davemonkey

Okay, this is my first planted tank set-up. My goal is low-maintenance, low (or moderate) tech, and just to get a good feel for planted aquaria.

-Tank is 48"x13" and 18"tall (50 gal...or more like 48...).
-Substrate is "planted aquarium substrate" from aquariumplants.com, 3" deep.
-Filters: emperor w/bio-wheel; 1 powerhead on undergravel filter for right side of tank only.
-Lighting is 130 W PC of 50/50 10,000K and Actinic and a 2x15W "aquarium bulb" (came with original hood). Light duration is for 10 hrs (but only 8 with the PC hood).
-DIY CO2, 2x 1 gallon jugs with same ingredients for smaller containers (gives just a bit of CO2)
-dose excel and ferts

Plants are val, swords, crypts, anubia, egeria, mosses, java fern, hygo. difformis...low-mod light (due to half my light being actinic and non-productive)

Fish are random fellows I've been trying out, haven't yet decided what to keep in there. Getting rid of 5 SAE's and a Pictus Cat soon.

Many of the plants still need to do ALOT of filling in. Feel free to critique/comment. I am totally open to suggestions (unless it involves buying more plants for awhile).














Here is the moss-rock I just tied-up a couple days ago. The SAE's liked it alot...yummy treat...hence, I'll be trading them in soon...


Thanks for looking,
Dave

inareverie85

Looks lovely! Subscribed!

Im starting up my very first scape, too!

Tex Gal

I think it really looks nice. I had the same problem with my sae's. They ate my Rotala wallichi. One of mine was about 4.4" and one 6". They went to live with somebody else. I really love your little tiny crypts. and your vals look so nice!

bratyboy2

say good buy to that silver dollar! those things will just eat all your plants!
but i like the tank alot!! subscribed

Shurik

Oh, this is very interesting, especially because my goal is pretty much the same! I am very happy to find this thread. Your tank looks great!

I am starting my 50 gal with plant eating fish and random plants; I am about a couple of month into this hobby. Would really love to see how your tank is progressing.

xpistalpetex

i like the start, few questions though..
1. hows the aquarium plant substrate?
2. any thoughts on foreground plants?
3. which way are you using to diffuse the diy co2?

davemonkey

HAH! Yes, my SAE's are about to move in with a friend. (He's the only other aquarist within 15 miles of me that I know of!!! And the closest pet store is 50 miles South in Abilene.)
Funny thing about the Vals, I heard they wouldn't do well with poor lighting and low-tech. But, from day one (when I only had 30 watts of questionalble light and no ferts/excel) they've been trying to take over the aquarium. I started off with 10 little baby plants and now I clip out runners every 2-3 days just to keep up! I'm going to let them eventually crowd out the egeria and then try to keep them just in the back and the left corner.

As for the Silver Dollar, he hasn't touched the plants yet, but he's still very young. I was thinking about trading in all the 'other' fish for maybe 20 serpae's and 10 or so bleeding hearts (they seem to be easy keepers for me). Of coarse, my wife gets her say in it....we'll see how it goes. Either way, the only fish I'm 100% going to keep are the Oto's. They are great fish!

davemonkey

Howdy, Shurik and inareverie85!

Shurik, I think you are more skilled in this hobby than I am at this point! I'll be going to you for advice.

"inarev", I haven't started looking for adapters yet, but I'll let you know what I find. Today I'll be out at the zoo, though. My two yr-old wants to fee the giraffes!

-dave

davemonkey

oooooooooo, I was hoping no one would ask about my CO2. I'm going to catch a lot of flack on this one.

Okay:

1. I think the substrate is nothing more than Soil Master with a different label (according to rumors). It has done WONDERS for the plant roots, but it's VERY light-weight, so you'd have to be extremely careful when siphoning and adding water.

2. as foregrounds in my particular set-up, I've done well with Crypt. wenditii and C. parva (very slow). (I've managed to kill 5 pots of HC.) I'd like to try pygmy chain sword some time.

3. I'm rotating 2 bottles for DIY CO2 with the same ingredients for smaller set-ups (2 cups sugar, 6 cups water, 1/4-1/2 tsp yeast). I have these connected to a "T" valve and run the output line to my powerhead directly to the air intake (the venturi...it literally sucks/vacuums the CO2 as it is produced). I DON'T RECOMMEND THIS...IT CAN SUCK MUCK INTO YOUR TANK!!
The only reason I get away with it is because I'm using 1 gallon containers instead of 2-liter (1/2 gallon). This gives me a great deal of air space and prevents the vacuum from being enough to suck out liquid from the CO2 containers. I have a check valve at the "T" to prevent back suction in case the powerhead fails.

Anyway, it gives enough CO2 to give me just a bit of pearling, not too much (or else I'd have to have a high-tech...).

I'll post pics and complete details of the DIY CO2 I have set up in a later post (maybe tomorrow night) that shows everything set up. For now, I'm off to the zoo! Yippee!!

-Dave

V.PooH

Nice looking scape! I love your big driftwood, anubis are amazing.What I know about Val, it's doing poor with high level Fe, stop growing and died. My SAE's love eat dwarf grass, but I usually have them until they grow to around 3" and trade them for smaller one. Adult SAE's usually lazy and don't like to eat algae. About pictus, they growing big(for plant tank) and also can digging your plants. From cat's(if like them) best what you can get for plant tank is cory's. You can get otos too, they are hard workers to algae removing. In left front corner you put crypto ( looks like cr wendtii brown to me), it's growing to big bush, I have some around 8" tall and 8"-10" wide, so if you can plant it in midgroud it's will looks better(for sample between amazon and bacopa is god spot, so some where like that) If you hide termometer from front glass,tank can get better view, so, you ask about small critique-here is it You aquarium looks really nice and I hope you get scape of you dream Cheers, Steve