# 450L Low Tech Aquarium



## Voo

Hi Guys,

Been a while since i've done anything to the tank so it's slightly overgrown! Not sure what i want to do with the tank now, so looking for some ideas.

















Tank is a Rena 450, 5'x1.5'x2'
Lighting - 4x40w T8
Filtration - Fluval 405 and Fluval Fx5
CO2 - none.
Ferts - none
Fish - Angel fish, yellow congo tetra, pearl gourami, glowlight danios
Plants - Anubias nana, various crypts, needle leaf java fern, Echinodorus uruguayensis, tiger lotus
There's also some manzanita wood and dragon stone hidden

I'd like to get some shrimp back into the tank, but can't do that with the angel fish still there. Ideally i'll either build up the group of congo tetras or get some boesemani rainbows, depending on what the lfs stock.

I used to dose ferts and CO2 but stopped when i stopped having as much time for the tank. It's not done too badly since, although the needle leaf java has suffered.


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## BigTom

Awesome. Some of those plants are massive! How long has the tnak been running, and when did you switch off the co2?


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## Gill

Why Would you want to change anything, It Looks so Lush and Healthy. What some people dream of, in a mature scape.


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## awtong

+1 on the above.  Looks incredible!

A large shoal of mixed sex Congo tetra in the middle to upper waters would look incredible, but then I am biased I have 21 of them!

If you do go for Congo's keep a 2-1 female to male ratio this will even out the breeding aggression and give the males vivid colours.  

 

Andy


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## Alastair

Looks great mate, I'd leave it as it is. Especially considering your not dosing or adding co2.


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## Voo

Tank has been going for just over a year now. 6 months with co2, rest without. Family complain there's too many plants so you can't see the fish, but perhaps that's because it's very lightly stocked. Danios are always hiding. 
Do you think Congo tetras would eat cherry shrimp? 
Perhaps i'll just replace the needle fern as that's looking bad.


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## flygja

Thats really lush and dense considering that you don't inject CO2 or dose any ferts. May I know how long you turn your lights on for and do you do a weekly waterchange? My own low-tech is looking quite pathethic in comparison.


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## Voo

I did use co2 for the first 6 months which helped the plants to get established. Lights are 2 tubes for 10 hours, 2 for 7 hours. Water changes are roughly 40% every 2-3 week's.


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## George Farmer

Fantastic! And proof that you don't need high energy to get high impact.

Thanks for sharing, Tom.


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## sanj

Wow Indeed, it looks lush. You dont want to thin out the plants, it is magnificent. Fish look better when they come in and out of plants rather than just in your face, it creates and element of mystery.

I love your tank, keep it going!


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## dw1305

Hi all,


> I love your tank, keep it going!


 Same thoughts here, it is a truly magnificent tank. What is the substrate?  You would think that you must have/have had an input of nutrients to support that plant biomass, although it could just be from the water? If it is tap water with high nutrient levels?


> Do you think Congo tetras would eat cherry shrimp?


 I think they probably will.

cheers Darrel


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## xtevo

I can only see one problem, but its big enough... Do you know what? It doesn't stand at my living room.   Congrats buddy, such a nice scape!


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## Voo

Thanks for the comments guys!
Substrate is ADA amazonia although it'll be around 2 years since it went in. Not hoovering it out probably helps a bit, but as I live in the fens it wouldn't surprise me if the water is laden with nutrients too.
I did have a shoal of glowlight danios that I thought would be active but they hide amongst the plants. They just appear at feeding times. 
The huge anubias started as one plant about 5 years ago. It's flowering regularly and as it's raised on some wood, the hanging roots provide an eerie affect


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## Tresbling

This tank is really amazing and unique! Love all the red plants, didn't know you could make a low tech tank look like that - very inspiring!


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## pdev

looks really nice i love the plants


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## Ben22

what happened to this? is it still running? id love to see the difference over a few years. I love low tech tanks this has worked well a nice range of color!


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## Brian Murphy

Looks really lush ... whats it like now?


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## naz

love the jungle look voo,tank looks immaculate,no algea.good.good


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## StevenA

Excellent tank, any updates?


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## Mr P

fantastic tank. really beautiful plants.


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## Viv

This tank looks gorgeous! A real inspiration for people like me who have a larger tank but haven't had the courage (yet) to really make it a planted tank as opposed to one with a few plants in. I'm getting closer and closer to stripping it down (nightmare in the making though as the inhabitants would mean having to do it pretty quickly!), and your tank gives me an idea of what I could be aiming for. Thanks for sharing 

Viv


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## Voo

Sorry, haven't been received notifications on this. Here's a quick update.






The tank is still up and running, hasn't changed much in the way of planting. 
I've had to remove the Echinodorus uruguayensis as it was too big for the tank unfortunately. It's been replaced with some crypt balansae along the back. 
The anubias is starting to take over and stretches nearly the full length of the tank. I'm having to prune some of the leaves that get algae on them but new ones soon fill in any spaces that are left. It's flowering regularly too.





The needle leaf java fern has perked up again now that i've started adding CO2 and ferts, trying to control the algae on the anubias.

Tank occupants have also changed. I've increased the numbers of congo tetras and added some boesemani and dwarf rainbows.





The crypts have got a bit thick on the right side and might need some thinning out, especially along the front of the tank.


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## Tim Harrison

Pretty darn cool...you've chosen all the right plants and your lighting is obviously optimized with other parameters. Is the lighting T5?


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## Voo

Lighting is T8, 4x 40W


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## mal blackburn

Absolutely love the planted tank. I will get mine there one day.
Thanks for sharing.


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## martinmjr62

Beautiful looking tank. I love the overplanted look.Everything looks really healthy. Keep it up 

Cheers
Martin


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## thelats1981

amazing tank. started thread from previous page and thought how good some praecox would look in there. and they do! fair play.


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## Nathaniel Whiteside

Now, Thats a planted tank.
What a lovely look you have going on there.

Well done


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