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DeadWood

xtevo

Member
Joined
14 Mar 2011
Messages
98
Location
Budapest, HUNGARY
Finally, i have decided to start a journal of my first (serious) attempt at planted tanks. I'm from Hungary, please do not make jokes about being hungry, thx! :D
I have been the member of the UKAPS forum, since March, but I have been following threads, without any comments, thanks to my lazyness.
At first i will going to write down the facts of the aquarium, after that I'm going to introduce myself in a few words. Hopefully i will updating my journal often.

Any feedback/comment/opinion are welcomed.
(I hope my English, is not bad as my aquarium, lol...)

Aquarium:
80*35*50cm (WxDxH) - 140 liters

Lighting:
Dymax PL 2 - 2*55 watt
Osram Dulux L 55w/865 (6500K),

Filtration:
Filter: Tetratec EX1200
Filter media: Tetratec Bioball, Ceramic rings, rough sponge + wool (soon to be changed)

(Air Pump:
If needed "Aqua-El Fan micro")

Heating:
Jäger 150w

Cooling:
House Climate - in case

Substrate:
1-2 mm fine gravel about 2 cm thickness (8 kg)

Hardscape:
Mangrove woods (about 5-10 kg)

Plants:
Soon...
Anubias barteri var. nana
Taxiphyllum barbieri - jávai moha
Microsorum Pteropus 'Narrow'

Fertilization:
Soon...
Micro & Macro: made by the well known Hungarian Company Green Aqua ;)
Co2: nope

Livestock: - for now
30 Paracheirodon innesi
3 Ancistrus temminckii

Small introduction:
Well, I'm 25 years old university student, from Budapest, the capital city of Hungary. That's the biggest city in my country at about 1 million people live there, and I live in the outskirts of the city. I have aquarium ages ago, but my passion and motivation were gone, that's why my parents sold it. Not to make them another headache... Last autumn, a friend of mine gave an old, dirty, ugly tank to me, and that was the beginning of something... I have spend a lot on this, and my girlfriend freaks out, if I say "Honey, I have seen something cool" She knows... :D

This layout, what is still in a try-out phase started 9th August, I hope this will last longer, and makes me much more happiness, than the previous one.
 
In the planning phase, I imagined a triangle layout, with the mangrove woods, and tried to make a tree/root scape. What is made of 3 bigger mangrove woods, I admit they are colouring the water, but I won't change them. :)

Plans for the near future:
- bigger gravel to among the roots
- rocks (dunno about which type...)
or another mangrove wood to the left corner of the tank

And finally here are the pictures ;)

P1070716_kis.jpg

DeadWood hardscape #1

P1070719_kis.jpg

DeadWood hardscape #2

P1070720_kis.jpg

DeadWood hardscape #3

(Sorry for not the best quality, I think this is the top what I can get from a Panasonic DMC-FX10)
 
Looking forward to the updates. It is looking good already.

Get that gravel/substrate sloping to create some depth
 
I haven't had much time taking care of the aquarium, I'm not very satisfied with my schedule... By the way the hardscape is still under construction, I have to make some changes.
But I have taken an anubias barteri on the top of the roots, to check how it will look. Here are the before-after photos. ;)

P1070722_kis.jpg

DeadWood hardscape #4

P1070723_kis.jpg

DeadWood hardscape #5
 
JamesD said:
Looking forward to the updates. It is looking good already.
Get that gravel/substrate sloping to create some depth
Thanks!
To be honest I'm a bit sad, because I can't spend as much time as I want, and I've planned before. I hope it will change in the near future.
I will consider about your gravel idea, thanks for the feedback. ;)
 
A friend of mine adviced me, to take some (5-6) young discus in the tank, and after I see a couple, sold the spare fish, and keep the couple in the tank. Also told me, to take some corydoras pandas, and Atya gaboniensis in it, and it will be perfect. His last thoughts were: to forget everything about shrimps,fish,plants, and keep discus! :D

What do You think?

(I'm not 100% sure about the tank size, it is to small for discus, imo...)
 
undoubtedly discus are a choice fish if you are able to spend some time on them... i have kept discus for a number of years and recently swapped to a planted tank. IMO once you have your setup right and the plants start to thrive, then aside fertilising and regular water changes, not much to it. the scape also changes over time and you can track your progress with the planting, nature's evolution in a tank. just my thoughts anyway. looking at your scape this is an ideal crypto heaven if you decide to go down that route - slow growing low to mid light requirement range etc. better still a specimen tank for a small shoal would really show this off.

good luck, will watch how this comes along
GR
 
easerthegeezer said:
i may be wrong but as i understand it... you say you dont have a lot of time now but im fairly sure discus require a lot of work, in relation to other fauna, so might not be the best idea unless you have more time.
Fair enough. To be honest I have to deal with university, work, sport, aquarium and not last girlfriend things... :D
 
grathod said:
undoubtedly discus are a choice fish if you are able to spend some time on them... i have kept discus for a number of years and recently swapped to a planted tank. IMO once you have your setup right and the plants start to thrive, then aside fertilising and regular water changes, not much to it. the scape also changes over time and you can track your progress with the planting, nature's evolution in a tank. just my thoughts anyway.
Thanks fellows for the advices. I agree with You 100%.

grathod said:
Looking at your scape this is an ideal crypto heaven if you decide to go down that route - slow growing low to mid light requirement range etc. better still a specimen tank for a small shoal would really show this off.
I'm planning this setup without co2 injection, only Easy Carbo for liquid carbon. So without any 'proper' plants. Just anubias, microsorum (narrow), java fern and yes maybe crypto, but I'm not very sure, which one. What do you think which one will fite nicely?
 
I seriously thinking about making this tank a south-american biotope. I have got already some nice woods, which are colouring the water heavily. So the water is like a cup of tea, but I'm planning to take some almond leaves in it, but not sure about taking some peat in my external filter.
I have read, and watched numerous biotope scapes, and I'm pretty amazed by some of them. To be honest, I would like to keep it simple, and low maintenance, because I'm a bit lazy, and don't have much time lately (as I have mentined before). But I have got a lot of questions, I hope someone could answer them.

1. At the moment I have fine gravel like 1-2mm, should I change it to sand?
1.1 If yes, what colour? White, or light brown, or what?

2. I will take some almond leaves in the water, when should I take them out? (I mean they will surely melt...)

3. Should I take some extra peat in my external filter, to make the water even brownish/yellowish?
3.1 If yes, how much, and how often should I renew them?
3.2 Instead of peat in the filter, can or should I use some chemicals like Aquatic Nature Eichen Extract.

4. I don't want to take in proper plants, just floating ones. I have checked what is biotope: Limnobium laevigatum
4.1. Is this plant need plant fertilizers? I mean micro,macro and liquid carbon?

5. What fish species can I mix with the current ones?
5.1 I have got 30 Paracheirodon innesi (Neon tetra) Apistogramma or Pterophyllum?

6. Lighting question, at the moment I have got 6500 kelvin power compact tubes, should I change it to 3000 or 4000 kelvin tube.
6.1 If I can afford it, should I change the lighting to HQI instead?

Finally
7. What should I do, to make the enviroment more biotope, rock/gravel/roots etc.

Thank You very much for your help, I appreciate it!
 
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