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Cube 123, first Low-tech try

Edvet

Edvet

Member
Joined
15 Aug 2013
Messages
5,123
Location
Lelystad, Netherlands
I have a 50x50x50cm cube which i am going to try to go low-tech on. Lighting wil be one suspended 125 highpressure mercury lamp (old Giesemann light) which i can hang from just above to 5 feet above.I wil use a Eheim external filter with a spraybar.
Not sure about the soil. We don't have JI compost here. Originally i thought i'd use a clay/laterite mixture below the riversand/small gravel. But i gather the compost functions as a CO2 source so i better get some kind of soil. So would a pond mixture be best or a peat mixture??
I can prime the filter on my big tank and use floaters so cycling shoudn't be an issue.
For low light plants i am looking to the Echinodorus group, (only going to use South American plants probably).
Tank wil be in my bedroom so low maintenance will be nice. (Looking to Big tom's bucket of mud i am)
 
Hi Edvert,having just set up my low tech I can tell you that i'm using a mix of aqua pond soil,sphagnum peat moss and some ADA Amazonia that I had laying about.
I don't thank there is any hard and fast rule about quantities to be used,for every 3 handfulls of pond soil I added 1 handfull of peat moss and mixed it all togeather
then added what Amazonia I had (about 5 liters)and mixed that in as much as I could,all seems to be going well so far.
I'm sure Big Tom or Alastair will be along to give a better answer/insight.
Also there is an indepth article by Tori about soil substrate which was very helpfull also.

BTW I only used the Amazonia because I had it laying around from a failed high tech attempt.
Matt.
 
Most commercial mixes seem to have a large amount of peat in them anyway. I'm sure you'll be able to find some pond mix or something locally (or dip a bucket in a polder!). Just be aware that a lot of commercial mixes also contain limestone which will raise your hardness and pH (regardless of the soil pH stated on the packet), but that may or may not be an issue depending on what fish you intend to keep and what your attitude is to emulating a species' natural water chemistry.
 
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Phone pics, but you get the zist. I used pond soil and capped it with river sand mixture
Just decided to jump in the deep end, "planted some smaller Echinodorus, and one Hydrocotyle leucocephala. There is a small Eheim in the corner and i use a spraybar (not yet in pic).
Light (125w Mercury lamp) is on for 6 hours, app 11/2 feet above tank on low setting (75 w). There are 3 Nannostomus marginatus, 2 oto's and one amano shrimp in it. Not decided on "lawn"yet, probably tenellus or Staurogyne repens.
 
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Added Staurogyne repens and Echinodorus magdalensis end a few H.tenellus. Removed one E. radicans to large tank, one small one is stil in there.
E. bleheri (2x) and E. marti are also in there, as is some moss and some demersum hornwort.
 
That's lovely bogwood Edvet, I am jealous! I have a similarly shaped and designed tank and layout, but mine is much smaller than yours from the look of your pictures.
All the best from Bill.
 
The last echinodrus i added (magdalensis) don't seem to do wel. I am going to increase light intensity a bit for a week and see how that goes (go from 75 to 125 w setting on the lamp). Only did top ups with pure RO water, wil do a wc once a week 10% too. (There are some tiny clippings from some extra plants too, just to see how they fare, some Najas, the Persicaria and some Ludwigia).
 
Dismanteled this yesterday. To much algae problems (BGA). Probably because i didn't fertilize it. I was hoping the echinodorii would feeld from the pondssoil a bit better, When i took them out i noticed the rootsystems where small compared to those my big tank. They grow roots much faster in there, maybe the heatcable in the substrate helps there.
Everything (E. bleheri, E.marti E, radicans,) and some fish went to the large tank. This tank wil function as a learning tank for a Borneo blackwater setup i have in mind. Haven't done any South east Asia tank ever, and i have some wack ideas in technical layout i wanna try-out.
 
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