BryceM

Hi everyone.

Long time, no see. I've sort of drifted way, way far away from meaningful involvement in the hobby. About 4 years ago I set up a high-tech, high-light, high-maintenance, high-workload 180g aquarium. The setup and journal thread is here. It was tons of fun and it really looked tremendous in the house. Unfortunately life gets in the way and little by little I found it to be more work than fun.

The real trouble started around the 3 year mark when algae issues became uncontrollable. I struggled with this for many months but despite everything, the tank headed downhill. At this point I'm inclined to believe that the substrate was devoid of any original nutrients, my attention to detail declined, and my available time to keep it going wasn't sufficient. I also had allowed the fishload to inch upward, mostly due to the promiscuity of my W. African dwarf chiclids. In any case at this point I only have about 4 or 5 plant species left, most of which look pretty terrible. The survivors of extreme neglect include some C. calamistratum, Lagenandra meeboldi, P. stellatus 'Broad', Bacopa caroliniana, and a few random crypts.

My plan at this point is to convert this to a lower-light, slow-grower type setup which should allow it to look good without being too terribly difficult to maintain. I just don't have 4 or 6 hours per week anymore to dose, do major trims, and keep up with the other "tank chores".

I initially tried to use the local soil for a mineralized substrate, but almost everything around here has a very high clay content. I could probably find or make something that would work, but I think I'll just use Amazonia. I'll probably buy it and let it leach out it's ammonia for a few days in a tub before I put it in. Finding a temporary home for more than a few hours for the the 60 or 70 fish that remain isn't exactly easy.

I think I'll also try to use much more in the way of hardscape materials. We have some lava formations around here that might be visually interesting with a few manzanita branches thrown in.

More to come. I'll post some photos of the current ugliness when I get a minute. It's so far gone that it's just pathetic.

AaronT

Welcome back Bryce. I was on hiatus myself for quite a while so I know where you're coming from.

If you're worried about the substrate giving out I would stick with the pursuit of the mineralized soil substrate. Aquasoil will give out and breaks apart over time making a mess.

Also, I think you're right about the fish load. Too many organics = algae.

Perhaps a giant school of rasboras is order instead of the large Africans?

BryceM

Aaron, good to see you! Hmmmm.

My only experience so far with the ADA stuff is with Amazonia II. That stuff was real soft. I have all this old Eco Complete that's been in there for four years. It holds up great and looks nice, but I'm sure it's basically inert at this point. It would surely make a nice cap for a mineralized base though.

Yeah, I need to do something different with the fish. I'm split between making it a specimen-type tank for a few larger fish like discus or angels (maybe...... altums?), or a single school of something nice with a few little character fish that don't breed like rabbits. I like the denisoni barbs, but they don't really school all that well IME. I love the stupid Pelvichachromis t. 'Moliwe' but a half dozen turn into fifty in the blink of an eye.

Probably I'll go for the subdued look with a nice school of rummies (already established), harlequins, praecox 'bows, or maybe even one of the newer, smaller W. African tetras. I do love the congos though - what fantastic fish!

30 harlequins with about 100 amano shrimp, 18 Corry hastatus and a dozen Sidthimunkis would be pretty cool. I like C. siamensis but once they get big they just eat fish food. Maybe a few oto's too.

What do you think about light? I have the 4X39W T-5's Tek's. That gives a little less than 1 wpg. Think that would be enough to grow crypts, anubias, ferns, and such? I might want to keep one or two little patches of sturdy stemmies. It would be easy enough to add another bank of T-5s. I really don't see using the 150W MH's any more.

AaronT

That's still plenty of light to grow anything. Don't go by wpg with Tek T5s. I have a good friend with a VERY similar setup to yours and he runs two of the 6 x 39 watt Tek lights and he only ever runs 4 bulbs on each one and it's still high-tech with stems and such. Can you do 4 bulbs total with a noon burst of 8 bulbs total? Whatever you do keep the pressurized CO2 running.

I recommend the mineralized soil because with low light and Crypts you pretty much shouldn't have to dose ever for years and years. With the 180 there are even some swords that won't look obnoxiously large.

I think 2 dozen sidthimunkis would look better. I love those fish.

freydo

it seems like a home coming of sorts for most welcome back bryce!

BryceM

If I want to do a noon burst, the MH's will always be there, but honestly, I'd really rather keep this tank exactly opposite of where it was before. Slow, steady growth with low-maintenence plants is what I'm after. I'd like to dose and do WC's once a week at most. I'd like to prune maybe once a month.

In its heyday I'd get about a 5 gallon bucket full of stems every other week. Trimming alone would require 2 or 3 hours.

AaronT

Even if you only do a two hour burst the Crypts, Anubias, Swords and Ferns will all grow slowly enough to achieve your goals I would think. I guess the point I'm trying to make is you don't have to necessarily "turn off the lights" to go low maintenance.

BryceM

Yeah, plant selection is probably more important than light levels. Still, it's amazing how fast anubias and crypts would grow in the tank as it was before. Not mind-blowing growth, but over a month or two it was pretty noticable.

The project is still in the works. I'll probably hit it hard over Christmas. There isn't anything better once outside activities get too hard to do in the snow.

Dielectric

looking forward to it!

gerryd

Hi Bryce,

Good luck with the new endeavor...I thought your tank was very nice as it was and very much look forward to the new scape..

I think the lower light will be much easier for you and would advise that maybe even your T5 with reflectors is more than you will need.

To provide some actual data for comparison purposes:

I have a 180 as well 72x24x24. I had a single 3x150 MH (6500k) fixture suspended 38" ABOVE the water surface and was still getting 50-60 micromoles of PAR at the substrate almost 2 meters below! 150-175 max at the surface. This is still a lot of light IME/IMO!

I have just swapped to 8x30 T8 on two fixtures suspended 11" above the surface. This provides a max of 45-50 PAR at the surface and only a max of 20-25 at the substrate.

Fixture 1: 4pm-12:00 mid
Fixture 2: 6pm-11:00 pm
Dosing EI
c02 via RIO 1000 and DIY needle wheel. < 1 bubble per second.

I use much less c02, plants grow well, but MUCH more slowly. No algae after 4-5 weeks and the tank was totally drained, washed, etc. However, I WANT slow growth, as like you I was tired of trimming all the time. I want the scape to evolve SLOWLY with less involvement from me

I would go with the ADA especially long term. I use only flourite but am thinking of mixing some worm castings with it...

Sorry to hijack your thread!

Here is a plant list all doing well:

1. Java trident, windelov, needle
2. Anubias minima
3. Bolbitus Heudeloti
4. C. Parva
5. C. Lutea
6. Stauro repens 049
7. Cyperus helferi
8. Pogostemon helferi
9. Blyxa Japonica
10. Rotala macrandra 'japan'
11. Riccia fluitans

I may even remove a bulb or two based on how the current scape evolves.

I will post an update of my tank in another thread but here is a quick pic using only 1 fixture of 4xT8.

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