New tank advice

[Cheltster]

Hi guys,

My Chihiros A601 finally arrived. Box was squished but I've checked the light and it's working. I then went out and bought a 2ft Hugo Kamishi tank.

This is the plan: I've got the variable height light bracket. Was going to set it as high as I can with the light on setting 2 of 7. This should give me around 1600 lumens. On full power the light is 5800 lumen. Using the Tropica lighting guide, I want no more than 25 lumens per litre for low medium and the tank is 60 litres. I know Par is the measurement I need but I don't have the funds to buy a PAR meter for a one off use. The tank is 15" tall and the light will be maybe 4 inches above that so around 17 inches above substrate.

Plants wise I have vallis, rotala rotundifolia, java fern, an anubia, bacopa Carolina, pond weed, wisteria, ludwigia repens x articular and salvinia choking out my 20 litre bowl. I have further rotala and ludwigia in a propagator.

I was planning on using aquatic compost with 2-3 mm blasting sand. I have an all pond solutions ef150 plus an old interpret pf2 to help boost flow.

I dose macros from powders twice a week, potassium nitrate and potassium mono phosphate. For micros I use profito as it advises. Plus easy carbo as advised.

Stock wise it will have a small group of neon eventually, maybe some cherry shrimp if I can get them, nerites and Otos.

I'm not planning on adding Co2. I'm aiming for a mid level of input. I can do the dosing but not sure I can commit to the hours of trimming and stuff that you apparently have to do. Currently I collect water in a covered rain butt that was cleaned out in August. I change 50 % weekly. Siphon the gravel and trim. Clean the filter every fortnight. Lights on for 8 hrs in a split photoperiod so I can see it morning and night.

I'm after any advice or experience you guys have had with similar equipment and setups.

I know Darrel dw1305 in particular has used Chihiros lights and uses rainwater in two foot tanks. I'm happy to drop the easy carbo but it is supposed to keep the algae at bay, not that I've noticed on my bowl. It was overrun after holiday when a neighbour 'looked after it' still have some green fuzz on the vallis mainly and older leaves further from the light towards the bottom of the tank.

I have read extensively around this site but I'm open to advice and suggestions if you have any.

Apologies for monster post. I'm just really into this and want to get it spot on.

 

[Cheltster]

Well I've ordered the blasting media and it is due to be delivered tomorrow so I can actually set up my tank. Gonna go with my setup outlined above and I'll take photos and do a journal.

Following @dw1305 advice I removed the floss from my cannister, which has improved the flow.

Thank you

 

[alto]

Why blasting sand?
rather than an aquarium product such as Hugo Kamishi gravel/sand ... sounds like you have a 60cm tank so I’m assuming gravel/sand cost won’t be considerable either way

Blasting sand can be a challenge re compaction is generally greater than with aquarium marketed products and occasionally may contribute to toxic tank syndrome (livestock fails to thrive or dies) as composition varies, it’s often “sharper” grit so can be an issue with any substrate sifters, also poorer plant root development

 

[Cheltster]

Thanks for getting back to me. I went with this as I like the look, seems like lots of people have used it and it's cheap. Wish you had got back to me sooner but nevermind. I went for the course grained 2-3 mm. I haven't planned to get any substrate shifters so hopefully that won't be an issue.

 

[Mihai Varban]

All setups are different. I recommend patience and logging activities. If you're using soil capped with gravel, you have a good candidate for a dry start, but you seem to have plants available to you. Thing is, you have amix of low/high light plants. Make sure low light plants like anubias stay in the shade or else GSA on leaves. Embrace your tap water if you don't have steady access to RO/DI water (that you can remineralize) oror CLE unpolluted rain water. Test your stock water and if it's hard, stick to hardwater plants and fish and viceversa. Neons and CS need soft water. Some substrates claim they soften water and they do for a few months, then they don't. Don't bother with par and lumens, just raise and lower light until everything is happy. Don't change many things at once because if it has desired or undesired effects, it might be hard to tell what did it. In the beginning, don't be afraid of underfiltering. A strong filter may outcompete your plants for ammonia and nitrites. Aquatic plants go throuth a lot of trouble to metabolize nitrates, so before you add inverts and fish, a medium flow is sufficient. The biological filtration will be done by all surfaces, including glass, hardscape, plants and substrate as well as filter media, so there is a lot of buffer. Add fish in small gorups to give bacteria time to develop and pick up the slack. When you're seeing high ammonia and nitrites you got too many fish for your plants AND filter. When you see high nitrates but 0 ammonia and nitrite, you got too many fish for your plants but filter is alright. Only floating plants and plants that pop above the water surface with emersed leaves will put a dent in nitrates, as well as certain filter media that can house dinitrifying bacteria. To get anaerobic denitrification, it may take up to 6 months for media to mature. So again, patience, logging, reading, asking and more patience. Good luck!