# 60cm play tank



## George Farmer (25 Jan 2009)

It's been a while since I posted a full tank shot, so here we go...







This has been growing in quite nicely for a couple of months now.  No heater or CO2, so growth is nice and manageable.  There's some issues with my Nesea but thanks to JamesC it seems to be doing ok.  

The layout isn't finalised, as it's an experimental tank where I will implement new ideas on a regular basis.

The flame tetras seem to prefer the cooler (21-22C) water and are constantly dancing and flaring their fins.

I dose a combo of Easy Life and Tropica products.  
Light is 2 x 24w T5 for 7 hours.  
Filter is a Superfish Pro 4 (1550lph) with 12mm glassware (16-12mm reducers at glassware end).
Substrate is Unipac black 1-2mm with Tropica stuff underneath.

Once this has been 'complete' in a couple of months or so I will be setting a new layout using the full ADA substrate and ferts system.  It's something I've wanted to do for ages and I look forward to noting any differences in plant growth, health, algae etc.

Thanks to -

Mark (saintly) for the E. tennelus,
Paulo (LondonDragon) for the Glosso,
Dan (TDI-Line) for the B. japonica and L. aromatica
James (JamesC) for the advice

Cheers!


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## Garuf (25 Jan 2009)

Very nice, though from a scaping point of view that right hand side isn't sitting right for me. Maybe it's the angle? 
I like it though, especially the understated sand foreground, something I had all but gone off till now.


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## George Farmer (25 Jan 2009)

Straight in there with the critique, Garuf!?

2 minutes from posting. That's a world record! lol

Thanks.


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## Garuf (25 Jan 2009)

Haha, I couldn't resist, It's nicer than mine and I needed to say something about it.   
Will you be entering it into anything or are you not happy with it?
What were the tips with the nessea? I think that could be useful to everyone. How are you trimming your rotalla too?


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## George Farmer (25 Jan 2009)

Garuf said:
			
		

> Haha, I couldn't resist, It's nicer than mine and I needed to say something about it.
> Will you be entering it into anything or are you not happy with it?
> What were the tips with the nessea? I think that could be useful to everyone. How are you trimming your rotalla too?


I understand. 

Nesea needed more K and possibly more Mg.

I trim the Rotala with scissors...


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## Garuf (25 Jan 2009)

haha, I meant are you trimming them back so they're an inch or so high and letting them grow or are you just thinning as and when?


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## George Farmer (25 Jan 2009)

Garuf said:
			
		

> haha, I meant are you trimming them back so they're an inch or so high and letting them grow or are you just thinning as and when?


As and when, more recently.


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## james3200 (25 Jan 2009)

Nice start and mix of plants to play with


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## Dave Spencer (25 Jan 2009)

George Farmer said:
			
		

> There's some issues with my Nesea but thanks to JamesC it seems to be doing ok.
> 
> Cheers!



Is it Nesaea pedicellata George? I found it a bit too robust to use as a stem bush in my 60cm, but if it is the orange accent in the centre in the tank then koudos on its use. That little accent compliments the fish a treat.

I love Rotala sp backdrops, too.  

Dave.


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## Mark Evans (25 Jan 2009)

i just realised my wood my 60 is the same as yours    i didnt copy...honest.

well for me the amazing bit is no co2. thats brilliant.some people cant do that WITH co2.

A typical GF scape. you really can spot them a mile off   

nicely done mate  

mark


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## altaaffe (25 Jan 2009)

Looks fantastic as we've all come to expect George but as with Mark - I'm amazed it's all done with no CO2.
Are there any plants that are / have struggled and how does the growth of the individual plants compare to a full-on hi-tech tank?


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## Thomas McMillan (25 Jan 2009)

It's so true, this is a typical Farmer scape.

This has to be one of my favourites. I love the foresty feel to it.


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## TDI-line (26 Jan 2009)

This is a lovely scape George, very natural and your photography skills are very professional too.

It is amazing that there is no pressurized co2 present or heater, so basically the tank temperature is getting the ambient room temperature and being boosted by the lights, is that coorect?


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## George Farmer (26 Jan 2009)

Thanks, guys.



			
				Dave Spencer said:
			
		

> Is it Nesaea pedicellata George?


Yes mate.  But the red plant you can see is L. aromatica - just for fun really, as it's too big for longer term.  The Nesea is on the centre right.  New growth was highly deformed and not turning red at all.



			
				saintly said:
			
		

> well for me the amazing bit is no co2. thats brilliant.some people cant do that WITH co2.
> 
> A typical GF scape. you really can spot them a mile off


Thanks, Mark.  It's nice to have my own recognisable style.

The non-CO2 bit is pretty interesting.  I did a blog on it here -

http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/p ... blogid=234

After interviewing Slobodan Lazaverich for PFK I though I'd give it a try, as he doesn't use CO2 in any of his smaller tanks.  

It makes perfect sense - slower growth, less risk of algae (assuming appropriate lighting) and less macro/micronutrient requirement.  

Easycarbo is good value in smaller aquaria too.  I dose 2ml per day, so a 1000ml bottle will last almost 18 months.  That's 20 quid for 18 months worth of carbon!  

Compare that to the cost of a typical pressurized CO2 kit and re-fills...  And there's less equipment in the tank/to maintain.



			
				altaaffe said:
			
		

> Looks fantastic as we've all come to expect George but as with Mark - I'm amazed it's all done with no CO2.
> Are there any plants that are / have struggled and how does the growth of the individual plants compare to a full-on hi-tech tank?


Thanks!

Some plants don't look as 'lush' I'd say but I'm still fine tuning a dosing regime.  I suspect once I've figured out a proper nutrient dosing practice, the plant health will be almost identical to a CO2-enriched set up.

For me in this tank, growth is around 3-4x slower than a CO2 enriched set up.  The cooler temperatures will also slow things down.



			
				Thomas McMillan said:
			
		

> It's so true, this is a typical Farmer scape.
> 
> This has to be one of my favourites. I love the foresty feel to it.


Thanks, Thomas.  I really like this layout with the variety of fine textures.  It should improve over time too.



			
				TDI-line said:
			
		

> This is a lovely scape George, very natural and your photography skills are very professional too.
> 
> It is amazing that there is no pressurized co2 present or heater, so basically the tank temperature is getting the ambient room temperature and being boosted by the lights, is that coorect?


Thanks mate.  Nothing special about the photo here.  Handheld with my 10D, tank lights, f/8, 1/100th sec, ISO 800.

The water is dependent on ambient temp, yes.  We have central heating so it's a stable 21C or so in the tank.  Doing my bit for saving energy and CO2 consumption! lol (Don't mention my 370 litre!)



			
				james3200 said:
			
		

> Nice start and mix of plants to play with


Thanks, James.


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## Dave Spencer (26 Jan 2009)

George Farmer said:
			
		

> Dave Spencer said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I see it now. It looks a bit different to mine (Tropica). Like most Tropica `red` plants, I tend to find it is the stem that goes red. The look yours has compliments the smaller Rotala behind.

Funnily enough, while carrying out a water change on the 120cm just now, I found two stems of the Nesaea which must have hidden in the green Rotala that I used from an old scape. At least I won`t have to buy any now.

Dave.


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## aaronnorth (26 Jan 2009)

Finally a full tank shot, you have been posting teaser's on PFK for ages now lol.

I love the P.Helferi/ Staurogyne combo in the centre, it looks set out, but yet still very natural


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## hellohefalump (26 Jan 2009)

> New growth was highly deformed and not turning red at all.


I had the deformity problem with my nesaea crassicaulis (although not the red problem).  I've got rid of it now, as it just looked horrible and it also ended up infested with hair algae.  It's interesting to hear you say yours was deformed too, because you are GOOD at growing plants, so that makes me feel better 

I found my deformed leaves got slightly better when I changed my CO2 diffusion method to a tiny internal filter, that chops up the bubbles with it's impellor.  I was using the JBL spiral diffuser.  It makes me wonder if yours is deformed because you're not using CO2?

Tank looks great, as always!


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## LondonDragon (26 Jan 2009)

Tank looks great George, wanted to rescape my shrimp tank and dose ony EasyCarbo too, problem is light, only have 2x15W and due to the Juwel design hardly any light at the back  look forward to your comparisson with Aquasoil


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## Aeropars (17 Mar 2009)

I'm not sure how I missed this tank! 

How on earth have you got the Blyxa growing so well without any CO2? I cant gekk it going with medium light, EI ferts and CO2!


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## Ejack (18 Mar 2009)

George, that tank looks stunning.

I feed C02, TPN+ and Easy Carbo into my tank and it doesn't look as nice as what you have got here. 

Wish I knew your secret.

Very nice work though


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## Aeropars (18 Mar 2009)

You're telling me! 

I cant get difficult species like Blyxa growing in a high tech tank let alone low tech!


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## George Farmer (19 Mar 2009)

There's no secret.  Perhaps my tap water is magical!

I'm currently growing glosso and Blyxa in my 25 litre desktop nano with 18w PC T5 and non-CO2 (Easycarbo).  Growth is very slow but that's a good thing for me...

Thanks.


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## luismoniz (28 Apr 2009)

Amazing George as always!


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## Superman (6 Jul 2009)

I'm staring to get an increasing interest in using Rotala sp in my tanks as looking at the photos in the PFK this month, they can provide the perfect background plant.


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## lljdma06 (9 Jul 2009)

George Farmer said:
			
		

> There's no secret.  Perhaps my tap water is magical!
> 
> I'm currently growing glosso and Blyxa in my 25 litre desktop nano with 18w PC T5 and non-CO2 (Easycarbo).  Growth is very slow but that's a good thing for me...
> 
> Thanks.



Hey!  _My_ tap water is magical too!  What a small world!  

Easycarbo is still Carbon.  You are cheating, George.


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## plantbrain (24 Oct 2009)

Well, easy carb is not really no CO2 in a sense, however...........

The tank looks nice and grows at a nice reduced rate.

With slower rates, sediment based ferts really do really well, easy etc, then you add some traces etc, and some fish and feed them, not much else is required. If you dose light to the water column, then the plants do well and the system is low input.

Many folks love that.
If you own 3-4 tanks, then having 1/2 of them like this makes more sense.


Regards, 
Tom Barr


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## jimbo (24 Oct 2009)

Nice job George, I prefer low tech tanks just because there's less equipment in the tank & theres also alot less maintenance if you have alot of tanks on the go. 
If a tank can look that good without co2 injection & abit more patients the rewards are greater.


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## George Farmer (26 Oct 2009)

Thanks, jimbo!

I've not used CO2 injection for a good while now but will be doing very soon for my latest project...


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