Low tech tank questions

[Steve Ransom]

So, after much deliberation and after having already bought liquid carbon and an extra light unit for a high tech system I've finally decided to go low tech!! Far too worried about over dosing the carbon and killing the fish and I certainly intend on having a good number of fish and inverts in there 🙂.
I'm setting my 275L with the following;
-Substrate - ADA aqua soil Amazonia both standard and the powder on top
-Lighting - 8 x 14w T5 (4 x osram cool white 840 + 4 x osram sky white 880)
-RO water (<5 tds) with softwater mineral GH +
-circulation - return pump from sump and 2 circulation stream pumps (14x tank turnover in total)

I'm going to use EI dosing salts but I'm unsure how much or how often to use in this setup?
I have access to 2 spare pumps on my gro tech NG 3 dosing system so I can dose small amounts daily if needed 🙂

I'm also unsure if this is the correct amount of light if I plan on having it well planted with a lot of moss growth in the top third portion of the tank and whether it's enough for the depth (77cm)

Would I be better off still using the softwater mineral GH + with my RO water if I have ADA aqua soil as a substrate?

Any help would be greatly appreciated 🙂

 

[Edvet]

First of all: what do you want to do? Make it a biotope or a planted tank with fish?
If fish are the reason for the RO i wound't use aqua soil, but use a natural substrate ( you can do some light EI fertilizing)
If plants are the reason for the aqua soil i wouldn't use RO
8 x 14 T5 seems a lot of light for a low tech setup. Large depth will need a lot of light if you wan't to grow demanding plants, but i had my whole tank bottom covered with moss in low light (75 cm water)
You don't need that much circulation with a sump and low light, i would aim for 2/3 times tankvolume /hour.
Just my personal 2€cts😉

 

[ian_m]

1. 275litres -> 72US gallons. With 112W -> 1.5W/US gallon -> so just starting to be high'ish light levels. Maybe use only half the tubes ?

Use the chart below from http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=105774 to get an idea if you are in low light & there fore low tech region.



2. Why use RO ? Just makes things much harder (especially at 275 litres) and more expensive and if low tech not really necessary. Plants don't care about water hardness and its only some fish that require soft water to breed.

3. ADA aqua soil Amazonia is better for high tech & very very expensive. With low tech any substrate will do. Sand is cheap. I grew all types of plants in sand slowly before I went high tech.

4. Liquid carbon will kill fish (and melt plants) if over dosed....just don't over dose and all will be fine. Your tanks is only 5-7ml per day, fish and shrimp won't notice.

5. With a sump & shrimp you will have major issues keeping them out of the sump, associated pipes and pumps. Stainless steel mesh is your friend.

6. With low tech low turnover is fine, my 180litre ran for years at 200l/hr per filter (x1 rate...). Later upgraded to 600l/hr, but by time floss + foam added probably only 300l/hr.

 

[Steve Ransom]

Thank you for the brilliant feedback 🙂, will definately use just the one unit then and half the light if I don't need it! Was going to use RO, as I intend of keeping softwater species but mainly due to poor tap water (nitrates in excess of 50ppm)!!
I've got the aquasoil already so would prefer to use it, surely it would have benefits over other substrates and would be better for plant species used for carpeting?
Was going to use the extra circulation pumps to help lift debris/waste of the plants and floor 🙂
Can set the dosing pump up to put in 7ml, would it be better to put it all in one go 2 hours before the lights come on or split throughout the day?
Stainless steel mess is a great idea! will get some and silicone to the wier covers before completely filling the tank

Many thanks

Steve.

 

[ian_m]

mainly due to poor tap water (nitrates in excess of 50ppm)!!

1. Are you sure 50ppm, I very very very much doubt it. EU max limit (and most of rest of world) is 50ppm. Quick check of UK water reports is 20ppm average, with only one UK failure of 50.9ppm in 2013. Not using a fish test kit are we..... Anyway plants love nitrates and fish don't care. So wonderful water in your case.

2. I find an air pump on just before lights off, helps degas CO2, stops surface film forming and rearranges the detritus to get sucked into filter. 3 jobs on one. Done.

3. I dose my tank Macro or Micro as well as liquid carbon couple of hours before lights on. Ran for years dosing after lights off, I suspect it doesn't really matter. Only moved to before lights on, as when I started dosing liquid carbon, it has a lifetime of about 24hours, so was maximising liquid carbon during lights on.

4. Don't know about aquasoil, will probably be OK, I think it might be fertiliser impregnated. I have Fluval stratum on top of sand as my substrate. Plants carpet OK. In low light & low carbon you may have difficulty with carpeting plants. Choose them carefully.