# Stocking tank



## Aqua360 (14 Jan 2018)

Hi all

I've been away from aquascaping for a bit, messing around with Betta's and shrimp; but may have the chance to do something with a 48x8x8 inch tank, and wanted to ask opinions on stocking. 

It'll be open topped, ruling out killifish; the first inhabitants that spring to mind are Betta, shrimp, minnows, it can be cold in my living room so I may also have to factor that in. 

Anyway intrigued to hear some responses


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## Kalum (14 Jan 2018)

How did your previous tanks go with bettas and shrimp?

I'm setting up similar at the minute, already got my betta but thinking about seeing how he gets on with espei rasboras, celestial pearl danios (galaxy rasboras), ottos and possibly shrimp

Not having a top is a bit risky with bettas as well


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## Edvet (14 Jan 2018)

How about some cloud minnows (Tanychthys albonubes) can handle cold very well, maybe some ricefish?


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## kadoxu (17 Jan 2018)

With those dimensions I would go full Shell Dwellers with it. Shouldn't be too hard to get the water at at least 23ºC.


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## Aqua360 (18 Jan 2018)

Kalum said:


> How did your previous tanks go with bettas and shrimp?
> 
> I'm setting up similar at the minute, already got my betta but thinking about seeing how he gets on with espei rasboras, celestial pearl danios (galaxy rasboras), ottos and possibly shrimp
> 
> Not having a top is a bit risky with bettas as well



I ended up commissioning it to have glass slider lids, won't look as good aesthetically but the evaporation would otherwise be a nightmare, which killed off my previous ventures with these shape of tanks.

I've decided to do multifasciatus again, for their antics so I should have things moving forward by next week


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## Aqua360 (18 Jan 2018)

Edvet said:


> How about some cloud minnows (Tanychthys albonubes) can handle cold very well, maybe some ricefish?



Very tempting to do minnows again, I had them before in a long similar tank and it looked superb; right now I'm setting it up for multifasciatus, but I can probably guarantee in future it will have minnows if I end up changing!


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## Aqua360 (8 Feb 2018)

here's the tank, haven't moved on it as funds are low; as such I've got a little more time to think about this, and I keep coming round to the idea of a shoal, with some albino cories. Nothing concrete yet, either green neons, minnows, or danios, but the colour given off by the neons will likely look good at night


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## Aqua360 (15 Feb 2018)

I have a question, for anyone reading, I'd like to move this project forward a bit, namely getting a suitable substrate down.

First question is regarding tropica plant growth substrate, had good results with it in the past, with a covering of 3mm sand, however I wasn't a fan of the clouds of dirt created when disturbed. Has anyone had good results using simple playsand (argos) or even unipac, in conjunction with dosing the water column?

I can't imagine i'll be attempting to grow harder species of plants, but I'd like a MC carpet, some staurogyne, that sort of thing.


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## Edvet (15 Feb 2018)

I've always used river sand in my large tank, it's been in there for over 15 years. I dose in the column and rarely some clayballs
See my 400 gallon tank


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## Kalum (15 Feb 2018)

If your feet dosing and lighting is on point and stable then should work fine for most apart from heavy root feeders

I'm using sand and root tabs and have mixed succss but I'm pretty sure that's down to my lighting mainly and still refining my ferts


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## Edvet (15 Feb 2018)

Kalum said:


> heavy root feeders


these can be fed through the column also, it's easier for them


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## Aqua360 (15 Feb 2018)

Thanks for the info guys, someone I work with had mentioned the play sand being far too small for rooted plants to dig into, but thought I'd check in here as always. 

I've used it ages ago for cichlids, but those were the days before I discovered the planted side lol


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## Aqua360 (15 Feb 2018)

Btw I'm also still not decided on stock lol, I've experimented with wood, etc, but I'm putting some existing coral like sand in tonight to see if it sways me back towards the shell dwellers! 

Hardest part of the process for me!


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## doylecolmdoyle (16 Feb 2018)

I have a tank i am setting up very similar dimensions but a bit longer and taller 1500mm x 210mm x 250mm tall or 60in x 8inx 10in...

I looked at that exact same stand you are using from ikea but didnt seem so sturdy, but adding a middle leg and some support would help for peace of mind.

I am going with a high flow river scape, plan to keep either danios or white cloud mountain minnows, perhaps both and some kind of small hillstream loaches, they all do well in cold water... which is something I will battle here in Australia my water often rises to 27 Celsius when the outdoor temp gets in the upper 30s and low 40s on hot as hell days.

Will be watching what you do with this one!


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## Aqua360 (16 Feb 2018)

doylecolmdoyle said:


> I have a tank i am setting up very similar dimensions but a bit longer and taller 1500mm x 210mm x 250mm tall or 60in x 8inx 10in...
> 
> I looked at that exact same stand you are using from ikea but didnt seem so sturdy, but adding a middle leg and some support would help for peace of mind.
> 
> ...



I know what you mean about the stand, I'm hoping it's ok, I've sat on it before to test it, I weigh about 85kg so I'm hoping the spread weight of the tank at roughly the same will be fine lol.

Because there is so much flexibility with the footprint of these tanks, its difficult to settle on anything, I'll need to check if you have any threads on your build, these tanks are definitely becoming more popular!


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## doylecolmdoyle (16 Feb 2018)

Aqua360 said:


> I know what you mean about the stand, I'm hoping it's ok, I've sat on it before to test it, I weigh about 85kg so I'm hoping the spread weight of the tank at roughly the same will be fine lol.
> 
> Because there is so much flexibility with the footprint of these tanks, its difficult to settle on anything, I'll need to check if you have any threads on your build, these tanks are definitely becoming more popular!



Lol I did the same sat in the middle of the bookshelf thing but it did felx a bit, I am over 100kg tho. I think with some extra legs and bracing it would be a good stand, being made of solid wood thats a bonus, I am actually using kallax units which are only mdf/chipboard, but I have used them before with no problems.

Here is the 5ft bookshelf tank thread (still planning and getting equipment etc)
https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/5ft-bookshelf-aquarium-river-scape.52040/#post-512010

Also have a 3ft bookshelf tank which I recently rescaped to a blackwater tank - https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/bookshelf-blackwater-12g-long.51542/ have also done a iwagumi style layout in this tank


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## Aqua360 (16 Feb 2018)

doylecolmdoyle said:


> Lol I did the same sat in the middle of the bookshelf thing but it did felx a bit, I am over 100kg tho. I think with some extra legs and bracing it would be a good stand, being made of solid wood thats a bonus, I am actually using kallax units which are only mdf/chipboard, but I have used them before with no problems.
> 
> Here is the 5ft bookshelf tank thread (still planning and getting equipment etc)
> https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/5ft-bookshelf-aquarium-river-scape.52040/#post-512010
> ...



I've sat a 200 litre tank across two kallax before lol, with minimum bracing. I apparently like to live life dangerously haha


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## Aqua360 (16 Feb 2018)

doylecolmdoyle said:


> Lol I did the same sat in the middle of the bookshelf thing but it did felx a bit, I am over 100kg tho. I think with some extra legs and bracing it would be a good stand, being made of solid wood thats a bonus, I am actually using kallax units which are only mdf/chipboard, but I have used them before with no problems.
> 
> Here is the 5ft bookshelf tank thread (still planning and getting equipment etc)
> https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/5ft-bookshelf-aquarium-river-scape.52040/#post-512010
> ...



my apologies btw, I have seen these threads! Watching them closely! I like the 3ft blackwater, I very nearly ordered a similar tank in the past, I'm a big fan of the 12 gallon Mr Aqua, I've also seen your posts on the 12 gallon Club on another forum


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## Furgan (16 Feb 2018)

It’s my dream to one day have a long narrow shallow tank built in and along a wall


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## doylecolmdoyle (16 Feb 2018)

Aqua360 said:


> I've sat a 200 litre tank across two kallax before lol, with minimum bracing. I apparently like to live life dangerously haha



Did you run into any issues, my 5ft 20g tank should come in around 120/140kg i guess with rocks and water. I think it will be fine.


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## Aqua360 (16 Feb 2018)

doylecolmdoyle said:


> Did you run into any issues, my 5ft 20g tank should come in around 120/140kg i guess with rocks and water. I think it will be fine.



none, and I probably had in total 230kg at least


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## Aqua360 (7 Mar 2018)

Quick update on this project, I ended up adding shelldwellers, and unsurprisingly regretted my decision almost instantly. 

So, after stripping the tank down once more, I've decided to plan this out properly and gather the necessary materials, I'll be going for the zetlight lancia led with dimmer, unless anyone can suggest a cheaper alternative that will do roughly the same job. 

I also realise from looking at the great tanks on here for inspiration, I have seriously neglected hardscaping in my past tanks, so that's going to be the special focus this time, I want a really nice combination of rock, wood, gravel and sand, plants are almost my last consideration. 

White cloud minnows or wild green neon tetras will be the stock, of that I am pretty much 100% certain. 

Watch this space! I'd also really appreciate suggestions on which combos people would think would work well in terms of say seiryu stone, dennerle gravel and unipac sand. 

For example seiryu stone, river s gravel, unipac Kivu. So many different options, think I need some experienced input


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## Gill (7 Mar 2018)

I like the Idea of the Minnows, why not see if you can hold of all the colors they have been bread in now. So Standard, Gold, Marble Gold, Albino, Leucistic and Longfin. Would look very interesting. 
A nice long twisty peice of branchy wood, with anubias, buce, bolbitis, moss, attached sporadically. a carpet of mini hairgrass with HC With Hydro Trip in the far left corner creeping its way in around and on top of the wood.
substrate wise, whatever you like to go with your scape. River sand would look nice. A few peices of Small Seiryu to compliment the wood and plants. 
Lighting wise, you have the new Dimmable fluval range of LED lighting. Chihiros LED, Strip LED Submersible tubes, 
I Like these ones, and have used them in the past with sucess >> https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Aquarien...hash=item2cc66778c3:m:mUYXifJDXltIIdSmMwIg7GA


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## Tbone (7 Mar 2018)

I agree these days there are a lot of brands from even china / taiwan to consider for LED...

A different model of zetlight has served me well and on a shallow tank should be more than enough light to grow plants quite well i'd imagine...


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## sparkyweasel (7 Mar 2018)

White Clouds look amazing when you give them lots of space, so much better than squeezed into a nano. Colourful and lively, always on the move.


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## Aqua360 (8 Mar 2018)

Tbone said:


> I agree these days there are a lot of brands from even china / taiwan to consider for LED...
> 
> A different model of zetlight has served me well and on a shallow tank should be more than enough light to grow plants quite well i'd imagine...



I'm looking forward to sitting on the couch changing the lights via remote, lazily lol.

Given the dimensions, right now I'm envisioning creeping wood from the left and right, with a relatively open space in the middle, with some smaller rocks interspersed, i'll try and mock up a drawing or get a pic closest to my vision for reference


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## Tbone (8 Mar 2018)

Yeah, i recently got the wifi unit for my zetlight and been tinkering with the settings from my phone till i got it just right... definitely addicitve and a bit dangerous coz you just cant help playing with them...


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## Gill (8 Mar 2018)

Wcmm really are such a versatile fish, and honestly do very well in smaller tanks. 
The now stable longfin variety also look very nice once the yellow and red finnage matures. 

Smallest tank I ever kept them in was 10litres and thrived with active breeding. And just used a simple sponge filter. 

Sent from my SM-T280 using Tapatalk


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## Aqua360 (8 Mar 2018)

Gill said:


> Wcmm really are such a versatile fish, and honestly do very well in smaller tanks.
> The now stable longfin variety also look very nice once the yellow and red finnage matures.
> 
> Smallest tank I ever kept them in was 10litres and thrived with active breeding. And just used a simple sponge filter.
> ...



nice job on the breeding! I've got 8 in my 25l long, (24x8x8), they are quite active and don't look too out of place, it's a mostly hardscape tank with rock, so I don't expect any breeding tbf.


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## Aqua360 (13 Mar 2018)

Playing around with some azalea (finger wood), I may add sand and gravel to see how this will look before I go any further! Feels like there is a large divide in the middle like this, not sure it works


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## Aqua360 (14 Mar 2018)

Here's an update, I'm actually pretty happy with this hardscape, once I add plants heavily to the left hand side and light it properly, I think this could look good with the white cloud shoal  

Now I have to wash everything, and try and silicone the wood into place

Ps nobody judge my dvd collection haha


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## Aqua360 (14 Mar 2018)

From the pics it looks like the wood doesn't extend across, but it does quite a bit, in person! Anyway, need to think of room for plants on the left to fill out lol


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## Kezzab (15 Mar 2018)

Looks good. Will tank have a cover? It would be nice to have left hand even higher with wood breaking the water surface.

Also you could get some gravel and small stones to mix/scatter on the substrate so it's less uniform and more natural looking, doesn't matter where it will be covered in plants obviously!
k


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## Aqua360 (15 Mar 2018)

Kezzab said:


> Looks good. Will tank have a cover? It would be nice to have left hand even higher with wood breaking the water surface.
> 
> Also you could get some gravel and small stones to mix/scatter on the substrate so it's less uniform and more natural looking, doesn't matter where it will be covered in plants obviously!
> k



I do have a cover, removed it for messing around with, but you make a good point about how it would benefit breaking the surface.

I've also got gravel and smaller stones to add, but I've refrained thus far, as I now need to wash everything in there


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## Tim Harrison (15 Mar 2018)

Looks good, I like the negative space on the right.


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## Aqua360 (15 Mar 2018)

Tim Harrison said:


> Looks good, I like the negative space on the right.



thanks!


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## Gill (15 Mar 2018)

Love it, and a fellow trekkie - Voyager and DS9 my all time fave. Q fave character and Gianan from TNG


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## Aqua360 (15 Mar 2018)

Gill said:


> Love it, and a fellow trekkie - Voyager and DS9 my all time fave. Q fave character and Gianan from TNG



Haha caught me! Have you seen the new series? I wasn't a fan, but I persevered and I'm warming to it


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## Gill (15 Mar 2018)

Aqua360 said:


> Haha caught me! Have you seen the new series? I wasn't a fan, but I persevered and I'm warming to it



Yeah was a slow starter for me, but as you say warmed to it. Will be interesting to see how it will progress. There is so much Star Trek Canon that can be used. Wonder if they will tie into DS9 and Voyager timelines with Section 47. Lol could chat about trekkie canon for hours/days. I am not sure though, did spock ever mention michael ????

I like how you have created the amount of open space in the scape.


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## Aqua360 (15 Mar 2018)

Gill said:


> Yeah was a slow starter for me, but as you say warmed to it. Will be interesting to see how it will progress. There is so much Star Trek Canon that can be used. Wonder if they will tie into DS9 and Voyager timelines with Section 47. Lol could chat about trekkie canon for hours/days. I am not sure though, did spock ever mention michael ????
> 
> I like how you have created the amount of open space in the scape.



I think the show runners mentioned they won't be showing Spock, which is strange given the series ending, but I won't post spoilers lol. 

I'm hoping it works out well, I'd hoped to do all the washing and cleaning of materials today, but am now busy so quite likely to wash them at the weekend, then let the rocks and wood try to silicone together, can't be bothered with waiting for it to sink, very impatient that way.

Ideally hoping to have flooded before long, but I need to establish suitable plant list too!


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## Aqua360 (16 Mar 2018)

Can anyone please suggest some suitable plants for the hardscape? I want to go for plants in and among the rocks and wood.

It's only going to be a sand substrate, so ideally will be plants capable of growing out of substrate, or that will do well in sand with dosing water column only.

Right now I feel the automatic options are:

anubias,
java fern
hydrocotyle tripartite

but would like to hear more if anyone can suggest


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## Smells Fishy (16 Mar 2018)

Aqua360 said:


> Can anyone please suggest some suitable plants for the hardscape? I want to go for plants in and among the rocks and wood.
> 
> It's only going to be a sand substrate, so ideally will be plants capable of growing out of substrate, or that will do well in sand with dosing water column only.
> 
> ...



Pothos? Since the tanks so shallow the roots will probably dig into the substrate. Water sprite?


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## Aqua360 (16 Mar 2018)

Smells Fishy said:


> Pothos? Since the tanks so shallow the roots will probably dig into the substrate. Water sprite?



love pothos, could be a shout towards the left hand side, but I'd be wary of roots disrupting the rocks etc in time perhaps


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## Aqua360 (18 Mar 2018)

Latest update, all rocks and sand washed, siliconed the wood to the rocks, I'm praying it holds, as floating wood will be a pain in the bum.

Excited for the next step!


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## Aqua360 (21 Mar 2018)

Update


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## Aqua360 (21 Mar 2018)

Added 30 white cloud mountain minnows, along with seeded filtration, just need to see how well they settle in


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## Tim Harrison (21 Mar 2018)

Aqua360 said:


> Can anyone please suggest some suitable plants for the hardscape? I want to go for plants in and among the rocks and wood.


Looking good. Have you thought about attaching all the Java ferns to the left of the hardscape with perhaps some Bolbitis, and then attaching smaller plants to the rest to accentuate the classic triangular hardscape you've created.

You have a lot of epiphytes to choose from...Buces, Anubias; I go for some of the smaller ones. There are others like H. pinnatifida, and mini Christmas moss would work well too. I'd also plant a bit of something like mini hair grass, or a selection of low growing carpet plants, in the sand around the hardscape it'll give it a bit more interest; if you're dosing fertz it'll be fine.


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## Aqua360 (21 Mar 2018)

Tim Harrison said:


> Looking good. Have you thought about attaching all the Java ferns to the left of the hardscape with perhaps some Bolbitis, and then attaching smaller plants to the rest to accentuate the classic triangular hardscape you've created.
> 
> You have a lot of epiphytes to choose from...Buces, Anubias; I go for some of the smaller ones. There are others like H. pinnatifida, and mini Christmas moss would work well too. I'd also plant a bit of something like mini hair grass, or a selection of low growing carpet plants, in the sand around the hardscape it'll give it a bit more interest; if you're dosing fertz it'll be fine.



Really good suggestion, will have to look into it, I have been disappointed by my first plants added, but I can easily re-arrange the java ferns without fuss. 

Interesting point on the carpet plants...I figured I'd have low success given its sand, but if I'm dosing the water column that should take care of things...

Much thought to be given now!


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## Finn (21 Mar 2018)

Very nicely scaped, looks like it would be a fab tank for river loaches and gobies. Have you thought about Stiphodon semoni and maybe Gastromyzon ctenocephalus? I think they'd be wonderful centerpiece fish. You could put a decently strong powerhead in the left hand side to get some flow over the pebbles (perhaps with a venturi to get a little aeration), and with the light I think it'd be easy to cultivate some nice green algae for them to munch on.


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## Aqua360 (21 Mar 2018)

Finn said:


> Very nicely scaped, looks like it would be a fab tank for river loaches and gobies. Have you thought about Stiphodon semoni and maybe Gastromyzon ctenocephalus? I think they'd be wonderful centerpiece fish. You could put a decently strong powerhead in the left hand side to get some flow over the pebbles (perhaps with a venturi to get a little aeration), and with the light I think it'd be easy to cultivate some nice green algae for them to munch on.



i'll check them out now  I had a wavemaker in there but seemed to be disrupting the minnows, still working on a solution to provide enough circulation on the left hand side


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## Aqua360 (22 Mar 2018)

Yet another update lol, added moss to the cracks between the stones, and took the plunge and planted my Monte Carlo I had from a previous Scape, straight into the sand and surrounding rocks.

Still missing the triangular shape focus and i will address it, but for now it's coming along, i think i added too many minnows, may have to remove some. 

Also cheating a little and using the fluval co2 diffuser for a little bit extra co2


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## sciencefiction (23 Mar 2018)

Nice tank.

If you give them the right conditions the plants will carpet in sand even better...Temporarily I'd get some fast growers to balance things out and prevent algae. Once the tank establishes, you can remove them if needs be.


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## Edvet (23 Mar 2018)

I still feel like you need some smaller pebbles going from the stones to the right, just a few gradually decreasing in size. Just my2 €cts


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## Aqua360 (23 Mar 2018)

sciencefiction said:


> Nice tank.
> 
> If you give them the right conditions the plants will carpet in sand even better...Temporarily I'd get some fast growers to balance things out and prevent algae. Once the tank establishes, you can remove them if needs be.



good shout, last night I added duckweed, and I'm doing water changes every second day to manage things before backing off, but I definitely got overzealous with the minnows, added 28  so I'm gonna remove about 10 or 12, bring it down to a smaller number as right now they are all over the place, and will have a larger bioload than anticipated


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## Aqua360 (23 Mar 2018)

Edvet said:


> I still feel like you need some smaller pebbles going from the stones to the right, just a few gradually decreasing in size. Just my2 €cts



I have some pebbles available, so i'll add them


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## Kalum (23 Mar 2018)

Looking good mate, like the direction it's going

A few low and thin creeping bits of wood (with no pebbles) stretching out of the main pack to the right would look good


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## doylecolmdoyle (25 Mar 2018)

Looking really good! I think I all also go with White Cloud Mountain Minnows for my long skinny tank. How much sand did you need? I am finding it hard to locate more ADA La Plata sand here in Australia (none left in the country!) I only have 1 bag of fine sand and 1of the big sand.

I like what you did with the wood!


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## Tbone (26 Mar 2018)

Aqua360 said:


> Can anyone please suggest some suitable plants for the hardscape? I want to go for plants in and among the rocks and wood.
> 
> It's only going to be a sand substrate, so ideally will be plants capable of growing out of substrate, or that will do well in sand with dosing water column only.
> 
> ...



How can you forget about the ever abundant varieties of Bucephalandra!!! Yes they grow mad slow but the color choices / sizes and shapes of the different types makes it well worth it...

Especially coz you can superglue them to hardscapes and let them grow that way


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## Aqua360 (26 Mar 2018)

doylecolmdoyle said:


> Looking really good! I think I all also go with White Cloud Mountain Minnows for my long skinny tank. How much sand did you need? I am finding it hard to locate more ADA La Plata sand here in Australia (none left in the country!) I only have 1 bag of fine sand and 1of the big sand.
> 
> I like what you did with the wood!



I believe I used 8kg sand exactly, one of the bigger bags of unipac from pets at home, and one of the smaller bags of gravel.

Thanks on the wood, I'm glad I opted for the minnows again they are great little fish


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## sciencefiction (27 Mar 2018)

Aqua360 said:


> I have some pebbles available, so i'll add them



I got a 25kg bag of round mid sized beach pebbles from builders supplies. They came in all types and colours, really nice and cheap  You can't tell while in the bag but once washed and in the tank...



Aqua360 said:


> but I definitely got overzealous with the minnows, added 28  so I'm gonna remove about 10 or 12, bring it down to a smaller number as right now they are all over the place, and will have a larger bioload than anticipated



Just keep up with daily water changes and the tank will pick up in no time and the fish will appreciate the extra care.



Aqua360 said:


> Can anyone please suggest some suitable plants for the hardscape? I want to go for plants in and among the rocks and wood.



I have a cold water tub and a small tank with tropical plants such as ludwiga, bacopa, crypts,anubias, hydrophila, not very interesting ones I admit but those are the ones I have. My point is, they don't  care being in colder water. They grow just as good. I am sure there's plenty out there that will do well. Pick what you like and see how it goes. One thing about cold water tank is that my dark brown/pond snails don't do good, neither do malaysian trumpets. They just don't seem to multiply without a heater and the latter ones even completely disappear.  The only ones that do well are red ramshorns and they're my favourite ones.


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## Aqua360 (9 May 2018)

Yet another change lol, this has bedded in for a good few weeks, it's fairly standard but I'm liking this for hopefully a longer term commitment. Pics before and after


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