Fallen Tree - low light-low tech nano dirt tank.

[1stgolf]

Tanks coming along nicely

 

[EnderUK]

Hey EnderUK, tank is looking good. The tree root is very nice.
I know I'd be shot but in your case I'd plant heavier with healthy plants that have grown submerged previously and increase the light, not decrease it.
I can't get a low tech to grow healthy plants and balance well with light less than 6hrs and that's on a tank next to a window otherwise 8hrs on all the rest. I can't tell you par readings but they need to be bright enough. I have the same size tank with 11W light on 6hrs a day next to a window getting direct sunlight, grows extremely well, no algae.

You need a combo of heavy rooters like a crypt or echinodorus(echinodorus parviflorus is lovely and small), fast growing plants(bacopa, ludwiga) and then the slow growers of your choice such as anubias, java fern or moss. Floaters are good when you start a tank to compensate for problematic growth below if the tank has issues at the start.

That's what I'd do. You started with low plant mass and low light in a soil substrate and this scenario is hard to make successful. I presume the tree root doesn't allow for heavy planting too.

Now that I have the floating plants pretty much covering the surface I'm running the lights 10 hours a day, the bottom of the tank doesn't get much light but it seems to be getting enough for slow growth so I'm not that bothered. The Hygrophila corymbosa is actually quite rooty plant so I don't think I need crypt in the tank, plus there's no where for it to get any way. Same with the echinodorus but that's not Asian flavour any way. It is pretty much black water now which is pretty good. I was contemplating putting some Nomahila stricta in the gap between the back of the root and the glass which would come from my main tank once it begins growing again. You're right about the tree root making planting diffilcult but moss and the monosolenium tererum will look good me thinks.

I think the tank will have the mass in about 2-3 months by my guessing, in the mean time the natan is doing it's duckweed duty.

Tanks coming along nicely

Thanks I think so.

 

[EnderUK]

So while I'm updating the main tank thought I would do a update on my nano. So far the shrimp have settled in nicely, only appears to be one death so far but with them hiding under the root it's difficult to be sure. On the up side we've counted around 10 pups that are more than happy to crawl on the glass. They're about 5mm in size now.

It was looking a bit bare at the back so I go in contact with johnnypy to get some of the Limnophila sessiliflora he has on offer.

Even that filled out the tank, it was an amazing transformation. I then went away for a week and came back to this.....

So had a bit of trim and it's all looking very nice now.

The moss is starting to take off nicely, really like the string moss and when the shrimp are eating from it.

Sorry for the reflection this was a shot a couple of hours ago and I couldn't black out the room fully, might have to look at getting some blackout blinds.

The Limnophila sessiliflora is a monster, I cut it around 6 hours ago and I can see the new shoots coming out already.

 

[EnderUK]

Picked up 5 Danio Erythromicron and 2 Danio Margaritatus. I haggled for the galaxy rasbora as I couldn't leave them by themselves as these were the last in stock. Really interesting little fish but very flighty, lucky they have a nice chunk of wood to hide behind.

I'll see how they go and if I can get another Erythromicron and a few more Margaritatus I will. I plan on upgrading the tank around Christmas time anyways.

 

[EnderUK]

I've had a bit of a rescape, The Danio were just hiding before the large root. However I took one last picture before I stripped the tank down.

I've moved the tank as it was taking to much sun light on the left side cause the plants to grow towards one side. I've redone the substrate to get it a bit lower and it's now capped with silver sand. The root I basically ran it from the back to the front on it's side. Give the tank much more swim space and while the danio still like to hide under the root they are out much more often. I also found some Endlers so I put 6 males into the tank.

 

[X3NiTH]

Lovely looking fish!

 

[EnderUK]

Had a couple of shrimp deaths in the high heat so I've replaced the HoB filter with Ocean Free Ultra Slim US-01 HOB filter with non-brand 480l/h HoB that was £10 off ebay. Opening it I wasn't impressed but after hooking it up the flow is much improved sending air bubbles right to the front bottom of the tank. I think it will be slightly harder to clean since the motor doesn't screw off but it is much easier to get the tank lid off and much more room for filter media.

I also had a nerite snail die on me. So went the the pet shop to pick up a couple of zebra nerites and couldn't resist picking up two Sulawesi snails. They are monsters, once they had a desintation in mind they go in a stright line plowing through everything moving the smaller stones and even ripped up some of the Limnophila sessiliflora, tossing the smaller trumpet snails aside. The shrimp and even the nerites seem to like climbing their backs to going on a ride.

Now that it's getting dark a bit earlier I'll try get some pictures of the tank.