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Glide

Wolf6

Wolf6

Member
Joined
18 Dec 2014
Messages
958
Location
Netherlands
After the decision was made to make my nano Reditus come to a close, I ordered a custom tank sized 73x42x28 cm, a wide shallow tank that neatly fits the available space & holds 80 liters. Truth be told, its not the best piece of work but its opti white and 10mm thick glass. and a bargain price, so I'm not complaining too much.
The plan is the following. I want to create a hillstream tank with a sort of circulair design, with high flow going around the outsides of the tank, and a calmer center part with more plants where fish and shrimp can catch a breather, hence the name 'glide' which is a calmer part in a stream. I'll be using a few large river rocks and some driftwood to create this area in the middle. At the back of the tank I'd like some plants growing out of the water, like pogostemon erectus. Fishwise I want white cloud minnows and hillstream loaches that prefer lower temperatures. I'm open for more suggestions! Aside from that, I'll move my shrimp taiwan bee population into this tank as well. I've read several accounts that shrimp actually like fast flowing waters :)

So aside from the optic white tank, I'll use the following tech:

Lights: 1 Lominie spotlight and a 60cm daytime led with 2 clusters - I'm aiming to get some shimmer this time!
Heating: tetra internal heater, set to 19c
CO2: Dennerle Co2 set with disposable cannisters, using a diffuser in the tank. Aiming for lower Co2 levels then regular high tech(15-20)
Filter: JBL greenline 901, using a lily pipe for more flow
Misc: Twinstar nano, eheim skimmer (for skimming and extra flow)
Soil: Tropica soil, sand, various sizes of grit

Pics coming soon.
 
Hmm. I like everything I read but I think its a good idea to (and we as a hobby) think about flow a little differently or more specifically.

I say this because using a lily (unless using a jet pipe) won’t give you more flow. But then what to we mean by that? You can’t really buy more lph by using a lily but we call that flow. A lily pipe usually gives less flow, because they lower pressure and velocity.
And we call a higher velocity of water movement more flow so more likely to move more water. But is it really? You can move water around more with a jet pipe or by using a higher turnover pump.

When we’re talking hill streams what we want is a higher velocity.

When we say there’s not enough flow and that’s causing algae what we’re really saying is that the water movement is insufficient to deliver the nutrients as required.

But of course, I could be talking total nonsense and trying to rationalise my drivel for saying don’t use a lily pipe just use an eheim crook.
 
I get what you are saying, no worries, and you might be right. I have one of those eheim things too so can try what better achieves what I have in mind. Its more a directional force with all the water moving then something that blows the fish out of the water sort of idea :) Point is mostly that I cant use a spray bar in this setup. I will have the filter outflow front right aimed at the left, the skimmer back left pointed at filter inlet at the back right.
The picture is just for reference, I still need to get some pieces of drift wood to build around, but should help with the idea. Behind the large rocks there is still about 8cm space before the glass to allow the circular flow (and plants of course :))
20211025_191303.jpg
 
Having seen Gastromyzons in the wild (some pictures in Biotope Inspiration) I don't think you can give them to much flow, short of tilting the tank 90 degrees and blasting them with the garden hose... I haven't kept white clouds (yet), but from what I've read they are tougher than they look, so I would consider trying to hide a power head or two in the back right hand corner to give you some extra flow for when the plants have grown in.
 
I found some wood that looks like it matches my plans and did a few test setups, none of which I particularly love but time is becoming a factor, so I think I am settling for this one. I'll start with the top down view as it gives the best idea of my idea of the calmer area in the middle.
test glide3.jpg

Front shots, sorry for reflections and all.
test glide2.jpg

test glide.jpg

The rock placement on the left side will still change a bit when the tank is put into its place and sand/soil are added as they feel like a lose collection of rocks instead of natural, but this is the general idea. Behind the standing stone in the middle is still about 7 cm of space for plants and water to pass through to complete the circular flow. The plan is to do sort of an opposite-dark start. Put tank into place, put hardscape and soil + some sand in , and fill it, then blast it with lights on full for a week or more to get algae growing, ferts + no water changes, then set lights to normal levels, add co2, do a 80% or so water change, add the rest of the sand and grit, plant it up with the plants I have in mind, let it mature for 2 more weeks with regular 50% water changes and then add livestock (shrimp only at first, then the white clouds and once I see sufficient algae the gastros). Now I just need to find a way to tell algae to only grow on wood and rocks and not on my plants ;)
Plant list:
eleocharis parvula
blyxa japonica
fissidens miroshaki
fissidens fox
fissidens fontanus
fontinalis
anubias nana
Buce brownie helena
vallisneria nana or spiralis straight
pogostemon erectus
Hygrophila araguaia
Ludwigia red
Hemianthus micranthemoides
HC

In the top view it would look like this:
glide layout.jpg

Filter outlet will be at the front above the HC on the right, the skimmer will be top left and blow over the pearl weed at the back. If the flow is too low I might add a powerhead somewhere, but will see how it goes without. Skimmer set to full force and a 900l/hour filter should already give quite a bit of water movement in an 80 liter shallow I feel.
 
I think I’d use hairgrass and hc where you have araguia or all three with hints of colour from the h.a.

Either way I think it looks real nice and the planting plan looks spot on.
 
Really fun project!

Your White Clouds will breed regularly if you provide them with a "mop". Mine like java fern to breed in. They live with Hillstream Loaches in an unheated tank. I'm planning on adding Stiphondon gobies.

I've read that White Clouds were once called poor-man's neon. When they are young they are blue like neons.
 
kayjo said:
Really fun project!

Your White Clouds will breed regularly if you provide them with a "mop". Mine like java fern to breed in. They live with Hillstream Loaches in an unheated tank. I'm planning on adding Stiphondon gobies.

I've read that White Clouds were once called poor-man's neon. When they are young they are blue like neons.
Click to expand...
Do you have some pictures or a journal for reference? :) how much flow do you provide for them? 'Mop'wise I'm hoping the large section of fissidens fontanus can play the part!
 
The lights are off on the tank at the moment. I'll dig up some pics and post them.
At one point the java fern was taking over so I removed it. They've bred very little since then.
 
This tank was made from an ExoTerra terrarium. Every piece of glass was broken except for one door when it arrived. All the plastic framing was good, so I got a refund and then replaced all the glass. I increased the bottom front panel height so it would hold more water. My plan was to have a planted drip-wall on 3 sides above the water with an eight inches of water below. The footprint is 24" x 18" (61cm x 46). It holds 10 gal US after the hardscape is in.

There is a tower in the back left that holds a Sicce 1.0 pump which is rated for 950L/hr. I have split the pump output between the tank and the wall. It pumps water to the top of the wall and it trickles back down. My idea was that this trickling water would be oxygenated as it made it's way back to the tank. In the back right corner there is a sponge filter that is the return to the pump.

Empty tank showing the pump tower and the drip plumbing at top of walls. At the borrom of tower
IMG_3156.JPG
 

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This tank was made from an ExoTerra terrarium. Every piece of glass was broken except for one door when it arrived. All the plastic framing was good, so I got a refund and then replaced all the glass. I increased the bottom front panel height so it would hold more water. My plan was to have a planted drip-wall on 3 sides above the water with an eight inches of water below. The footprint is 24" x 18" (61cm x 46). It holds 10 gal US after the hardscape is in.

There is a tower in the back left that holds a Sicce 1.0 pump which is rated for 950L/hr. I have split the pump output between the tank and the wall. It pumps water to the top of the wall and it trickles back down. My idea was that this trickling water would be oxygenated as it made it's way back to the tank. In the back right corner there is a sponge filter that is the return to the pump.

Empty tank showing the pump tower and the drip plumbing at top of walls. At the bottom of tower you can see where the pump exits into the tank. In the 2nd picture the wall substrate is in and I'm starting to figure out the plant layout. The filter sponge and teturn plumping can be seen at bottom. 3rd picture is after starting . I used moss slurry on the walls as well. 4th picture is of loaches hanging out by the outlet (the rocks are covered in algae etc. now). Final pic was taken today.
 
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kayjo said:
Here are the last 3
Click to expand...
Very nice! I am looking to make mine a bit more planted, mostly for myself I know since the fish wont care, but I love river rock and the natural feel of it and those will be the dominant aspect of my tank too.

So instead of getting a plastic container to house my shrimp I just decided to set up a nano tank dedicated to them :facepalm: Ordered a dennerle 20l cube, its arriving tomorrow or the day after, I'll set it up using tank water and soil from the old tank, then move the fish into my main tank, the shrimp into the nano and put 'glide' into place. In short, my solution to moving the tank was to get another tank. I dont see a problem though :)
 
Glide is up, no plants yet and full lights to get some algae going. Will probably have to plant tomorrownight or sunday to keep the plants healthy. Circular flow is working as I hoped but will still get that powerhead once plants are rooted as its not enough :) still cloudy atm but should clear up fast now.
20211119_215133.jpg
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20211120_002155.jpg
 
Could it be an idea to run low on phosphates and full on everything else intentionally, to culture green spot algae over other kinds?
Green spot etc looks so much better than BBA. Just a random idea that came to me.
Really looking forward to seeing how this journal develops!
 
I am going to be dosing lean-ish using tropica specialised, that should already give some gsa and gda after a while (at least in my previous tank) as long as I keep co2 down to 20. I may try your idea if that doesnt work out. I agree that bba looks hideous so wont actively try to grow that :) water clearing up, lights have been on all night.
20211120_141122.jpg
 
You got me reading about red algaes now after browsing through the thread.
I just discovered the freshwater red and corraline algaes we encounter actually make use of bicarbonates as their carbon source and not co2 which makes sense as ive had red spots, and my tanks are always pretty high in hardness as my tap is 360ppm.
955997-a10e7d8b55a42583c6b083f9415d5a4c.jpg

they are actually really quite pretty.
it's an interesting idea pre-growing algal colonies then planting after, i'm curious to see how it pans out, it makes sense in my mind because you are adding fixed algal communities and also then removing free-floating flagellates and spores by doing a large reset waterchange then planting and adding co2 injection.
I really like the idea of a circular flow around an island, i've seen it on a reef tank in a tube with a liverock tower up the middle stocked with a school of yellow lined snappers.
 
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