Andy265
Member
Well, i have returned to planted tanks after switching to marine a few years ago. My original plan was to repurpose my 5ft sumped marine tank into a planted tank but after getting fed up of the time consuming job of scraping coraline algae compiled with spotting a new opti white tank being offered on a good deal i managed to convince my other half that it would make a better centre piece in our front room, soooooo
Delivered yesterday the tank is 180cm L x 60cm D x 45cm H roughly 400 litres full opti white sat on light grey stand, plan is to put frosted film on the back and one side to obscure view of leads and pipework.
I have modified x3 AI prime HD freshwater lights into lamp shades that will be suspended from the ceiling, after having had the UFO looking big blue lights above the marine tank i wanted something that fitted in with the room but gave me full control of the lights (sunset sunrise function) and the ability to adjust light intensity without having to raise and lower the lights, i did look into smart bulbs to achieve this but got a good deal on the AI lights. These you can see in the tank presently.
Haven't decided on my setup yet i have a large amount of wood soaking in the garden which is leaking tannins ( tempted by blackwater setup but like lots of plants ) amongst this wood is a large tree stump that will protrude above the water line and is maybe screaming out for houseplant planting in the top of it ? Like the idea of plants growing out of the tank and around it especially if the tannins stain the water. More research will be needed to decide what i want and more importantly what the other half likes as when i showed her photos of a blackwater tank the response was " why would you want a tank that looks like a puddle"
Stocking like the idea of having large group of schooling nano type fish, suggestions ? a lot will depend how the wood leaches.
Not hugely experienced with planted tanks so a few questions and advice sought whilst in these planning stages, and definitely more questions to come
1) Thinking substrate set up of base gravel, "dirt" compost, sand capped if the tannin allows me to heavy plant , if not heavy planting gravel base with sand cap ?
2) I will be using an FX6 as main filtration but i am thinking about running a smaller canister with just a foam, carbon and purigen to combat the tannins, would this work in the short term to keep staining down ?
3) Can you plant a blackwater scape ?
4) Stocking suggestions ?
If you have read this far thank you and i welcome any input, will be a slow build but will update this as i go, a few pics of how it looks at the moment.
Delivered yesterday the tank is 180cm L x 60cm D x 45cm H roughly 400 litres full opti white sat on light grey stand, plan is to put frosted film on the back and one side to obscure view of leads and pipework.
I have modified x3 AI prime HD freshwater lights into lamp shades that will be suspended from the ceiling, after having had the UFO looking big blue lights above the marine tank i wanted something that fitted in with the room but gave me full control of the lights (sunset sunrise function) and the ability to adjust light intensity without having to raise and lower the lights, i did look into smart bulbs to achieve this but got a good deal on the AI lights. These you can see in the tank presently.
Haven't decided on my setup yet i have a large amount of wood soaking in the garden which is leaking tannins ( tempted by blackwater setup but like lots of plants ) amongst this wood is a large tree stump that will protrude above the water line and is maybe screaming out for houseplant planting in the top of it ? Like the idea of plants growing out of the tank and around it especially if the tannins stain the water. More research will be needed to decide what i want and more importantly what the other half likes as when i showed her photos of a blackwater tank the response was " why would you want a tank that looks like a puddle"
Stocking like the idea of having large group of schooling nano type fish, suggestions ? a lot will depend how the wood leaches.
Not hugely experienced with planted tanks so a few questions and advice sought whilst in these planning stages, and definitely more questions to come
1) Thinking substrate set up of base gravel, "dirt" compost, sand capped if the tannin allows me to heavy plant , if not heavy planting gravel base with sand cap ?
2) I will be using an FX6 as main filtration but i am thinking about running a smaller canister with just a foam, carbon and purigen to combat the tannins, would this work in the short term to keep staining down ?
3) Can you plant a blackwater scape ?
4) Stocking suggestions ?
If you have read this far thank you and i welcome any input, will be a slow build but will update this as i go, a few pics of how it looks at the moment.
