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Journal My best low-tech 'scape so far

George Farmer said:
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.
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Amazing job George, looks stunning - how do you do it, endless beautiful tanks and this one with such low maintenance!! Very jealous fish keeper

Many thanks Blowfish
 
This is my kind of tank. Low light is the way forward. The healthiest plants I have are grown in ambient light only. Patience certainly pays off with these sort of setups.

Nicely done George 🙂
 
This is where everyone should start, take it easy, learn to grow the easier plants, then keep adding to the tank to test more difficult plants 😉 you don't have to go full blown high tech straight way to have good results.

Nice job George 🙂
 
George nice tank .
Can you post your measurements.
Gh
kh
po4
fe
No3
How often you feed the fish?
And what ppm of fets are u dose?
You say 8 watts of LED, what leds are u using?
 
nicpapa said:
George nice tank .
Can you post your measurements.
Gh
kh
po4
fe
No3
How often you feed the fish?
And what ppm of fets are u dose?
You say 8 watts of LED, what leds are u using?
Click to expand...
Thanks.

GH - No idea
KH - No idea
PO4 - No idea
Fe - No idea
NO3 - No idea

3x day - dry and frozen
The odd squirt of Colombo Pro Ferfilizer. Not sure ppm values.

The LEDs are supplied with the Superfish Expert 70 tank. They're cheap but I don't know specs.

I think the lesson here is that you don't need to chase specific nutrient levels, light levels etc.

You can buy a cheap off-the-shelf aquarium kit, complete with soil and ferts from the same supplier, and plants, and have success with very little effort. 🙂
 
George, you are very modest to state that "you got lucky".

I don't think luck has much to do with it.

This is a great tank to celebrate the beauty of low tech. Perfect tanks for mot of is who are lazy.
 
Amazing setup George so humbling to remember that you don't need all the equipment to achieve a happy balance.
 
You seem to get this type of person in all walks of life .... the angler who catches all the fish, the footballer who scores all the goals, the punter who wins on the horses etc. You ask them how they do it and they reply .. "Oh it is easy" obviously it is for them but maybe not for us!
George you are a star!
 
foxfish said:
You seem to get this type of person in all walks of life .... the angler who catches all the fish, the footballer who scores all the goals, the punter who wins on the horses etc. You ask them how they do it and they reply .. "Oh it is easy" obviously it is for them but maybe not for us!
George you are a star!
Click to expand...
You don't see all of the fails I've made... 😉
 
LondonDragon said:
This is where everyone should start, take it easy, learn to grow the easier plants, then keep adding to the tank to test more difficult plants 😉 you don't have to go full blown high tech straight way to have good results.

Nice job George 🙂
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I agree...George's scape personifies this philosophy at its best.
It's also the way I cut my teeth.
But then when I started, apart from a few eccentric Dutchmen with Heath Robinson soda siphon Co2 set ups, it was all low-energy, and pretty unsuccessful unless you knew to use soil.
 
George Farmer said:
Thanks.

GH - No idea
KH - No idea
PO4 - No idea
Fe - No idea
NO3 - No idea

3x day - dry and frozen
The odd squirt of Colombo Pro Ferfilizer. Not sure ppm values.

The LEDs are supplied with the Superfish Expert 70 tank. They're cheap but I don't know specs.

I think the lesson here is that you don't need to chase specific nutrient levels, light levels etc.

You can buy a cheap off-the-shelf aquarium kit, complete with soil and ferts from the same supplier, and plants, and have success with very little effort. 🙂
Click to expand...
George this is not a good expample for beginers. 🙂
So how you choose the fish without knowing what your water is?
You overfeeding without knowing the no3 .. what about water changes?
Icant keep a tank without knowing water parametrers... its like i leave it in luck ...
 
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