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Fleabilly's planted tank.

fleabilly

fleabilly

Member
Joined
9 Sep 2012
Messages
147
Location
London
New here...
Cheers for all the information I have gotten quietly from this site.

This August I moved from a aqua one 320 to a 110l tank.
Brand new on eBay for £50. (Pick up only)
Came with two fake rock arches.
I bought a eheim 2213 loaded it with ehiem mech and substrate pro.
Ran it for two weeks prior on the previous tank to load it with bacteria.
I decided to use soil with a gravel cap. And sand for a channel between the plants.
Soil is a hydroponic organic mixture. Washed and mixed with 45% tesco kitty litter.

The two fake rock arches I mounted together with a black PVC elbow making a tunnel. Then soiled that up and planted as much cuba carpet plant as I could afford. I also connected a pipe decor item on top in the middle of the PVC elbow giving one more angle for my loaches to hide.

It has been heavily planted and currently going through a cloudy algae period.
I have been told this will pass. Hair algae has shown up for the first time, so I went out and purchased three small Siamese algae eaters. They seem happy eating the algae.

The fish I migrated from the previous tank are as follows:

Mint the Paradise fish
Twin the Tiger barb
Horse the Zebra danio
Mr spotty fish the Pokadot loach
Sick the Golden algae eater
Mr stripy slippery the Black banded leporinus.
(All named by my 4 year old daughter)

Today I added:

3 tiger barbs
4 zebra danios
1 pokadot loach
3 Siamese algae eaters
And 3 amano shrimp (even though I know that they might be loach food, I figured that maybe they will not appeal to my loaches who are quite reclusive.
(None of these have been named as of yet)

So I am waiting on a water test kit to get some idea what is going on chemically.
And toying with the possibility of a co2 inline reactor. I have a little brother that works for NASA. One of his jobs is figuring out a way to remove CO2 from the space environment. He owes me a favour, so hopefully in a month or two he will be giving me a wicked bit of kit to try out on the tank. (Fingers crossed)

But here is a photo...(ignore the cucumber)
Just waiting to see some growth and hopefully no deaths...

Cheers

R

u2usyvus.jpg


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Mint the Paradise fish
Twin the Tiger barb
Horse the Zebra danio
Mr spotty fish the Pokadot loach
Sick the Goldern algae eater
Mr stripy slippery the Black banded leporinus
(all named by my 4 year old daughter
Click to expand...
:lol:

I've got a 4 year old daughter as well and all our fish have Disney princess names!

The way you've banked up the substrate in the middle is different from the norm, but looks effective!
 
I like it, particularly the spongebob pineapple house! Fortunately my daughter is too young yet to make such demands, unless spongebob is a favorite of yours?

Cheers, Lindy
 
Sponge on was actually my wife's contribution.



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So,
I am just curious of how long the cycle will go on...?
I am doing 40% water change every other day. Seems to keep the bloom back.
But my swords and Cuba plants don't seem to want to take root and grow.
I am dosing every day with carbon.
I was planning on using co2 on a reactor. Should I hurry that up?
That is, would co2 speed up the balance of my tank?

Cheers

R

a6atybe9.jpg



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I used a hydroponic organic soil substrate (washed) with part tesco kitty litter, then caped it with black gravel. That is all I really know...
It was a brand that was mentioned on a walstad soil site.
I'd have to look when I get home.

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Last night I realised that most of what I thought was algae,
Was actually soil settling on my plants...
Thank you loaches.

So question about the soil substrate coming up.
I added a bit more gravel in the places where the rooting is going on.

But once the roots develop.
Will the soil compact slightly, as to not so easily being stirred up into the water?
And would it be worth cleaning the floss in my canister every once in a while to hopefully get rid of soil in the filtration?

Cheers

R
huhesetu.jpg



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Lots has changed.
Obviously black BG
Introduced a few new plants.
Put in an internal filter just running polishing material.
I clean it weekly with water change on Sunday.
Started dosing salts.
Been having problems with co2,
Finding the right level.
Crap needle valve is hard to regulate.
Fish not happy and the plants don't really seem to be benefitting as well.
The plants that I really like seem t be in need of more light.
(Or maybe this is my assumption)
The tall grass in the back is turning yellow and is also getting a bit of algae.
So I have been researching LED
May get a couple of grobeam 500.
Still on the fence about just how much I would need to pay for a suitable set up.
Would like to think that with a bit of knowledge, I might find an alternative to a £500 set up.

Sold my loaches, so no more rooting the substrate.
Also for a laugh I bought a few shrimp a couple of weeks ago.
They all disappeared, obviously became loach food.
But just tonight one has reappeared.
I think now that the loaches are gone,
I may get some more.

And, Yes
I built a moss tree with java moss and superglue gel.
So far so good. We will se how things hold up.
If all goes well, I am quite keen to introduce some more.

Cheers

R


ba7y2ure.jpg


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 
Lots has changed.
Obviously black BG
Introduced a few new plants.
Put in an internal filter just running polishing material.
I clean it weekly with water change on Sunday.
Started dosing salts.
Been having problems with co2,
Finding the right level.
Crap needle valve is hard to regulate.
Fish not happy and the plants don't really seem to be benefitting as well.
The plants that I really like seem t be in need of more light.
(Or maybe this is my assumption)
The tall grass in the back is turning yellow and is also getting a bit of algae.
So I have been researching LED
May get a couple of grobeam 500.
Still on the fence about just how much I would need to pay for a suitable set up.
Would like to think that with a bit of knowledge, I might find an alternative to a £500 set up.

Sold my loaches, so no more rooting the substrate.
Also for a laugh I bought a few shrimp a couple of weeks ago.
They all disappeared, obviously became loach food.
But just tonight one has reappeared.
I think now that the loaches are gone,
I may get some more.

And, Yes
I built a moss tree with java moss and superglue gel.
So far so good. We will se how things hold up.
If all goes well, I am quite keen to introduce some more.

Cheers

R


ba7y2ure.jpg


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 
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