johnft64
Seedling
Many years ago I used to keep and breed cichlids but due to having a young family and many other commitments (lack of funds being one of them) I left the hobby. However I finally felt able to return to the hobby in December 2012.
One of the first things I noticed is how much the hobby has advanced in the last twenty or so years in all aspects. I had always wanted to have a planted tank but the equipment available was prohibitively expensive or didnt really work, but now there is a plethora of equipment out there both new and used. So I decided to set up my first planted tank, however I restricted myself to buying wherever possible second hand.
Due to me being a former aquarist I was aware that the larger the tank the more stable the water conditions would be, so I opted for a four foot tank, how ever it had to be in a light oak cabinet to match the furniture in the room it was going to be sited in,it would also have to be in absolute showroom condition or the little cheese would put her foot down and squash the project from the get go.After a week of searching I found the ideal tank a seashell model in a light oak cabinet for £250.00 dimensions 48x15x18 it also came with a t8 lighting unit (twin) tubes, 300w heater, fluval 304 filter (with a broken ceramic shaft) and background.
Great so what do I do next, it was at this point I realised I needed some guidance to help me navigate my way round all the equipment available. I had decided that I wanted to have the minimum amount of gear inside the tank and I knew that two t8 tubes would not be sufficent for a planted aquarium so I searched the web and came across this site. So for the next four or five weeks I read and re read blogs, posts, forums, articles that were on this site and eventually had a game plan. I needed more lights and found I could make up my own system which I did using a company I saw mentioned on here. Result :T5 twin tubes,ballast,waterproof leads,tube clips and wiring £40.00 installed.
I then needed a better filter ideally a eheim pro 3. So back to the well known auction site and bingo a 2075 three months old with media and all the pipes £99.00 plus ten pound postage. Also acquired off the same site two hydor eth 300w heaters £54.00 delivered. Whilst browsing said auction site I came across a guy who was selling petrified wood and purchased three very nice pieces for under twenty pounds delivered. Ok it isn't bogwood and does float so needs anchoring down but this was not an insurmountable problem as I could disguise the anchors as I was building the aquascape from scratch.
I then needed the co2 equipment I looked at diy systems and came to the conclusion that they wouldnt produce enough co2 for the size of tank (i maybe wrong here let me know if I am) and also would be impractical as the little cheese would not be impressed with old pop bottles of fermenting yeast etc dotted about her immaculate kitchen. I also had a couple of co2 fire extinguishers knocking around which I had replaced with new ones from the days when I owned a pub. It was at this stage I broke my rule of buying second hand. I searched the web for co2 regulators and realised that second hand ones were going for a fiver or maybe a tenner less than new ones so I purchased a new one from co2 supermarket. Had I bought it off the auction site I would have save £3.00 but didn't realise this at the time.
Having had no previous experience at all with co2 I decided to buy a kit from aqua-essentials which included diffuser, non return valve, bubble counter and tubing I also bought tropica substrate 6 lts which turned out to be slightly more than I required and a bottle of bromo blue and drop checker. This cost me £70.00 delivered which I felt was a good price and money well spent.
Next stop was my local fish shop for 25kg of inert gravel £12.50 and various test kits and water treatments £53.00. I then filled the tank and hoped it wouldn't disappear through the floor as we have suspended floors. It didn't/hasn't and let the tank cycle for a few weeks. I then emptied the tank into plastic water butts and commenced my first aquascaping project. I visited the LFS in the morning prior to starting aquascaping and got a selection of plants mostly stemmed but a couple were rooted for £15.00. The selection was very random as I expect to lose most of them due to my incompetence, so they were more of a suck it and see type of selection.
Once I had the substrate gravel and plants in I filled the tank with saved water and set the filter and heater running. What I had noticed with the hydor heater was that it was very accurate and also I hadn't been able to find any cold spots in the tank, so very impressed with that piece of kit. I had read that ideally you wanted to see your plants gently wafting in the current produced by the filter outflow. I didnt have that effect, what I had was some plants looking like they were in the path of hurricane Katrina whilst others were vitually still. Off to the local Wickes for some 15mm plastic pipe and fittings back home out with the drill and 2.5 mm drill bit holes drilled every two inch this was secured to underside of the tank bracing using suction cups. With some slight adjusting of the spray bar I now had a tank with plants gently wafting in the current, this would ensure good circulation of co2 .
Next thing was to plumb in the co2 I set it up as instructed placed my drop checker at the opposite end of the tank as near to the gravel as possible and switched it on. I adjusted the needle valve until I got 1 bubble per second however the co2 coming from the diffuser was pitiful to say the least, I left it at this setting for a few hours to see if it needed time to settle down but there was no change and also there was no change in the drop checker ie it remained blue. I increased the co2 input to two bubbles per second and left it for twenty four hours, the drop checker had turned to green indicating I had sufficent co2 in the water.
I then went in search of timers I decided I wanted three two for the lights and one for the co2. I decided to go with the argos electronic timers for £15.00 for three as although the feed back wasn't outstanding they would be easily replaced if they turned out to be faulty when I got them home . As it turned out they weren't faulty, the instructions were a little bit vague on setting them (I think that was the reason for the bad feedback) but by the time you've set three of them your an expert. So now I have my co2 coming on at 6am-4pm t8 grolux lights on at 8am-9pm and my t5 lights 10am-4pm. My lighting period maybe excessive I am considering shortening the period, however I have no problems with algae at this stage.
Next stage was to add some fish which I did over a period of a couple of weeks. The tank inhabitants are currently 8 white cloud, 6 neon tetras, 6 black tetras, 4 ottocinclous, 2 corydoras and 2 clown loach all seem very happy and active all have coloured up well and are eating well. I will add some pictures of the tank in the next couple of days.
I am always open to advice or constructive criticism and would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone on this site who has shared their knowledge and taken the time to post information on here for the benefit of others, I for one can say that had it not been for this site I would probably never have reached the stage where I am now with my tank.
One of the first things I noticed is how much the hobby has advanced in the last twenty or so years in all aspects. I had always wanted to have a planted tank but the equipment available was prohibitively expensive or didnt really work, but now there is a plethora of equipment out there both new and used. So I decided to set up my first planted tank, however I restricted myself to buying wherever possible second hand.
Due to me being a former aquarist I was aware that the larger the tank the more stable the water conditions would be, so I opted for a four foot tank, how ever it had to be in a light oak cabinet to match the furniture in the room it was going to be sited in,it would also have to be in absolute showroom condition or the little cheese would put her foot down and squash the project from the get go.After a week of searching I found the ideal tank a seashell model in a light oak cabinet for £250.00 dimensions 48x15x18 it also came with a t8 lighting unit (twin) tubes, 300w heater, fluval 304 filter (with a broken ceramic shaft) and background.
Great so what do I do next, it was at this point I realised I needed some guidance to help me navigate my way round all the equipment available. I had decided that I wanted to have the minimum amount of gear inside the tank and I knew that two t8 tubes would not be sufficent for a planted aquarium so I searched the web and came across this site. So for the next four or five weeks I read and re read blogs, posts, forums, articles that were on this site and eventually had a game plan. I needed more lights and found I could make up my own system which I did using a company I saw mentioned on here. Result :T5 twin tubes,ballast,waterproof leads,tube clips and wiring £40.00 installed.
I then needed a better filter ideally a eheim pro 3. So back to the well known auction site and bingo a 2075 three months old with media and all the pipes £99.00 plus ten pound postage. Also acquired off the same site two hydor eth 300w heaters £54.00 delivered. Whilst browsing said auction site I came across a guy who was selling petrified wood and purchased three very nice pieces for under twenty pounds delivered. Ok it isn't bogwood and does float so needs anchoring down but this was not an insurmountable problem as I could disguise the anchors as I was building the aquascape from scratch.
I then needed the co2 equipment I looked at diy systems and came to the conclusion that they wouldnt produce enough co2 for the size of tank (i maybe wrong here let me know if I am) and also would be impractical as the little cheese would not be impressed with old pop bottles of fermenting yeast etc dotted about her immaculate kitchen. I also had a couple of co2 fire extinguishers knocking around which I had replaced with new ones from the days when I owned a pub. It was at this stage I broke my rule of buying second hand. I searched the web for co2 regulators and realised that second hand ones were going for a fiver or maybe a tenner less than new ones so I purchased a new one from co2 supermarket. Had I bought it off the auction site I would have save £3.00 but didn't realise this at the time.
Having had no previous experience at all with co2 I decided to buy a kit from aqua-essentials which included diffuser, non return valve, bubble counter and tubing I also bought tropica substrate 6 lts which turned out to be slightly more than I required and a bottle of bromo blue and drop checker. This cost me £70.00 delivered which I felt was a good price and money well spent.
Next stop was my local fish shop for 25kg of inert gravel £12.50 and various test kits and water treatments £53.00. I then filled the tank and hoped it wouldn't disappear through the floor as we have suspended floors. It didn't/hasn't and let the tank cycle for a few weeks. I then emptied the tank into plastic water butts and commenced my first aquascaping project. I visited the LFS in the morning prior to starting aquascaping and got a selection of plants mostly stemmed but a couple were rooted for £15.00. The selection was very random as I expect to lose most of them due to my incompetence, so they were more of a suck it and see type of selection.
Once I had the substrate gravel and plants in I filled the tank with saved water and set the filter and heater running. What I had noticed with the hydor heater was that it was very accurate and also I hadn't been able to find any cold spots in the tank, so very impressed with that piece of kit. I had read that ideally you wanted to see your plants gently wafting in the current produced by the filter outflow. I didnt have that effect, what I had was some plants looking like they were in the path of hurricane Katrina whilst others were vitually still. Off to the local Wickes for some 15mm plastic pipe and fittings back home out with the drill and 2.5 mm drill bit holes drilled every two inch this was secured to underside of the tank bracing using suction cups. With some slight adjusting of the spray bar I now had a tank with plants gently wafting in the current, this would ensure good circulation of co2 .
Next thing was to plumb in the co2 I set it up as instructed placed my drop checker at the opposite end of the tank as near to the gravel as possible and switched it on. I adjusted the needle valve until I got 1 bubble per second however the co2 coming from the diffuser was pitiful to say the least, I left it at this setting for a few hours to see if it needed time to settle down but there was no change and also there was no change in the drop checker ie it remained blue. I increased the co2 input to two bubbles per second and left it for twenty four hours, the drop checker had turned to green indicating I had sufficent co2 in the water.
I then went in search of timers I decided I wanted three two for the lights and one for the co2. I decided to go with the argos electronic timers for £15.00 for three as although the feed back wasn't outstanding they would be easily replaced if they turned out to be faulty when I got them home . As it turned out they weren't faulty, the instructions were a little bit vague on setting them (I think that was the reason for the bad feedback) but by the time you've set three of them your an expert. So now I have my co2 coming on at 6am-4pm t8 grolux lights on at 8am-9pm and my t5 lights 10am-4pm. My lighting period maybe excessive I am considering shortening the period, however I have no problems with algae at this stage.
Next stage was to add some fish which I did over a period of a couple of weeks. The tank inhabitants are currently 8 white cloud, 6 neon tetras, 6 black tetras, 4 ottocinclous, 2 corydoras and 2 clown loach all seem very happy and active all have coloured up well and are eating well. I will add some pictures of the tank in the next couple of days.
I am always open to advice or constructive criticism and would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone on this site who has shared their knowledge and taken the time to post information on here for the benefit of others, I for one can say that had it not been for this site I would probably never have reached the stage where I am now with my tank.
