Gomer's return to planted tanks, tank: fast growers need not apply
By: Gomer
February 11th, 2013
9:25 am
Background: A few years back (2003?) I dove headfirst into planted tanks and over the years put together a few scapes. Loved it, but but interupted too many times with sequential job moves, after graduation.
A few months ago, the wife more or less said "I want you to start up a planted tank. I miss them"...who am I to say no?!
The idea : Longevity. Current trends in competition are for the moment of the photo. Most tanks aren't designed for the time before or after the photo (this could be a huge rant/debate thread, so maybe I'll bring that up elsewhere). I'm after a tank for my house and for me, not for a photo. This means planting a tank that will last, and not require constant pruning/replanting to keep it looking like a jungle. So, I'm staying away from very high light. Staying away from stems. Staying away from super fast growers. I'm also employing MTS for substrate. First time using it, and sounds like a good idea for the eventual heavy root feeding crypts.
hardware: I'm re-purposing my old Elos 70 for this tank. The elos sump isn't good for FW, so that is being replaced with a Proflex Model 1. Still working out CO2, but it will be there. Return will probably use the Eheim 1250 instead of 1260 (too much flow?). ATO will be with the original elos osmocontroller and an external tank of water (US Plastics). For lighting, I have available, a pair of Kessil Amazon Sun, but I'm going to see how a single will do. This will be med to med-low on light levels. There will be some extra shadowing with a single point source, but I'm ok with that. I had a pair of 14K kessils over the same tank before when it was a reef.
hardscape materials: Rock, sand and gravel were all collected locally. It took a good amount of rinsing to get rid of most of the organics/silt. I was first thinking of using more contrasting sand-rock, but this is truer to reality since the sand/gravel was originally the rock before weathering/time took hold. The wood is 3 pieces of manzanita, glued to a base rock with IC-Gel.
plants: I don't have any yet :P I'm currently sourcing some and should have it sorted this week. On the list are things like...
Foreground: marselia minuta, parva, petite nana,??
For-mid: wendtii green gecko, petchii, willisii (nervelii?), lucens, ??
Mid: mid-back: affinis, nurii, ??
Back: retro spiralis, spiralis, crispatula, ??
All of this is dependent on what I can come across and what I get inspired by.
(I live in NM, and if I only added a few sparse plants, and a few tumble weeds, then we have ourself a local NA style tank :P)
(1) clean out most of the old reef junk (note, parts of overlow are removed. There won't be a big hole for fish to get sucked into!). Single Kessil mounted. Wire needs routing and painting for SAF. (Note to others making their own kessil mount... the Kessil Goosneck has M10x1 threading). I could have attached the kessel+gooseneck directly to the tank, but I wanted more height. The back alcove (I forget what it is actually called) will probably have other plants that don't need a lot of attention.
(2) Sand/gravel perimeter, with dolomite/murate of potash base in center
(3) Add MTS and cover with sand/gravel. The MTS was higher in organics than I like and didn't hold the clay (the red in the liquid on top) super well. We'll see how it goes. I personally think the soil is only half way through the mineralization process. Probably just means more water changes at first, but not as bad as if I went the classic Walstad topsoil method.
(4) Here is the joining of the wood on a rock base (which sits on the rock shown in the earlier photos). The rock is to also keep things from floating up.
(5) Dump in base sand/gravel to fully cover MTS
(6) figure out what rocks I want to use (I collected way more than I needed. Better to have options. This is not a rockscape, so I wanted to use rocks that add to the overall feel and not overly dominate.
(7) rocks/rubble added.
(8 ) this is it for now. I'll post more when I have plants 
Post Reply
12 comments on "Gomer's return to planted tanks, tank: fast growers need not apply"
February 12, 2013 at 8:21 am
I like where you're going with that!
February 12, 2013 at 11:00 am
Hey funny thing! Just today I thought about not seeing you post. And here you are.
February 12, 2013 at 11:51 am
Bert, lets see if I like where it ends :P I
Niko, I've been lurking for a while, but after breaking down the reef, and wife wanting me to do another planted tank, I decided to dive back in. ..and true to form, I over think things way too much. Right now, on regulators :P
Good news though, I think I have plants sorted out. Almost all crypts except for some marsilea (might be quad, might be minuta) and petite nana. Should get it all by sometime next week
Right now, I have water in the tank to begin the initial leaching of tanning/residual ammonia.
February 12, 2013 at 11:51 am
Longevity! What a novel concept, LOL! Your hardscape looks great, I will follow your progress with great interest.
February 14, 2013 at 7:49 pm
Got the sump plumbed. Angry at Aqueon. The 3' drain hose that came with the Proflex Model 1 was metric (just over 1" diameter fitting) and the sump fitting was exactly 1"....coupler wouldn't work. Chopped off the end fitting, and just welded the spa flex over the aqueon fitting with PVC cement. The other fun side was the elos drain which I knew was metric (just over 1.25"). Using a non-traditional implementation of a PVC fitting and some 3M structural plastic 2-part adhesive (and while the adhesive foamed out, sealed over with a big fat heatshrink), I made a section of original metric tubing work with imperial :P This thing isn't leaking anytime soon and passed the 24 leak test with flying colors.
Tank has had water for a few days to start the tanning leach and any residual ammonia from the MTS since I may not have let it fully mineralize.
Trying to get plants here next week. To work with, I'm hopefully going to get:
Petite nana
Taiwan moss
Marsilea Quad/minutea (not sure what it really is. Stays ~1")
C. petchii
C. albida
C. undulata
C. crispatula
C. lucens
C. parva
C. wilissi
C. wendtii hybrid
Still trying to figure out what fish will eventually go in here.
Still cleaning up the wiring of the sump and CO2 stuff will be here next week.
Water level is a little lower than I'd like by ~ 1/2", but that's because I opted for using the Eheim 1250 that was originally on the skimmer rather than the 1260. I think the 1260 might be too much flow. I might do a little modding to effectively raise the overflow drain level.
(don't mind the cell phone photo quality :P)
February 15, 2013 at 9:31 am
Nice. Man, that Kessil is bright stuff.
I like your hardscape, but you might want to consider larger stones if you want them to be visible in the final mature tank. As is I suspect they'll get engulfed and lost.
February 15, 2013 at 10:34 am
I may play with larger stones, but not sure if I'll swap them in. I want it to be a secondary part of the tank, and not so much a primary eye draw. most of the stones form a barrier which blocks off the large from the small plants.
Foreground options: marsilea, parva, petite nana
mid options: green gecko, willisii, petchi, lucens
background options: albida, undulata, crispatula, wendtii hybrid
Welcome the thoughts
(and the kessil is brighter in the photo than what it really is. Should be perfect for this tank at that height. If I put the other one in, I might as well make it a stem plant tank :P)
February 17, 2013 at 12:13 pm
"who am I to say no"...
One needs the wifes blessing from time to time. The tank looks great, I love the shape. Considering this is not to be a "high tech" tank, it still looks really pro man. I'm looking forward to seeing the plants.
I feel you brother
February 21, 2013 at 6:44 pm
Just planted
C. parva
C. lucens
C. wilissi
C. petchi
C. crispatula
C. undulata
C. wendtii x hybrid
C. wendtii green gecko
C. Albida
marsilea (not sure which, but small like minutea)...token non crypt
skipped on the moss but have another use for it.
skipped on submersed anubias petite nana, and stuck it emersed on the tops of the exposed wood.
animals come next week
cory habrosus
Danio margaritatus
otos (not sure what species yet)
nirites
cherry shrimp
February 27, 2013 at 2:01 am
Wow! This is going to be an Excellent show...