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Pandora (120P Dutch Style)

JohnKoncz

JohnKoncz

Seedling
Joined
3 Feb 2014
Messages
21
Location
Harsány
Hello Everybody!
My name is John Koncz, and I'm from Hungary. My first nature planted tank is just about to start! I've been collecting knowledge and technical stuff for the past 6 months. It's been crazy, because I'm usually super impatient, but this time I knew I have to wait.
Technical data:
- 243 l "normal" 10 mm glass tank, 120x45x45cm
- Eheim 2078 and Tetratec EX1200 for filtration with 12 liter Eheim Subtrat Pro biological filter media
- 10 kg high pressurized CO2 with DIY external reactor
- 4x54 w T5HO lighting
- Hydor ETH - 300w external heater
- 18 l Ada Amazonia and 10 l Oliver Knott substrate
Fauna:
- 50 Paracheirodon simulans
- 30 RC shrimp
- 10 amano shrimp
Flora:
-?????
I've seen a lot of dutch aquascapes where there were used so many green steam and grass plants with a bit of redish colour to cheer it up. I want to reverse that!:p I'm planning to use as many red plants I can, and use just a few green plants to be highlighted. I don't know yet how it will turn out, but I'm up to any kind of suggestions. :)
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első feltöltés után by konczthe3rd, on Flickr

Thank You for reading my - so far - little journal, have a great day! :)
 
There was a little light update. I wasn't satisfied with the lighting power of my 4x54w T5 lamp, so I bought an 8x54w T5 armature. It used to be the lamp for a 400 litered marine tank, so it's pretty strong in light. But I'll only use 6 bulbs of the 8. 342 watt should be enough. :) Here's some pictures as well. The grand opening, the very first day of my aquarium is now accomplished, it's my birthday march 22.
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Have a nice day! :)
 
Hi JohnKoncz,

your tank looks great and the lighting is perfect for a Dutch style planted tank. You will enjoy a lot with it.

I'm wondering if the forniture you are using is strong enough to resist the weigth of your tank when fillled up.

Please keep us informed with the evolution of your Dutch project.

All the best,

Jose
 
Edvet said:
Looks nice , but that's a lot of light, be careful
Click to expand...
I was just about to say that...

You have 240l -> 60US Gals and 432Watts that's 7Watts per US gal, that is way beyond the maximum light power plants can use (5 W / gal nominally) and you are into serious plant vaporisation area and producing one of the best algae farms we have seen for a long time.

You need to remove possibly 6 or 7 tubes at the start, or lift your lights, with that power a metre or two above the tank :)
 
my Dutch tank is similar in size (300L) and is working really fine with 6x50W T5s tubes. Four of them are 9 hours on, and the other 2 work only for 3h at noon. Your tank should be fine in a range from 3 to 5 tubes. At the start I only would use 2 or 3 tubes.

Cheers
 
Thank you guys! :) Yes I know it's too much, but I could buy only this one (it's a used one). And I'm planning to make a bigger tank with the size of 120x60x50(h), and this lamp will be perfect for it too. I'm gonna be using only 2 and 4 T5 bulbs for the main time, and I guess only for an hour (if needed) all the 6 bulbs. I hope I'm correct now. :)

Oh, and @jose_j , thanks for the worrying. I know my old desk looks really weak, but trust me it's not. Before I ordered the glass and out it on the desk, my family helped me out to test my desk. 4 of us were sitting on the desk and we were like 300-350 kg at least. The desk hasn't even felt anything. :D After I took my glass on its final spot (as you can see) I filled it with a 100 kg of stones and water till the top of the tank. I let it stayed for a week, and still nothing. So I really did some tests, and my desk passed all of them. :)
 
The aquarium has started 3 days ago. :) The plants are growing, and I saw them bubblying many times. Here are some pictures.


First day: (Yes, I did change on the stand, because I wanted to be sure!)
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The back:
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Second day:
13388284234_f091bd68f6_o.jpg

I'm already ordered two times more parvula mini to the front, because I did not think I'm gonna be needing this much.
Hope you like it :)
 
Looks good mate. You have the right idea heavily planting with that much light. It really is too much, I suggest raising it about 2 feet above the rim of your tank.

Good luck!
 
FishBeast said:
Looks good mate. You have the right idea heavily planting with that much light. It really is too much, I suggest raising it about 2 feet above the rim of your tank.

Good luck!
Click to expand...
Thank you! :) Now I'm only using 4x54w of lightning 8 hours long per day. I hope it won't be too much.
 
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