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Hemianthus callitrichoides 'Cuba'/Substrate/New tank setup.

Gary Nelson

Member
Joined
20 Jan 2011
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1,292
Location
Leicestershire
Can any of you advise or give me some useful pointers for some of my below concerns & questions? I am changing from a 180l corner tank to a Rio 180.

1. I am going to be changing my tank over in the next week or so, I will be using my existing mature Ehiem 2075 on my new tank and this has been running for about one year now. I will be using 50% of existing tank water in my new setup but new substrate though; will this restart my cycle again?

2. I will be planting quite allot of Hemianthus callitrichoides 'Cuba' – would eco complete be a good substrate for this plant or perhaps I should be looking or considering something else?

3. My new tank will be a 180l with 2 x 45w T5 lights, so around 2 watts per gallon – is this going to be enough light to successfully grow/carpet the Hemianthus callitrichoides 'Cuba'?

I normally run an 8 hour light period and will be using my existing injected co2 with the up atomizer and daily ferts.
Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated as I want to get my new setup up and running and off to the best start that I can.
 
Re: Hemianthus callitrichoides 'Cuba'/Substrate/New tank set

so you're getting shot of the corner as well! Lifes a lot eaiser with a normal shaped tank.

1. No point in using tank water, it's the filter thats cycled, not the water. Theres no need to start like that, it may be a good idea to pop some old mulm from under the substrate in the new tank.

2. Eco complete doesn't contain any N and P, but is pretty good for carpeting plants, as it's finer than the soils. Personally, you can't beat the soils out there.

3. Thats plenty of light, it's the flow/C02 you need to get right with HC, you shouldn't have any problems with flow dynamics after using a corner tank.

I personally would advocate Purigen as well, i have used this media in new set ups and haven't had any diotoms.

Good luck mate!
 
Re: Hemianthus callitrichoides 'Cuba'/Substrate/New tank set

ianho said:
so you're getting shot of the corner as well! Lifes a lot eaiser with a normal shaped tank.

1. No point in using tank water, it's the filter thats cycled, not the water. Theres no need to start like that, it may be a good idea to pop some old mulm from under the substrate in the new tank.

2. Eco complete doesn't contain any N and P, but is pretty good for carpeting plants, as it's finer than the soils. Personally, you can't beat the soils out there.

3. Thats plenty of light, it's the flow/C02 you need to get right with HC, you shouldn't have any problems with flow dynamics after using a corner tank.

I personally would advocate Purigen as well, i have used this media in new set ups and haven't had any diotoms.

Good luck mate!

Cheers for the info Ian, that will help me :thumbup: your tank is looking great now.

I am so glad to be getting shot of the corner tank, its been a pain, but in a good way as I have learned allot about flow etc, having said that its still been very testing! as you more than likely know.

I am going with the classic black Rio 180 as the tank & lights offer what suits me - I am building a custom unit though which should really set it off very nicely. The unit is about 90% complete now and will just be one big cupboard rather than two when the doors are opened. Needless to say I have had to develop some bracing supports inside to strengthen it all. I have also fitted a swish light system that comes on inside once either of the doors are opened.

I will be starting a new journal and posting some photos up once it all gets going and I have all my components - I am looking forward to it though... needless to say, my Mrs once again thinks I am mad and fails to see the excitement in it all... having said that she is always the first one to show and talk about it when friends and family are visiting? so she must like it really!
 
Re: Hemianthus callitrichoides 'Cuba'/Substrate/New tank set

foxfish said:
Hi Gary you might want to look at the Amazonia powder, although powder sounds a little misleading perhaps it should just be called 'fine'!
http://www.thegreenmachineonline.com/pr ... ia-9-litre


Yes that does look very nice substrate... very pricy though! how many liters do you think to cover a Rio 180 generously?
 
Re: Hemianthus callitrichoides 'Cuba'/Substrate/New tank set

Yes very expensive but you get what you pay for!
Not to difficult to calculate the amount you need - just length x width x the depth you need in cm then divide 1000 for liters.
Example 90 x 40 x 5 = 18000 divided 1000 = 18 litres.
 
Re: Hemianthus callitrichoides 'Cuba'/Substrate/New tank set

You can go with regular Amazonia and just use 1cm height Powder on it. HC will love that and with the larger grains under that you can build slopes easily.

KEY thing for HC is the good CO2 and lower temp, mid/high light! If you can't keep the tank temp below 25Celsius the HC will float and die off.

The ligth does not seems too much for this plant, so it may will be leggy.
 
Re: Hemianthus callitrichoides 'Cuba'/Substrate/New tank set

Thanks for your advice Viktor. I did not realise it was best at a lower temperature.

I'm thinking about some E.parvula mixed in with the HC or now just E.parvula on its own? Decisions dicisions....? I'm drawing more to the idea of banked substrate, rocks and a total lush green carpet of something.
 
Re: Hemianthus callitrichoides 'Cuba'/Substrate/New tank set

There's a few options for a nice carpet.

HC, Glosso, Marsilea, for rounded leaf Staurogyne is also an option since Tom Barr :D
Parvula, Brasiliensis, Tenellus is nice for grass like carpet.

Or the classic riccia which is well hated? :lol:
check this journal on our forum. this is a low tech iwagumi with riccia carpet. used riccia stone to fix it down. the tank is 2 weeks old. i can't believe this guy put together a tank and made it ready for a contest in 2 weeks. :D a few might say they will throw out CO2.... as this is running without that.

http://akvakertesz.hu/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=2124
http://akvakertesz.hu/viewtopic.php?f=1 ... 140#p55030
 
Re: Hemianthus callitrichoides 'Cuba'/Substrate/New tank set

that looks ace Vik!

I used Riccia once in my corner tank

trigon.jpg


the good thing about it is it's pretty fail safe. The bad thing is you'll be finding Riccia everywhere for years once you have introduced into your tank/house. I found some in my shed the other day, the Riccia has been gone for over a year!
 
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