# i have a plan



## danmil3s (8 Jun 2010)

ok i have a plan for my 26l nano i want to go low tec no water chances tank specs are
w 35cm d 25cm h 35cm 
light 11w its 30 cm away from the water no reflector and 3 sides down to the tank are painted matt black so not as bright as it sounds.
filter is a fluvl 205 using a diy spray bar 
there's just one red eye puffer in the tank 

so my plan is to use a plastic mesh to cover the bottom of the tank to create a space to allow water flow under the   Anubias barteri nana i will use to cover most of the bottom of the tank. then i will put one rock in with some java fern attached to it.
 on the water surface i plan on using Riccia and Egeria densa the puffer fish seems to like the floating plants.
so i wont be doing water changes but it is open top so the plan was to top up from my high tec using that as a source of ferts 
so that's the plan now for the questions 
1. will the top ups from the large tank be ok its no more than 200ml a day or would that affect the co2 to much and introduce to many ferts
2.do i need a posh  substrate i know the idea if el natural is to use one to alow margin for error  but as ill have no plants growing in it i dont want/cant afforded to spend money on it and i don't mind dosing the water. also was thinking a substrate would imped flow to the anubias roots
3.where do i put my spray bar in the normal place or under the Anubias thinking about flow to the roots or maybe the in take would be better under them or maybe that doesn't matter 

any thoughts help much appreciated as always guys 
cheers dan


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## ceg4048 (10 Jun 2010)

Hi,
   Unless I'm missing something Anubias roots don't need any help from you. They just sit on top of a rock or other hardscape and carry on. I don't understand the whole mesh under substrate concept. Spraybar over roots seems also more than a bit over the top to me. Anubias roots should not be submerged and they don't care about any of the designs you wish to impose. They just carry on.

I agree that there is no need for expensive substrate if you will dose the water column.

Topping up from your other tank I don't understand either. Why are you taking dirty organic waste filled water and putting it in your tank? If you have nutrients to dose your high tech tank why can't you use these same nutrients to dose the low tech tank? You just have to do it once or twice a month. I would always choose to top up with fresh clean water from tap. That reduces the waste buildup in the tank and reduces the chance of sending pathogens from one tank to the other.

Cheers,


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## danmil3s (10 Jun 2010)

thanks Clive the mesh wont go under the substrate it will sit just above it its for tieing the Anubias to so i can get a carpet effect with out messing around with bits of wood that wont been seen. the only reason for topping up out of the large tank is laziness saves messing about with dechlorinater of leaving water sitting around just use a pint glass when i feed fish plants always done it like that  but i guess i could just leave a bottle of water in the cupboard as for the spray bar i just wanted to check as there will be no flow under the plants but if the roots don't care ill just put it in the normal place thanks again for your help Clive


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