After about 5 years without a tank, my 8 year old son goes out with his grandparents and wins a goldfish at a fair. He returns with a tiny bowl and the resulting panic has rekindled my passion for the hobby. Goldfish is now in a bigger tank (unfortunately no fishless cycle as cycling the tank with the fish in and frequent water changed seems less cruel than goldfish in a tiny bowl). It’ll get a couple of friends when the filter is mature - if anyone near Maidstone in Kent has a filter they wouldn’t mind me having a squeeze of, it’d be much appreciated!
Anyway, I’ve since “aquired” a Fluval spec 19l tank. I used to have 600l and 150l planted tanks. Both low tech. The 600l was an incredible success and was stunning, but the smaller tank had algae issues and the plants never grew very much. I think there was too much light, but ferts and liquid carbon didn’t help much and I got frustrated and gave the tank away.
So my plans for the spec are a piece of bog wood I am hoping will fit (it will be chopped down to fit if not!), some sort of aquatic soil (mainly cause I prefer the look - will it cause algae issues if I don’t have any rooting plants in it?) sand in non-planted areas, a java fern mini that I hope will grow into a centre piece in top right corner, various Anubias and maybe some crypts. I’m hoping the light will be low enough to be able to run low tech, but happy to add ferts and liquid carbon if necessary. Don’t want to do dry ferts this time though, so feel free to recommend a good quality bottled all in one fertiliser.
Plant to have a small shoal of chilli rasbora and some shrimp/possibly Pygmy corys (although think they’ll give too large a bioload for the tank with a shoal of them and shoal of chillis). Maybe an apple/mystery snail if I can aquire some (they can go into larger goldfish tank when they get took big for nano)
Feeling a bit unsure of myself as not had a tank for so long. The goldfish really weren’t cutting it for me - my son insisted on a submarine ornament and luminous plastic plants
Any advice on the plants for a low tech nano? And how to avoid algae in a small tank - system will be less stable than the 600l I was used to!
Anyway, I’ve since “aquired” a Fluval spec 19l tank. I used to have 600l and 150l planted tanks. Both low tech. The 600l was an incredible success and was stunning, but the smaller tank had algae issues and the plants never grew very much. I think there was too much light, but ferts and liquid carbon didn’t help much and I got frustrated and gave the tank away.
So my plans for the spec are a piece of bog wood I am hoping will fit (it will be chopped down to fit if not!), some sort of aquatic soil (mainly cause I prefer the look - will it cause algae issues if I don’t have any rooting plants in it?) sand in non-planted areas, a java fern mini that I hope will grow into a centre piece in top right corner, various Anubias and maybe some crypts. I’m hoping the light will be low enough to be able to run low tech, but happy to add ferts and liquid carbon if necessary. Don’t want to do dry ferts this time though, so feel free to recommend a good quality bottled all in one fertiliser.
Plant to have a small shoal of chilli rasbora and some shrimp/possibly Pygmy corys (although think they’ll give too large a bioload for the tank with a shoal of them and shoal of chillis). Maybe an apple/mystery snail if I can aquire some (they can go into larger goldfish tank when they get took big for nano)
Feeling a bit unsure of myself as not had a tank for so long. The goldfish really weren’t cutting it for me - my son insisted on a submarine ornament and luminous plastic plants
Any advice on the plants for a low tech nano? And how to avoid algae in a small tank - system will be less stable than the 600l I was used to!
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