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240l Fluval..... It is low tech!

dragut

New Member
Joined
16 Oct 2018
Messages
3
Location
London
Hi all again! It took a little bit longer than I had planned, but I got my tank up and running! It is not even close to the tanks I see here, but it is mine and I love it :) It is much better looking than it seems in the photos. Probably I should take some better pictures of it with a better camera and better light but here it goes :

signal-2021-09-05-020350_007.jpeg



The tank is a 240l Fluval. It is low tech. I use 3 bottles of champagne yeast as DIY co2 (brown sugar and apple juice). The powerhead on the left, front is for diffusing the co2. The drop checker color is always a greenish blue, better than nothing I hope.

The gigantic concrete structure with Bucephalandra and Hygrophila on it, on the left is a sand waterfall. I turned it off in the hopes of a better pic. The structure is actually hollow and has wide entrances in the back. I messed up the white sand I used for the sandfall during a water change, so the front of the tank (the area where dwarf hair grass is planted) was covered with white sand. It used to look like a lake and a flowing river. Luckily, the sand can be siphoned so I will clean it up and cover with black sand when I have the time. The area in the middle front was covered with dwarf hair grass but they were all uprooted by amanos and hillstream loaches, no matter how many times I planted them back and finally I gave up. The waterfall also was covered with java moss -- dry start, yoghurt-moss method-- but the amanos wiped it all clean. I still love them though, walking on every centimeter of the tank, picking up -tasting everything they put their "hands" on. I have 8 of them, they are very big now.

There are 2 DIY bonsai trees on the right -- by some maple branches, balsa wood and scouring pads-- with christmass moss and weeping moss. I don't know which one is which unfortunately. In the back and also on the front left, there are java ferns. Far right are the Ludwigia Minis. Although they lost some color, they are still red(ish). In the middle, behind of the tree is a red lotus. When I read about it, everyone was saying that they would grow very big, with huge leaves reaching to the surface so I planted it to the back which I regret now. Because it is a very beautiful plant now with 9 leaves and it is staying small. There are also some remnants of Reineckii Mini on the left and right which kept melting.

I did a dry start, mostly to get the mosses on the rocks and for dwarf hairgrass for 2 months. It worked very well but the amanos and the 3 loaches made short work of them :) It has been more than 3 months since I flooded the tank now. I am having issues with the tree on the left since the beginning. Although it is closer to the flow and therefore the co2, for some reason, the moss on it is not doing well. The one on the right took of very well. And unfortunately, in the last few days it started to have problems too. The only change that happened recently is that I had to replace existing T5 fluorescent lamps with leds. I do not use any fertilisers. Please see the photos below :

the left tree :
signal-2021-09-05-020350_001.jpeg



the right tree:
signal-2021-09-05-020350_006.jpeg


signal-2021-09-05-020350_004.jpeg


As the live stock, I currently have
9 kuhli loaches
8 amanos
6 banded barbs
2 Peacock Goby
10 Minnows
6 Ottos
2 bristlenose plecos
6 nerite snails
1 bamboo shrimp
2 apistos
5 endler guppies
3 hillstream loaches
Apart from the fish, I have hundreds if not thousands of daphnia which I keep in 3 containers, 4-5 liters each.

Any input or questions are most welcome! Again, many thanks to all of you for all the information you keep providing!
 
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