Starting Again From Scratch - Help & Advice

[Avro Vulcan]

Hi,
I am planning on stripping and restarting my aquarium and am looking for some advice. I had a Sailfin Pleco that prevented me from having a really nicely planted aquarium, so now he's gone, I am looking to restart and have a really nicely planted aquarium with some smaller sized livestock (Guppies, Neons, Glowlights and Cory's), we are also redecorating the area where the aquarium is, so it has to be completely drained down and moved, so that is another reason to restart the tank soon.

I have a 240 litre tank (4ft x 15inch wide x 20inch high). I have a DIY CO2 system (Colombo CO2 Reactor), that I know is not really big enough for my tank, (I have to refill it every week), but I just wanted to get a feel for it before investing in a better set up, which I'm thinking of buying from CO2 Supermarket and using disposable CO2 bottles.

I have an Fluval Smart Fresh & Plant 800mm LED light, (which has replaced my Aquasky 910mm LED light I had before) I have the CO2 and light on a 'Siesta' pattern:
09:00 -10:00 sunrise
10:00 - 12:00 light on the following: 100%red, 0% blue, cold white 73%, pure white 100% and warm white 80%.
12:00 - 13:00 sunset
13:00 - 17:00 light on 1% red
17:00 - 18:00 sunrise
18:00 - 20:00 light on the following: 100%red, 0% blue, cold white 73%, pure white 100% and warm white 80%.
20:00 - 21:00 sunset
21:00 - 22:35 light on 2% red
22:35 - 09:00 light off completely

CO2:
08:15-12:00 on
12:00 - 16:00 off
16:00 - 20:15 on
20:15 - 08:15 off

I had the siesta set up after discussions on another aquarium forum (before I found here) as a help to reducing algae, but I'm not sure I'm really seeing any benefit. Most of the plants I had (Alternanthera rosaefolia, Limnophila hippuridoides, Ludwigia palustris red) thrived at first, then melted away, only the Anubias survived well and a couple bronze crypto.

The filter I have is an Aquamanta EFX 400 from Maidenhead Aquatics, the spray bar has been reduced from 3 sections to 2 , so that the outflow flows down the length of the tank, rather than across the short side.

I have a Newa Wave 2 3200 wavemaker under the spraybar and above the CO2 diffuser to encourage a circular flow around the tank, which does seem to work fairly well. The drop checker is usually a mid green.

The substrate is a 5L bag of Tropica substrate covered with fine sand. I have 3 - 4 large pieces of bogwood that the anubias are attached to.

I am looking for advice on what plants will work well for the set up I have, and a lighting and CO2 regime that will suit the plants and the type of livestock I'm planning to have.

I am interested in maybe a hybrid type setup, or something that doesn't need an awful lot of looking after.

 

[Little]

I have seen a few people doing complicated stuff, however I like to keep things as simple as possible.

I personally do low light (25% power on a Chihiros wrgb) for 8 hours a day (9-5).
I do low co2 (dark green on a drop checker) starting two hours before the lights come on and finishing an hour before they go off.

I have absolutely zero algae issues and my epiphyte plants do great (even have been selling propagated spares in a grow on tank the same lighting approach).

I would call it medium tech. Easy epiphytes, low co2 and low lighting for a low maintenance tank.

 

[Avro Vulcan]

Thanks for your reply, Little.

Can you tell me what plants you have, are they all epiphytes?

 

[Little]

I have all Bucephalandra - and some temporary floating plants to help with start up.

However it’s not normally advisable to use Bucephalandra in a new tank.

I had all my equipment and filter media cycling in a bucket for many months to get a more stable start.

I’m also slowly adding more Bucephalandra every two weeks as it tends to melt when first added to a new tank.

Melting leaves need to be manually removed so spreading the work out over a few months
suits me better.



The tank before this one had lots of Anubias - it’s faster growing and easier to move to a new tank. I have sold it all off now as wanted to switch to all Buce.

 

[Avro Vulcan]

Thanks for your reply.

That's a nice tank, and I especially like the guardian!

 

[simon_the_plant_nerd]

using disposable CO2 bottles.

I’m very boring and say this a lot but if you can go fire extinguisher you should. It’s easily the cheapest way of getting CO2 by a long way. My local FE servicing guy sells me 2kg cylinders for £15. Sometimes less depending on the change I have in the car!

 

[Connswater]

I’m very boring and say this a lot but if you can go fire extinguisher you should. It’s easily the cheapest way of getting CO2 by a long way. My local FE servicing guy sells me 2kg cylinders for £15. Sometimes less depending on the change I have in the car!

I too have gone the fire extinguisher route, not as cheap as you have secured but even via Amazon a lot cheaper than disposable cylinders from Halfords. I however, get a 5kg and have it delivered, even if its size and potential for damage slightly intimidates me, 5kg lasts me roughly a year on 4 foot tank with moderately hard water.

 

[simon_the_plant_nerd]

I too have gone the fire extinguisher route, not as cheap as you have secured but even via Amazon a lot cheaper than disposable cylinders from Halfords. I however, get a 5kg and have it delivered, even if its size and potential for damage slightly intimidates me, 5kg lasts me roughly a year on 4 foot tank with moderately hard water.

I do have a good deal to be fair. I think there’s probably plenty of small independent fire companies who will happily sell you a cheap cylinder but even buying them off Amazon will still be cheaper than disposables or soda stream, never mind something aquarium branded!

 

[Avro Vulcan]

I've seen the fire extinguisher route, but it kinda scares me.

 

[simon_the_plant_nerd]

I've seen the fire extinguisher route, but it kinda scares me.

There’s another interesting discussion going on about co2 and fire extinguishers in another thread. I think you’re right to be concerned. Any sort of pressurised gas in a container can be dangerous if you don’t take the right precautions. Lots of aquarium specific products exist which you may feel more comfortable with but they are certainly more expensive per kg of co2.

Here’s the thread: Return to the hobby - some advice required

 

[Avro Vulcan]

Thank you for the link Simon, It's an interesting discussion. I think I'm going to stay clear of the Fire Extinguisher route, I'd rather pay a little more - feel and possibly be a bit safer.

 

[Avro Vulcan]

Does anyone have any suggestions of some good plants to start with? Something easy to maintain and will like low - medium level lighting.

 

[hypnogogia]

Does anyone have any suggestions of some good plants to start with? Something easy to maintain and will like low - medium level lighting.

Have a look at the ‘easy’ range of plants from Tropical.

 

[simon_the_plant_nerd]

Does anyone have any suggestions of some good plants to start with? Something easy to maintain and will like low - medium level lighting.

Anubias and Java fern. Stick them on a rock or wood and they grow really well. I like the smaller varieties of both.

 

[Avro Vulcan]

I'm starting to think about what substrate to use for my aquarium now and want to know people's experiences with the following, in order to help me decide what to use. The only thing I am sure about at the moment is that I want a dark/black substrate and it needs to be suitable for Cory's.

I have narrowed my research down to the following:

Fluval Bio-Stratum 8kg Fluval Bio Stratum

Aquaforest Natural Substrate 7.5kg Aquaforest Natural Substrate

JBL Manado Dark 3kg JBL Manado Dark 3L - undecided on whether to use as substrate alone or use as a top layer in combination with JBL Proflora Aqua Basis Plus 2.5kg JBL ProFlora Aqua Basis Plus 2.5ltrs

Aquaforest Lava Soil 5L JBL ProFlora Aqua Basis Plus 2.5ltrs

If I go for a 'duel layer' substrate and a top layer is needed in combination with one of the above, I like:
Dennerle Crystal Quartz Gravel Diamond Black Dennerle Crystal Quartz Gravel Diamond Black

Any insights or advice to the above would be great, or if you have any other recommendations.

I will be using pressurised CO2 .

Thanks.

 

[Little]

I used fluorite black sand. I don’t recommend it. Washing it was a nightmare. Was even wood and leaves in it. I think at least 50% of the bag was lost as dust. It looks nice now but I would never use it again.

 

[megwattscreative]

Worth thinking about the grain size of the sand/gravel for Corys - they can easily scratch and injure themselves whilst bottom feeding. I would be a bit concerned about the coarseness and sharp edges of that black quartz gravel personally. I use play sand, which is generally 0.15-0.75 mm in grain size - a lot smaller and finer than the black gravel listed above! It's also nice to have a patch of sand, as Corys like to dig. They're very cute: they get little grains of sand all over them, like messy eaters.

Here's a previous thread with some advice and a video of Corys sand sifting 🙂

 

[Avro Vulcan]

I used fluorite black sand. I don’t recommend it.

Thanks for the warning!

Worth thinking about the grain size of the sand/gravel for Corys - they can easily scratch and injure themselves whilst bottom feeding. I would be a bit concerned about the coarseness and sharp edges of that black quartz gravel personally.

I have been using sand for the last 4 years and enjoy watching the Cory's sifting it. I am concerned about the substrate to use because of this.

Except for the 2 AquaForest soils (which if I used, I would cap with something) I think the others might be okay for bottom feeders as the grains are rounded, at least 2 of them mention they are safe for bottom feeders, if anyone has any experience with them and Cory's, please let me know.

 

[Avro Vulcan]

Trying to find a fine black sand. Has anyone got experience of the following black sands with Cory's?

Fishkeeper - Black Sand

Fishkeeper Substrate is the perfect solution for aquascaping any type of aquarium. Not only does it look great, it provides a natural media for beneficial bacteria to grow and so help towards keeping your aquarium balanced. Fishkeeper Substrates are 100%

www.fishkeeper.co.uk

Aquarium Fish Tank Black Sand 0.4 - 0.6mm 5kg

Natural Colour Black Aquarium Fish Tank Sand 0.4 - 0.6mm. 5kg Free UK delivery from All Pond Solutions.

www.allpondsolutions.co.uk

Unipac Aquarium Sand - Limpopo Black Sand Natural

Aquarium Sand - Limpopo Black Sand NaturalLimpopo Black Sand – 1000 µ to 1200 µ Coated sand which will not change the water chemistry Note: For reference microns = (µ) and 1000µ = 1mm

www.warehouse-aquatics.co.uk

Unipac Coloured Black Sand 2kg - Aquarium Sand

Natural Aquarium & Aquascaping Sand by Unipac (D-Pac)

www.pro-shrimp.co.uk

Thanks

 

[Avro Vulcan]

Okay, I've been doing a lot of research into substrates. I am thinking of combining several types. One thing I am certain on is it will all be black substrate.

I like the idea of CEC substrates and thinking of mixing Eco Complete with JBL Manado dark together and using as a base layer. My reasoning on this is because the Eco Complete is made from volcanic grains so I think has a good CEC and the live bacteria will help in cycling the tank and the Manado is made from expanded clay so has some CEC and also has some bacteria to help with algae, so I though mixing the 2 together would give a good basis, but I'd be interested to hear your thoughts.

I will be using a cap and plan on using Fluval Bio-Stratum, it has a smaller grain size (1 - 3mm) than the normal Stratum and contains nutrients that the Eco Complete and Manado don't.
it also contains some beneficial bacteria that will help in cycling the tank. I have cory's and the research I have done seems to say that they are okay with this substrate, though I do plan on incorporating a large area of sand (0.4 - 0.6mm) for them to dig in anyway, something like this:



I like this scape and may be using it as a basis with a little adaptation. (It's layout 48 on the Tropica website)


Plants I am considering:
Ludwigia Palustris (Super Red)
Echinodorus Reni
Spiky Moss
Crypt Beckettii 'Petchii'
Microsorum pteropus 'Windeløv' (maybe)
Water Sprite (maybe)
Limnophila sessiliflora
Lindernia rotundifolia (maybe)
Lobelia cardinalis
Rotala Rotundifolia
Thinking of Amazon Frogbit as a floating plant, but my problem with it is the long roots they can get. I'm not a great fan of floating plants, but I know they are beneficial.

I would welcome any thoughts or suggestions you may have before I start ordering.
Thanks.
Caroline