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New memeber.... small planted tank journal :)

JenCliBee

Member
Joined
30 Mar 2009
Messages
533
Location
W.Midlands
Well firstly i cant find a introductions section so will do it here.

My names mark im from birmingham uk, i currently have 5 tanks running (only 1 planted at the moment) containing L46 plecs, L134 plecs and sterbai cory's thought i would join this acclaimed planted forum to learn as much as poss for my next planted tank im going to setup (juwel lido 120).

Here's my first attempt so please be gental, never done this before and a complete novice so if anythink is wrong bare with me while i learn by the sounds of it a hell of alot more about the planted tank obsession :p.


Equipment....

Tank... Jebo 35/40ltr Tank.
Lighting... 18 Watt compact standard.
Substrate... Westland aquatic compost with a sand layer on top.
CO2... Cheap and cheerful nutrafin.
Plants/Moss... Riccia and christmas moss and cabomba(Thanks to aaron i know what they are now)
Inhabitants... 3x rainbow shrimp, 3x green shrimp.
Temp... Will be around 22-24C



First thing was the substrate....

Aquatic soil

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Sand on top

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Finally got round to filling

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Added the christmas moss to the bogwood and then introduced it to the tank

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Now the plants which i mite add was planted by my partner not me and i think she done a very good job :)

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Finally added the CO2, this is the one i choose and i know its cheap and cheerfull but thought for the money it was worth a try

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This was the tank the day after when the sand had settled and it was fully filled.

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Thankyou for looking, comments and suggestions are all welcome :)

Jen
 
thats actually not bad. :D

the nutrafin fert, only has macro or micro in it, i cant remember which one it is for the life of me!
 
Welcome aboard Jen, nice start up, the Nutrafin kit works pretty well, I used two in my 125 liter tank with sucess, specially on Riccia. Just don't bother purchasing the refill sachets you can use a DIY method that will save you lots of the activator.

DIY Recipe for Nutrafin CO2:
Fill sugar up to the line indicated in the Hagen canister, add 1/4 tsp yeast, 1 tsp baking soda, and then fill water up to the top line.


Good luck and keep us updated :)
 
LondonDragon said:
DIY Recipe for Nutrafin CO2:
Fill sugar up to the line indicated in the Hagen canister, add 1/4 tsp yeast, 1 tsp baking soda, and then fill water up to the top line.

I need to keep this receipe in mind, always had a hard time to properly dose the yeast and baking soda. How long does it run with this proportion ?
I have two of this nutrafin ladder and I love them. It is nice to see the bubble raising while their size decrease. It was making me confident that the CO2 was really dissolving in the water !

The tank looks great.
 
Thanks all for the nice comments, will keep updated every so often to show progress :).


LondonDragon said:
Welcome aboard Jen, nice start up, the Nutrafin kit works pretty well, I used two in my 125 liter tank with sucess, specially on Riccia. Just don't bother purchasing the refill sachets you can use a DIY method that will save you lots of the activator.

DIY Recipe for Nutrafin CO2:
Fill sugar up to the line indicated in the Hagen canister, add 1/4 tsp yeast, 1 tsp baking soda, and then fill water up to the top line.


Good luck and keep us updated :)

I actually tried the stuff that came with it with no avail, read that they tend to not work if out of date and guess what ?, they were out of date by 6 mnths lol.

I used similar recipe of 5 ml(1 teaspoon) yeast and the recommended amount of sugar, topped up with luke warm water and within 15 mins it was working perfect and spitting out about 1-2 bubbles a second :), this was sunday and still going strong now. May redo the mix tommorrow just to keep on top of it.


Thank again all for the nice feedback

jen
 
Welcome to UKAPS!

Great start.

I have a similar aquarium, but it's smaller at 25 litres. The filter system is pretty neat. Does the hood have built-in cooling fans? I disconnected mine as they were so noisy!

You could consider using Easy-Life Easycarbo as a CO2 replacement. It's economical and less hassle than yeast-based CO2.
 
George Farmer said:
Welcome to UKAPS!

Great start.

I have a similar aquarium, but it's smaller at 25 litres. The filter system is pretty neat. Does the hood have built-in cooling fans? I disconnected mine as they were so noisy!

You could consider using Easy-Life Easycarbo as a CO2 replacement. It's economical and less hassle than yeast-based CO2.

Hi george, thanks for the comment :) from you that really does mean alot.

yes the tank has the double built in fan, but its not that noisey suprisingly!

Was thinking of dosing with easycarbo aswell as leaving the CO2 in place, any benifits to that?. Also been advised to try TPN+ so will be getting some of that tommorrow with any luck.

This is all a completely new learning curve to me, give me plecs and cory's im fine ask me what this or that plant is and ill run :p lol, so expect alot of questions in the near future ;)

jen
 
LondonDragon said:
Welcome aboard Jen, nice start up, the Nutrafin kit works pretty well, I used two in my 125 liter tank with sucess, specially on Riccia. Just don't bother purchasing the refill sachets you can use a DIY method that will save you lots of the activator.

DIY Recipe for Nutrafin CO2:
Fill sugar up to the line indicated in the Hagen canister, add 1/4 tsp yeast, 1 tsp baking soda, and then fill water up to the top line.


Good luck and keep us updated :)

Are you sure? I use that CO2 system on my spare tank, and I do everything as you say, but only use a pinch (literally) of baking soda. Seems to work for about 3 weeks (it's stood on the Lamp starter, so runs faster in the day and slower at night). We must have the same tap water, as we're at opposite ends of the same road :lol: ! (Our water's very hard.) Just wondered if you really did mean a teaspoonful, or if you meant 1/8 etc.?
 
Just a quick update on the tank since the week its been running, the cobamba is needing a trim so thought i would show pics first :).

Tank shots

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Riccia shot

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Also.... i recieved my easy carbo and TPN couple days ago, i accidently ordered TPN instead of TPN+ so while i wait for the + to come im just dosing with the TPN for now.

Can anyone suggest correct/recommended dosing for my tank for both the easy carbo and the TPN+ please?


Thanks all for looking :)

jen
 
LondonDragon said:
Looking good Jen, all you need now it to burry the rock a little bit of place some riccia on the side to hide the rock underneath, good work :)


Yeh was thinking the same ive just done a little rearranging and buried them a little more, but im still not 100% sure i like it still so a change might be in order lol.

While im here, anyone have a nice alternative for the back of the tank to replace the cobamba... somethink thats nice and high and easyish to grow.

This one is gonna sound so stupid but what are the plants that people refer to as HC? sorry for been a little dim lol

Thanks all for the help and the nice comments :)

jen
 
Hygrophila polysperma is indeed a beautiful plant, but when Tourney describes it as a fast growing stem plant they ain't kidding. With CO2 and decent lighting it will produce much bigger leaves than the ones you see on it when you buy it (up to about 3"), and might go an attractive olive brown colour. It will need trimming every week in that tank, and probably uprooting and replanting every month or two, so beware that it will be a lot of work.

I think it is a fantastic plant, but better suited to a really large tank, where you could get a great bush of it, and prune it with a chainsaw.

In a tank of your size a smaller leaved plant would give a better impression of a bigger tank, such as one of the Rotalas (there's a lot of confusion about their real names, the most common one is usually sold as sp. green, meaning no one really knows what species it is, but it's green - at least when it's sold. Again it takes on other colours under good conditions).

But of course it's your choice - the Hygrophila would create a lush and jungly effect, a smaller leaved plant would look 'tidier', and perhaps make the tank look a bit bigger.

Do us more pics of whatever you get!

Mark
 
vauxhallmark said:
Hygrophila polysperma is indeed a beautiful plant, but when Tourney describes it as a fast growing stem plant they ain't kidding. With CO2 and decent lighting it will produce much bigger leaves than the ones you see on it when you buy it (up to about 3"), and might go an attractive olive brown colour. It will need trimming every week in that tank, and probably uprooting and replanting every month or two, so beware that it will be a lot of work.

I think it is a fantastic plant, but better suited to a really large tank, where you could get a great bush of it, and prune it with a chainsaw.

In a tank of your size a smaller leaved plant would give a better impression of a bigger tank, such as one of the Rotalas (there's a lot of confusion about their real names, the most common one is usually sold as sp. green, meaning no one really knows what species it is, but it's green - at least when it's sold. Again it takes on other colours under good conditions).

But of course it's your choice - the Hygrophila would create a lush and jungly effect, a smaller leaved plant would look 'tidier', and perhaps make the tank look a bit bigger.

Do us more pics of whatever you get!

Mark


I dont mind the maintenance side of things :), work from home so i spend most of the day looking at my tanks anyways lol ;) so im sure taking half hour out of my day per/twice weekly can be managed. I quite like the jungle look so might be the way to go and see, if not then i can always move it to one of my bigger tanks with less light to grow slower.

Will post pics with whichever i decide to go with and thanks for the suggestions so far :)

jen
 
When I saw the tank I thought 'Oh deary me'.

When I saw the size of that wood I thought 'Oh deary me'

When I saw it planted I thought 'Blimey'

Somehow you made it work so Kudos and good luck.

AC
 
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