6ft low tech , planted

Hey guys,

This is my first attempt at making any sort of thread of this nature, I’m notsure if anyone will be interested but nonetheless I can keep track of theprogress. If anyone is interested then thanks for your time and I look forwardto your comments.

I had been tankless for several years now despite having had some decent setupsin the past. Recently I came into possession of a seriously run down 6ft tankand decided to start a new setup myself.


The tank was purchased off a classified add in a localpaper. Good price but lots of work needed.

The steel stand has been discarded, there were 3 layers of thick enamel paintto remove (see insane artwork below), this was done with a blade style scraperas I was hesitant to use chemicals - I wont lie, it took forever. Simply usedwater with a huge amount of dishwashing liquid (Sunlight) as blade lube. Thepine canopy needs sanding, reinforcing and re-sealing (will add once complete)

The plan is to create a south American, riverine biotope, with loads of woodand plants. I will try to stay away from using pressurised CO2 and stick to alow tech installation which I have had success with in the past.

The process has just begun so there isn't much to look at as yet, hardware asfollows: (this will change with the process)

Tank - 1800mm x 560mm x 46 mm - 10mm glass, there is a solid pine canopy whichstill needs some work.
Filter - Tetratec ex700, 2x internal powerheadfilters (will take the powerheads out once water is clear and add another canister)
Lighting - Currently 2 x 4ft LED tube lights, these are only rated at 4500k sothey wont do when I get the plants in.
Cabinet - Solid wood, will hold canisters and all other bits and pieces, thecabinet stands almost 3ft tall so the tank is quite high.
Substrate - Base is cleaned garden soil covered with cleaned river sand,covered with a mixture of Silica and Seachem Flourite.

I am thinking mainly dwarf cichlid varieties, several corys, a single breed ofschooling fish (undecided) and maybe a few little odds..

In my sons 2ft tank I have temporarily put all the plants I’m beginning with,his Guppies must feel like they have been dropped into a jungle.. There are severalvarieties of sword plants anubias, Java Moss and Java Fern as well as some sword grass and couple of other bitsand pieces.
The wood has been picked up on my travels out and about. Fortunately we have alot of indigenous trees which make for great, decorative wood these were foundlying about in the local nature reserve which is about 1 mile from my place. Despitebeing nicely weathered there is still a fair bit of tannins seeping out.

Below are some shots and I will keep them coming as I go, planting begins tonight!

 

Yeah I can see the tank needs work but if the price was right then why not haha. I am looking forward to see what it looks like once its done. Please take more pics as you go along

 

Good luck and have fun with the process! Personally I don't like that centre brace. It won't hold much pressure as there will be too much shear force on the small glued area. Rather add a top brace running along the top front and top back. You can then mount the centre brace back if you feel you need to

 

progress

Gettingthere... oh so slowly

 

progress

The plants added last night are the bits and pieces I’vepicked up over the last few days, there will be more intensive plantinghappening as soon as my lighting and hood are sorted..

The challenge here has been the 360 degree nature of the layout, I have alwayshad tanks with a front/back so making the tanks visible from all angles hasbeen quite a challenge to plan and I’m sure will be more of a challenge as theplants grow in..
. I will keep adding pics as it goes but as I only manage tosqueeze in a few hours after work it’s been slow going.. The progress abovebegan last weekend so hopefully will get a bit more done this weekend.

Thanks again for the comments.
Right, so I managed to get some light plantingdone but I don’t want to overdo it as yet. Stock Is pretty limited round theseparts right now so I have put in some staples..

My lighting is also an issue as the 4ft bulbs are not cutting it. The water isstill quite heavy with tannins which may be partially to blame.

Current Lighting: (these are temporary)

2x Jewel 4ft T5 tubes (red and blue)
1x12000k red light 4ft
1x6000k white LED tube 4ft (these are my experimental lights, I intend to useonly LED tubes going forward)

 

progress

more

 

latest progress

Current Plants:
Several Amazon Sword varieties, (echinodoruscordifolius, Echinodorusamazonicus, Echinodorus Angustifolia, Echinodoruspalaefolius,)
Chain grass - ((Dwarf Sagittaria (Sagittariasubulata))Bacopa - Bacopa carolinianaHornwort - Ceratophyllum submersum
Java fern - (Microsorum pteropus)
Crypto - (Cryptocoryne petchii)
Anubia - (Anubias barteri 'Coffeefolia')
Glosso - (Glossostigma elatinoides)
Java Moss - (Taxiphyllum barbieri) not yet in the tank,sitting in the smallgrow tank..

Floating - (Lemna minor) - these came nicely hidden under the Anubias leaves...I have managed to get rid of most of them but will keep a few and clear themwith my water changes.

As per my earlier post I have used an experimental substrate and dosed usingExcel.

Livestock: I have begun to add somelife but as yet im still not entirely surehow the stocking will go, I am stillaiming for dwarf cichlids but only whenthe tank has settled and is moreestablished.
Currently we have:
3X Pepper Corys
3x Bronze Corys (because a tank with no Cory's is unimaginable)
12x White Cloud Minnows
4x Pearl Gourami
several Ghost Shrimp caught in the river down the road.





The major challenge here is still the fact that the tank needs to be viewedfrom 360 degrees, positioning of plants so that they won’t obscure the view hasbeen challenging as i cant adopt the old tall at the back short at the frontstory... anyway we will see how it goes as they fill in.

 

ok, that's all I have right now.. there are a lot more pics but these give the general idea. Its been about 2 weeks from beginning to the latest pics. I have been trying to squeeze this in after work and for an hour or two on the weekend so as not to raise the ire of the wife... its been slow going but its finally taking shape.
Any input and opinion would be welcome !

 

that looks aweome! keep up the good work!

 

@ Broder - thank you for the input, I will definitely look into that.

 

thank you very much

 

I will upload more when I get the lighting sorted and the rest of the plans and livestock in

 

The shrimp that you caught locally... Do you know anything about them? Are they indigenous or invaders?

 

im not certain to be honest with you but they seem to be quite common in the revers around here. Physically they appear to resemble Ghost Shrimp. The are I live in is quite heavily forested and we get a lot of rain so there are a lot of streams and small rivers. Again, I will take pics and post them, maybe you can help me identify them ?

They were actually put into the tank my idiotic mate despite me telling im not to. I have been taking them out and popping them into the 2ft quarantine tank.. they make a hell of a mess with the wood in the tank.

 

They sound interesting. Would be great if you can get a pic.

 

will send you one this PM. I kept them many years ago and they bred like wildfire, would make good live food.

 

@Broder i believe its [FONT=Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif]caridina nilotica[/FONT]

 

That's the badger

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caridina_nilotica

 

Apologies for the appalling grammar and layout, I attempted to copy and paste this from the other forum I visit but as you can see, there were a few formatting issues. (Im not partially literate, I swear)

 

Thanks @woestynbaber. Very interesting. Will be on the lookout for them.