Packers
Seedling
- Joined
- 2 Sep 2011
- Messages
- 21
Hello, I am new to UKAPS and fairly new to planted tanks.
I currently have two tanks, a 25l tank with some pygmy puffer fish and a 90l tank (with lots of other fish!) I decided a while ago that the 95l tank needed a re-scape, and the fish I am keeping would probably be happier with the little shy celestial pearl danios (or galaxy rasboras depending on which source you read) in one tank and the more boisterous rainbow fish in another tank. So I now have a 60l tank too! I need to move my 95l tank from its current location in the kitchen to the living room, and replace it with the smaller tank, so this is an opportunity to re-scape and rejuvenate that tank too. My 95l tank was my first foray in the world of planted tanks and it is a bit naff. I didn't know much when I started and I underplanted it, I didn't think very hard about the hardscape and I knew nothing about flow, lighting, CO2 and fertilisers. To be honest I am still very much finding my feet with this stuff!
These are my tanks at the moment (sorry for the quality of the pictures, I need to get some practice at taking aquarium shots):
95l after 1 year - a feast of green beard and black beard algae!
25l tank with pygmy puffer fish 3 weeks after re-planting (I noticed while loading this that if you look closely in the background you can see my laptop has UKAPS forum on the screen! This is just one small indication of how much aquariums have taken over my life at the moment!)
From what I have read in the past few months, I am starting my second week of dosing EasyCarbo and Aquarium Plant Food UK's EI starter kit, and I think the algae has started to reduce a bit, certainly the green beard algae has reduced. I can't afford a good pressurised CO2 set, so at the moment I have two nutrafin yeast-based CO2 sets. I alternate changing the yeast mixture on one of the units every week. As you can see I currently have internals in these tanks, but I am maturing a Dennerle external filter on the bigger tank at the moment, which will go on the 60l tank along with a koralia powerhead. I've also got an Eheim professional 3 250 ready and waiting to go on the 95l tank (I will transfer the media from the current internal during the big move), and a hydor external filter on the way.
I plan to run these tanks as medium light tanks, with 2 T8 15w tubes on the 60l and 2 T8 20w tubes on the 95l both with reflectors inside the hoods.
So, going from the 95l which has been a bit of an algae magnet (on one 20w T8 tube, little/no ferts) to two new aquascapes feels like a bit of scary leap!
I'm using a substrate of colombo flora base and sand in both tanks. I plan to do the big move and replant hopefully over one day, sharing the old substrate across the two tanks and adding some new to try to preserve my helpful bacteria load as much as possible.
The 60l will have a dragon stone hardscape, with a small beach area of sand at the front and going up between the two main rock groups.
Potential dragon stone positioning
The 95l will have a sumatra drift-wood hardscape, I haven't got a picture of it yet, but the plan is to have the wood looking like it is roots coming down from above, with an area of sand in the middle (but not exactly the middle). The plants will be mainly vallis, crypts, ferns and moss.
One question I do have is this: has anyone had any problems with fish health/stress when increasing the dosing of EasyCarbo and EI fertilisers? Should I be gradually increasing the amounts as these fish have not been exposed to these substances in large amounts before?
Sorry for the incredibly long post - thank you for reading. Any comments or tips would be very much appreciated!
I currently have two tanks, a 25l tank with some pygmy puffer fish and a 90l tank (with lots of other fish!) I decided a while ago that the 95l tank needed a re-scape, and the fish I am keeping would probably be happier with the little shy celestial pearl danios (or galaxy rasboras depending on which source you read) in one tank and the more boisterous rainbow fish in another tank. So I now have a 60l tank too! I need to move my 95l tank from its current location in the kitchen to the living room, and replace it with the smaller tank, so this is an opportunity to re-scape and rejuvenate that tank too. My 95l tank was my first foray in the world of planted tanks and it is a bit naff. I didn't know much when I started and I underplanted it, I didn't think very hard about the hardscape and I knew nothing about flow, lighting, CO2 and fertilisers. To be honest I am still very much finding my feet with this stuff!
These are my tanks at the moment (sorry for the quality of the pictures, I need to get some practice at taking aquarium shots):
95l after 1 year - a feast of green beard and black beard algae!
![img5714j.jpg](/forum/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fimg23.imageshack.us%2Fimg23%2F2649%2Fimg5714j.jpg&hash=05f9f519cc3b3b7ad8f648292e8ffbf8)
25l tank with pygmy puffer fish 3 weeks after re-planting (I noticed while loading this that if you look closely in the background you can see my laptop has UKAPS forum on the screen! This is just one small indication of how much aquariums have taken over my life at the moment!)
![imag0444m.jpg](/forum/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fimg52.imageshack.us%2Fimg52%2F1723%2Fimag0444m.jpg&hash=7610cba13d6312c4ae77abbbf848ef6e)
From what I have read in the past few months, I am starting my second week of dosing EasyCarbo and Aquarium Plant Food UK's EI starter kit, and I think the algae has started to reduce a bit, certainly the green beard algae has reduced. I can't afford a good pressurised CO2 set, so at the moment I have two nutrafin yeast-based CO2 sets. I alternate changing the yeast mixture on one of the units every week. As you can see I currently have internals in these tanks, but I am maturing a Dennerle external filter on the bigger tank at the moment, which will go on the 60l tank along with a koralia powerhead. I've also got an Eheim professional 3 250 ready and waiting to go on the 95l tank (I will transfer the media from the current internal during the big move), and a hydor external filter on the way.
I plan to run these tanks as medium light tanks, with 2 T8 15w tubes on the 60l and 2 T8 20w tubes on the 95l both with reflectors inside the hoods.
So, going from the 95l which has been a bit of an algae magnet (on one 20w T8 tube, little/no ferts) to two new aquascapes feels like a bit of scary leap!
I'm using a substrate of colombo flora base and sand in both tanks. I plan to do the big move and replant hopefully over one day, sharing the old substrate across the two tanks and adding some new to try to preserve my helpful bacteria load as much as possible.
The 60l will have a dragon stone hardscape, with a small beach area of sand at the front and going up between the two main rock groups.
Potential dragon stone positioning
![img5691m.jpg](/forum/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fimg706.imageshack.us%2Fimg706%2F7963%2Fimg5691m.jpg&hash=4c7a953f60dcb499820dbf80581427b0)
The 95l will have a sumatra drift-wood hardscape, I haven't got a picture of it yet, but the plan is to have the wood looking like it is roots coming down from above, with an area of sand in the middle (but not exactly the middle). The plants will be mainly vallis, crypts, ferns and moss.
One question I do have is this: has anyone had any problems with fish health/stress when increasing the dosing of EasyCarbo and EI fertilisers? Should I be gradually increasing the amounts as these fish have not been exposed to these substances in large amounts before?
Sorry for the incredibly long post - thank you for reading. Any comments or tips would be very much appreciated!