good stuff zozo, can it administered to just one plant maybe?
 
Kerryn said:
or a type tetra?
Click to expand...

I got a little school of ember tetra and black tetra in a 50 litre tank, first 2 years high tech, now is low tech for the last 6 months. SO that's 2,5 years and have lost only 3, 2 embers and 1 blacky, all 3 jumped. Since the tank is low tech it gets lots less attention, and since 3 weeks a noticed the black tetra's spawned and it spontaniously raised black tetra fry, without me doing anything special. Noticed it when it was already 5mm in size. :)

They are very beautifull fish, very hardy it seems, live rather long if you don't beat them to death and even propagate spontaniously if cared for propperly.

Also both species go very well together, embers are naturaly sensitive and shy fish, black tetras are more bold and boisterous, i got the embers first and noticed them becoming more outgoing and less shy since the blacks are with them. The blacks pull them over the line and they start competing together.. :)

Lucky shot and happy too.. :thumbup:
 
Have you tested your water? Has the tank been running long? I wouldn't have classed Harlequins as particularly sensitive. If you have been losing Harlequins and corys then I would look at what might be going on in your tank that might cause that before adding more fish/a different species.
 
They sound like a really good option, I will take a look at them next weekend. I just cant believe how sensitive the harlequins have been, everything seems perfect yet I have lost nearly one a week. Do you have any experience with cories? I really like them but they haven’t done very well either. Might be something to do with my hard alkaline water?
 
Kerryn said:
Might be something to do with my hard alkaline water?
Click to expand...

The big questionmark.. :) We can not judge your husbandry..

And to spot sick or weak fish, lots of experience is needed. Than spotting this already in the lfs needs to become easy peasy.. Very often they are already weakened at the wholesaler.. If you are in the LFS learn to recognize obvious stress signs, most obvious is color, if they are pale they are stressed and shouldn't be bought. Fish never ever should be stressed and should be in full ornate color in the LFS.. Don't fall for stories. they will color back up when at home and get rest and good feeding. They should have that in the lfs already, if not leave tthem where they are. Not active and or pinched fins also is a stress sign. Skiney and or concave stomage is a stress sign and can be a sign of internal parasites. And so on, over the years and after a lot of close looking you will learn to recognize what not to buy, only if you also learn to have the patience to see it. Fish should look and behave healthy where ver they are.. Also never buy special offers or bargains, these fish need to go for a reason.

Last time it happenend to me was with a batch of 32 rasboras delivered by mail and it rimes, all were pale.. And all died within 4 months.
 
Maybe that is the problem, the three that have survived have darkened up considerably (the cories that is). I was just shocked by how many I lost for no apparent reason, good parameters, decent group size, decent food and sand substrate. I don’t want to buy more and the same thing happen but next time I’m in a shop I will take a closer look to see how healthy they look.
 
What corys are they? Some are more delicate than others. Bronze and Sterbai are usually on the easier end.

If you've got hard water you could look at Endlers - go all male to avoid a growing population. I think Pristellla tetras prefer the hardier end compared to a lot of other tetras.
 
Two bronze and one sterbai, well that’s what’s left, I haven’t lost any for a couple of weeks now so might be time for another try.

I’m not too keen on endlers as I prefer more natural looking, the pristella tetras look good though. How so they compare to ember and black tetra?

I just saw your post from earlier:
The tank has been running for 3 months, cycled fully with ammonia and tested all the way with an api kit. Ammonia and nitrite are always 0 nitrate is 20-30 but it comes out of the tap at that plus I’ve kept fish at that in the past and never had a problem.

The harlequins just don’t seem settled in my setup but everything else does, including the remaining cories.

Thanks for the input!
 
Size wise the embers are very dinky. Pristella are about twice the size, black tetras even bigger. Embers do prefer soft water although people do keep them in a range of conditions. I think the other two are a bit more in the middle. The black tetras are sometimes labelled as fin nippers - not sure if that would be an issue with the dwarf gourami.
 
I know what you mean, a lot of times people will say 'well they'll adapt' but I like to pick fish that thrive in the water I have not just put up with it!

I like the look of the black neons too. They are a nice size, still smallish, and shoal well. I think they prefer the softer side but they are probably captive bred which tends to make them less fussy. Forktailed rainbows could be another one to look at - ok with harder water, slightly bigger but long and thin not deep bodies so don't seem huge - might be a little too fancy looking for you though.

Cherry barbs are a bit of a favourite of mine - might be worth a look if your other barbs are doing well. The males look stunning when they colour up.

The other option if you wanted to go with fish that do prefer softer would be to mix your water with some RO - does create more work/cost though.
 
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