Help me setup an ultra budget planted tank

[felix_fx2]

Is this consider garden soil ?

yes, you also intrested to make "coffee" ?

[bravobb]

I already made one... in a new thread.. called the Small Cofftee Tank...

[Navyblue]

Substrate is in. I might have gone overboard with the Seachem Fluorite. If my weighing scale is correct, it is 23kg. . Less than 1" at the front, slopes to 5" at the middle of the tank. I planned to get about 3" but I don't know what to do with those extra Fluorite.



I also have no idea on the aquascaping. For now, the slope stays this way. I'll have an anubias on driftwood at the middle of the slope. On the plateau I'll have stem plants and ferns, possibly emersed. The concept seems kind of like a riparium, not exactly what I wanted, but it is the only half decent thing I can picture. Any advice would be appreciated.

When the bulb comes, I can start adding plants. Or may be I can start to do that now and use the Philips Tornado bulb for the moment.

[ciaossu]

a riparium doesn't sound bad. http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/a....21327/page-12 hope this can inspire you and the tank is low tech

[Navyblue]

Thanks, inspiration indeed.

What plants are those? Those at the left are amazon swords? Those at the right I suppose are terrestrial plants.

Last week I paid a visit to the nurseries at Thomson to see what sort of plant that might be suitable. I am considering planting the lucky bamboo, but I read that it can develop massive roots. What would happen if the roots are not trimmed?

[Navyblue]

I found a good place to hide the Seio.



The intake is under the substrate. I don't know if this would create problem though. I imagine the substrate particle is too heavy to be sucked in and the substrate is porous enough to allow water movement. But if it turns out to be a problem I can wrap a layer of filter material around the intake. This would also prevent shrimp/fish fries from getting sucked into the pump.

[bravobb]

Substrate is in. I might have gone overboard with the Seachem Fluorite. If my weighing scale is correct, it is 23kg. . Less than 1" at the front, slopes to 5" at the middle of the tank. I planned to get about 3" but I don't know what to do with those extra Fluorite.



I also have no idea on the aquascaping. For now, the slope stays this way. I'll have an anubias on driftwood at the middle of the slope. On the plateau I'll have stem plants and ferns, possibly emersed. The concept seems kind of like a riparium, not exactly what I wanted, but it is the only half decent thing I can picture. Any advice would be appreciated.

When the bulb comes, I can start adding plants. Or may be I can start to do that now and use the Philips Tornado bulb for the moment.

I kind of like the way you do the substrate. Beautified it further !

[Navyblue]

Thank you.

But there is a problem with this arrangement. All the aquascaping form I can think of would be symmetrical, which tend to be frowned upon as it would look "unnatural".

Although personally I don't think it is that bad. If you visit those nicely manicured English style garden, it is always symmetrical. Natural looking? No. Still, no one like their garden to look like a jungle.

[bravobb]

Bro, it is personal liking... Go with your style.
Unless you are making to sell, it should be unique and to your liking... where you enjoy looking at it everyday... No regrets... that is the most important... in my opinion.

[Navyblue]

That is true, I am the one that has to live with the tank.

I filled the tank up to half way, and turned on the Seio. The water splashes is very noisy, so I removed it. Filling up the tank all the way would help, but I got a feeling that it would still make some splashing noise. May be I could try capping the top with a DW or something.

The first time I filled up the tank I took care not to stir the substrate. The water was cloudy. I got impatient and drain the water and fill the tank again. And then I give the substrate a good stir. I ended up with a coffee tank. Drain the water again and fill it up. I suppose I need to be patient to wait for it to settle down.

One of the reason that I got a used substrate is someone has used it before and it should be reasonably clean. Well, so much for that. I did some research and turns out that Fluorite has a reputation of being extremely dusty. I think it has to do with the fact that it is made of clay, and stirring/transportation could cause the particles rub against each other and produce even more dust. This would make it impossible to make it completely clean like normal sand. I suppose the only way is to wait till bacterial film has form within the substrate which would bind the dust.

[ciaossu]

Thanks, inspiration indeed.

What plants are those? Those at the left are amazon swords? Those at the right I suppose are terrestrial plants.

Last week I paid a visit to the nurseries at Thomson to see what sort of plant that might be suitable. I am considering planting the lucky bamboo, but I read that it can develop massive roots. What would happen if the roots are not trimmed?

Hi i believe mostly are cryptocoryne, you might want to go through the thread i think the owner listed down the plant.

[Navyblue]

Thanks.

I think I have a change of plan. I think I would plant the plateau and leave the slope bare. Less area to cover and hopefully cheaper. I would put some moss at the bottom of the slope and hopefully they can grow up and carpet the slope.

I have a question that I hope you guys could answer.

You know those anubias and various ferns tied to drift woods with fishing lines sold in LFS. They usually placed in a plastic bag with minimal water at the bottom. If I buy those plants and submerge them, would they shed leaves initially? And if I submerge the wood/roots/rhizomes in water but leave the leaves sticking out of the water, would the leaves dry up and drop?

[Navyblue]

why not you tell us what you are really looking at so we know how to help?

If necessary, I do not mind bringing you to my sources to get the stuffs that you need at either low or no cost.

PM me if you need my help.

Thanks.

I think I am about to get plants now, but I can't PM you since I am new here.

I need ferns and anubias in the short term to keep them emersed. And I would like stem plants like water sprite once my water clears up.

I am worried that if I submerge the plant when the water is cloudy the particles would settle on the leaves and I'd have trouble cleaning them. I think it would take many days for the dust to settle.

[5stars]

Is aquasoil the substrate to go? Can I do without these fancy soil?

Also what is the cheapest easy low light plant to cover the tank with?

Aquasoil will definitely give your plants an initial boost due to the minerals in the soil, helps to maintain the ph, and looks really nice, but is very expensive an not a necessity for planted tanks.

You can use fine gravel as an alternative substrate. A benefit of using gravel is that the tank will not become as cloudy should the substrate get accidentally stirred up. However, because gravel does not have any minerals/fertilizers, you will need to add root fertilizers and/or laterite or a layer of iron-rich substrate.

If you Google "Dutch Aquascape," you will notice that the majority of Dutch Aquascapes do not use aquasoil, and their Aquascapes are really, stunningly beautiful!

[Navyblue]

Thanks, even if it is a bit late for that.

I do find the prospect that the substrate can be disturbed without clouding the water attractive. Thus I went with gravel style substrate, but apparently my research wasn't that thorough.

[Navyblue]

Light bulbs are in!



These "12W" bulbs don't look as bright as I thought. May be not even as bright as the 10W blue bulbs that I got. I guess you got what you paid for. But for low tech low light tank, I suppose it is fine.

Despite the tall light stand, you can still see the hotspot on the substrate.

I put on a filter hoping to clear up the water. I also put pieces of squid in the filter to speed up bacterial build up, which I was hoping to bind the floating fine dust.

Coupled with a couple of total water changes, it cleared up a bit, but far from crystal clear.



I think there is nothing stopping me from getting the plants now.

[felix_fx2]

The first time I filled up the tank I took care not to stir the substrate. The water was cloudy. I got impatient and drain the water and fill the tank again. And then I give the substrate a good stir. I ended up with a coffee tank. Drain the water again and fill it up. I suppose I need to be patient to wait for it to settle down.

1: Lapis also have dust
2: The 1st thingy i went organised by AQ i learnt how to use lots of news paper to lessen the dust
3:Welcome to Coffee Club AQ

Thanks, even if it is a bit late for that.

I do find the prospect that the substrate can be disturbed without clouding the water attractive. Thus I went with gravel style substrate, but apparently my research wasn't that thorough.

Aquasoil is compressed soil, just like off the shelf soil you can buy. The make-up of them can be composed in a differently
Reference to Horti SG: http://www.horti.com.sg/pot/Potting.htm

Just mention below so you know
All Aquasoil also can make coffee, even brand new. They will crumble into mud like dust in the end, but that will take long.

You can leave the Squid in the water few days and let nature take it's time, good idea now to get some Hortworts (nitrate suckers).

Slightly OT, i see the remote for the lights near your linksys stuff. let me guess DX ???

[mukyo]

Actually reducing the amount of water helped settling the cloud faster.
This is valid and reason why planting is done with less water.

Keep it up. I want to see the slope progress. I have been sloping as well but they always flatten down in the end.
Not sure if because of underground filter or my corries.

Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk

[Navyblue]

1: Lapis also have dust
2: The 1st thingy i went organised by AQ i learnt how to use lots of news paper to lessen the dust
3:Welcome to Coffee Club AQ



Aquasoil is compressed soil, just like off the shelf soil you can buy. The make-up of them can be composed in a differently
Reference to Horti SG: http://www.horti.com.sg/pot/Potting.htm

Just mention below so you know
All Aquasoil also can make coffee, even brand new. They will crumble into mud like dust in the end, but that will take long.

You can leave the Squid in the water few days and let nature take it's time, good idea now to get some Hortworts (nitrate suckers).

Slightly OT, i see the remote for the lights near your linksys stuff. let me guess DX ???

How can newspaper reduce dust?

What is DX? It is for an RGB LED bulb that I intend to use as moon light for my reef tank.

[Navyblue]

Actually reducing the amount of water helped settling the cloud faster.
This is valid and reason why planting is done with less water.

Keep it up. I want to see the slope progress. I have been sloping as well but they always flatten down in the end.
Not sure if because of underground filter or my corries.

Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk

Thanks.

I thought with less water height, the suspended particles has less distance to travel down. Also if the particles are more concentrated in less water it would take less time to filter.

I imagine cories can flatten a slope. When substrate particle is moved it always moved down and not up. Over time the gradient will become lesser and lesser, unless it is very gentle to begin with (which would mean a very large tank).

Apart from moss, I don't really know what to do with the slope. If I go with something like e. tenelus or dwarf sag, I imagine they will be too tall and would take forever to carpet.