My first attempt(low tech planted tank)

Hi
So I had thses plants given to me.. And decided to just go for it.. I reset my tank.. Put in pfs(the coke bottle method) works like a charm.. And planted my tank, I have horwnsworth.. Amazon sword and valisenaria and bakopa... The amazon sword is another yellow on some leaves..

My t8 10w light packed up fee days ago.. I was planning to get a submerged light.. Or any suggestions..
And what else will I need to get to have this lower tech running smoothly?
Thank you









Sorry for the poor quality, will have better pix soon.

 

Looks like you are having fun. Sorry I can't comment on the lights.

 

Yea.. And one more thing.. What should I feed my brithle nose plecos? Anything specific I can feed them?

 

Hallo! Your plecos will love algae / vegetable wafers (I use Ocean Nutrition but they're a bit expensive) and definitely some zucchini. I slice away the skin on the one side, put it in boiled water till the water is almost cold and then add it to the tank. They will love it. I use a sucker to attach it to the side of the tank but you can also use a stainless steel fork to drop it to the bottom.

 

I also use algae wafers, I sually buy the Hikari ones, not sure how the price compares to Ocean Nutrition

I buy the Tetra tabi-min tablets as well and alternate for variety
I also feed cucumber in the same way as Dinky explained but the cucumber i dont soak for so long in hot water as its much softer than Zuccini/baby marrow

 

Shrimp

Ok,so I have a problem.. The filter that was in the tank was too powerful for my 2ft so before I started planting I put in a smaller 2nd hand filter from someone who was breeding and whatever else.. I just gave it a rinse and put the smaller less powerful filter in,the tank and then my 3,rummy nose and 2 baby guppies died and today 1 of my baby brithle nose died..
Should I change the filter back to my old one or could it be something else?
Any help will be appreciated,

Edit : and can I turn this tank into a shrimp tank In the near future with the following..
Substrate fs
Plants : horwnsworr
:amazon sword
:bokota(something like this)
:Vilaseneria

Light will mention when I get one soon. And sorry for asking again.. Any suggestions*can't watch face*

 

how did you rinse the filter? under tap water? If so all the good bacteria could be dead and your tank going through a cycle. I would suggest Sea chem stability as directed for a week and well as prime to treat water first and for all water changes. Lets see what others say.

 

Seachem Stabilty and Seachem Prime are expensive, but worth it.
Sera have Quickstart and Watersafe that do the same thing, but you need to use more to get the same effect.

Shrimp will appeciate a darker substrate, as that helps bringing their colours out. PFS is almost white, which could stress them.

Plantwise the hornwort will give good cover, and you may find your shrimp hanging from it like christmas decorations.
Bacopa (moneywort) and the Amazon Swords will allow the growth of micro organisms on the leaves, that the shrimp will feed off.

 

I used tap water to rinse the filter off, I'm,not home till Monday so what can I tell someone at home to do if there's anything that could be done? Put the old filter back in? Because I just found out my one neon kicked the bucket this evening.. And I don't know if my other brithle nose pleco is hiding under the drift wood or if history dead under it like the other pleco..

And any specific temperature I need to keep the water on? It's on 26degrees atm

And my driftwood doesn't seem to stay down so I pinned it against the glass and put 2 stones to keep it down? How do I rectify this?
Thank you again

 

Tap water full of chlorine and chloride etc

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driftwood needs to be waterlogged before it decides to sink and stay , will eventually reach this stage by itself , nothing you can do but leave it in the water as far as I know

 

Rinsing the filter with tap water has probably washed out most of the bacteria needed to keep the aquarium healthy.
Chlorine and chloramine are added to make the water safe for human consumption, but tap water is dangerous to fish.

If the people at home know anything about fish, ask them to go to the nearest pet shop, and get a water conditioner.
As mentioned Seachem Stability will add beneficial bacteria back into the tank. Follow the directions on the bottle closely.
Shake the bottle vigorously, as the contents should be milky/cloudy when poured into the tank.

Seachem Prime will neutralise the harmful chemicals in the tap water, and make it safe for the fish.

There are other products on the market.
Sera have AquaSafe and Quickstart that do the same thing as Stability and Prime.

You can leave the tank on 26°C unless the specific fish you have need a different temperature.

Your driftwood will become waterlogged with time, and stay on the bottom of the tank.
It will release tannins into the water, colouring it darker, almost like tea.

 

There is prime and aqua safe at home, will tell someone to change atkeast 50%(30l) and put prime and aqua safe.

Btw I used both just after I put it in the plants and I did a water change at the same time

Thank you

 

Prime and Aquasafe do the same thing.
They are both water conditiioners.

You will need something like Stability to jumpstart the production of beneficial bacteria.

 

@Pezulu glad to see my bottle trick helped you out

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Ok so I lost 2 more guppies and my last brithle nise pleco.. So I restarted my tank..took them remainder of my 10 fish(2snails) and put them in hospital in my 4ft and I cleaned my filter in the tank water.. Removed all the plants and water and replanted.. Put new water in with aquasafe and prime to remove any ammonia and chlorine.. I'm letting it cycle.. How long should I leave it to cycle for? 1-2-3 days before I put my fish in, they consist of snails..guppies and 5 dianos..

And I'm still planning to put more pfs with more plants and looking for java moss to put in on my driftwood(it finally sank on its own).
Thank you

 

If you use Seachem Stability you can return the fish in about 2 days.
Remember to dose the required amount of Stability for 7 days, to give the beneficial bacteria a chance to grow and multiply.
Keep the amount of fish low to start with, until the tank has had a chance to stabilize.

Aquasafe is the Tetra version of Seachem Prime.
Using both is overkill.

 

Thanks I'm in rtb and I haven't seen stability in my pet shop altho I haven't really specifically looked for it..any rtb guys know if piets or the tea garden pet shop keeps it?
If they don't I'll only be in jhb by end of the month or next month.. What's the worse case scenario for me to do in this particular situation? Sorry for the unnecessary questions I just want to get the low tech planted tank right before I move on to an all out planted tank..
Thank you again, much much appreciated.

 

You could do a fish-less cycle, which should cycle your tank in about 6-8 weeks.
Alternatively try and seed the tank with bacteria from an older filter, and keep just 1-2 guppies in the tank until it is cycled.

 

I've got 2 guppies in atm.. I couldn't find stability.. Will check another store ASAP.. I was told by my lfs that I must use 'tetra safe start'? Is it the same.. And it's priced 560, I can't afford that