my planted tanks

[HellRaiser]

here is a pic of my main planted tank, a 1m 180L, and one of my smaller 2 foot 50L tanks

180L Planted:
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x212/jpprinsloo/planted%20tanks/IMG_0922.jpg

50L Planted
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x212/jpprinsloo/planted%20tanks/IMG_0919.jpg

[Henk Hugo]

looks great man!

[HellRaiser]

thanx dude!!
truely amazing how low maintenance these tanks are, with the marine tanks i tend to forget about these two some times... LOL

[Henk Hugo]

Yup yup - why not tell the guys what you use in your substrate

[HellRaiser]

its quite simple :-)

its a mix of garden compost, dolimitic lime and some river clay balls (unbaked, just rolled into little balls and added)
and all this makes up a layer of about 3cm, and is topped off with pool fine filter sand

this gives the plants a nice medium to root in, with plenty of nutrients to make them grow, and the sand layer prevents the nutrients from going into tha water column that could cause an algae bloom

to this i only add fish food daily, with dosing nothing else, and a monthly water change of around 50% of total water volume

the only big maintenance is trimming the plants heavily every two weeks, otherwise within 4 weeks the little jungle blocks out all light from the top

[Henk Hugo]

sounds good man. the only problem with this sort of substrate is that you have to choose plant placement VERY carefully as you cant move them once they are planted. the roots will bring all the DIY substrate to the top and make a HUGE mess

[HellRaiser]

aha, now there i can say its not always the case...
i have moved plenty plants, especialy vallis in the 3 foot, and within an hour it all settles down again and the water is clear, with no stress to the tank inhabitants
one i had to remove ALL the plants in a 4 foot planted using this natural method, since that was the only way to remove ALL the guppies that were breeding way to fast, and after pulling out all the plants the tank was clear withing two hours, removed all the fish, replanted it, and 4 hours later the fish i wanted to keep could go back in again and swim happily ever after

i think it has something to do with the adding of dolimitic lime, giving the soil ions to reduce boyancy of the particles (long chapter in the book "ecology of the planted aquarium)

but whatever it is, in my experience uprooting plants in these setups have no detrimental consequences and no loss of livestock in the tank

[solex69]

Awesome tanks man

What is the plant type in pic 1, green bushy type plant?


I do tend to agree with HellRaiser wrt uprooting the plants. I also don't have any issues if I need to move or add a new plants into one of my tanks that have a multi-layer substrate. I found that my bottom layer never actually comes to the surface.

On the substrate topic, I think one of the worst substrates (if you can actually call it that) is normal old-school gravel *yuck* :)

[Sabi]

Smashing! Looks like a garden, I dont see any fish tho.lol

[solex69]

Who wants fish with a planted tank like that? :)

[Sabi]

Hehe, true.:smile1: but I wouldnt miss my fish for anything lol:eek:

[HellRaiser]

ive got clever fish that make a duck when i take pics to the scenery stands out... LOL

[Slummies]

curious, what light u got there?

and with the substrate. iv done the same, minus the dolomite, and the water turned a yellow colour.. what your thoughts?

great tank btw!

[sailing_derrick]

Great tanks, what lighting u using???