Hi, my names leigh. ive been a fishkeeper for many years but only last year i came back to growing aquatic plants with a passion. i started off last christmas with a budget of £500 to get a second hand tank and everything needed to get back into the hoby.
I found a 100cm x45cm x 40cm tank and cabnet and set this up with a cat litter substrate in laundry bags which i capped off with black gravel. i got hold of 2 30w 6500k led flood lights and a cheap canister filter.
I set this up with rockery slate as the main structure and a few tubs of tropica 12grow plants. I started off using diy yeast and sugar for the co2 which is something i used to do almost 35 years ago, feeding the co2 into the impeller of a small power head to smash the bubbles into a fine mist. after a while i changed this for a citric acid and bicarb set up with a solinoid and timer. this i used for a few months untill the bottle exploded like a bomb one night. After this i invested in a fire extinguisher and regulator.
Everything went very well and the plants realy took off. then a few weeksago the tank started leaking. i found another 100cm x 45cm x 50cm second hand tank thats now housing my fish and some of the plants but its fairly scratched and is not staying long.
Im now planing to build a new rack for a 120cm x 50cm x 50cm rimless tank at table level with 2 shelves of 2 or 3 25ltr nano tanks (i already have 3 shrimp tanks).
For this new project im keen to keep to the cat litter substrate and fire extinguisher co2 system. Although im happy with the lights i think there may be something else that might be worth a try. Id also like to try my hand at mixing my own ferts as i have aquired a dosing pump. It was whilst looking into mixing fertz that i came accross Ukaps although im sure i looked in when i was originaly looking at the cat litter substrate.
here are a few photos of my tank before the leak. first is a few weeks after setup, second is about 3 months old and the last is after around 9 months.
I found a 100cm x45cm x 40cm tank and cabnet and set this up with a cat litter substrate in laundry bags which i capped off with black gravel. i got hold of 2 30w 6500k led flood lights and a cheap canister filter.
I set this up with rockery slate as the main structure and a few tubs of tropica 12grow plants. I started off using diy yeast and sugar for the co2 which is something i used to do almost 35 years ago, feeding the co2 into the impeller of a small power head to smash the bubbles into a fine mist. after a while i changed this for a citric acid and bicarb set up with a solinoid and timer. this i used for a few months untill the bottle exploded like a bomb one night. After this i invested in a fire extinguisher and regulator.
Everything went very well and the plants realy took off. then a few weeksago the tank started leaking. i found another 100cm x 45cm x 50cm second hand tank thats now housing my fish and some of the plants but its fairly scratched and is not staying long.
Im now planing to build a new rack for a 120cm x 50cm x 50cm rimless tank at table level with 2 shelves of 2 or 3 25ltr nano tanks (i already have 3 shrimp tanks).
For this new project im keen to keep to the cat litter substrate and fire extinguisher co2 system. Although im happy with the lights i think there may be something else that might be worth a try. Id also like to try my hand at mixing my own ferts as i have aquired a dosing pump. It was whilst looking into mixing fertz that i came accross Ukaps although im sure i looked in when i was originaly looking at the cat litter substrate.
here are a few photos of my tank before the leak. first is a few weeks after setup, second is about 3 months old and the last is after around 9 months.
