Hey again everyone, just recently came back to this forum after starting marine during the past couple of years and I've thought that since I have a job now I could start investing in planted tanks again. I also apologise if this is in the wrong forum, wasn't sure if it'd be better off in the journal forums, but I haven't even ordered the tank yet, just want to know the possibilities.
Anyway my PFK subscription has run out and it also appears that there is an offer on at the moment where they are giving away an 8L tank with a 2 year subscription. This tank comes with an LED light and filtration in the back of the tank with a 300lph pump I think I read somewhere? Anyway since I don't really have room for another conventional sized tank in my house, I thought this would be a good idea since the tank is about 15cmL x 20H x 25W, but I assume the width in the tank is due to the filtration in the back, so it's less in practice.
Anyway so far, my planted tank experience stretches to this; viewtopic.php?f=35&t=2256 . Not much really, which is why I thought that using this small tank would be a cost efficient way of taking a step up, as obviously it's smaller so less plant buying, less hardscape and costs. And perhaps more simple on the aquascaping front (or am I devilishly mistaken?!) Anyway, the initial thinking is trying out Iwagumi, since I've never tried rock in a planted tank before really, not for great effect anyway. I'm looking at none other than the mini landscaping rocks from aquaessentials of course, due to their size and kind of classic iwagumi look, dragon stone looks nice, but something makes me feel it'd be harder to make it look right. I was thinking of just having a large rock in the middle, with other rocks protruding from the substrate, or something to that effect. While I'm on the subject of substrate, am I right in saying ADA aquasoil is still the best? If so, which one would be best because I've just recently spotted the analysis that somebody did on the different types which shoes them to majorly vary in pH and nutrient levels. Also am I right in saying I don't have to put anything on top of the aquasoil and is there a certain minimum depth I need to have? Since the tank is too small, I don't want to have too much substrate towards the front, towards the back is a different story I know.
Ok, enough of that, I'm not really sure what kind of plant species I'd be looking at. I heard HC works well with the new 'Dry Start Method', but when I investigated further I saw that to ease the transition between being emmersed and submerged you need to add lots of CO2 to the water prior to filling the tank, so since I don't really want to use CO2 I don't think I can do this. I do have a DIY CO2 set, but I don't really want to be using it, I'd rather just stick with whatever the current best liquid carbon is and whatever liquid ferts would be best as at 8L cost isn't too much of an issue, not sure on what the best stuff nowadays is though. So I'm not sure if I can use a HC carpet, but I've seen a few other options such as Glosso and Marselia, however I've heard Glosso is harder to grow than HC and Marselia is extremely slow growing and as it is due to my lack of CO2 and probably low light (not sure how strong it is) growth will be quite slow whatever I choose right? As for other plants there's Hairgrass and Chain Sword that I think are sometimes used in Iwagumi and I was thinking of other small plants like Staurogyne and Pogostemon helferi, although are these Iwagumi plants, not sure what counts and what doesn't, although I rather like them anyway. However once again, I'm not too sure what would work in this tank with it's current hardware (which I'd rather stick too) and of course I'm limited to nano plants. Moss is an option since I've grown it in my other tank but not too sure if it'd have a nice effect or not.
Anyway I think that's just about everything I wanted to cover, sorry for asking so much
, let me know your opinions on what I should choose and if Iwagumi is suitable at all even really!
PS: I will probably just have CRS in this tank as I've not had them before, but if anyone can think of anything suitable, go ahead, but I'm not sure it's even big enough for Boraras!
And oh yeah, just one other thing I forgot, the tank has a black background but Iwagumi usually have white, is this going to be a problem?
Anyway my PFK subscription has run out and it also appears that there is an offer on at the moment where they are giving away an 8L tank with a 2 year subscription. This tank comes with an LED light and filtration in the back of the tank with a 300lph pump I think I read somewhere? Anyway since I don't really have room for another conventional sized tank in my house, I thought this would be a good idea since the tank is about 15cmL x 20H x 25W, but I assume the width in the tank is due to the filtration in the back, so it's less in practice.
Anyway so far, my planted tank experience stretches to this; viewtopic.php?f=35&t=2256 . Not much really, which is why I thought that using this small tank would be a cost efficient way of taking a step up, as obviously it's smaller so less plant buying, less hardscape and costs. And perhaps more simple on the aquascaping front (or am I devilishly mistaken?!) Anyway, the initial thinking is trying out Iwagumi, since I've never tried rock in a planted tank before really, not for great effect anyway. I'm looking at none other than the mini landscaping rocks from aquaessentials of course, due to their size and kind of classic iwagumi look, dragon stone looks nice, but something makes me feel it'd be harder to make it look right. I was thinking of just having a large rock in the middle, with other rocks protruding from the substrate, or something to that effect. While I'm on the subject of substrate, am I right in saying ADA aquasoil is still the best? If so, which one would be best because I've just recently spotted the analysis that somebody did on the different types which shoes them to majorly vary in pH and nutrient levels. Also am I right in saying I don't have to put anything on top of the aquasoil and is there a certain minimum depth I need to have? Since the tank is too small, I don't want to have too much substrate towards the front, towards the back is a different story I know.
Ok, enough of that, I'm not really sure what kind of plant species I'd be looking at. I heard HC works well with the new 'Dry Start Method', but when I investigated further I saw that to ease the transition between being emmersed and submerged you need to add lots of CO2 to the water prior to filling the tank, so since I don't really want to use CO2 I don't think I can do this. I do have a DIY CO2 set, but I don't really want to be using it, I'd rather just stick with whatever the current best liquid carbon is and whatever liquid ferts would be best as at 8L cost isn't too much of an issue, not sure on what the best stuff nowadays is though. So I'm not sure if I can use a HC carpet, but I've seen a few other options such as Glosso and Marselia, however I've heard Glosso is harder to grow than HC and Marselia is extremely slow growing and as it is due to my lack of CO2 and probably low light (not sure how strong it is) growth will be quite slow whatever I choose right? As for other plants there's Hairgrass and Chain Sword that I think are sometimes used in Iwagumi and I was thinking of other small plants like Staurogyne and Pogostemon helferi, although are these Iwagumi plants, not sure what counts and what doesn't, although I rather like them anyway. However once again, I'm not too sure what would work in this tank with it's current hardware (which I'd rather stick too) and of course I'm limited to nano plants. Moss is an option since I've grown it in my other tank but not too sure if it'd have a nice effect or not.
Anyway I think that's just about everything I wanted to cover, sorry for asking so much
, let me know your opinions on what I should choose and if Iwagumi is suitable at all even really!PS: I will probably just have CRS in this tank as I've not had them before, but if anyone can think of anything suitable, go ahead, but I'm not sure it's even big enough for Boraras!
And oh yeah, just one other thing I forgot, the tank has a black background but Iwagumi usually have white, is this going to be a problem?
