Dear forumers. Finally, after 'donations' from kind friends and a bit of capital, my 2ft tank is up! I have some questions and hope the bros out there can help.
My Tank Details
Tank Dimensions (LxWxH): 2ft x 1ft x 1.3ft
Tank Volume (litres or gallons): Not sure. About 20 gallons?
Lighting Intensity(No of Watts) : 30W (2x15W FL)
Type of Lighting (FL/PL/MH) : FL
No. of Hours your light is on : Just started, now leaving it on for 3hrs, followed by 5hrs next 2 days, and then 10hrs the remaining time.
CO2 Injection Rate (bps) : No CO2
Type of CO2 (DIY/Liquid/Tank) : NA
Method of Injection (e.g. Diffusor/Reactor): NA
Substrate Used : Hexa fert and 2 - 3mm gravel
How Thick is your base fert : 1 inch
How thick is your gravel : 2 inch
Liquid Fertilizers Used : NA
Frequency of fertilization : NA
Tank Temperature : ???
Type of Filter (overhead/internal/canister) : Canister.
Filter media used : Sponge
How long has your tank been set up : 1 day
Other equipment : NA
Chemical Properties (Fill what you can)
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Carbonate Hardness (KH): ??
Total Hardness (gH): ??
pH : ??
NH4 (ppm): ??
NO2 (ppm): ??
NO3 (ppm): ??
PO4 (ppm): ??
Fe (ppm): ??
Bioload (Your Fish and Plants)
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Nanas (stems only, no leaves yet)
Java fern
X-moss
BJ
Bacopa Caroliana
And some other grass like plants (sorry, don't know what they are already.)
No fishes as yet, but planning to put some in. Btw, any bro wants to give away fishes, shrimps, please call me. Thanks!
Tank I Want To Set Up
Low maintenance tank - no fert, no CO2, low light.
Questions
1. What basic chemical kit do I need to maintain the tank?
2. What are the readings of the chemical that is correct?
3. What fertiliser (if absolutely necessary should I use)?
4. How many fishes/plants can I afford to have?
5. Are snails good/bad?
6. Any other advice.
Thanks a lot! Cheers!
Before answering the questions, i think you should add ceramic rings in your filter as part of your filter medium.
Else your filter will not be effective with only the sponge. It is crucial to cultivate some good bacteria by providing them with shelther and home using the rings.
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Questions
1. What basic chemical kit do I need to maintain the tank?
2. What are the readings of the chemical that is correct?
3. What fertiliser (if absolutely necessary should I use)?
4. How many fishes/plants can I afford to have?
5. Are snails good/bad?
6. Any other advice.
Thanks a lot! Cheers!
------------------------------------------
1.None for a non CO2 method
2.NA ...that's the point
3. A good deep substrate with some organic matter
4. Moderate fish, algae eaters(Shrimps are very good), and a heck of a lot of plants from the very start.Use easy to grow plants, money wort, water sprite, java fern etc.
Have some floating plants present(10-25% of the surface area).
5. Snails are great herbivores, smaller ones that stay under 2-3 cm diameter.
6. Do not mix CO2 dosing/nutrient levels etc with non CO2 methods.
These methods work for different reasons.
It will take some trial and error as some plants will not make it. Many non tanks do not get any water changes for months, just top off for evaportion. Good fish feeding daily is the main input of nutrients. Some is supplied through the substrate.
Regards,
Tom Barr
Thanks for the replies so far.
Chua, instead of the ceramic rings, can I substitute corals/bioballs? I have these but previously thought that sponge provides lots of nook and crannys for BB. Anyway, thanks for the clarification.
Tom, one clarification on snails. Since they are herbivores, does it mean they will eat my plants? Or are they algae eaters, since algae is a plant as well. Thanks.
Bioballs also can. But i think ceramic rings will make a better home because of its larger surface area for a given area.
Coral chips are used to increase the KH in your tank. Some people put some in their filter. But it will graudually increase the KH over a period of time. It will not help in the filtering capability.
Snails only consume alage and dead vegetation. Hence it is safe to have it in your tank. But too much of it is not appealing especially when they are on the walls of your tank.
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On 9/3/2003 11:27:18 PM
Thanks for the replies so far.
Chua, instead of the ceramic rings, can I substitute corals/bioballs? I have these but previously thought that sponge provides lots of nook and crannys for BB. Anyway, thanks for the clarification.
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Bioballs are typically more effective in a wet-dry system due to the trickle effect. Coarse sponge doesn't have as much surface area as compared to other media out there. Fine sponge are only good for final mechanical filtering as they tend to get clogged easily. Corals better not to leave in the canister. Just tie them in a net and use (direct into tank) when you need to adjust the ph of the water. Then u can remove them all easily.
For a canister, best bet is to have:
Bottom tray - ceramic rings & coarse sponge for trapping bigger pieces of dirt
Middle tray - biohome or ehfisubstrat or mixture of both for bio-filter. Biohome supposed to have greater surface area for bacteria to grow, but costs double. IMHO ehfisubstrat is plenty good enough. There's also a ehfisubstrat-pro which I've not tried.
Top - Fine sponge
Of course the arrangement can be adjusted as u like. This simply works very well for my heavy bioload tank. I'd agree that it'll be better to plant heavier when starting out with a fresh tank. If u intro too many new plants after the tank is cycled, u risk the tank kicking back into a new cycle. Maybe u'd want to do a search on some of the tank cycling threads here. I'm sure someone can explain better than me. Like u, I'm also experimenting with a small low requirement tank, though a bit different from urs.
Good luck![]
Ermmm....plants don't release ammonia...they take them in. [If u intro too many new plants after the tank is cycled, u risk the tank kicking back into a new cycle.
Plant Physiology by Taiz and Zeiger
That's right. What I was trying to say is that when cycling a tank with few plants, whatever beneficial bacteria growth you get is based on the "food"(ammonia) available for it to cultivate. In this case, the risk is if too many new plants are introduced when the bacteria is not very established, original amount of bacteria already cultivated might get deprived of food if no additional food is available.
I hope that explains it right.
I think adding more plants will be beneficial to the tank. As long as the ammonia is taken care of, either by plant or bacteria, there is no problem.
I have started my current tank without cycling it, but with lots of healthy growing plants. 30+ fishes into a 2ft tank on day 2. Zero casualities.
(I am not recommending no cycling. I was "forced" to do so.)
BC
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