Thoughts on low tech low maintenance 80 liters Bucephalandra tank?

[Oliverpool]

Hi all,

I am in the midst of starting a 80 liters planted tank. It will be low tech without CO2 injection. Tank size would be 50cm x 40cm x 40cm. Lights will be DIY and I am also going to try out a Mattenfilter to ease filter cleaning as this will be in a office environment. These are the plants and fishes I have in mind. Let me know what are your thoughts and it is going to work.

Equipment :-

1. 50cm x 40cm x 40cm Tank. Around 80 liters

2. Mattenfilter covering the whole of one side. (40cm x 40cm surface area sponge). Office environment and water point too far away. Old building so not sure of the water pipe conditions. So little water change as possible with Distilled water top for evaporation to maintain TDS.

3. Ehiem Compact 300? - 150-300 liters water turnover. Will aim to run it at the lower range to lower water turnover so that the Mattenfilter will function at its best range. Will help with preserving CO2 as this tank will not be CO2 injected.

4. Borneowild Planted soil?

5. DIY LED lights. Still work in progress but have gotten some new stuff plus own a bunch of old stuff from my old decom tank. Will use a mix of Cool white plus Warm white CREE leds plus some artic blue CREE LED. Can be dimmable to ensure I can get the right amount of light for this tank to not be overwhelm with algae issues.

6. DIY fan control to avoid big change in water temp when the aircon goes off at night. I ordered this so and will test it out to ensure the fan only runs when the water temp goes above a certain temp. Idea is to keep water temp at around 27-28 and top up the evaporated water with Distilled water which I have a bunch of.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...E:L:OC:US:3160


Fauna :-

1. Clown Killies - 10?

2. Pseudomugil gertrudae - 5?

3. Pseudomugil sp "Red Neon" - 5?

4. Cherry Shrimps - 10-20?

5. Netrite Snails - 4

6. Ottos - 2


Flora :-

1. As many mix of Bucephalandra as I can get after calculating my spend on the equipment but still within my budget. This will be a mix of small for the foreground and larger ones for the middle and background. Likely to be tied on lava rocks or some wood.

2. Background plants is likely to be Hygrophila pinnatifida plus maybe another light grass like plant? Any sugestions?

3. Floating plants like Frogbits and Hornwort to ensure quick takeout of Nitrates due to the slow growing Bucephalandras in the tank.

4. Tank will be lightly fertilised with Lushgro-Aqua or Seachem ferts once a week. Maybe around 10 times less then what is called for in EI ferts?



The idea of this tank is to grow the plants and Fishes I like, Bucephalandra and Clowns/pseudomugil. Yet be able to have it low maintenance with little water change and filter maintenance, big Mattenfilter with good control of fertz and light to overcome algae issues. As I said, big water change is a issue due to distance of a usable water point and I do not trust the water pipes in my office building.

As I mention. Still a work in progress and any thoughts most welcome. Very nervous about the Buce not doing well as they cost a bomb! I have 3 now in a small nano tank with clowns and Cherry and they seem to be doing well with just a simple filter running and a small LED light.

[soltari007]

Interesting idea bro! I'm thinking of a Bucep setup as well! Am going to arrange a mass order soon, if you're keen to join do PM me

[wongce]

I am camping here to see your new setup..

[Oliverpool]

Thanks bros! The first batch of my items are in. I will post some initial pictures of the equipments I have received and what I have in mind tomorrow.

[AQMS]

Interesting.......
post some pics.

[Oliverpool]

My 50x40x40cm tank is here. I have decided to use the Sera P400 pump which has adjustable flow rate. Max is 400L/H. As a Matten filter functions best at between 2-3 times water turnover, I believe this will do fine to meet that criteria. 4W also keeps my carbon footprint low.




LED lights has also arrived. Tested all 18 of the LEDs and its working fine. Definitely a overkill but since I am using a mix of 3 lights, I wanted to ensure that I could get a good mix of the colours with minimal spotlighting. The set of 6 Warm whites and 6 Cool white will be driven with its own drivers which are dimmable. Another driver will drive the 6 Artic Blue. This way I should be able to achieve the white levels as well as light levels for this tank. It will also be future proof if I decide to go high tech with CO2. The levels can be controlled from 10% to 100 in 10% steps.


Top of the heatsink (30CM) with a fan.




Bottom of the heatsink with screws to hold the LED inserted and 6 of the WW CREE leds to show the scale. You will probably notice the slots on the side the heat sink. These are to hold the acrylic covers to prevent water splashes from destroying the leds. Have to find away to test if I need any lens to focus the lights at a later time.



The lights will be held up by using metal bent into a dowel. This will be inserted into predrilled slots on the side of the heatsink and placed on the sides of the rimless tank. Green Chapter does customise this and sells it on a per pair basis at a reasonable rate.

Still trying to confirm on the sponge for the Mattenfilter as well as the plants. A good friend has confirmed that I can get some Pseudomugil sp "Red Neon" from him for a small fee

Project starting to move now.

[BFG]

Oliverpool, this diy led is from the states right?

[Oliverpool]

Oliverpool, this diy led is from the states right?

Yupe. Its from ledgroupbuy. You can use any of the star shaped LEDS and drivers from anywhere else. I already had the drivers from my previous LED fixtures and some spare leds as well. Actually Sim Lim Tower has most of the items. Except they do not seem to have nice looking heatsinks.

[limz_777]

a good start , the mattenfilter will be at the back or side ?


how much did the diy led set cost ?

[Oliverpool]

a good start , the mattenfilter will be at the back or side ?


how much did the diy led set cost ?

Have not done a full calculation. Coz I reused some of my LEDs and drivers from my previous tank build up.

I decided to do the Matten filter at the side. So I can take a fulle head on picture without the filter being shown.

[Oliverpool]

Did a first test run on the stand for my LED. Decided that the stainless steel rod has to be a little thicker. But it works really well as it stands now.

[limz_777]

is the led set heavy ?

[deric79k]

the led where u bought?how many watts ?

[Oliverpool]

Sorry for the slow update. Work was crazy and I was rushing to finish the LED and my tank to ensure it was ready for the Buce when it came.

Come pictures of the LED during the wiring and completed stage.





Wiring and Lens installed.




Top View




Side View





Lighted up at lowest setting.

[Oliverpool]

Foam cut and assembled.




The foam is a 2" thick foam with a 2" gap from the foam to the side of the tank. It is covered with the same foam as a side barrier to have it looking nicer and a middle sector to function as sort of a brace.

Using a small adjustable Sera pump that can be adjusted from around 2.5 to 5 times of water turnover. Tested that the water is taken from both sections of the Matten filter after dropping some purigen beads on the other section without the pump.

[Oliverpool]

Arrival of some of my Buce plants! they arrived in great shape but my tank was not totally ready. I stored them in the fridge for a few days.

[Oliverpool]

Have to thank Stan and Uncle Ron from Green Chapter. They intend to hold talks on aquascaping and more advance topics on saturdays. The first of many was held on 20 April. My tank was used for the talk on how to setup the substrate and maintaining water quality. GC also has a GC Care program where anyone can walk in and they will assist them in selecting rocks, wood including placements. They will even help them setup up the substrate. Its a great place to set up your scape for all folks.

Stan was responsible for the rocks, wood and even helped me to tie up my first batch of Buce. Uncle Ron helped me with on the Matten Filter DIY. The DIY LED holder I used on my tank is also available custom made by GC. Thanks Stan/Ron!

First look of the wood with some selected rocks.

[cherabin]

Nice bucephalandras. Where did you get them?

[Oliverpool]

Nice bucephalandras. Where did you get them?

You could try contacting Soltari007

[joyshorty]

How are your Buceps progression bro? Don't mind if i ask