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Long-Term Low Maintenance 120cmx60x60 Tank (new video on page 6)

Re: Low Maintenance 120cmx60x60 Tank (new video on page 8)

George Farmer said:
What a great set-up! And breeding sterbei too - kudos.
Congratulations.
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Thank you George for your kind words. I guess I follow the rule, which I learned when I was keeping discus- look after the quality of the water and the fish will look after themselves. Seeing them breed and the offspring doing so well is both nice and humbling.
foxfish said:
Very nice set up - full credit to you my friend 🙂
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Thank you foxfish :thumbup:
 
Re: Low Maintenance 120cmx60x60 Tank (new video on page 8)

Hi Fandango
I love those corys when they are juveniles.
The tank is immaculate and natural looking a lovely piece of work. :thumbup:
hoggie
 
Re: Low Maintenance 120cmx60x60 Tank (new video on page 8)

Thank you hoggie 🙂!
Just wanted to share these images of anubias' flowers. They have flowered before but never so abundantly as right now (photo taken during the water change with the water level down)
flowercloseapr12-1_zpsf4bbe63b.jpgflowerapr12_zps3bbac017.jpg
regards,
fandango
 
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I've only just come across this. Wow! It's the type of community aquarium most people wish to have. Lots of interest and very healthy fish and plants. Must be happy with it!
 
And barely any visible flow! (Unless you turned it down for the vid?).

On the face of it the combination of lighting, flow, co2 , planting etc is really complex - one man's beautiful tank (like this one!) is another man's algae factory!
 
Sentral said:
I've only just come across this. Wow! It's the type of community aquarium most people wish to have. Lots of interest and very healthy fish and plants. Must be happy with it!
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Calzone said:
And barely any visible flow! (Unless you turned it down for the vid?).
On the face of it the combination of lighting, flow, co2 , planting etc is really complex - one man's beautiful tank (like this one!) is another man's algae factory!
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Thank you so much Sentral and Calzone!
For me the important things in this long term project perhaps are:
• reading and learning from people in forums like this, but keeping an independent, open-minded and critical mind;
• keeping everything stable and consistent;
• getting right balance between light, ferts and CO2;
• large filtration- a combination of mechanical and bio. There is not an obvious fast flow in the tank, how Calzone has rightly pointed out from the video on page 8, but the water does move and in large quantities;
• using remineralised RO water. I change half of the tank volume every 3,4 days, if I can;
• Making the water changes simple. I operate it by opening and closing two taps. There are in and out pipes running from and to the aquarium. The RO water is gathered in a 250 litre storage tank, which sits in a cupboard in the next room, placed higher than the aquarium. Thus it takes only about 40 minutes and I don't have to monitor it all the time.
• Plain gravel. It doesn't disintegrate and doesn't run out of nutrients. The crypts are doing well in it. They have strong root systems. The gravel has been there undisturbed for more than 10 years now.
regards,
fandango
 
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Fandango,....I am so sorry for the endless questions,...I know that you have e.tenellus, crypt parva & moss for that wonderful foreground cover. What kind of moss did you use & how did you initailly manage to keep the moss tied down before it became a part of the foreground carpet? Did you tie down to stones or flat rocks,..etc?
 
faizal said:
Fandango,....I am so sorry for the endless questions,...I know that you have e.tenellus, crypt parva & moss for that wonderful foreground cover. What kind of moss did you use & how did you initailly manage to keep the moss tied down before it became a part of the foreground carpet? Did you tie down to stones or flat rocks,..etc?
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I think it is Java moss. I don't know for sure as I didn't buy it. It found its way in my tank probably as a single strand with some other plants years ago. As for it growing above the gravel and tenellus growing so nicely on top of it- the moss found its way there by itself. At the beginning I tried to pull it all out but soon gave up and I'm glad I did! Crypt parva has been outcompeted by the tenellus and crypt wendtii by the way. Probably some of it is still there but I can’t see it any more.
regards,
fandango
 
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realy nice setup. stuning! so natural! IMO you can improve it by replacing the anubias with more crypts and microsorum....... and.... it looks much better in the wild stage, let it grow !! lovely fish selection too :happy:
 
Wow. Two years have pased since my last update. So here's a new pic from today

DSC_0013copy_zps392bd985.jpg
Robert H. Tavera said:
really nice setup. stuning! so natural! IMO you can improve it by replacing the anubias with more crypts and microsorum....... and.... it looks much better in the wild stage, let it grow !! lovely fish selection too :happy:
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Thanks so much Robert.
As you can see I've made some changes. The anubias, as lovely and healthy as they were, were getting too big for the composition. I replaced them with microsorum windelov about 6 months ago.
The denisonii are gone too - they were also too big for the setup and they were eating red cherry shrimps and getting really good at catching them.
I now have perhaps 40 Trigonostigma hengeli, about 60 (!) what must be 4 or 5 generations of corydoras sterbai and hundreds of cherry shrimps.
The tank is gone to being a low maintenance set up yet again - I even have a DIY yeast bottle producing the CO2. It lasts for up to about a month (ideally I re-charge it every two weeks) and I find it completely sufficient for my tank. I fertilize once a week together with the 50% re-mineralized R/O water change.
geraltas said:
Amazing tank and really nice growth.
Just found FB link.
Thanks for sharing. 🙂
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Thanks so much Geraltas.

Cheers for looking everyone.
This tank has been giving me a great pleasure over the years. I have always made only a very few and small changes at a time. I respect it as a living organism and I'm learning all the time.
 
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rebel said:
Congrats! any FTS? Epic tank and setup!!
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Thank you very much. The tank is virtually the same as it was 2 years ago. I only moved some anubias var. nana in front of the Java ferns on the left side of the tank. Also, as the numbers of trigonostigma hengeli have dwindled down over the years I got 40 red phantom tetras and 10 black phantom tetras. The very kind people at the Aquatic Design Centre (a fantastic shop right in the heart of London) exchanged them for a largish proportion of my ever growing corydoras sterbai population.

And here is the full tank video


all sterbai are of course hiding
 
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Wow thanks for taking the time to upload a video. That side lighting is superb and gives it a really natural feel. Is it just window light?
 
rebel said:
Wow thanks for taking the time to upload a video. That side lighting is superb and gives it a really natural feel. Is it just window light?
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Thanks again. That light is produced by three R16 warm light led spotlights. They are evening lights and come on after the main lights go out.
 
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