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Jim's 450 litre 4x2x2 - revamp

J

Jim

Member
Joined
22 Jul 2011
Messages
73
Location
New South Wales Australia
I pulled down my planted tank that I set up in 2007 recently and made it an easy care fish only tank, gave all my plants away (the tank had become almost impenetrable wall to wall C.balansae) in preperation for some extended travelling around Australia for my wife and I. Well circumstances have changed (we've become first time Grandparents) and it's now being set up again as a planted tank. So the Co2 has been dusted off etc and all re-connected. The only thing that I haven't re-installed this time is the Red Sea under substrate heating cable I don't think that the pay off for the cost of electricity running it actually was worth it.

Tank: 4x2x2 10mm standard glass, braced tank (I'd love an unbraced tank!).

Substrate: Plain inert gravel thats now over 4 years old and full of mulm, DIY iron rich clay balls and Seachem root tabs.

Fertilizer regime is EI -

4.5x teaspoons of KNO3
3x teaspoons of KH2PO4
Dissolved in 140mils of distilled water and dosed 20mils per day and 10mils per day of Seachem Flourish and either Seachem Iron or DIY iron mix 2x times per week and Seachem Trace mix 2x per week.
(I have a 13% Chelated Iron and SimpleGrow Trace Mix and also PMDD crystals)
I have very soft water so I do add Calcium Sulphate and Magnesium on water change times.

Also for the first time I have used Osmocote 'ice cubes'.

CO2 is administered via a Dupla regulator, Dupla Magnetic Solenoid, Dupla bubble counter, Dupla Reaktor 400, Dupla Drop Checker and a BOC 'D' size 6kg cylinder and a high bubble count.

Lighting: Aquamedic Aquaspacelight 2 x 150w 10,000k metal halide lighting unit. I made a timber shroud around the spacelight and it makes it much nicer cutting down any escaping glare.

Filtration: 4 x Eheim 2217 canister filters. One returning through a spray bar and the other through a curved return pipe.

Heater is a 300watt Eheim.

60% - 70% water changes 2x per week, in winter I heat the water in a barrel (4x 300w heaters and an Aquaclear powerhead) with some Prime added, in Summer it's straight out of the garden hose and Prime added to the tank.

Initial setup 26th July 2011 -

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My plant list -

Bacopa sp Japan
Cardamine lyrata
Crypt "Undulatas"
Crypt wendtii "Brown"
Crypt Balansae
Limnophila aromatic
Heteranthera zosterifolia
Micranthemum umbrosum
Rotala rotundifolia
Ludwigia arcuata
Hygrophila polysperma "Sunset"
Hygrophila polysperma
Hygrophila difformis
Ambulia aka Limnophila sessiliflora
Glossostigma elatinoides
Helanthium tenellum "Micro"
Lilaeopsis brasiliensis
Pogostemon helferi
Riccia fluitans
Staurogyne
Ranunculus inundates
Microsorum pteropus
Microsorum pteropus needle leaf
Echinodorus gracilis
Echinodorus quadricostatus
Echinodorus latifolius
Nymphaea lotus Red Tiger Lotus
Java Moss



I suppose I'm guilty of collectoritis.
 
On the 2nd of August 2011 I moved out some DW and did some harsh pruning and replanting as there were heaps of stems hitting the surface and trailing across, it's starting to bush out slowly and the basis of the jungle is in there somewhere :)


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Ten days later the plants are starting to move along -

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Beefingup the original 2x Eheim 2217's up to 4 has been a big improvement in my tank. I'm using the fishtail returns on all of them. The water movement is now excellent in the tank and approaching 10x turnover and all my plants are swaying nicely. CO2 is circulating everywhere better now as plants that didn't get a lot of flow before and didn't pearl are now pearling.
 
I've been very happy with the progress of this tank in such a short amount of time. Lots of hard pruning to shape it should hopefully stop it from becoming to overgrown.

Thanks for looking at my tank journal :)
 
Hey Jim, this is looking great and very healthy! Well done. It's nice to see photos of of under the aquarium too, so we can see what makes a tank like this work, I will be watching this progress :thumbup:
 
Thanks for the feedback, great to get :)

I've always wished for the aquascaping skills that I see so many others posess. So this time I am really going to try and trim and cut back and shape as much as possible.
 
Well done!! Also admire the way you set up that unit! Great job on both tank and unit.
 
Great thread, very interesting when you get to see the whole picture of how the tank works & exactly how it looks.
Lots of info in the text too, 300w of MH might scare a few folk but it goes to show if everything is in harmony just how effective high lighting can be!
 
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