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My first nature tank

Gulczi

Member
Joined
9 Aug 2020
Messages
30
Location
Poland
Finally I bought my first nature open top tank. Here I will post some info about it and how it turns out.

Starting date: 24.07.2020

Info:
Tank: 100cm x 45 x 45 (200l) open top
Light: ADA Solar I 150W NAG - 8000 K Green, 8h/day
Filtration: 2x UNIMAX 250 80% filled with keramzit, 20% with Eheim lava
CO2: Some random atomizer, 20ppm
Eheim Skimmer
Water: 50:50 mix of RO and Tap water
Water par: KH 7/Gh 16/ Ph 6,5-7

Aquascape:
30kg Scenery stone
3kg Red moor wood
50kg of black bazalt 3mm with garden soil and torf balls underneath

Plants:
Hemianthus callitrichoides 'cuba
Saturogyne repens
Cryptocoryne walkerii
Pogostemon helferi
Echinodorus Tenellus
Ludwiga sp mini red
Hygrophilia polysperma
Anubias barteri nana
Microsorium trident
Bolbitis compacta and heudelotti
Fla moss and Java moss
Alternanthera rosaefolia
Ludwigia repens.Mesakana

Fishes/Shrimps:
10x Amano shrimp
10x Red cherry shrimp
5x Neritina snail
10x Otocinclus affinis
 

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Okay so last week I noticed that my Eleocharis parvula started to rot so I took it out and replaced it with Hemianthus callitrichoides 'cuba.
I dont know why it happened. Maybe because lack of nutrients?
I started to dose a Tropica Premium Fertiliser 4ml/day.

I also want to increase the co2 from 20ppm to 30 ppm and changing to SERA 500 reactor and want to test out 50% water changing every week with a mix of 1:3 RO and Tap water to save some water
 
hank you very much :)
I still waiting for the wood on the left to sink to add more ferns :)
 
IMO twin filters using twin lily pipes like you have done gives a great way of getting flow in the tank with minimal pipework showing in the tank, unlike a spray bar which works well but is a big eye score in the tank. Plus with twin filters the pipework/hoses can be simple making maintenance quick and easy which is always a big plus and you can rotate there maintenance, plus if one should fail you have inbuilt redundancy.

I would be reluctant to upgrade the filters even though the combined output is only 1300Litres per hour and with a 200L tank we would normally advise a x10 filter output to tank size. Your placement of the lily pipes is excellent with great surface agitation which suggests good flow in the tank.

If you have any concerns about their output a would take a look at what filter media you have in them, as with a planted tank the need for lots of biofiltration is overkill as the biggest biofiltration you have is the roots of the plants esp as the tanks biomass increases. Plus with 50% WC the need isn't as great.

What filter media do you have in the filters

So My filter media is like 80% keramzit and 20% Eheim lava.

I wont say anything about maintanance because with these filters its awful.. First of all the hoses are really stiff and its hard to properly lay them in the cabinet.. Im thinking about buying some valves to help me with cleaning hoses and lily pipes.
 
So My filter media is like 80% keramzit and 20% Eheim lava.


Well they will be right output killers, but flow appears good from the pic. I just use coarse and medium sponge filters with a handful of ceramic. But what about mechanical filtration ? without that the keramzit and lava will clog up with detritus and the filter output could get a sudden reduction in output
 
Well they will be right output killers, but flow appears good from the pic. I just use coarse and medium sponge filters with a handful of ceramic. But what about mechanical filtration ? without that the keramzit and lava will clog up with detritus and the filter output could get a sudden reduction in output

I didnt say anything about it because its nothing special. In each filter I got 1 basket full of coarse sponge followed by JBL Symec which is replaced every week.
 
I just have measured my TDC is 350.
I still have problems with dying otocinclus.. dont know what to do. They dont want to eat anything and I cant see any algea at all
 
Ive started a new one with addition of seachem stability. I was following the instructions of seachem and tropica. Hmm maybe thats the case. Tomorrow I will check the cycle
 
Hi all,
Ive started a new one with addition of seachem stability. I was following the instructions of seachem and tropica. Hmm maybe thats the case. Tomorrow I will check the cycle
OK, I think that might be your issue.

I'm not a great fan of <"the "cycled" concept">, but in this case your tank isn't cycled and it isn't fish safe.

If you don't have another tank to put the fish in? You need to change some water every day and if you can add some more plants, particularly floating ones, that would help.

cheers Darrel
 
Hi all, OK, I think that might be your issue.

I'm not a great fan of <"the "cycled" concept">, but in this case your tank isn't cycled and it isn't fish safe.

If you don't have another tank to put the fish in? You need to change some water every day and if you can add some more plants, particularly floating ones, that would help.

cheers Darrel

Okay Darrel thank you very much or this tip :)
 
Hi all,
thank you very much or this tip
There is a real issue in the hobby about the cycling concept and how nitrification actually works. There isn't <"ever a switch"> from "unsafe for fish" to "safe for fish", it is much more of a continuum dependent upon the ability of the system to deal with the bioload.

A lot of companies are, at best, <"disingenuous about how their products work">, and a lot of forums just re-peddle <"old and out-dated advice"> that makes no mention of the scientific advances that have occurred and refer back to scientific research that has been entirely superseded by more recent research.

The real issue is the ammonia, that continually diffuses from the gills of your fish and shrimps. We need to detoxify it as quickly as possible . There are <"chemical ways"> of doing this in the short term, but in the longer term you need <"robust plant/microbe bio-filtration"> with multiples sites where nitrification can occur, and <"no single point of failure">.

If you have time read through <"Do I need to cycle a planted tank"> (some bits are linked in earlier in the post).

cheers Darrel
 
Hi all, There is a real issue in the hobby about the cycling concept and how nitrification actually works. There isn't <"ever a switch"> from "unsafe for fish" to "safe for fish", it is much more of a continuum dependent upon the ability of the system to deal with the bioload.

A lot of companies are, at best, <"disingenuous about how their products work">, and a lot of forums just re-peddle <"old and out-dated advice"> that makes no mention of the scientific advances that have occurred and refer back to scientific research that has been entirely superseded by more recent research.

The real issue is the ammonia, that continually diffuses from the gills of your fish and shrimps. We need to detoxify it as quickly as possible . There are <"chemical ways"> of doing this in the short term, but in the longer term you need <"robust plant/microbe bio-filtration"> with multiples sites where nitrification can occur, and <"no single point of failure">.

If you have time read through <"Do I need to cycle a planted tank"> (some bits are linked in earlier in the post).

cheers Darrel

Darrel Ive read it and it all makes sense. I have seen some TV program about building ponds etc. and there some guys used like 40% of water space for plants and a lot of surface plants also for biological filtration.

I have one more question to you Darrel, do hard water affects plants growth? As I said in earlier posts i got really tap hard water (22dGH) and I would like to use it to change my water from clear reasons.
 
So yesterday Ive received Sera Flora 500 CO2 reactor. Some people say that its very loudy but I didnt noticed it. Its very loudy if you dont release air bubbles from it I think.
After I installed it I have noticed that I dont get like any bigger bubbles from outlet and I think that I will be very happy with it. Will see today.

I thinking about what fished will I put in couple weeks that will do good with pretty hard water. Im looking for some small fishes and by now I think that my end result will be like this:

15x Amano shrimps
20x RC shrimps
15x otocinclus affinis
6x Corydoras pygmaeus
25x Hyphessobrycon Amandae
 
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