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Low light Setup (new pictures added)

Jon1706

Member
Joined
9 Nov 2008
Messages
104
Location
Selby, NorthYorkshire
Hi everyone.This is my frist go at doing a planted aquaruim. I've been coming here as a guest and checking out the site and got a lot of great tips, which I've put to good use. My tank used to be a mixed Tank and I did have a few plants in it before. But since my move I've planed on setting up a fully planted aquaruim. I am hoping toup gardes My basic Jewel 60l tank over the next few months With Co2 and better Lighting. I hope that you enjoy this as much as I am enjoying making it. ( any comments would belovely )

Frist Part

The frist part of this upgrade was to replace the gravel with Argos play sand. That was the easy part. Next was removing the ugly black filter box that comes with jewel tanks. This was a bit of a pain but with some helpful threads I found on another Forum, I set on with it the do or die task of removing the ugly black box, half an hour later it was removed and the tank was silll in one place.
Yay more space and no more ugly black box (sorry to anyone out there who like them)
So with more tank space comes more wood yay. After asking about wood I found some I like and was about to order some, till I went to my lfs where i found some lovely bog wood. So £10 later and two lumps of wood. I've sorted out my deco yay.

The filter im using now is a Tetratec 600, This gives me 10x turn over. I've been wondering about Hydor Koralia Nano Pump this would give me 25x turn over is two much? I am replacing the spray bar with some lilly heads i found on ebay. (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Lily-Pipe-inflow- ... 286.c0.m14)
Any Comments on these or the company would be great please.

As I said before I am slowly up grading my tank over the next eight months. The next thing on my list is a new ligthing system the one I've seen is from Arcadia and it it the OTL T8 Luminaire. I would like T5 but I can not aford them. I have worked out this should give me 2wpg, Which gets me on to C02 as I would like to have ago at setting up a pressurised CO2 co2 set up. But I am worryed it if all goes wrong when Im setting it up and I go up with it lol. The other kit I have seen is ADA CO2 Advanced System Black (http://www.thegreenmachineaquatics.com/ ... em%20Black) . At the moment I am using easy Carbo. But I know when i change my lighting i will need more C02. My light set up now is 1wpg I belive. (15w T8 Tube + Reflector).

Plants

This is a List of my Plants I am hoping to had more stem plants and some moss and a carpet of something, More about this in a bit.

Plant List

Cryptocoryne Wendtii "Brown"
Cryptocoryne Wendtii "Tropica"
Cryptocoryne Wendtii "Green"
Hygrophila Corymbosa " Siamensis 53B"
Java Fern
Anubias Baeteri var. nana

all these plants are tropica grown from pets at home, and they have grown on very well. I Fertilise my plants with ProFito 6ml a week . And I have changed over to Tropica Plant Nutrition+ capsules. I will be changing over to Tropica Plant Nutrition+ liquid Fertiliser once im ProFito runs out.
I havent placed a Substrates under the sand as I wasn't sure about it, But Since I started this I have read about clay based Cat Litter Is this any good? Any comments be great on this as I still at a point where i can change things a round I think.
As I would Like some more Stem plants I did have some Hygrophila lacustris but it died within a week. I Have been looking at the Tropica and Greem Manchine website and I have found the following Tropica plants which I think would look nice and hopefully grow well in my current set up.

Plants I would like List

Bacopa Caroliniana
Hygrophila Corymbosa 'Siamensis'
Hygrophila Polysperma
Shinnersia Rivularis 'Weiss-Grun'

I belive I have space for three more Stem plants or with a push I think I might get all four in. any comments on these plants or tips on them would be great.
I am thinking about a tight compact carpet in the right hand corner. I have read about java moss and I like this but is there other plants I can use with my light leavels to get a nice compact carpet. And while Im on about moss Iwould like some on my wood I have seen some love scapes with moss on the wood but Im not sure which moss I could use on my wood.

I've only got the one picture i can use at the min as im having to use my moblie internet as my landline isnt set up yet. So sorry about the bad picture had to use the carma on my phone and in a low setting to upload this.
http://www.fishforums.net/uploads//mont ... 509066.jpg

post-46393-1251509066.jpg


My last Bit I am hoping to make a ADA style Aquaruim Cabinet in the next few weeks ( thats why i can add the cat litter if it is any good )
Well Thank you for looking I will keep updating this when new things happen or things change. once again I hope you enjoyed this as much as I enjoy doing it
Jon
 
Re: My Frist Go at a planted Tank

Hi everyone. Well its been a bit quite on the tank front this week the only new thing that happen is I got some Bacopa caroliniana insted of the straight vallis from my lfs. The bacopa is a bit bent. Is this ok and will it grow stright after a while.
After a few chats on the forum I've worked which co2 system Im going to use thanks to Sams thread on the low cost diy bottle setup this will be great once I've upgraded my lighting. Im going to stay with the juwel hood for now and add another T8 tube this one will be white one. As I have a purple one at the mo. I will post pictures of the diy light upgraded. Im going to work out to up load photos of my tank on to here using my moblie lol. Well thats all for now will post soon.
Jon
 
Re: My Frist Go at a planted Tank

Hi Jon.
Glad you seem to have gotten the bug :thumbup:

With an extra T8 tube you should be fine with the plants you have atm. I've never used play sand, but I've heard that it might go anaerobic after a while, but you have a lot of crypts in there (my favourite plant atm) and they tend to send out a lot of roots so you might not get that problem. I wouldn't change the substrate yet. With the root tabs you should do ok.
I'm not sure, but you might need to think about getting some liquid carbon (AE's own, EasyCarbo or Seachem Excel). Your plants will tell you if they get hair algae... The output from DIY CO2 is somewhat unstable so personally I'd go for the liquid carbon. Wait with the CO2 until you get the OT2...

Best if luck and keep us updated!
 
Re: My Frist Go at a planted Tank

put a bit more wood and put some indian water fern in front. I took out and old piece of fairly flat mangrowe wood chnk from my tank it with a fern in my house in front by chance it looks amazing. Ive been meaning to do that but i think its very suited to the ferny tank youve got.I would say bolbitis, if you can grow it
 
Re: My Frist Go at a planted Tank

Hi everyone thank you for your comments on my tank. Please keep them coming. As I said before this is a learning curve for me, before I have a go at a real aquascape :crazy: :D which I am planing now. will up date my journal about that when I have more infoe on it.
Well I have added some java moss to slate to form my carpet. I got myself a flash drive to upload my pictures , only for my camera to go awal on me. lol never mind but here is a few pictures I do have( will have the camera back on monday so will get some new pictures taken then.)
Hope you enjoy Jon

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(sorry about that one its not very good tank glass needed cleaning)
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( I like this one )
 
Re: My Frist Go at a planted Tank

Hi everyone its been a while snice I've been online and things have changed a lot since I last posted. For a start there was the massive snail army which went mad. I'm not sure where they came from maybe the moss but I will never know, but for one thing they did a hell of a lot of damage. :( But on the up side of things my Hygrophila corymbosa 'Siamensis 53B' shot off as you will see from the pictures, I've pleased with it, My crytocorynes did as well they took over the tank, even with some cutting back they went mad ( two of them were given to a friend ) So I now have a small cutting of the Crypocoryne wendtii 'Tropica' and a nice thickit of Cryptocoryne wendtii 'Green'. the Java fern as done very well and as a nice thick crown and in the last week or two as started to produce little shots of the main leafs( I think these are new seed plants right ??)
The one plant I'm not sure about is a Aponogeton crispus not 110% sure is one of them ? But it was in a friends goldfish tank and didnt look very well. so I've took it of her hands and placed it in my new rescaped layout. (more about this coming up) If it is a Aponogeton crispus ill it be ok with my lighting and liquid carbon also I've placed two tropica + root tabs under it as well. Any info be geat on this plant ty

After a losing battle with the snails I thought the only way I could get rid was to strip everything down and painfully clean any snails and snail eggs of the leafs. Not a happy bunny after three hours of plant cleaning. I've tried to keep things simple this time only got the 4 different plants. Two stems and two middle covering plants and one moss so far. I've also added some new deco to the tank in the form of some Rieann sones from my LFS. I dont know much about them so any info be great. The only thing I have found out about them is that the stone comes from China and its ued a lot in German aqualand scaping in shrim and fish tanks. Also used some small river stones to the layout as well. I've keept to well try to hopefull a Nature style aquarium rather then the Dutch style aquarium. Also keepin with the fern style that some one pointed out (sorry cant remeber your name but ty again) I was wondering if the Aponogeton crispus dose not make I would like one more stem plant to replace it I was wondering about the India water fern but cant seem to fid any info on it. Dose anyone have one of these plants or knows anything that be great again Also I used the moss which I had left on the root in the left hand corner hoping to make it more natural. Any tips or pointer would be great Hope everyone is good and thank you again for looking. Take care everyone .
Jon
Here are the pictures

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This is the Aponogeton crispus

Picture002.jpg
 
Well This is a little up date on hw things are going. Well things are going well I've had a little crypt melt and lost one of the crypt. But the Aponogeton crispus seems to be doing well, there was a lot of melt to start with, but in the last two weeks it seems to of picked up and the leafs are turning green now, Fingers crossed it will keep on growing. The moss seems to be spreading but it is hard to tell lol. I am still using Easy Carbo at 2ml a day and 1m Easy ProFito a day. Also just replaced the TPN+ tabs on chrismas eve. In the new year i will be starting a new bottle of TPN+ liquid, I will keep adding 1ml off this daily as I did with the Easy Life ProFito or do I need to add more. Also been thinking that im going to keep this easy and not go down the co2 road and just stck with Easy Carbo for the time been. Here is a few picture of the tank from this afternoon.
Thank you again for looking and I hope everyone had a great christmas and new year. :D

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I like this one
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chilled84 said:
I have to hand it to you, Your doing fine with the crypts, There nice! I want some. Good going mate.
Hi chilled84 thank you very much :oops: I'm hoping in a month or so that I will be beable to take cutting if so I will send you some if that is ok. I'm very pleased with it so far and I've got the green finger bug :D. I have already planed my rescape when I move (due to the house falling down around me :( ) Oh the crypts are wendtii green and from tropica :). Thank you again chilled84 :oops: :)
 
wearsbunnyslippers said:
it just keeps getting better!


Thank you wearsbunnyslippers. :oops: :) Your rescape looks great I was wondering how you set up the wood on the slate, As for my next scape I am using hather wood and wood like to attach it to somthing to stop it floating up.

great job!
jonesy said:
looks good keep up the good work :thumbup:

Thank you jonesy :oops: :D I am enjoying it, even if sometimes things dont pan out how I plan :(
 
Hi everyone. Well I've done my frist trim since the rescape and removed one of the stem plants which was in the left hand corner. I'm happy the way things are going but i feel something isnt right yet with the scape, I can't put my finger on :crazy: While I was trimming back I noticed I've got new crypt growing from some of the crypt roots that melted. The one thing I that is bugging me is GDA I daily add carbo at 2ml and the lighting is on 8 hours a day and is set on a timer. My LFS as some zebra snails I was thinking off getting one or two off these to to help with the GDA. Would these help to remove it or keep it under control. You can see some the GDA in the photos. Here is a few pics of the tank :D

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russchilds said:
Looks great & very clean!! Also looks bigger than 60L!! :D

Is it a juwel aquarium??

Hi russchilds thank you :oops: it is a jewel rekond 600, But I removed the filter for more space and because it looked ugly lol The GDA is on the back of the tank and the sides just these green patches I thought they show up on the pictures. But thank you again for your comments :D
 
Jon1706 said:
Thank you wearsbunnyslippers. :oops: :) Your rescape looks great I was wondering how you set up the wood on the slate, As for my next scape I am using hather wood and wood like to attach it to somthing to stop it floating up.

i took a slate tile about 1' by 1' squared. eyed where i wanted the driftwood, and at what angle, then cut the wood on that angle and height. drilled and counter sunk the slate with a masonry bit and screwed on the wood with stainless steel screws.

now the wood stays perfectly in place and cant float away...
 
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