5678
Member
Hello,
First post on the forum and probably a familiar tale to tell!
I used to keep fish some 20 years ago in my teens, got older, got married, etc etc, and now finally got the OK from the wife to have a tank again.
I got a bit carried away and rushed into getting going. I had to buy a tank which passed the wife test. So purchased a second hand Askoll Pure M. It's small, but cosmetically it passed the test. This, I realise, it the first thing I did wrong!
I had seen images of lush green tanks and was sure that's what I wanted. The more I've read up on things, the more I've realised that I need substantially different equipment to what I had just bought!
The "As is..."
The first thing I did was junk the internal filter and switched to a JBL i80. I have also changed the bulb to an Aqua One sunlight/tropical mix (PL18W) My main issue with the lighting is that it is off centre and not evenly distributing light across the tank. The tank is in a corner and viewed from two sides which makes this even more annoying. It also seems to affect plant growth as plants furthers from the light are growing more slowly.
I have JBL Manado as my substrate but annoyingly no nutrient layer below (bad advice from LFS.)
I am using TNC Complete, TNC Root tabs and Liquid Carbon and have the light on for 5 hours a day.
The tank is planted with:
- Eleocharis parvula
- Penthorum sedoides
- Limnophila hippuridoides
(All inspired by an example I saw on the Tropica site)
Generally, these are doing well, I was hit initially by some algae, but reducing the light period and using the ferts seems to have helped this. Some of the Penthorum sedoides seem to struggle but I am removing any stems that seem to be losing their leaves.
The "Re-Planning"
As per the title, I'm now starting to re think my set up and how I can improve it to get what I want. Having learnt about the high tech approach, I think this is the way I will end up going, unless you can help save my wallet and tweak what I have to get a more satisfying result.
Firstly, the tank itself. It is approx 30x30x40, the space I have available would allow something up to 40x40 or at a push 50x50. I am looking at square footprints due to the viewing from two angles and corner placement. This does not seem easy to find though. The best option I have found so far is the Eheim Scubacube range.
Whilst the 64 litre would be ideal, it snags on my next requirement... A tank lid! The 125 litre has a lid, but at 50x50 it's going to struggle on the wife test.
I have two young children and whilst they are very good with leaving the tank alone, the risk of not having a lid is too high.
Then I'm on to the Filtration. To maximise space in my current tank, I am looking at moving to an external filter and heater. Most likely a JBL e701 or e901 (to future proof) or an Eheim Pro3 250. For the heater, I am not sure, need to research more.
To fit this to the current tank I would need to modify the lid for the pipes which I'd like to avoid, but needs must if I retain this tank.
Lighting, I have looked into this, but upgrading the lighting in my current tank seems to be a non-starter. Because of the requirement to keep the lid, swapping to an over head LED is not possible. I could try hacking a DIY effort into the lid, but this seems a bad way of doing it.
CO2, I need to read up on this more. One of the systems from CO2Art seem most likely though.
So what I am looking for is a few things:
- Anything in my current setup that sounds wrong?
- Suggestions for easy improvements to my current set up to see an improvement. The main issue I have is the un even lighting and I just cannot see a way to sort this and keep the lid.
- Suggestions for a more high tech set up without going crazy on budget.
- Suggestions for a tank at 40x40 with a lid and a high gloss white cabinet.
If you've got this far through my post then thanks and I look forward to your advice.
First post on the forum and probably a familiar tale to tell!
I used to keep fish some 20 years ago in my teens, got older, got married, etc etc, and now finally got the OK from the wife to have a tank again.
I got a bit carried away and rushed into getting going. I had to buy a tank which passed the wife test. So purchased a second hand Askoll Pure M. It's small, but cosmetically it passed the test. This, I realise, it the first thing I did wrong!
I had seen images of lush green tanks and was sure that's what I wanted. The more I've read up on things, the more I've realised that I need substantially different equipment to what I had just bought!
The "As is..."
The first thing I did was junk the internal filter and switched to a JBL i80. I have also changed the bulb to an Aqua One sunlight/tropical mix (PL18W) My main issue with the lighting is that it is off centre and not evenly distributing light across the tank. The tank is in a corner and viewed from two sides which makes this even more annoying. It also seems to affect plant growth as plants furthers from the light are growing more slowly.
I have JBL Manado as my substrate but annoyingly no nutrient layer below (bad advice from LFS.)
I am using TNC Complete, TNC Root tabs and Liquid Carbon and have the light on for 5 hours a day.
The tank is planted with:
- Eleocharis parvula
- Penthorum sedoides
- Limnophila hippuridoides
(All inspired by an example I saw on the Tropica site)
Generally, these are doing well, I was hit initially by some algae, but reducing the light period and using the ferts seems to have helped this. Some of the Penthorum sedoides seem to struggle but I am removing any stems that seem to be losing their leaves.
The "Re-Planning"
As per the title, I'm now starting to re think my set up and how I can improve it to get what I want. Having learnt about the high tech approach, I think this is the way I will end up going, unless you can help save my wallet and tweak what I have to get a more satisfying result.
Firstly, the tank itself. It is approx 30x30x40, the space I have available would allow something up to 40x40 or at a push 50x50. I am looking at square footprints due to the viewing from two angles and corner placement. This does not seem easy to find though. The best option I have found so far is the Eheim Scubacube range.
Whilst the 64 litre would be ideal, it snags on my next requirement... A tank lid! The 125 litre has a lid, but at 50x50 it's going to struggle on the wife test.
I have two young children and whilst they are very good with leaving the tank alone, the risk of not having a lid is too high.
Then I'm on to the Filtration. To maximise space in my current tank, I am looking at moving to an external filter and heater. Most likely a JBL e701 or e901 (to future proof) or an Eheim Pro3 250. For the heater, I am not sure, need to research more.
To fit this to the current tank I would need to modify the lid for the pipes which I'd like to avoid, but needs must if I retain this tank.
Lighting, I have looked into this, but upgrading the lighting in my current tank seems to be a non-starter. Because of the requirement to keep the lid, swapping to an over head LED is not possible. I could try hacking a DIY effort into the lid, but this seems a bad way of doing it.
CO2, I need to read up on this more. One of the systems from CO2Art seem most likely though.
So what I am looking for is a few things:
- Anything in my current setup that sounds wrong?
- Suggestions for easy improvements to my current set up to see an improvement. The main issue I have is the un even lighting and I just cannot see a way to sort this and keep the lid.
- Suggestions for a more high tech set up without going crazy on budget.
- Suggestions for a tank at 40x40 with a lid and a high gloss white cabinet.
If you've got this far through my post then thanks and I look forward to your advice.
