Journal My best low-tech 'scape so far

[George Farmer]

Hi all,

I thought I'd post a quick photo of my Superfish Expert 70.

No CO2 or liquid carbon. Occasional ferts (Colombo Pro) and Colombo Pro Soil. Internal filter and It hasn't had a water change in 3 months.

Plants are mostly crypts, buces, Rotata and some Anubias, Cyperus.

Incredibly low maintenance and the fish love it. There's different small barbs, chocolate gouramis, rocket killis and spice rasboras.

It's about 6 months old now and really is the most trouble-free and hassle-free aquascape I've ever created. 🙂

Hopefully it will be in PFK soon so I can't give too many spoiler photos - sorry!

Cheers,
George

 

[Tim Harrison]

Wow, that looks great.

 

[Greenfinger2]

Hi George, Exquisite

 

[PARAGUAY]

Cant wait to to see the write up in PFK

 

[Ryan Thang To]

nice one George

 

[FIsh i]

Oh yes

 

[Dave wants nano]

Beautiful tank. Can't wait to read the article on it.

 

[Martin in Holland]

We need to know all about this awesome tank...3 month no WC, that's what I call low maintenance indeed.

 

[rebel]

Show off.... 🙂

 

[Matt Havens]

Very very nice. This is what im trying to achieve with my 60L. Very little maontenance. How long do you run the lights for?

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[Aron_Dip]

Nice... looks really nice. Hopfully see more in PFK soon.

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[Manuel Arias]

Hi George!

Amazing work. I think this is a proof about not always EI is the answer! 😉

Please, could you upload a front photo from your tank? I think is worth to look at this closer! 🙂

 

[George Farmer]

Thanks all. 🙂

Very very nice. This is what im trying to achieve with my 60L. Very little maontenance. How long do you run the lights for?

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10 hours on this. It's very low lighting so the photoperiod is longer to give the plants enough. Usually I run 6-9 hours on higher energy tanks.

 

[fablau]

Wonderful job indeed. Do you know what's your PAR in that tank?

 

[faizal]

Thats simply amazing george.... Could you be kind enough to share the PAR values please...

 

[George Farmer]

Thanks guys.

The PAR is less than 10 at the substrate... Around 5 in the corners. 🙂

 

[George Farmer]

I'm writing up the feature and editing the photos today. I'll try to post some pics later. 🙂

Here's a video of the tank taken a while ago -

 

[Manu]

Nice one George!
More inspiration... just wish I had a bigger house to fit many tanks

Looking forward to more pictures and info in the next PFK.

Cheers,
Manu

 

[Alexander Belchenko]

Am I understand correctly that you only top water with RO and clean the filter (weekly I suppose)? How many fish do you have there? I'm trying to understand what is load on ecosystem. Do you have any idea what water parameters do you have? pH, hardness maybe?

Do you have any idea why the system is so stable, so it can live without water changes? No waste buildup? Very intriguing. I wish I can have such beatiful tank with so little efforts. Envy envy envy.

 

[George Farmer]

Hi Alexander - excellent questions, thank you.

I top up with tap water, but it hardly needs any because it has a tight lid.

The filter is cleaned once a month or so.

Fish load is quite high for a small aquarium. 6 cherry barbs, 4 rocket killifish, 6 pentazona barbs, 2 chocolate gouramis, 6 spice rasbora and 1 bristlenose plec.

Sorry - no idea on any water parameters. I've never tested this tank (or any of mine for years!) I guess a low pH because of the soil substrate.

It is a surprise to me how healthy this aquarium seems with such little attention. The fish are very active and have good appetites. I feed three times a day a mix from dry and frozen foods.

I guess I got lucky and reached a balance where the plants are dealing with the organic waste enough and the lighting is low enough not to cause algae.