Help planning tank

Hi Guys,

So after being out of the hobby for a couple years I have decided to start a planted tank again. I want to make it as efficient and low maintenance as possible. My main focus wil be on making a very interesting and natural ADA type scape with few schooling fish and perhaps a pair of dwarf cichlids (apistogrammas). Please give input on the below choice of equipment, what you think wil work better and where I can get what I need at the best prices please.

Tank - 90cm x 50cm x 50cm

Cannister filter - I was thinking Fluval or Eheim about 1100L/h ?

Substrate - 6kg powersand and 27kg Prodibio or Langa. Anything else you can recommend? Any cheaper alternatives or where to find best prices?

Lighting - 2 x 20w LED, 6500K floodlights? Will this work?

Hardscape - Dragon rock and spider wood? Where is the best place to buy this with good prices?

Plants - I will look at slower growing plants as I do not want to have to prune every week. There will be some faster growers.

CO2 - Still deciding, if I can get away without CO2 it will be great?

Heating - 300W in line heater to keep it out of the tank.

Please give recommendations where you can.

 

@Eight,

Welcome back!!

Always nice to see fellow hobbyists come back.. actually.. heheh i think most of us have a break as life goes on but when its in your blood, you always go back

I like your ideas and they sound good
Unfortunately i dont have much experience with planted tanks and substrate as my fish just dont approve but @A new day certainly does!!

Looking forward to seeing the project take shape

 

Thanx for the replies. Im not very knowledgeable on plant names but see pics below for an idea of what i want to do. I hop this is doable with what I have in mind. Im thinking I might have to do CO2.

Where can I find rock and wood at reasonable prices and what cannister filter would you recommend?

 

Oh yes sorry, im in Pretoria

 

Oh yes sorry, im in Pretoria

 

Hi @Eight and welcome back to the hobby. I'm just like you in a way where I gave up, relocated and then the hobby found me again lol.

I'm sorry but I cannot help with planted tanks but I really want to follow your thread for ideas and tbh @A new day will definitely inspire you in the planted tank side of things.

@A new day I never knew you ran without co2 on all tanks and this just shocked me how much can be done with low tech and with the current conditions of my tap water and the fact that I have a 60x50x50 doing nothing, you've peaked my attention and this thread can go a long way in helping me make a choice hehe.

 

Hi @Eight, welcome back and good luck!

I've added my thoughts below each of your points below

Tank - 90cm x 50cm x 50cm
Great size of tank, plenty of front to back depth and shallow enough for easy maintenance.

Cannister filter - I was thinking Fluval or Eheim about 1100L/h ?
This could work, but a lot of people recommend going for 10x turnover. In your case, as the tank is about 225 litres, you would need around 2250. You can definitely use about 1100L/h, but you'd have to make sure your circulation is set up correctly. In setting up the filter, you don't really have to max it out for biological media, as most of the work will have already been done by the substrate and plants. Dophin is usually the first choice, but the flow rate tends to drop off drastically over time. Fluval or Eheim are solid filters that should last years.

Substrate - 6kg powersand and 27kg Prodibio or Langa. Anything else you can recommend? Any cheaper alternatives or where to find best prices?
I've used both, and honestly i prefer Langa. Prodibio looks great, but i find it a bit too light for planting. Langa is pretty dense, doesn't break down easily and has plenty of nutrients. For powersand, i'd skip it and go for something like crushed lava rock. Powersand is packed full of nutrients that might cause a problem going for a non-CO2 setup, as plants will grow slower and use less of them which could result in an algae nightmare. If you keep the crushed lava rock in a mesh bag it will be easier to remove when it comes time for a rescape.

Lighting - 2 x 20w LED, 6500K floodlights? Will this work?
I've personally never used floodlights, but i've seen quite a few tanks on the forum and elsewhere on the internet that worked beautifully with the floodlights. Only trouble is that it becomes difficult to lower the light output in case of algae outbreaks - only option is to raise them, but then more light spills onto the glass which will encourage algae growth there too. Zetlight has some pretty good budget options here.

Hardscape - Dragon rock and spider wood? Where is the best place to buy this with good prices?
Spiderwood seems to be the most easily available wood hardscape available. Don't be put off by the light colour - it darkens quickly. Mopane is also easily available but releases an astonishing amount of tannins into the water, so lots of water changes will be needed for about 3 months. Dragon rock is gorgeous, just needs a good wash first as it is usually full of bits of clay. Other options are something like Manten stone or Ying Yang stone. What can be done to save some cost is to go to a landscaping shop with a small bottle of vinegar. You can test if the rocks are safe by pouring some vinegar on to the surface. If it fizzes and bubbles, it probably won't be safe as it will leach other minerals into the water column, which can be a long term disaster.

Plants - I will look at slower growing plants as I do not want to have to prune every week. There will be some faster growers.
This comes down to personal preference. If you prefer slow growing plants, most species of Cryptocorynes grow pretty slowly, along with something like Aponogetons or the aquatic mosses. Also look at plants like Anubias, Bucephalandra, Java Fern and Bolbitis. These 4 grow attached to hardscape, so shouldn't be planted in soil. Fast growing plants are usually Stem plants or Carpeting plants. Carpeting plants are beautiful, but a lot of maintenance. What could work is to fill the tank with mostly slow growing plants, and have a few pockets of Stem plants. Stem plants are great as they help to takeup excess nutrients out of the water column, meaning less chance of algae, and will grow tall enough to fill in the background.

CO2 - Still deciding, if I can get away without CO2 it will be great?
Most definitely. @A new day has some beautiful tanks, all done without CO2. What will help here is having soft water (water with low mineral content), but it can be done with pretty much any type of water.

Heating - 300W in line heater to keep it out of the tank.
This should work, but finding an inline heater in SA is a nightmare. Those that are available have pretty suspect reliability histories. Depending on how you setup the scape, it should be possible to hide the heater behind hardscape or plants.

One thing you might want to think about is dosing fertilisers. There are 3 options in SA that i can think of - the Seachem range, Scape Complete which is locally produced and based on one of the Tropica ferts, or going full DIY. I've pretty much only used Scape Complete as it is more cost effective for me than the Seachem range, and full DIY is a bit too much of a mission. All of them work really well if you follow the instructions though.

I'm totally useless when it comes to shops in Pretoria, but most shops sell online too. Mcmerwe in Bloemfontein is a good option, along with BetterWeather and AquaEmpire. It's best to phone or visit AquaEmpire though, as there stock vanishes pretty quickly after a delivery. Rebel Pets in Kempton Park seems to have stepped up their game recently, and were keeping stock of quite a few items that you'd need.

Good luck, and happy hunting!

 

Thanks for all the replys!

I think I will go the decorative sand route. I want to build the substrate up at the back very high for more depth and dimension.

thank you for the info on plants etc.

Dorry pets sells an inline heater but im not sure of the quality. Other plan would be to try and DIY one.

I do have experience with EI dosing. I lives in CT and originally had a reef tank which I converted into a hight tech planted tank. It just became to much work. The plants grew like crazy and had to be trimmed every week by the masses. Thus I dont want to go that route again. I will eventually do CO2 but still have mostly slow growers. See below my previous reef and planted tanks.

 

I too once had a tank like that that also became too much work. Swore off stem plants forever. Been about 7 years now and still no stems.

What works for me is crypts (Parva is my favorite). Then I have some cobra grass and dwarf hair grass, anubias, java fern and weeping moss. My tank maintenance is a WC once a month. Also helps that I only keep nano fish in a 4ft tank.

 

Absolutely amazing how much info has been shared here, you all stars!!

 

Welcome back - always wanted to know what happened to nine?

You should only need a heater when our temps start to drop - you have a few more weeks before that happens. So get started with the basics and add the rest of the kit as and when needed ...

i.e.

glass
substrate
hardscape
plants
lights

Have you considered the dry start method - does not work with all plants ? ( above will suffice for this weekend if you have)

If you doing a full tank of water - add at least an airpump, stone and some pipping.

Then over the next we weeks - you can add filtration, fish, heaters etc ... the more densely you plant your tank from day 1 the less maintenance is required once you add fish.

If you go the no stems route it becomes really easy to have a balanced eco-system for both fish and plants - esp if you are OK with slow to moderate growth.

If you chasing the aqua scaping dragon and need that endorphins boost when you see your plants pearl and grow a cm every other day - understand that it means more maintenance, chemicals, gear ( better lights and maybe CO2) and time.

Later Ferdie

 

Nice to hear from you too @f-fish!!

Been wondering where you have been hiding

 

Thanx for all the advice so far please keep it coming.
So a bit of an update. I decided to make the tank dimensions 1m by 500mm x 500mm as I ha lve a square tubing steel stand already with those dimensions.

I have ordered the different substrates as seen in the pics below.
The substrate will consist of a layer of crushed lava rock to bulk up the back and to increase area for bacteria, I will the cover this wit 16 liters of langa, on the langa I will put some root tabs and cap all of this with a layer of pool filter sand. You will see I have also ordered some AquaEL agua grunt and another 3 packs of Natural mixed substrate each with different sizes so I can creat a lot of detail on the pool filter sand substrate.

last pice is what im looking to do with the hardscape. I dont want the plants to totally take over so you cant see any hardscape, I want a nice balance of open space, plants and moss.

Im going to stock very light regarding fish. Was thinking a school of tetras like rummy noses or harlequin rasboras, a school of corys and I originally wanted GBRams or other Apistogrammas but now im thinking to rather get shrimp.