Reply With QuoteIf you need ferns it is best to get philippine ferns as they are generally smaller and suit a small tank better. You can consider staurogyne as the mid ground plant too. Pretty undemanding.
Hi all,
This setup would be my first low-iron high clarity opti-clear glass tank which i will be intending to keep/breed guppies~
Let the pictures do the talking..
Main casts, tank, soil and sand
Playing around with the scaping ideas outside the LFS
Trying to create a pleasing to the eyes angle,
Still fiddling around here and there...
While soaking the bogwood branches, did the scaping of sand and soil
As i want the back part to be soil, i used lava rock pieces to make the holding strong and leave no gaps for the soil to pass through!
And the back part of the scaping is for growing stem plants purpose, keeping the soil height at 4-5cm should be sufficient.
That's it, my scaping is done!
Did some final adjustment, topped up some more sand to make it fuller, and fill in the gaps in-between the lava rocks
Perspective view~
Water not added yet, still deciding on plants~
Meanwhile this is the list of specs:
Tank: ANS Opti-Clear 40cm x 25cm x 26cm (with white oyama back sticker)
Lighting: Rainbow (for the time being until i get a replacement)
Filter: still deciding, mostly HOB + sponge filter (thinking of getting BioSpon BS-26L)
Media: ANS mini bacteria house
Substrate: ANS Planta soil for base, GEX Shrimp & Plant for top
Sand: Sudo Reef Sand
Hardscape: Bogwood branches, lava rocks and 1 piece of seiryu rock at the back
Plants: ??????????
Fauna: Guppies, some small corydoras (pygmy, salt & pepper) or otocinclus
I'm intending to do a low-tech setup so most likely i will buy some small size java ferns, and the rest i can't decide and have no particular plants on my mind
The height of the soil at the back is about 4-5cm, so it is good enough to plant in some stem plants, but which type are hardy, low requirement?
Please feel free to throw in ideas~~
If you need ferns it is best to get philippine ferns as they are generally smaller and suit a small tank better. You can consider staurogyne as the mid ground plant too. Pretty undemanding.
Holy is the Lord, God Almighty ! The Earth is filled with His Glory !
90 x 50 x 50 cm tank: Eheim 2217; ANS CO2 Solenoid with 60mm intense bazooka; Zetlight 6400; Teco 500 Chiller; Borneo Wild Steel inlet/outlet
Ferts: Dry Mixture/Dr Mallicks. Temp: 26 degrees Substrate: ADA Amazonia
If you haven't, you need to put a plastic strip to seperate the sand and the soil. The rocks won't make it.
Suckerfish no eat poo poo.
Plants choices~
LED Lighting choice~ (pardon me for the fruits, its non-related lol)
I've decided to go with my trustworthy GEX Slim L HOB Filter, and i thought of something, making full use of the filter media slots (including the inlet part area where the water enter, at the most right side)
L to R (4 slots + 1):
Seachem Matrix, AZOO 4in1, AZOO 4in1, ANS mini bacteria house (S), GEX super charcoal bag
(the above media except ANS mini bacteria house has already being cycled with a temporary HOB filter, so its like a jump start process now)
my gf thought of an ingenious way of housing/holding the bio-medias, by sewing soft wool with fishing line into a pouch, as it wouldn't clog up the flow, and can easily pour out the media and "wash" during maintenance...
so she helped me to sew 2 media pouches with opening on top
tank is pre-cycled for 2 days with a temporary HOB filter, now commencing the actual nitrogen cycle~
all my 3 tanks in my room~
Fauna choices as of now:
5-6 Pygmy corydoras
5 Guppies (3 female, 2 male)
2-3 Otocinclus
Nice way to create the media pouch. A very neat set up for all your three tanks! Awaiting your guppies!
Very nice
Neat,tidy,organize....nice work
Thank you for the encouragement,
As i had very little sleep for the past 2-3 days, also very physical draining, bought the 22kg industrial grade metal rack, new tank and equipments, and the temporary filter had problem, went back to the shop 2 times to change, planning, setting up and finalize the planting layout and did some amendments, 3 days worth of physical and mental training! Very siong and lots of trial and error indeed...
Overall i felt the sense of achievement when i finish the setup, and filled the tank with water, it tells me that this hobby is always tough on the initial setup, things could be messy and out of control, but don't give up until i get to pass that stage.
Total damage for this low-tech setup: $188.40
Plants used:
staurogyne
taiwan moss
rotala nanjenshan
windelov java fern
java fern
nice setup .. think need to plant more...
the filter media pouch is a good idea !
have you tried turning the main wood around and see what is the effect?
maybe try moving your ferns to the right to block the view of the filter powerhead...
looking at your setup, it tells me that we all have the same "power plugs" problem..
hope it is not overloaded.
Nice rack setup!
With those adjustable metal racks, there seems to be alot of unused horizontal space on each shelf at the moment.... maybe can consider consolidating the small tanks and upgrading them to 2ft tanks, that will provide much more water volume for your fishes (especially the goldfishes).
Less multiple small tanks = less plugs too.
Hmm good idea to block the filter sponge, but i'm afraid the current position will have a big gap, and i don't know how and what to plant in.Originally Posted by fireblade
nice setup .. think need to plant more...
the filter media pouch is a good idea !
have you tried turning the main wood around and see what is the effect?
maybe try moving your ferns to the right to block the view of the filter powerhead...
looking at your setup, it tells me that we all have the same "power plugs" problem..
hope it is not overloaded.
I'm trying to separate the plugs according to their functions, filter using 1 switch and lighting using 1 switch etc, wondering how could we further improve it?
2 ft tank will use more water and more electricityNice rack setup!
With those adjustable metal racks, there seems to be alot of unused horizontal space on each shelf at the moment.... maybe can consider consolidating the small tanks and upgrading them to 2ft tanks, that will provide much more water volume for your fishes (especially the goldfishes).
Less multiple small tanks = less plugs too.also meaning have to spend more on the setup!! more $$ to spend on aquarium = lesser money to spend on myself
the goldfishes i'm not so worried as the tank description indicates it safe to keep 3-4 goldfishes, and i have only 2 medium oranda and 2 very small ranchu
actually i don't bear to change their tank as i really love the slim profile of deskboy!
For the rest of the unused spaces, i will prolly do up a small vivariums or those tanks u see at LFS storing betta in it, beautify the entire rack with the minimal aquascaping in it
should i plant in more staurogyne to fill up the spaces if i shift the java fern to the right side corner to block off the filter sponge?
can't plant too near the java fern as well because there's a square block of driftwood tying to the java ferns
As i heed the advices from fellow veterans here, i went to get another 2 pots of Staurogyne and 2 pots of Phillipine Java Fern and reposition the plants
front view, now the java fern is being shifted to the right side, but can't fully cover the inlet sponge as there's a block of driftwood sticking out, that's the maximum i can go...
top view, staurogyne spread along the "foreground" of the soil, but definitely not meant for planting into the reef sand, so in terms of overall view, its not the foreground of the entire tank as what you have imagined :P
clearer top view: hopefully when the staurogyne will close up once it start to grow horizontally,
side view, can see the difference in height,
front: taiwan moss on bogwood branch,
mid: staurogyne
far mid: windelov java fern
back: philippine java fern & normal java fern
it looks much better now ...
just feel that the sand area is too big.. cannot plant much though....
haha, guess what??
my gf wants me to keep pygmy corys as we have a batch in the living room 2 feet tank!! we are gonna get a school of 8-10 cory once the water is ready for them, amount of guppies will be minimal
so the sand area is perfectly made for corys~
If you are not adding any plants to the sand substrate, try reducing the depth of the sand (just a 5mm layer is sufficient)... its mainly to avoid the bottom portions getting compacted and anaerobic, especially the front and sides where cyanobacteria/algae and hydrogen sulphate bubbles would tend to appear and become visible over time.
5mm isn't it very thin??!! how about keeping it at 1cm?
does it mean that algae will grown or bloom beneath the sand and causing the discoloration of the sand?
1cm is okay too, just that since the sand is mainly decorative and not being planted, you can reduce the ratio of sand depth to front glass height, create a more pronounced sand slope from front to back, that will help increase depth perception. Can try it and see which you prefer.
Good thing about sand is you can shift it around without clouding up the water.
Yeah, thicker sand layers tend to develop gas bubbles and eventually algae developing inside it over time, you wouldn't see if its at the back, but when it occurs in the front and sides it looks abit unsightly.
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