Low tech nano/dirt tanks

[|squee|]

It's better to trim to promote growth. If you don't trim, growth may slow down/stagnate and you will run into algae issues.

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[diazman]

Been a while since I updated this thread.

Tore down the old setup for a complete rescaped and as usual, filled her up with some garden soil - followed by leftover aquasoil. Inspired by Diana Walstad setups

Only about 3 weeks old. Hopefully this time I have the patient with the windelov I just love the ballon platies. They are so cute that they dug themselves between the lava rocks when they sleep at night.

Plant list:

Water Wisteria (added later on)
Windelov fern (cable tied to the wood)
Hairgrass (perished)
E. Tenellus
Spiky moss tied to lava rocks (dying?)


Equipment list: (recycled)

Aleas HOF
Dymax Astro fitted with 14W PC lightbulb

Inhabitants:
3 red ballon platies

Parameters:

-Not measured-

Maintenance:

Weekend water top-ups only. No ferts, No CO2.

Picture @ 1 week old, in it's un-glamorous form.

[khementi]

+1 for low tech setups! On a side note, nuseries sell bacopa quite cheaply.

[diazman]

+1 for low tech setups! On a side note, nuseries sell bacopa quite cheaply.

As much as I love bacopa, i let it sit out this time round for this set up.

Just ordered a pot of anubias barteri var. nana mini and crypt wendtii "green" each. Shifted the moss and tied it to the branches instead.

Pictures will flow in soon...

[112508]

Nice setup

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[felix_fx2]

whats the thing hanging on the left-top side?

[diazman]

whats the thing hanging on the left-top side?

that's the clip on light boss. hahaha. Dymax Astro to be exact.

[zola0653]

Nice and simple. More background plants to hide the cables and background will be good. Well done.

[diazman]

Plants ordered on saturday is in! IMO i cant tell the difference between nana petite and nana mini :S. Also, used a spare corrugated board to cover the back..

Lighting bumped to 8 hours. Now thats left is to resist and wait..

As at 12th may.

[diazman]

Top View Shot

[Goalkeeper]

Nice setup bro. How long does it take for water to get clear with garden soil?

[diazman]

Nice setup bro. How long does it take for water to get clear with garden soil?

Thanks . Tank water will clear almost immediately upon setup in my experience. I use garden soil as shown below. These can be obtained from NTUC/Giant easily. Another alternative is the horti soil. I like using these two brands because they don't really cloud tank water, unless you intentionally stir them up. And the best part of all, I've also managed to breed cherry/sakura shrimps in these dirt setups.

The key point in dirt setups is to "sift" the soil, separating any wood chips, bits and some larger chunk of soil.

**Images taken from google. Credits to individual owners.

[Goalkeeper]

Thanks for the additional info bro.

[diazman]

Just a quick update. While tidying up my aqua storage, i came across my ph test kit, so decided to whip it out and test water parameters. This is what i got.



Probably will be throwing some coral chips to keep them stable..

[diazman]

Just a quick weekend update. Nothing much changed. The E. Tenellus is doing well and creeping about the tank. Older leaves turning yellow though.
Water wisteria growing taller every day. One of the platies died recently too :/

[diazman]

Got the fertilizers in place. Doing small dosing once a while just in case as the plant mass begins to fill up the tank.



500g worth of Ca(NO3)2 & 100g of KH2PO4 for macro source
500ml Excel for carbon source
250ml flourish comprehensive for trace

Tank turns 1 month today - quick shot

Temperature in the day - 28-29
In the evening during lights on - 27-28 (fan cooled)

Also added in 8 neon tetras from Polyart

[diazman]

11PM Update: I got sick of dust forming on the water surface of the tank, so I whipped out nano parts from various small sized pumps, valves and leftover pipes for a DIY surface skimmer to work with the service HOF. Here goes:





FTS shot:


All parts are movable, so I can easily adjust for changes in water level. Works better than what I imagined, water cleared almost immediately after I got it to work. The valve salvaged from a nano pump also allowed me to adjust the water flow feeding into the HOF (For the win!). I am not worried about the device sticking out, hopefully the plants (or more plants added in later on) will help it blend in with the scape.

[Forsalmon]

Very nice setup. I have so much to learn.

[diazman]

Very nice setup. I have so much to learn.

Thank you bro. I have a lot to learn too. Scaping in a small tank with butter fingers isn't fun D:. But looking at the tank set up by various pros here keeps the passion alive.

[diazman]

11th June Update:

Nothing much has changed, plants growing in, fishes going missing in the tank (Yes, missing, I have no idea how they can go missing in such a small tank, suspected they were sick to begin with, died and then got eaten by others)

Also, got my hand on a bottle of Seachem Iron, adding as part of the fert regiment. Also added DIY CO2 in an effort to increase CO2 content in the water, which I believe is really low as my tank's temperature clocks in 31 Degrees these past few days. All plants are growing still though, including the Spiky Moss and a small patch of Fissidens I got from a kind bro. Last but not least, I upgraded the HOF to the largest model I could get my hands on. Wasn't disappointed, apart from the larger compartment, higher water flow is a plus point for this tank. Fishes enjoying it too.

On another note: Fasting month is also coming (oh no). Also, finally got my NS pes status sorted out - I'm going NS very very soon. So in the mean time, teaching my parents to care for the tank during my confinement period - To top up tank water. hahaha. I also won the Eheim Autofeeder in the recent Eheim Asia Pacific Giveaway, which will be very helpful in automated feeding while I'm away. (PS: Its not that I dont trust my parents to feed the fish, they tend to overfeed them )

Without further ado, pictorial updates: Sorry if it seemed small, i edited them with a android app on my phone and they resized the pictures :/







Hope you guys enjoyed this journey as much as I do. Feel free to ask me any questions