1st time 2ft planted tank 'lonely wood'

[Jimmyboy88]

i have been getting alot of info from this forum so the only way to repay is to contribute back hopefully when i gain experience

i have been rearing fish many years. got a spare 2ft tank so wanted to try a planted tank much like a sump tank to reduce nitrate (angmo call it refugium) which the water overflow from aro tank

inspired by moss wall, i am trying a moss and monte carlo carpet using cloth netting something unusual
i dont want substrate to mess up my aro water parameter as this water will travel back to main tank
since java moss is easy and monte carlo can creep via runners and get nutrients from water column
i hope it will work out

light is 11w (60w equivalent)Philip energy saving bulb. (i know its not enough, will be upgrading soon)
6 to 8 hours everyday
no fertilizer dosing
Everyday auto start overflow system pump from arowana tank to this planted tank during photoperiod
Temperature 28 to 32 degrees

this is a pic of the tank on day 1. pardon very noob and raw


any suggestions are welcome

[Phillipians]

If this is to act as a refugium in the marine aquarium sense then I guess to reduce nitrate, you can add not just moss wall, but moss carpet floor as well. The light should be sufficient for that.
However, I wouldnt consider it an aquascape at the moment as you have only a lone piece of wood with some plants there.

Anyway, maybe from this you might learn to learn aquascaping more than fish rearing so, who knows? Haha

[Jimmyboy88]

thanks its a refugium for freshwater tank haha
the light is not sufficient as i got monte carlo there and its growing upwards
i will be upgrading as i ordered a 20w 2000lumen led corn bulb and a DIY CO2 using yeast & sugar
will be updating soon

[Urban Aquaria]

If the objective is soaking up excess nutrients, then floating plants would be much easier to manage and grow... they already get Co2 directly from the air and are closest to the light, so floating plants have much more natural advantage in terms of nutrient take-up rate and overall growth, and you don't need to add Co2 injection for them either.

[Jimmyboy88]

If the objective is soaking up excess nutrients, then floating plants would be much easier to manage and grow... they already get Co2 directly from the air and are closest to the light, so floating plants have much more natural advantage in terms of nutrient take-up rate and overall growth, and you don't need to add Co2 injection for them either.

Really like the monte Carlo carpet and hope it will work. If not will fall back to moss carpet and floating plants like duckweed water lettuce, hornwort, Riccia

[BFG]

If the objective is soaking up excess nutrients, then floating plants would be much easier to manage and grow... they already get Co2 directly from the air and are closest to the light, so floating plants have much more natural advantage in terms of nutrient take-up rate and overall growth, and you don't need to add Co2 injection for them either.

I agree with this but the benefit of using this refugium for the arowana tank is that it provide O2 as a by product for the arowana to consume during the refugium lights on period. I would advise Jimmyboy88 to operate this refugium when the main tank housing the arowana lights are switch off during the night. Get more plants to start with so that the plant mass is able to cope with the bioload and consume all the excess nutrient coming from the arowana tank. An equilibrium need to be reached as early as possible to prevent algae growing in the refugium due to the lights availability.

I would use riccia as your refugium plant mass. As it grow and increase in size, trim and spread the trimming in your refugium. Get a pressurised co2 setup, you need to control the co2 supply to the refugium as you do not want co2 to go back to your arowana tank. Flowrate to the refugium need to be controlled too in the beginning.

[Jimmyboy88]

I agree with this but the benefit of using this refugium for the arowana tank is that it provide O2 as a by product for the arowana to consume during the refugium lights on period. I would advise Jimmyboy88 to operate this refugium when the main tank housing the arowana lights are switch off during the night. Get more plants to start with so that the plant mass is able to cope with the bioload and consume all the excess nutrient coming from the arowana tank. An equilibrium need to be reached as early as possible to prevent algae growing in the refugium due to the lights availability.

I would use riccia as your refugium plant mass. As it grow and increase in size, trim and spread the trimming in your refugium. Get a pressurised co2 setup, you need to control the co2 supply to the refugium as you do not want co2 to go back to your arowana tank. Flowrate to the refugium need to be controlled too in the beginning.

Really good advice here
i will try to get some Riccia and floating plants

[BFG]

I would recommend riccia as well as moss due to the fact they do not have roots where they could take in nutrient from. To maximise your refugium tank space, you could create moss wall on 3 side of your refugium or even 4 side if you do not need to view the refugium. Using plastic mesh or those stainless steel ones and place the riccia in it to use as the carpet for the refugium. This 2 types of plants have similar characteristic as the algae chaetomorpha being used in marine refugium setup in that they do not have roots and grow en mass.

With proper flowrate into the refugium and adequate co2 supply, the pearling effect from these 2 types of plants would be a sight to see!

[Jimmyboy88]

I would recommend riccia as well as moss due to the fact they do not have roots where they could take in nutrient from. To maximise your refugium tank space, you could create moss wall on 3 side of your refugium or even 4 side if you do not need to view the refugium. Using plastic mesh or those stainless steel ones and place the riccia in it to use as the carpet for the refugium. This 2 types of plants have similar characteristic as the algae chaetomorpha being used in marine refugium setup in that they do not have roots and grow en mass.

With proper flowrate into the refugium and adequate co2 supply, the pearling effect from these 2 types of plants would be a sight to see!

maybe i should get a riccia wall at the back of my tank

[Jimmyboy88]

one roll of monte carlo melted or floated away
i try to 'plant' some floaters on the net



looks like its growing upwards (insufficient light)
new leave turning small and yellow (no co2 but should have plenty of fish waste. Nitrate is 80ppm)


new residents (baby red molly )


i already upgraded to 2x23w CFL light
started DIY CO2 (1bps) but no seachem excel yet let's see how well the injected co2 perform
added a small pump to increase water flow circulation and distribute the co2 better
no fertilisers yet as there's plenty of fish waste nitrate is 80ppm at least
let's see how this setup perform after 1 week

[Ingen]

As what other suggested riccia, and they can be tied to rocks or mesh too if you want to have a carpet and they are known to be nutrient sponge, as per what most articles say online about them haha.