Rescape

Hey Tasa
Im busy planning a rescape on my 3ft tank.
Im going for a lowtech planted tank will be using the pfp method with pfs as mu substrate . Im planning on getting co2 later on .

I have dual t5 in the tank , will they be sufficient for plant growth? Worried if i add more lights my lid will warp more from the heat.

When doing a rescape what do i do with my fish while the new tank is cycling ? Do i get a small tank that could be used as a quarantine tank later on ?

 

If you use the same filter and keep media in the water you should be OK. The more plants you keep in your tank the quicker the recovery and you could easy end up with no need to cycle the tank as long as the filter media stays OK. (not sure what pump you are running - maybe keep it going int he bucket with the fish.

Only thing about PFP and the fertz you could get a spike initially if you do not cap it correctly. Then again any reason to get another tank is a good reason.

Lights sound fine, do you have plants already or is this a low density tank from day 1.

Later Ferdie

 

For a low tech planted tank those lights will be sufficient and with regarding the fish they need to be housed in another tank for the time being till your tank is full cycled again.

 

@ferdie what do mean by not being capped properly ?
I have plants one java thats doing well , the others are not true aquatics plants , going to order some from better weather

 

You don't need to wait for your tank to cycle again. Just keep your filter turning over some of the old tank water at the normal tank temperature. Keep as much of your original water as possible for the refill and try to keep it at the normal tank temp as well. When you've filled the tank and replaced fish, add Seachem stability as directed.

 

If you are going to cap the pfp with sand be aware that you will get gas pockets that build up. You need to go around the tank pushing say a chopstick into the substrate to release it every week.

 

have u checked this out?Tropical Aquariums South Africa this:How to Setup a Low-tech Planted Tank: A Guide for Planted Aquariums | Welcome to Sudeep Mandals spot on the net

 

Dropbox - rescape .jpg
This is my rescape , need to get more the lfs in port shepstone dont have any decent plants , so will order from betterweather.co.za.
My pleco dug a hole under the drift wood and disrupted the palm peat fibre , which you can see the particles on the substrate. He loves the spot under the drift wood , he also made a hole under the filter in the corner.
Any opinions or suggestions ?

 

I kept about 70% of the old tank water

 

Ppf has released tanins in my tank , water has gone brown . Do i leave it or do i do a water change ?

 

I can not remember if this happened to me when I used palm fibre peat - what brand did you use? Was it the compressed block version or peat in a bag ?

WC's will help - or add some purigen if it really bugs you.

Later Ferdie

 

Was the block one starke ayres

 

Good - still not sure about the tannins - maybe my capping was to thick.

It will probably not clear by itself, but during normal WC it should get better.

No real reason to rush the process - it is cosmetic at best.

Later Ferdie

 

Just continue doing normal 25% weekly waterchanges. It takes a while for the pfp to stop leaching tannins, but eventually after a month or two it will.