[Gooblikon]

In response to the low-tech plants pinned post this is the beginning of my plant testing!

Disclaimer: I am firstly a plant owner and just recently began dabbling in aquariums which is why I do not want to be confined to strictly aquatic plants or fully submerged 'scapes. For brevity sake I'll keep the information succinct, allowing for conversation and questions. I will provide specs below and answer any questions!

Tank: 45 gallon

Heater: Eheim 50w manual temp controlled

Powerhead: Hydor Koralia 425GpH (discontinued can still find locally and online)

Lighting: Barrina, Spider Farm
I had these spares and decided to chain from the neighboring 10 gallon. Yes, a very janky set-up for now I'll sort something else out later; nails are not allowed and a stand won't work due to the plants. Will most likely string the 4 together in a tier system to better illuminate the aquatic plants and have the lighting higher for the taller plants and use a clamp lamp for the 10. Finally changed out the lighting system as I tested the strength of command strips and this light will blow through any tannin level and save the plants! The Barrina will be used as upper growth for plants and a rod installed in the back for extra growth in the darker more densely planted areas the Spider can' quite reach.

Substrate: 2" of G&B Planting Mix
My normal substrate is Kellogg brand (parent company it seems) but this one had a lot of different fun bits I wanted to try out.

Sand layer: 2" 1" of Sakrete Play Sand
I decided on 2" as the plants are quite large compared to aquatic plants and their roots will shred the substrate otherwise. Sand has been reduced to about 1" (thankfully it wasn't quite 2" to begin with and didn't require much modification) due to @maico996 's comment.

Submerged plants: Japanese Hydrocotyle (died off during the dark-times), Lutea, Dwarf Sagittaria, Monte Carlo for carpeting (removed and placed back in the 10 gallon where it is already thriving) and local Star Moss(?) on the stump. Update: Crinum Clamistratum, Micro Sword, Pogostemon Stelllatus Ocotpus, Scarlet Temple and Bucephelandra Red Kedagang
Would love some other ideas and am looking into trips for more interesting plants or ordering online, this is all I could find at my LFS.

Mounted plants (left to right): Pink Party Syngonium, Black Queen Anthurium, Prince of Orange Philodendron
I have since added Tylandsia Cyanea behind the Anthurium and a pothos I had lying around. There are a few places to mount more around the top but I want to see how all these handle before adding more, Alocasia I believe will be another test because their roots are so PERVASIVE!
The Anthurium is an amazing addition because of the pink roots and it's not just the lighting. Final picture is after 24 hours: the tannins are strong in this one!

Process: placed wood, laid substrates, planted (mounted plants have sphagnum moss around their root ball to help retain moisture and prevent rubbing from the hard surfaces), and filled with water

In my 10 gallon I have Harlequin Rasboras and Otocinclus. I'm hoping to have an even more natural tank with the 45 and have it swing with the seasons as we have no A/C and very limited heating (live in Idaho cold and dry is life). Would love some recommended fish who could thrive in a tank which could run from about 68F low to about 80F(?) high, not sure on the high as I haven't had a tank in summer as of yet. I have a powerhead and back-up tank heaters for in case of emergency but would prefer not to use the heaters if possible.

 

[maico996]

Looks pretty cool, but your submerged plants likely won't make it with a two inch sand cap. It will take a while for your terrestrial plants to establish a substantial root system so your soil will likely be smothered resulting in an anaerobic condition. This is a quote from Diana in another thread: "A larger particle size allows faster exchange between water and soil. This can be good as it allows greater aeration of soil layer. That's why I advise making a sand cover as thin as possible in order to encourage this beneficial exchange."

Also, to thrive, Monte Carlo needs high light and CO2. I've tried it a couple times and it always melts away.

 

[Gooblikon]

Looks pretty cool, but your submerged plants likely won't make it with a two inch sand cap. It will take a while for your terrestrial plants to establish a substantial root system so your soil will likely be smothered resulting in an anaerobic condition. This is a quote from Diana in another thread: "A larger particle size allows faster exchange between water and soil. This can be good as it allows greater aeration of soil layer. That's why I advise making a sand cover as thin as possible in order to encourage this beneficial exchange."

Also, to thrive, Monte Carlo needs high light and CO2. I've tried it a couple times and it always melts away.

I'll strip away some of the sand then, I was concerned about digging fish if they were to inhabit this system. Thank you so much!

 

[Gooblikon]

The 425GpH Hydor Koralia Nano Pump has arrived and promptly installed on the left side. Made sure to have it about halfway down the tank wall to prevent too much surface agitation and no bubbling. It's just powerful enough to push to the other side lengthwise and swirl the bits around the log on the opposite side leaving a dead spot in the back left corner which I plan on the fish turning into a safe nap and hide area with the front and right side being open for shoaling and maybe a Danio runway or whomever would love to zoom up and down the lane. I fear the tank is much too dark for anything other than Mississippi River catfish; water changes seem to be the solution but I don't want to disturb the cycling, I read increasing the temperature also reduces the tannins? If this is the case I'll just need to wait until the heaters arrive for the next updates as I can't see anything in there!
Current temp is about 68F and all the "floating" plants are doing great showing new root growth! Aquatic plants are a mystery until tannins reduce.

 

[Gooblikon]

Ended up performing a 100% water change after some experimenting with the water to reduce tannin levels which was catastrophic and introduced a sponge filter to help clear up my mistake with the new water on the 7th. Tannins returned and at much more manageable levels. Introduced the following plants: Crinum Clamistratum, Micro Sword, Pogostemon Stelllatus Ocotpus, Scarlet Temple and Bucephelandra Red Kedagang which really bring the tank together and emulates the Amazonian theme I seem to be naturally gravitating towards! The x2 Otocinclus and surviving x3 Harlequin Rasboras have been transferred to this tank after testing to see if the tank has been cycled and all the numbers look great. Also grabbed a Fluval CO2 meter which shows the 10 gallon tank, now quarantine tank, is doing great with CO2 and the 45 is having natural shifts of little to some CO2 in the tank which helps clear-up any concerns I had regarding CO2 killing fish in the night and have concluded the Otocinclus were killing fish with whatever they brought with them from the wild. Will confirm after asking LFS what their pre-sale procedure entails. Added a Farlowella to the tank as well, couldn't resist a large sturgeonesque Otocinclus monster for the Amazon tank!

Hardware update: Inkbird ITC306T temp controller, x2 Eheim Jaeger 50w controllable heaters and sponge filter with 10w air pump (temporary and will be moved to quarantine tank).

The theme is going to stay Amazon (I know the Rasboras aren't Amazonian but they're what we have right now!) The process will be adding Pencilfish x6 for top level and either a sexed pair of Blue Acara or Bolivian Ram for the middle level. Not terribly interested in Tetras as the main to upper fish due to breeding practices. In total the final number should be Pencilfish x6, Cichlid x2, Otocinclus x7 and x1 Farlowella. The Rasboras will be placed in another tank, should they survive. and before the Cichlids are moved in.

Lighting situation has been marginally improved and won't be better until I purchase different lights, they work for now and the fish crisis has been much more expensive than anticipated!
Daytime pictures make the tank look much darker than it is.

 

[mistergreen]

If I was going to redo my tank, I'm seriously thinking about using an old method for heating by putting heating cables under the substrate controlled by an Inkbird. The heaters these days are so unreliable.

 

[Gooblikon]

If I was going to redo my tank, I'm seriously thinking about using an old method for heating by putting heating cables under the substrate controlled by an Inkbird. The heaters these days are so unreliable.

I went with the Eheim because they have an alternating contact and manual heat controller. I had a heating pad long ago for a leopard gecko and it was terrible, uneven hot spots and I was always afraid it would go molten hot and start a fire. I also went with two separate heaters to reduce the load on a single heater and allow the powerhead to distribute the heat more evenly. Thankfully I'll only need them on for about 6-8 or less months out of the year. The controller allows configurable variance which is nice so I can have the temps ebb and flow a bit more naturally and reduce stress on the heaters even more.

 

[Gooblikon]

Noticed the Tylandsia Cyanea has grown several inches which is far more than it has grown over the last year since it bloomed! Definitely recommend for a very unique and stunning flowering plant. The flowers aren't the same color as the "bud" which is a very lovely surprise. Also notice fungus gnats roaming around the tanks over the past few weeks, if they become much more I'll introduce carnivorous plants which is something I've been itching to try out!

 

[mistergreen]

I have a bunch of the Eheim heaters. Calibrating and setting the temperature is not exact. I live with whatever is closest to what I need. Also, a few of them have condensation inside the tubes.

 

[Gooblikon]

Changed from the Barrina spaghetti configuration and am low hanging a 75W Spider Farm light, it punches through the tannins without any issues and all the critters immediately loved the extra light and came out of hiding to play all day long! Some of the Scarlet Temple isn't looking too great due to the lack of light but with almost 8x the extra light power everyone should be doing much better. Added a HOB on the side with charcoal filter to reduce tannins, need to fill the whole filter medium area with charcoal at this rate, and the Rasbora love diving through the powerhead and HOB; I'll probably keep it as a "water slide" for them to enjoy when the tannins clean up. Farlowella is a lot more top active with the new light than anticipated, even with dithering I figured the light might be too bright yet here we are. Marble whiptail and lizard whiptail should be here Thursday to help clean-up a bit more as a single Farlowella and two(?) Otocinclus cannot keep up on the algae on the driftwood. Ghost shrimp are also doing very well with the increased light zooming around or maybe I can just finally see them! Nothing in the quarantine tank survived, LFS is not a good source of animals they're just flippers, and am having to order everything online from here on out.

 

[Jorge Soirse]

I'd add more Otos. Once they have a shoal they are much happier and definitely clean stuff up better.

 

[Gooblikon]

I'd add more Otos. Once they have a shoal they are much happier and definitely clean stuff up better.

100% the plan and about ten total; however, LFS is essentially PetCo and the vendors I am using online do not have any in stock. I noticed a huge shift in behavior when it was two in the 10 gallon, alas the 45 gallon is a much larger place.

 

[Jorge Soirse]

Ah, makes sense. My bad, did not really re-read the whole thread. Yes, I'm having a similar issue, I've got three in a 30-gallon. I need some five to eight more.

 

[Gooblikon]

Ah, makes sense. My bad, did not really re-read the whole thread. Yes, I'm having a similar issue, I've got three in a 30-gallon. I need some five to eight more.

No worries, I'm excited to see what they do in a larger group. They already have so much personality and are hilarious to watch!