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54 litre low light livebearer scape - New Pics 16/08/08

Steve Smith

Member
Joined
19 Jul 2007
Messages
4,412
Location
Wellesbourne, UK.
I spent a lot of yesterday cleaning out an old tank that has been sitting with murky water in it for several months, and cleaning out an old boyu external mini filter which was a bit gunky too. Then, washing sand/gravel, tieing moss and arranging wood. Anywho, after about 4 or 5 hours of toil, this is what I have to show for it:

New_tank_march2008.jpg


Tank is 60x30x30cm making it ~54 litres.
Light is 15w T8 (needs a new tube).
Substrate is plain silver sand and pea gravel (will be adding tropica root tabs when crypts go in).

My plan is to fill the front right out by planting some crypts (wendtii, Parva, maybe undulata) along the edge of the wood strategically. I also want to plant some anubias sp. in the nooks. Hopefully the fern at the back will straighten out and grow how I want it. I also hope to plant some Crypt balansae in the back corner.

I also want to get hold of some floating plants, probably sylvia natans, and have them in the far left. Hopedfully this will give a shaded hiding spot with the roots that come down. My worry is I don't have enough light.

The basica idea is to have the long leaves flowing from right to left towards the open space.

(oh, excuse the moss, its just there as a bit of floating cover, though the dwarf platties have been eating the odd bit of hair algae off of it :))
 
Re: 54 litre low light livebearer scape - Unnamed

Will do!

Forgot, fish are:

Red lace snakeskin guppies x2 pairs (and about 4 or 5 fry)
4 Dwarf platties
5 Red-line rasbora (Rasbora pauciperforata I believe)

I might add some pygmy cories to the tank if I can find any locally. Need to get a little more info first :)
 
Re: 54 litre low light livebearer scape - Unnamed

What fittings are on the tube? I have a T6 sitting which I only used for about 4 months alongside bushings for a Juwel hood.

My pygmy cory are great though they prefer larger groups, I reckon 10-12, my group of 6 are a tad shy, will see how they do when I add the 4 now adult babies from my 5 gallon next week.
 
Re: 54 litre low light livebearer scape - Unnamed

Its an old Rena plastic hood (just sits on, no hinges) with a rena light unit inside, including water tight balast (longer than the 18w tube!). I can drill holes in the hood if needed :p

I was thinking of lining the hood with mylar or something similar, as there is no reflector, other than the "white" plastic (more like dull cream).
 
Re: 54 litre low light livebearer scape - Unnamed

looks really nice Dev
Teh Rasboras look really nice in their,.
Liking the wood - made the best choice.
 
Re: 54 litre low light livebearer scape - Unnamed

Actually, on looking again, its 15w! Not so good. I've thought about maybe adding the 36w interpet PC I have over the little tank at the moment, where these guys came from. Anyhow, heres a pic:

hood.jpg


That unit can be taken out fairly easily I think.

I think maybe cories are not suitable for the tank if they need to be in such a large group. Any other suggestions for this type of fish? Pair of ottos perhaps?
 
Re: 54 litre low light livebearer scape - Unnamed

If you pay postage you can have the T6, bushes and a T8 reflector? No clips for the reflector though. I'd guess £5 would cover the lot. The bushes may fit the setup you have, looks a little like the Juwel one.
 
Re: 54 litre low light livebearer scape - Unnamed

Ordered some plants from Greenline today:

10 Crypt. Balansae (might split these and add some to existing ones in my main tank)
5 Crypt Wendtii
5 Crypt x Willisii
1 Crypt Undulatus (red) - Spur of the minute, looked interesting

Also, Gill is giving me some Anubias var Nana, and Coffeefolia :)
 
Re: 54 litre low light livebearer scape - Unnamed

Well, Greenline order came today. Everything looked in good health so I got to planting. still a few left to plant but I'm having a break/cuppa :) Will post a pic later if I have a chance.
 
Re: 54 litre low light livebearer scape - Unnamed

Planted the crypts yesterday, heres a shoddy pic :)

March2008_crypts.jpg


Most need to straighten out as a lot of the stems are kind of curly at the moment. Need to get the light sorted out as it really is just old and crap, and there is no reflector to speak of. Any luck finding those bits Chris?

Needs a water change tomorrow as the wood is staining the water a bit. Looks kind of nice, but I'm sure its not doing much for the already poor light levels.
 
Re: 54 litre low light livebearer scape - Unnamed

No thoughts as yet. The wood sorta reminds me of a Vorlon heavy cruiser from the Sci-Fi TV show Babylon 5... Thats a bit too geeky though really ;)
 
Re: 54 litre low light livebearer scape - Unnamed

I added a reflector and upgraded the tube to a Life-Glo 2 15w "High intensity" lamp. Its 6700K, 90 lux and supposedly a lot of blue and some green. Its actually given the aquarium a bit of a pink glow and I'm not too keen on it. On reading around I believe a lot of blue and a lot of read are whats needed for photosynthesis, with blue being for "day to day" and red being for production of flowers, apparently. I don't know. I think I'll try to upgrade to something a little better.

Had a little bit of crypt melt but nothing major. Most seem to have settled in and showing signs of a little growth. Settled on the following fertilisation:

Monday - nothing
Tuesday - 2ml TPN and 1/16tsp trace
Wednesday - nothing
Thursday - 2ml TPN and 1/16tsp trace
Friday - rest
Saturday - rest
Sunday - 50% water change, 2ml TPN and 1/16tsp trace

I've also added some sylvia natans that Ulster Exile very kindly sent me. Haven't been able to sit and watch the tank too much since adding it but I think the fish like it. They certainly played about in it when I was putting it in.

Also added some new occupants. I added 6 pygmy cories (Corydorus habrosus) and about 6 Amano/Japonica/Yamato shrimp. Thanks to Stang1 on TFF who works at maidenhead aquatics for sorting these out! :) I had talked about the pygmies earlier in the thread and Chris had suggested they prefer larger groups. This was a bit of a worry, but I decided to chance it. They seem to be really active and are swimming all over the place. They shoal sometimes but most of the time they are exploring all the nooks and crannies in the wood or rooting in the sand. They seem very content. Had they not have been I would have swapped out the redlines for more cories :)

Tank occupants are now:

2 pairs Red lace snakeskin guppies
3 Dwarf platties
5 Redline rasbora (may move these to another tank)
6 Corydorus habrosus (pygmy cories)
6 Yamato shrimp

Anyhow, I got another new tank last night so setting that up is going to take most of my time for the next few weeks (will start a new journal). I'll keep this one ticking over now and let it mature :) I will however post pics when I can!
 
Re: 54 litre low light livebearer scape - Unnamed

Added a Fluval 205 last night as the tank was getting a lot of debris build up. The cheapy external filter just isn't cutting it. I'll move that onto the smaller livebearer setup (27 litre) and replace the Fluval 1+ in that one.

The flow was a bit much at first even with a spray bar. I've had to reduce it a little. I might play about with the media baskets and add a little more to reduce the flow a little. Currently have the standard sponges, 1 tray half full of additional sponge, one with filter wool and the last with ceramic media (fluval stuff). I intend to add more bio media when I can get some. Never really liked the ceramic hoops.

Had some crypt melt as you might expect, also a little hair algae, but not much. This is either being eaten or has gone after dosing Excel. Also getting some diatoms on the front glass. Hopefully this will dissapear with better filtration/flow and more water changes.

I'm a bit un-impressed with the light. I might look to up it a little. I want to get rid of the nasty hood too. I might look into a cheapy luminaire if I can afford it but I don't want to go too high light.

Also might be adding pressurised CO2. Just need to get the FE re-filled and get some connections to split the CO2 between tanks :) Pics to follow soon...
 
Re: 54 litre low light livebearer scape - Unnamed

The edens really are useless I'm using one at the moment on a tank barely 4 gallons and I find it to be insufficient even now, the pressurised co2 is a great idea, your plants will appreciate it. I'd be interested to see how you get on with one of those arcadia 18" luminaires I've been thinking about getting one since greenmachine. I did read you're getting one, right?
 
Re: 54 litre low light livebearer scape - Unnamed

Not really sure I can afford one, might end up hanging my 36w power compact in a luminaire fashion, maybe without a reflector as I think 36w might be a bit too muchfor this tank...
 
Re: 54 litre low light livebearer scape - Unnamed

I found 36 watts to be too much on mine, I think the best choice would be 2 x 15w t6, will grow anything and easy to get hold of. I've seen the small arcadias for £50 Its still alot but you'd get the use out of one, and its what, £20 more than buying reflectors and control gear etc separate.
 
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