Pretoria, here's my tank

Hello almal,
Ek tik maar engels dat almal verstaan

Had tanks for years, packed it up for 4 years due to work/ living arrangements but Im back
This 4ft 280 odd liter tank was most recently running for over a year with Bacopa, Vals, Echindorus, a water lily, java ferns and one or two others inside, just guppies and cories. Guppy population boom, almost self sufficient, no filter, no water changes, just a fountain pump for stirring the water and a heater. I was a blast.
Transfered the guppies to a 50L, pulled out a whole tub of grass, cleaned all the much out and built a riverlike setup minus the flow -- added cichlids

I want to add more rock shards and more spindly wood, and Anubias. the echindorus is emerging from the water so I might keep it, but the watergrass will have to go at some point.
thee filter is DIY, the lighting is four strips of LED's in two double strip tubes from the fleamarket --works great.
I change about 30% of the water when the tannins get a bit too yellow or once in 2-3weeks.
I have a full meter and a half of pothos, sweet potatoes and a spiderplant.. for now.

 

Stunning tank! My only concern is that the wood leaching tannins is lowering the PH. Whereas for African cichlids, you should add crushed coral or Limestone to raise and stabilize the PH.

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I forgot to add, that true but I have very hard borehole water, even droplets leave white rings and the lime crusts on top of the potplants' soil. Im actually considering building a distiller for the plants

 

A mate of mine has a two foot filter tank that he has graciously offered me, would you just pack it with mesh, ceramic rings ? I think it should be fine but I cant find a more economical source for about 5L volume of rings, they used to be so cheap?? I see them going for R70 a 500g packet

 

Okay great!

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That tank looks good.

Supply and demand has caused a lot of equipment prices to climb steeply.
The more people become interested in keeping fish, the more shops will raise their prices to take advantage of the interest.

 

Thanks all, I think it might be the case with mine as well since I still get calcareous deposits from evaporation
Its a grey hare foot fern, golden foot fern. Phlebobium areum

 

@fviljoen, Turf pet hyper has cermic rings for R20 per 500g. I purchased some their 2 months ago.

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Hi and welcome to forum @fviljoen
Tank looks stunning
Shop around for the ceramics, look at suppliers of media for koi ponds, they usually cheaper