# My new low tech attempt



## faizal

_I am sure that by now there are lots of people who are probably wondering " Will he ever fill up his aquarium with water?!!"  I am very sorry guys. _
_Well with the main wood still leeching tannins i am really left with quite a bit of time in my hands & plus there's nothing really much i'd rather do,...so i thought I would try out with a new low tech tank. My son's old tank is currently no longer there. It was a real shame because it was coming along very nicely._

Here's an FTS of the hardscape,...of course the final result is yet to be seen,...still have to plant it properly. 






I really like little caves in an aquscape because i think the fishes & hopefully shrimps will feel really cosy going in & out of them.


Here are a couple of more shots of the foreground area. I really wish i had a very nice looking Mekong Sand to cover the foreground area but this was all i had lying around in my cupboard.










I took this shot to give the viewing eye an idea about the level of the substrate heights between the foreground & background areas.




I have some plants ready. I am planning on planting them later this evening when i get home.

My plant lists are
Vallisneria asiatica
Staurogynes
e. tenellus
some anubias
mini bolbitis
mini java fern
cryptocoryne cordata
crypt wendtii green & brown
java moss
crypt lucens
crypt nevellii

tank size is about 50 Litres 
Light is a single T8 tube 10 watts ( it's just a regular shop light) .So that's about 0.2 Watts per Litre (thank you Clonitza for suggesting this)
Planning on running it for 3.5 hrs a day for the first month. Then decide later whether i should increase the duration of the photoperiod.
Substrate : i decided to go with Aquabasis Plus at the bottom. I placed a mesh over this like Troi does in his tanks then capped it with some Seachem Onyx sand. 

I really hope I can grow those Vals & mini java fern. I really love the canopy effect that the Vals produce. So nice & cosy. The last time I tried these plants I just fried them to bits. I don"t know if it was my lights because I tried to grow them with T5 tubes & without co2. But with my java ferns ,...i just killed them with my regular T8s

Please let me know what you think.


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## tim

Looks good mate I like the way the wood on the left has enough texture to mix well with the dragon stone, are the little lava rocks going to be covered in moss or riccia or will they be left bare ?


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## Alastair

This looks lovely faizel. Looking forward to see it planted up

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk 2


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## faizal

Nothing comes in easy in life. This is something i have come to accept for quite sometime now but c'mon,....!!!!   I came back home after work yesterday & went straight to my tank & started planting. I mean I had everything figured out. The lights, substrate was set & ready. Filters all set & ready. All I needed to do was spray the area & start planting,...which i did & it went well actually. I had a nice relaxing music going on from youtube & everything. Filled her up & things actually looked nice. Then i showered & went down for dinner. When i came back up i saw that curvy foremost driftwood sort of starting to float a little. I  had it soaked for a week & it actually sank into the tub before placing it in the tank 2 days ago. Thought nothing much of it & just adjusted it a little so that the nice thick driftwood that Tim mentioned there could hold it down a little for a couple of days.

Then all hell broke loose !!! That big stump of a drift wood started to move up with the slightest of my touch & I cr*pped (figuratively speaking of course) I didn't have anything & couldn't reach out for an extra large stone to help keep it down. Everytime i lifted my hand from the wood it  would threaten to come up,plus i was home alone for that day...& finally i relented. 

I had that piece of wood sunken in the bathtub for a few days & it never floated in the tub!!! What is going on here? Well maybe the Lord has better plans & for that I accept what has happened. The entire substrate which was in the background came in like a damn tsunami over my foreground sandy cove & it looks like a regular junk yard now. I tried to fiddle with things a bit. Took the large wood back to the tub for further sinking sessions. 

I am not happy at all with the way it looks now. I am at work now. Will get some pics up later when i get back home.

Questions please:
1) How long would you consider it safe for a driftwood to be considered safely sunken? And once it is sunk,...should we keep it in the tub until right before planting & filling up the tank? Because my driftwoods sank. But i took it out & it was dry when I was playing & setting up the hardscape. Then of course it killed my day.

Thanks Tim,...yeah I was planning on covering the lava rocks with java moss & some riccia. Now it will just have to wait.

Cheers Alastair,....it's planted now. I will leave it as it is for now. Maybe i might rescape it after some weeks. I definetely want to go with that first scape. It looks not so nice now unfortunately. Oh man.


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## faizal

Right,...this is my plan. I am going to leave the tank as it is right now because i am taking my wife & kids out on a long weekend trip. When I return on Monday I will remove all the plants & keep them in another tank. Dry this tank out with an aquarium fan running 24/7. Remove all the substrate layers. First the sand, then the onyx & finally below the plastic mesh,..the JBL aquabasis.

I am thinking the whole process of just drying & separating the substrate is probably going to take me a week so i have to be patient. Thank God it's a non co2 tank.

I am going to take your advice Alastair on screwing some suction cups onto that wood just in case. So that's what we do. We get up, dust the dirt off our clothes & keep on marching till we get there. Hooyah!!!


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## flygja

Hey Faizal, sorry to hear you're having these problems. Strangely I've never had wood float on me. And these pieces are similar to the ones I have, we may have even gotten them from the same place. But I guess I don't have any pieces that are that small. I usually wedge mine in with rocks else I'll clumsily knock them around during maintenance. 

Why do you want to dry out the substrate though? Maybe remove the top layer of soil and substrate and replace with new ones? With white sand, I've always had to remove the top layer and top it up with new sand.


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## faizal

flygja said:


> ..... we may have even gotten them from the same place. But I guess I don't have any pieces that are that small. I usually wedge mine in with rocks else I'll clumsily knock them around during maintenance.


 
Hi Flygja,..

 You are right. Most of my driftwood comes from KW aquatics but i got that particular wood from another guy who sold it on ebay.

Anyways here's how the whole thing looks like now,....warts & all.


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## faizal

flygja said:


> Why do you want to dry out the substrate though? Maybe remove the top layer of soil and substrate and replace with new ones? With white sand, I've always had to remove the top layer and top it up with new sand.


 
Well I didn't want to remove the top substrate while it's all wet (too messy) ,...so i thought i'd dry out the upper sand & onyx then remove the mesh below that & add it a bit more of the aquabasis plus and the recap with the dried onyx & sand? I don't know yet flygja,...might go with your suggestion there too. How is your big tank coming along? And the other IAPLC tank ? Love to see some updates.


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## flygja

Big tank is doing ok... but I'm getting bored of it so planning a rescape. IAPLC 60cm is currently being blacked-out due to uncontrollable BGA! Probably gonna rescape that one too...


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## faizal

I think I know what made the wood float. The yoga mat that i had used as a substrate divider which was placed below the wood. The yoga mat's buoyancy must have contributed to it. Plants are in the holding tank. The top layer of the substrate is being dried.


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## clonitza

Hi mate, you need a substrate divider only when you are adding it, feel free to pull it out after. You don't need a mesh either, you won't be able to pull any plants without rising all the soil, especially when removing crypts that grow roots all over the substrate. 

Cheers,
Mike


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## faizal

clonitza said:


> Hi mate, you need a substrate divider only when you are adding it, feel free to pull it out after. You don't need a mesh either, you won't be able to pull any plants without rising all the soil, especially when removing crypts that grow roots all over the substrate.


 
Cheers Mike. Unfortunately I think I might have to leave the divider in this one because if i did try to remove it, the onyx sand sort of falls onto the sandy foreground. The onyx is very fine & it is also at a good 1.5 inch higher level than the foreground sand & it tends to get through the little crevices in the large wood. I had also noticed (during the hardscape set up) that everytime i tried to move anything in the area rear to the wood where the onyx is, little bits of it drops through the narrow crevices of the wood & lands onto the sandy foreground. Hence i thought it best to leave the divider in. Glad that you are keeping an eye on my journal.   Highly appreciate all your suggestions.


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## faizal

So i managed to finally remove the top layer of substrate and dry it. Some of the sand still got mixed up with the onyx but i just didn't have it in me to remove it particle by particle because basically i was dead tired by the time i came back home every evening.

The plants are currently in another small holding tank with the same filter running.
Here are some pics to show how it is now. Like i was telling Flygja last night, this aquascaping stuff is not easy. I mean i was constantly knocking over stuffs within the tank while working.

Okay ,..enough of attention seeking. 

My favourate view :






FTS:







This is to show the difference in the height between the foreground & background area







I am not using any yoga mats now. Instead you can see that i chose to use the clear plastic sheet that one can find in stationery shops for binding A4 size papers. I simply used 2-3 sheets stuck together cut them to the desired height & width & just squeezed them into the area between the wood & the glass (U shaped clear plastic sheet). I also used some plastic like cardboard thingees which i bought from the stationary shop ( Black coloured ones).








My attempt at creating a detail,.... Please bear with me. i just can't resist showing off these little stuffs coz i was up till about 1 am this morning trying to create a decent looking scape. besides no one here is remotely interested in how i scape my tank. I bug Flygja on & off with my watsapp photos & he has been very kind in obliging me 
Plus you guys are sort of my brothers in arms in this quest for creating a beautiful aquascape. 





Dear Lord,....please let it work this time.

Your feedbacks are as always highly regarded.


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## Alastair

Great use of the clear plastic to give the height in the substrate mate. 
I really like this scape.  Are you using all the same plants again?? 

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## tim

Good to see this back on track mate, look forward to following its progress.


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## tim

Damn phone, sorry double post.


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## faizal

Alastair said:


> Great use of the clear plastic to give the height in the substrate mate.
> I really like this scape. Are you using all the same plants again??


 
Cheers Alastair . Yeah but not the Vallis because most of them have completely melted. I seem to have very bad luck with Vallis always. I am going with pretty much the same plants otherwise. Might add some as time goes by. This is the toughest part though. Getting their sizes right for the tank.  Alastair,...do you think marselia sp might do well in a nonco2 set up?


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## faizal

tim said:


> Good to see this back on track mate, look forward to following its progress.


 

Thank you Tim. I am glad that i managed to set it back properly again. I almost gave up on it initially. I hope to get it planted by tomorrow night.


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## Alastair

Yes mate marsilea does great in a low tech non co2 set up once its adapted. I jad it in my puddle and didnt realise how well ot had grown until id pulled it all out 

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## faizal

Alastair said:


> Yes mate marsilea does great in a low tech non co2 set up once its adapted. I jad it in my puddle and didnt realise how well ot had grown until id pulled it all out
> 
> Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk 2


 

Cheers Al,..  Can't wait to get back home this evening & start off the tank. If there's any space left in there, i might order a small quantity of  riccia, marselia sp & some mini pelia. Just to try it out.


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## faizal

Life as usual gets in the way of our plans,...but all is for good.  I managed to do all the little things first everyday in preparation for the planting day. Each day after dinner i would spend about 30 minutes preparing the plants in the holding tank for planting. Like tying them up to wood,...super glueing some of the mosses,etc.

Funny how you start off with a picture of what you want to achieve in your mind but it kind of ends up on a different path during the actual planting ( in a good way,..i mean). I realise it isn't as great as it should be because i am limited by my choices in plants and more importantly by my lack of imagination  but i think it's gonna be a looker once it grows in nicely. I don't know for sure. I hope the moss bed doesn't rot on me. So here goes,...

Just coming to life,....












Some of my favourite areas of the tank,...















Full tank shot





Note: A few changes were made to the bottom most subtrate layer which is the main source of nutrition in this tank: The layer comprises of JBL aquabasis plus + some old Aqua soil amazonia (1.5 yrs old that was lying in a box) + 1.5 hand full of coral sand mixed in. I don't know why I did that. No scientific reason but remember Clive telling me it's much cheaper than adding expensive substrate. It was an impulsive decision on my part . The tap water in my area is extremely soft so I thought some coral sand might be beneficial in supplying some added calcium & magnesium.
_I am thinking of just some simple red cherry shrimps and some otocinclus & some tetras ._


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## faizal

I am sorry for the grainy pictures. i am taking all these shots with my cellphone. The sandy foreground looks pinkish on these pics. It's actually light brownish to the naked eye.


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## Iain Sutherland

looks great faizal, it has a really nice flow.  Keeping the moss well hoovered, good shrimp population and low ferts seems to help especially when using as a carpet as it gathers a lot of debris.	Any stocking plans?
Will be watching with interest


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## faizal

Iain Sutherland said:


> ... Keeping the moss well hoovered, ....:



Cheers Iain. Much appreciated mate. What does " keeping the moss well hoovered " mean? I am sorry but i didn't understand that bit.

Yeah i am planning on adding some cherry shrimps, otos & some tetras but i am not sure of what variety yet. I might pay a visit to the lfs this week to see if any nice ones are available. 

The filter has been running for 1.5 months now & i suppose its safe to add them in. Thanks for watching Iain.


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## Iain Sutherland

keeping it well hoovered with a gravel syphon to remove debris.  If moss starts to clog you can bet algae wont be far behind.


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## Ady34

Looks really nice Faizal, good stuff!
Really like that moss carpet


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## faizal

Iain Sutherland said:


> keeping it well hoovered with a gravel syphon to remove debris. If moss starts to clog you can bet algae wont be far behind.


 

Cheers Iain.  I'll make sure i keep an eye on it. I am planning on doing daily small water changes on this one,...like 10 % or so. So i will vacuum lightly over it during the water changes. My light levels are very low too about 7-10 PAR at the substrate level. Photoperiod is just for 3.5 hrs only which i think should be okay given the choice of low light plants that i have in there. Might be dropping by the lfs in a few days to get me some lovely fishes & shrimps.


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## faizal

Ady34 said:


> Looks really nice Faizal, good stuff!
> Really like that moss carpet


 
Thanks Ady,... Truly humbled by your compliments. There's really nothing much to do now I guess other than the little maintenance & the most awesome part of enjoying the tank. how is your plantless scape idea coming along? Really looking forward to that.

The tank is a lot clearer now. I had some purigen added into the cannister filter. Quite a bit of surface agitation too without any water splashing on the surface.


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## faizal

I am so sorry to bother with more pictures of the tank but i took this one just to show how clear the water is now. I think it is probaly due to the purigen


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## Alastair

I dont agree with your comment on your lack of imagination Faizel I think youve done a brilliant job. Its fantastic and much better than I was expecting.  
Youve kept the sense of scale right with out any plants overpowering the scape. Great stuff mate you must be proud.  I would be. 


Ps you can up your lighting by an hour a week after the first 2 weeks.

Chilli raspora would look great in here due to there teeny size. A shoal of those with your shrimp would conplete it


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## faizal

Alastair said:


> I dont agree with your comment on your lack of imagination Faizel I think youve done a brilliant job. Its fantastic and much better than I was expecting.
> You've kept the sense of scale right with out any plants overpowering the scape. Great stuff mate you must be proud. I would be.


 
Cheers Al,... Awfully kind of you mate. I am rather chuffed with it actually. It's great to see it when the lights come on every evening from 9 pm till a little past midnight. It's sitting in a corner diagonally from my bed where i go to sleep. It's lovely to come home to such a pleasant sight. I am looking forward to seeing it progress.

I am following Iain's advice on keeping it clean by lightly tapping over the moss bed with my fingers to bring up any dust & then i try to siphon out about 10 % of water every day. I switch off the filter when i do this. I am planning on monthly filter & hose pipe cleaning. Haven't dosed anything yet since all the plants are very slow growers & the substrate is new.


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## faizal

Alastair said:


> Chilli raspora would look great in here due to there teeny size. A shoal of those with your shrimp would conplete it


 
I will definitely look into it. Though i am not sure what name it goes by locally here. Cheers mate.


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## Lindy

love this!


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## faizal

Thanks Lindy . Truly flattered by your comment.  I almost gave up on it in the beginning,...when the main wood floated. Thanks for reading this journal.


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## flygja

Good recovery Faizal! It'd be interesting to see how you fare with low PAR at the substrate. My anubias seem to be in suspended animation at that sorta PAR levels


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## faizal

flygja said:


> Good recovery Faizal! It'd be interesting to see how you fare with low PAR at the substrate. My anubias seem to be in suspended animation at that sorta PAR levels


 
Hey,... Yeah I expect mine to do the same,.... I like it this way though. Not much fiddling around. I love the beauty of co2 supplemented tanks,..i guess it's just me whom  i am  worried about ,....fear of lacking the discipline that is required of one in maintaining a pressurized tank. Thanks for following this.


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## BigTom

Looking really nice there faizal. Well composed layout with good lines and balanced planting. I'd just let the plants grow a bit wild now to soften the edges and jobs a goodun.

Vertical stick at the back I'm not sold on though...


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## faizal

BigTom said:


> Vertical stick at the back I'm not sold on though...


 

  Cheers Tom, Yeah never really paid attention to that. Sort of developed a blind spot i suppose,.... I will try to do something about it. Thank you so much for the kind compliments. Much appreciated,...


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## Tim Harrison

Faizal you're a star, I'm loving the clean lines and healthy looking plants in this layout. Your definitely developing a distinctive style, and the joy in what you do is contagious.


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## faizal

Troi said:


> Faizal you're a star,.....


Thank you Troi. But a star?!! No sir, that actually felt embarassing a bit especially considering i got my inspiration from so many others here. I am just learning to walk now. One baby step at a time i suppose.  I am actually still coming into terms that you guys find it pleasing to the eye. Very much flaterred & humbled to say the least. There are so many "giants" here. Mike Appleby's thread really helped me to understand the aquascaping techniques. So many others here who helped me at every inch of the way.  No. You guys are the real stars in my honest opinion.The truth is i am just trailing behind you.


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## tim

Really good looking scape you have put together Faizal, maybe tie some flame moss around the vertical wood at the back to soften its appearance, will enjoy watching this one grow in mate, good job


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## LancsRick

I've been thinking more and more about going high tech because I'm getting annoyed with limitations of being low tech. Having seen your journal Faizal, I realise I'm completely misguided!

I've been trying to figure out a plant list left to right, but not doing that well. Could you help please?

- Some sort of anubia (long leaves)
- narrow java fern
- mixed moss on the small stones?
- a nana anubia at the front of the wood?
- some sort of crypt poking above the wood at the rear
- crypt wendtii brown at rear?
- a bit of reineckii lurking at the back?
- more of that narrow anubia at the back?
- another nana anubia at the front?


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## faizal

tim said:


> Really good looking scape you have put together Faizal, maybe tie some flame moss around the vertical wood at the back to soften its appearance, will enjoy watching this one grow in mate, good job


 
 Hey Tim,..  I was just looking at the scape & wondering what to do with that vertical wood & the bare left background area ,...... then i read your post. Cheers mate. Yeah i think i have some flame moss with me ,...great idea. 



LancsRick said:


> I've been thinking more and more about going high tech because I'm getting annoyed with limitations of being low tech. Having seen your journal Faizal, I realise I'm completely misguided!
> 
> I've been trying to figure out a plant list left to right, but not doing that well. Could you help please?


 
Wow,...never really thought my piddly attempt would get such a lovely response. Thank you so much for the kind words LansRick.

The long leaf type of anubias = Anubias lanceolata
Mini java fern (at the left foreground)
All the mosses that you see there are Java Moss. The ones at the front are tied to lava rocks. Some are super glued to them.
Anubias petite nanas at the front of the wood. 
The crypt poking out of the wood  is Cryptocoryne nevillii.
Cryptocoryne wendtii brown at the right 1/3rd mid-background area
Cryptocoryne lucens just right to it ( i think that's the one that looks like reineckii )
More Anubias lanceolata at the right background
I also have some anubias var glabra which is at the left background but you can hardly see it. 

Just mostly hard to kill plant types. 

Thanks again for taking the interest.


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## faizal

Okay,..looks like i don't have enough of flame moss to cover the whole wood & this being low tech it will probably take me a year or so just to achieve the desired effect,...so i did the next best thing & removed it. It wasn't sunk into the substrate but was just placed on top of it.

So does it look better with or without the straight wood?

Without :







With the wood:






I probably need to add more plants at the back though. What do you guys think?


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## Alastair

I would leave as is mate. Now you have removed the wood the tank appears to have a greater sense of depth. I would just leave it to do its thing now as personally I think its perfect

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## LancsRick

Just do something about that bloody bright yellow thermometer now


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## tim

Hi Faizal, definitely wood removed is the way to go, only thing I would do is swap the crypt back right with the anubias back right IMO the sense of depth you'll achieve then will be awesome will really lead the eye around the scape. Really nice tank looking forward to seeing this mature.


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## faizal

Alastair said:


> I would leave as is mate. Now you have removed the wood the tank appears to have a greater sense of depth. I would just leave it to do its thing now as personally I think its perfect
> 
> Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk 2


 
Alastair,..cheers mate.  You've been very kind with your comments. It's really reassuring when one gets support like this. I am leaving the wood out of the scape. You are right about the sense of depth. I noticed it immediately after   removing it last night. The right rear corner looks much softer to look at now.


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## faizal

LancsRick said:


> Just do something about that bloody bright yellow thermometer now


 
 It's gone mate !!! Cheers. Yeah looks like i had a lot of blind spots.


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## faizal

tim said:


> Hi Faizal, definitely wood removed is the way to go, only thing I would do is swap the crypt back right with the anubias back right IMO the sense of depth you'll achieve then will be awesome will really lead the eye around the scape. Really nice tank looking forward to seeing this mature.


 

Cheers Tim. I really like the crypt wendtii brown as the focal point at the right 1/3rd though,.. But you have a very good point there. If the crypt gets too tall for its placement I am planning on doing exactly what you have advised. If it stays low,...then i kind of like it this way.

Like Alastair says,....i think it's probably that time now for me to keep my hands to myself & leave it be to settle down. . The joys of a non co2 after all are supposedly low maintenance. Maybe it's time to add some inhabitants but speaking of which,....

I noticed some little white wriggly worms last night. Very thin & hair like about 3-5 mm in length . Not stuck on the glass but floating freely in the current. Maybe they came in with the plants. I cant seem to get a picture because they are so thin & tiny . Any ideas on how to deal with them? There must be about 20-30 of them in there..Also,.are they dangerous to fish?


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## sciencefiction

The worms are probably detritus worms, if they swim like and "S" shape. The fish will like a free meal


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## faizal

I finally managed to get some cherry red shrimps & fishes. 

So here they are  :

I am not sure what they are called but they are really tiny :





This little fella is looking like he's enjoying his stroll 





Can you spot my oto? 











Dinner @ The Moss Cafe :


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## faizal

sciencefiction said:


> The worms are probably detritus worms, if they swim like and "S" shape. The fish will like a free meal


 
Cheers sciencefiction,...I think you were right,...& the worms look like they are gone now.


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## Ady34

faizal said:


> I finally managed to get some cherry red shrimps & fishes.
> 
> So here they are  :
> 
> I am not sure what they are called but they are really tiny :


....Bob, Fred, Steve, Cindy and Martha..... I know, get my coat!

They are White Cloud Mountain minnows 

Looking great Faizal, its always nice when you get some livestock in a tank, makes you feel less crazy watching it 
Cheerio,
Ady


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## LancsRick

I really like white clouds, they're quite understated but really active fish, and extremely hardy. They'll grow to a reasonable size, not far off Cardinal Tetra size, although they tend to be a bit smaller in the height of the body.


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## faizal

Ady34 said:


> ....Bob, Fred, Steve, Cindy and Martha.....


 
  Cheers Ady,.....the LFS had them in a tank with some guppies. You really know your fishes well. 

I have come across their name but didn't know that THESE were white clouds. Can't wait to see your tank planted by the way.



LancsRick said:


> I really like white clouds, they're quite understated but really active fish, and extremely hardy.


 
Mate,... that's really good to know. I was kind of worried about the cherry red shrimps too,...being sensitive to TDS and all. But my plan is if  i keep up with some daily small water changes ( 10-15%),....i should keep it fairly low. I don't have a TDS meter. Plus I haven't dosed the tank's water column till date ( substrate being new and all). Will just have to see how it goes. Do shrimps like boiled peas ?


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## sciencefiction

> Do shrimps like boiled peas ?


My shrimp will eat anything, even boiled chick peas.


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## faizal

Hi all  . There's really nothing much to update currently. The tank is settling in nicely. Growth obviously nothing much at all. Looks the same to me as the pictures above. Except maybe for the cryptocoryne wendtii brown which has perked up a bit.
My routine (just because i have nothing else to do when I come home ) currently with this tank is:
Every other day water changes about 20%. I do it during lights on. Tap the moss, disturb the dirt out & siphon the water out. Feeding just 2 pieces of algae wafers per day for the shrimps & Minnows. I crush the wafers with my fingers till they look like powder. I do the water change after feeds. I switch off the filter during feeding.
Remove any occasional dying leaf,...this doesn't happen much. Most leaves that are dying are old ones & I can see new growth here & there. lanceolata showing some new light green sprouts.
I think it's only wise to show monthly pic updates of this tank,other wise everyone's going to get bored with the same scene day in & day out unless of course there's some problem which i hope it doesn't happen.​


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## Tim Harrison

Anything new to report?


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## faizal

Troi said:


> Anything new to report?


 
 Hey Troi,...  I am so sorry for the sudden long silence,... Things had been kind of busy lately with family & work taking precedence over other matters. The tank's coming along so nicely,....& so slowly  . Not that I am complaining,...I love this pace. I finally get to enjoy the fishes & the shrimps. It has that slightly more matured look now,...though I think it's still at its "toddler" stage of life. I feel like I want to keep this little tank running forever.
It's so easy to manage. The shrimps have given off several new off springs. They still amaze me at how good they are when they suddenly go into hiding,...all at once. Then suddenly there they are scooting all about the tank  . It's such a joy to watch them.  Cute little fellas they are. I am so hooked onto low tech Troi.  Promise to load up some pics soon.

The scape looks pretty much the same ,....the plants seem to have grown a bit bigger though,..and it looks lovely

Take care


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## Tim Harrison

Glad you're still out there...The tank sounds like a microcosm of life in itself...looking forward to the pics.


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## Alastair

faizal said:


> Hey Troi,...  I am so sorry for the sudden long silence,... Things had been kind of busy lately with family & work taking precedence over other matters. The tank's coming along so nicely,....& so slowly  . Not that I am complaining,...I love this pace. I finally get to enjoy the fishes & the shrimps. It has that slightly more matured look now,...though I think it's still at its "toddler" stage of life. I feel like I want to keep this little tank running forever.
> It's so easy to manage. The shrimps have given off several new off springs. They still amaze me at how good they are when they suddenly go into hiding,...all at once. Then suddenly there they are scooting all about the tank  . It's such a joy to watch them.  Cute little fellas they are. I am so hooked onto low tech Troi.  Promise to load up some pics soon.
> 
> The scape looks pretty much the same ,....the plants seem to have grown a bit bigger though,..and it looks lovely
> 
> Take care



Nothing stopping you running it forever mate like you want to. It will be great to see how looks through its stages


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## Bufo Bill

I have been so inspired by this journal; your 'scape is superb Faizal, well done. Your hard work and disappointment in the very early stages were similar to things I tried out. Your style is unique on our site, you have a very good eye, and I am so glad you get so much pleasure from your hobby, you have certainly earned it, judging from your earliest posts. 
Congratulations from Bill.


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## tim

C'mon Faizal, give us an updated pic, good to see your still about mate


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## faizal

I am so so sorry guys,.... . I didn't mean to be so rude,...but it's just been crazy for me lately,....my next door neighbor was doing some big renovation & busted a concealed water pipeline in his house and our house being a terrace house ( we share a common wall),...the water started seeping into our home,...a nightmare to say the least,...finally got things under control.

Here's how it's looking now:


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## faizal

Troi said:


> Glad you're still out there...The tank sounds like a microcosm of life in itself...looking forward to the pics.


 
 Cheers Troi,...Yeah,...it's a shame that I am not able to get a decent picture of the shrimps,...they are all way too small to catch on my cell phone camera.
It's been a real pleasure with this tank,....so much less maintenance, I haven't dosed anything yet,.....I think I am pushing my luck a bit....I should start on some weekly dosing . Thanks for taking the interest mate.


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## Rich Jackson

This is the tank that has inspired me to get mine up and running low tech. I looks great. I must have read and re-read your journal a few times now!


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## faizal

Alastair said:


> Nothing stopping you running it forever mate like you want to. It will be great to see how looks through its stages


 
 Hey Al,...God !! I really missed everybody. I am so hooked onto low tech ,...!!! Thanks to your journals & Big Tom's. It's so much less things to fuss about,....more time spent on enjoying  the little fellas in the tank.


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## faizal

Bufo Bill said:


> I have been so inspired by this journal; your 'scape is superb Faizal, well done. Your hard work and disappointment in the very early stages were similar to things I tried out. Your style is unique on our site, you have a very good eye, and I am so glad you get so much pleasure from your hobby, you have certainly earned it, judging from your earliest posts.
> Congratulations from Bill.


 
I am just mind blown with your kind comment right now mate. Never thought I would hear someone say something that about old faizal's tank. So humbled . Thank you so much. The journey was made much easier by  Clive who first taught me the basics of underwater gardening 2.5 yrs ago,....then the immense support that I received from so many kind folks here.  They always make you feel like a part of the family ,,...even though I am actually thousands of kms away...


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## faizal

Rich Jackson said:


> This is the tank that has inspired me to get mine up and running low tech. I looks great. I must have read and re-read your journal a few times now!


  Cheers mate  ,.....thank you so much. It means a lot reading what you've typed down there. I hope you will get to enjoy a wonderful journey into non co2 tanks just as I have. Feel free to ask anything mate,....so many guys here who are artists in planted tank here. They take pride in helping anyone who is willing to listen & learn. Wishing you all the best into low tech adventure


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## faizal

I was at work when had I hastily uploaded that picture,... ,...here are a few more closer shots. Unfortunately they are not that super clear either because I am still taking these pictures with my cell phone. For what it's worth though,...

The right front corner where the anubias petite nanas are :






Most of the java moss that you saw earlier were apparently grown emmersed by the supplier,...& by the end of the 3rd month,...I came to accept the fact that the moss carpet was not going to come in as easy as peasy. So I removed them at got myself some submersed variety of java moss. The neat thing about these new ones were that the supplier actually tied them up on an aluminium mesh for me. So that was one less thing to worry about,..I then took out some neglected e.tenellus that were surviving in the holding tank for nearly 3 months, cleaned them up a little and sort of transferred them into this tank. I wish I had seen Mark Evan's new project earlier as I would have given the morimo balls a shot as a carpet plant,.... . Oh ,...there will always be another tank. Something for a little later maybe.





The picture below was taken to show the sorry state of my mini java fern,...I still suck at growing them This picture was taken after I had removed lots of dead leaves off them. This is the only plant that refuses to do well for me in this tank. I don't know why.





Most of the leaves on the anubias lanceolata though are all new. Doing very nicely this one.





So far I have been doing about 20-30% water change twice a week during lights on. I haven't exactly been religious on this either. I had on occasions missed out on a water change once every 3 weeks. I wave my hand over the substrate area that I wish to clean that day & do a light gravel vacuum without disturbing the substrate.

Filter cleaning ( I had to switch over to an old hang on back 2 months ago when my canister started leaking) is never vigorous & is done once in 3 weeks. I have some eheim like biological media ( I think they are China made ones) at the bottom most layer. Over this I have placed the white floss like wool loosely,..then comes the seachem purigen tied up in a nylon sock,..then another loose layer of white wool. Finally a coarse green wool.
On cleaning day, I basically take out the green & white wool layers,..run them over running tap water. I clean up the purigen with running tap water. Then once they look clean (when no further brownish goo comes out during washing under tap), I place them back in the hang on back filter. I never touch the biological layer. They are left submersed in filter water during the entire cleaning process. Fishes are still fed 2 pieces of crushed algae wafers every other day,...I switch off the filter during feeds for 5 minutes before restarting it.

Thank you so much for taking the time,... Hope the pictures have done you some justice.


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## faizal

tim said:


> C'mon Faizal, give us an updated pic, good to see your still about mate


Tim,..i am so sorry mate,...thought I had replied to this.It's good to be back. Looking forward to catching up with all your tanks in the next few days. I hope things are well with you & here's hoping you've enjoyed the progress of this tank as much as I have.


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## Alastair

Faizal whats the flow like near the mini fern???ive just finished stripping out the last of my plants and noticed out of all the ferns I had, the ones that had a steady gentle flow over them were really lush compared to the others


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## Tim Harrison

Hey Faizal thanks for the photos...and not before time I might add Hope your home has dried out. The tank is looking amazing, we've missed your contribution recently...I think you should make time for us in your diary from now on


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## faizal

Alastair said:


> Faizal whats the flow like near the mini fern???ive just finished stripping out the last of my plants and noticed out of all the ferns I had, the ones that had a steady gentle flow over them were really lush compared to the others


I am not really sure Al,...you've got a good point though. I am at work right now. I will go home and check up on it later tonight. I don't think there is much flow in that area. The water flow from the HOB filter is hitting the central front glass area ,...& reverting back ,...so i don't think there would be much of a flow where the mini ferns are placed.You might have just solved the problem there for me. I might move it to another area where there's good flow & leave it there for 3 weeks to see if it makes any difference. Good one Al,..cheers.


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## faizal

Troi said:


> Hey Faizal thanks for the photos...and not before time I might add Hope your home has dried out.


 
Hey Troi,... Yeah but the walls are still wet though. We had water coming out from our walls for nearly 2 months. We initially thought that the problem was our own,..but it later turned out to be my neighbor's. He was very apologetic & very obliging. The walls will require a fresh coat of paint next month when they have completely dried out.



Troi said:


> The tank is looking amazing, we've missed your contribution recently...I think you should make time for us in your diary from now on


 Cheers Troi. Awfully kind of you mate. I will make sure to do just that from now on,..
​


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## tim

Tanks looking good Faizal, I wouldn't change a thing  ( more frequent updates )


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## faizal

First sign of trouble in months. I have been getting some weird phenomenon here. I have been getting some whitish powdery like substance formation on the glass covering all sides everytime i do a 30 % weekly water change. Prior to the water change, the tank's spotless but as the photoperiod goes on,...a very mild powdery substance froms over the hardscapes & glass. It rubs off to moderate touch. Just imagine dumping a baby's talcum powder into the tank & how it might settle in,...that's how it looks. I have been dosing some old premixed KNO3 & KH2PO2 solution after the water change. The premixed bottle is clear without any residue. But that's the thing,...last night I had forgotten to dose till about an hour post WC but i still noticed the powder to form over the glass even before i dosed,....this morning i noticed it ever so slightly over the wood. Any idea as to what could be causing this?


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## faizal

At first I thought that it could be Green dust algae,...but isn't that supposed to green in colour? I do remove alot of mulm everytime i wave my hand over the substrate before siphoning it out during water changes,....i never do deep substrate vacuuming. Shrimp poo,...everywhere on the substrate. I also wash my white filter floss under tap & re use it. Could it be coming from the white filter floss,...its powdery though. It doesn't come off as easily as diatoms would but it isn't super hardly stuck to any glass or hardscape either


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## faizal

Hey everyone . So that whitish  powdery substance sort of sorted itself out by its own. I basically stopped doing the 20-30%  water changes & was just topping of evaporated water for about 2 weeks


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## faizal

It's going to complete it's 9th month of life by the end of this March. Quite chuffed with the way it's held up. Probably the only tank that has lasted for me this long so far.  I recently tied some morimo balls on to some of the lava rocks and now i have a carpet. Thank you Mark Evans for giving me the idea.

They are so easy to maintain. But then not all had been well. About 3 weeks ago i bought some anubias petite nanas & added them to the tank. I forgot to rinse them out properly,....& they must have had some residual pesticides in them because 2 days later i wiped out my entire shrimp population.. A hard lesson learned.

My fishes are fine though.






This is how it looks now,....i am thinking of adding some more plants later on because the background area kind of looks a bit empty.


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## faizal

This handsome fella is now dead,...






FTS


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## tim

Hi Faizal, sorry to hear about your shrimp mate, tanks looking lovely and healthy on the plant side though, lovely low tech scape.


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## Ady34

Yeah sorry to hear about the shrimp Faizal.
Tank is looking great though....slow and steady makes life easy


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## faizal

tim said:


> Hi Faizal, sorry to hear about your shrimp mate, tanks looking lovely and healthy on the plant side though, lovely low tech scape.


Thanks mate. Yeah i am not too proud of myself with regards to what i did to the shrimps. Still kicking myself over it at times. Anyways like i mentioned,...this is a big lesson for me on not taking things for granted. Tim,..how's your low tech experiment coming along? Looking forward for more updates.


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## faizal

Ady34 said:


> Tank is looking great though....slow and steady makes life easy



You are absolutely right there Ady. It's a real treat. The less i fiddle with it the more stable it appears to be. I am actually looking forward to keep this running for a long time. It really takes care of itself. Thanks for the kind comments mate. I can't wait to get a fresh batch of shrimps in another month's time. I am worried that if i add them in now,...the residual pesticides might still be there. The fishes seem ok. Thank God for that.


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## Bufo Bill

Sorry to hear the bad news. On the other hand the tank is looking great, also your plants look so healthy, which is a key part of your very distinctive style. This distinctive style of yours makes your tank one of the easiest for me to identify who made and maintains it, and looks so much better than many of the Japanese style 'scapes which use up a great deal more time and resources.


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## faizal

Bufo Bill said:


> Sorry to hear the bad news. On the other hand the tank is looking great, also your plants look so healthy, which is a key part of your very distinctive style. This distinctive style of yours makes your tank one of the easiest for me to identify who made and maintains it, and looks so much better than many of the Japanese style 'scapes which use up a great deal more time and resources.


Bill,...truly humbled & thank you mate & this is saying the least. Actually i never thought i had a style in the first place,... . I am actually bumming off ideas from others shamelessly.Thank you again for taking the time to read this journal. Hope your tank is ticking along nicely. Clive if you are reading this,...thanks for getting me here.


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## tim

faizal said:


> Thanks mate. Yeah i am not too proud of myself with regards to what i did to the shrimps. Still kicking myself over it at times. Anyways like i mentioned,...this is a big lesson for me on not taking things for granted. Tim,..how's your low tech experiment coming along? Looking forward for more updates.


Don't be too hard on yourself mate mistakes happen, add the new shrimp slowly just to be sure there are no residual pesticides left, don't know if maybe carbon in the filter for a while may help, low techs going well I'm away from home other than weekends at the moment I'll try and get a pic up next weekend.


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## faizal

tim said:


> I'm away from home other than weekends at the moment I'll try and get a pic up next weekend.


No problem Tim. Take your own time mate. Looking forward to it nevertheless.


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## Tim Harrison

Looking very clean and healthy. And how come you haven't got any GSA on you anubias? I've got loads, unfortunately.


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## faizal

Troi said:


> Looking very clean and healthy. And how come you haven't got any GSA on you anubias? I've got loads, unfortunately.


Cheers Troi,... I am not sure really. Maybe because my lights are only on for 3 hours ?

Maybe it's because the T8 tube is not placed directly at the centre of the tank too. I moved it to the back so it runs horizontally along the length of the tank exactly above that right focal crypt wendtii brown. So the anubias are not directly below the light source.

To be totally honest though,.. I haven't the slightest clue but I did keep getting some kind of white powdery stuff on hardscapes & glass after each light substrate vacuuming & about 20-30% water change. It used to come on so acutely y'know.. I mean the tank would be crystal clear when i go to sleep then i wake up to so much white powder in the tank. Came off rather easily when i used a toothbrush to remove it. Then i just stopped doing water changes for 2 weeks & things became crystal clear again. I did remove my purigen filled sock about a month ago. Never had that problem when the purigen was in.


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## Tim Harrison

Ah...3 hrs light, that'll be it then...
Mysterious white power though Some sort of precipitate from the water...CaCO3?


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## Thom_Hardy

Having a lo-tech tank myself I have been slowly building up a collection of high-tech gear ready to go over to the pressurised world, but this tank has genuinely got me thinking otherwise! Such a beautiful scape! 

Sent from my GT-I9195 using Tapatalk


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## faizal

Troi said:


> Ah...3 hrs light, that'll be it then...
> Mysterious white power though Some sort of precipitate from the water...CaCO3?



Troi,..i have some crushed coral sand mixed into the bottom layer of the substrate beneath the gravel tidy !! Could this have caused it?


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## faizal

Thom_Hardy said:


> Having a lo-tech tank myself I have been slowly building up a collection of high-tech gear ready to go over to the pressurised world, but this tank has genuinely got me thinking otherwise! Such a beautiful scape!
> 
> Sent from my GT-I9195 using Tapatalk



Thom,... Thank you so much mate. You have no idea how wonderful it feels to get such kind comments from UKAPS members. And to think,...about 2 years ago i was successfully frying my plants to bits.


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## Tim Harrison

faizal said:


> Troi,..i have some crushed coral sand mixed into the bottom layer of the substrate beneath the gravel tidy !! Could this have caused it?



Now you tell me It could have done I suppose..I think you need the services of a forensic scientist


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## faizal

Troi said:


> Now you tell me It could have done I suppose..I think you need the services of a forensic scientist



 Yeah,...it only struck me when you mentioned CaCO3 .


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## faizal

It's nothing much really and i am just adding this to journal for update sake but i had added some anubias petite nanas & some cryptocoryne ciliata to cover the empty looking background areas last week. You can't really appreciate the crypts in these photos though.


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## tim

This is a real beauty Faizal, so clean and healthy, really nice low tech.


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## faizal

tim said:


> This is a real beauty Faizal, so clean and healthy, really nice low tech.



Tim,........hey!!! Cheers mate, ....but just like you had mentioned on an earlier post,....i wish it was bigger.


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## Greenfinger2

Hi Faizal,Great journal  Congrats on a Fantastic" Low Tech Aquascape " Sorry to hear about the shrimp


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## faizal

Greenfinger2 said:


> Hi Faizal,Great journal  Congrats on a Fantastic" Low Tech Aquascape " Sorry to hear about the shrimp



Cheers Roy. Too kind mate. Thank you very much for reading the journal.


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## Ravenswing

That moss ball lawn around Crypt is absolutely cute! Great idea!


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## faizal

Ravenswing said:


> That moss ball lawn around Crypt is absolutely cute! Great idea!


Cheers mate. I got the idea from Mr Mark Evans who made a journal called Convalescence here on UKAPS. The idea never even remotely occurred to me before reading his journal.
Here's the link :
http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/mark-evans-120-x-55-x-55cm-convalescence-the-joy-of-shrimp.29444/

He is a legend to say the least.


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## faizal

Hi....I am sorry that i have been away for awhile ..work and family matters had taken precedence over many things lately....this little tank should be approaching its 2nd year very soon. I am quite chuffed with the way it has handled my utter neglect...






I also added a few crypts and a mini bolbitis...i hope the bolbitis makes it through.... lovely little leaves..very suitable for little tanks.


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## faizal

Hi....I am sorry that i have been away for awhile ..work and family matters had taken precedence over many things lately....this little tank should be approaching its 2nd year very soon. I am quite chuffed with the way it has handled my utter neglect...





I also added a few crypts and a mini bolbitis...i hope the bolbitis makes it through.... lovely little leaves..very suitable for little tanks.


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## faizal

Opss. Sorry double post. Fat fingers & smart phones...


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## Tim Harrison

About time too, it been nearly a year since your last update...The tank is looking awesome


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## kirk

Yes looking good.


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## Greenfinger2

Welcome back  Looking good


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## faizal

Troi said:


> About time too, it been nearly a year since your last update...The tank is looking awesome



I am really sorry Troi for not being so regular on my updates....its just that i sort of went through a dormant period with my tank....i have truly neglected this tank in the last one year...quite a bit of the anubias melted initially though the lighting over this tank had just been 3 hrs a day since its start up. Ffortunately it had been very forgiving as most other plants were doing okay...  Its amazing Troi....the time that it allows you to simply enjoy it as opposed to the time spent on maintaining it...a truly low energy set up. And now I seem to have caught the bug again...so looking forward to put in more updates..


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## faizal

kirk said:


> Yes looking good.


Cheers mate. Too kind of you...thank you for checking out my snail paced journal . I will post up more pictures soon. My lap top went down on me sometime back and i am struggling with this phone of mine ....i am just not cut out for modern technologies . The key pads are so sensitive...lol


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## faizal

Greenfinger2 said:


> Welcome back  Looking good


Thank you so much for the warm words and welcome mate....looking forward to spending more time with my ukaps family now


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## faizal




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## faizal

Some close ups of my favourate areas of the tank.


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## faizal

I need to do something about that wire mesh that is sticking out beneath the mini bolbitis...i dont want it hurting any of my little fishes...


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## Tim Harrison

faizal said:


> ...And now I seem to have caught the bug again...so looking forward to put in more updates..


I'll hold you to that...


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## Kevin Wilson

Hey folks, Only set my tank up last week so still cycling at the moment, most of the plants are looking ok but the Anubias Lanceolata is turning brown at the bottom where the stock is.


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