lazy woman's planted tank

[joteo]

TyroneGenade: Whoa... that's one nice forest. Mine are still individual plants tied to driftwood.

It's very difficult to add gravel to a tank already filled with water without messing everything up. This is how you do it:-

1. Empty your tank.
2. Pour in the base fertiliser; spread it out evenly.
3. Pour in your gravel; spread it out evenly.
4. Put a piece of newspaper above the gravel.
5. Pour in your water, gently.
6. Stop when the tank is half filled with water; throw away newspaper.
7. Put in your rocks and driftwoods and start planting.
8. Fill up the tank.
9. Start your filter running.
10. Wait for a week before putting in the fish.
11. Ignore (10) at your own risk

Is it possible to skip the base fertiliser?

(Can you see me already taking shortcuts?)

Afterall, my water is full of who knows what already. Could I just fish out the fish and chuck in the gravel, put in the plants, run the filter for a week (less?) and put in the fish?

What are the disadvantages of doing this?

I'm asking 'cos I've got 20-30 guppies in the 2ft with AE, and some shrimp, and no spare tank. So the guppies will have to be in a plastic pail in the meantime if I do this. All this activity might stress them out (Me too. Haha.)

thanks
joanne

[joteo]

Loh KL: Those narrow leaves are nice! You're right. I've not seen them very much in the shops.

Joanne, how does the fish beach up on riccia? Must be real cute. Nice if you have some photo of that.

Ok, one day will try and get a photo. Suddenly they're not beaching up so much. They do look like Ronwill's beached betta. Only they're not so dry, because the riccia is like a soft bed that carries their weight and helps them float. So they remain a little more moist than that very nice blue betta.

I get rid of all my riccia as it is really messy and smelly. Mine carry strong chemical smell.

Took a quick sniff just now. No chemical smell to speak of.

Oh, and congrats on your soon-to-be mother cherry shrimp. I got some the other day. Tiny fellas that are now co-habiting with my malayan and tiger shrimp in my macquarium.

I think I will have to go with a good canister filter - like Loh mentioned - either a eheim 2213 or Rena xp1 - I've been advertising for a 2nd one. Then go from there to the gravel and stuff.

More powerful filter = less water change = happy lazy woman.

Thanks
joanne

[joteo]

Hi Joanne,

Welcome to the forum!

Hi Freddy,

Thanks very much.

I am a busy guy (when project comes) who do not have time for maintenance.

Sounds like me. I should really be working right now!

It has been about a year that I tried not to change water for my 4 footer. The only time I do is when I uproot lots of plants or when I do mass pluning. The tank has been doing great, plants and fishes. See my recent post on "Water Change - less and far between"

When you uproot plants and things, does a lot of yucky stuff fly up into the water? How do the fish react to this? This is my worry about all that substrate stuff that seems to be required to go below the gravel. Messy, messy?

Thanks
joanne

[shortman]

I think I will have to go with a good canister filter - like Loh mentioned - either a eheim 2213 or Rena xp1 - I've been advertising for a 2nd one. Then go from there to the gravel and stuff.

More powerful filter = less water change = happy lazy woman.

joanne

Most us who keep planted or fish tank got spare lying around somewhere in the store room. If you don't mind used or 2nd hand substrate I have 5kg to spare.

As for the eheim 2213 it should be around SGD 80 or less. I once have a rena XP3 just feel that it heat up my tank so I have it replace with eheim and the different in temperature is 2 dC in my tank.

Mr Loh told me that he never throw his substrate and keep recycling it.
And I did the same just wash it with salt and dry it under hot sun.

Now keehoe have 2 x tanks at home plus one waiting for him, Mr Loh you did a very good work I only bring him to your place to fix the spyware and never able to get him to keep fish.

[timebomb]

The water plant that i am looking for :
Something look like grass. Miniature of what we find in foodball field. I think generally refered to as hair grass. I got some eleocharis acicularis but i heard these require lots of light and CO2. I try to do without CO2.
I am thinking of inserting java moss into gravel layer. That might looks close to what i wanted.

Kee Hoe, Hair Grass is Eleocharis parvulus. Without CO2, it would be difficult to get them to grow well. Java Moss, if used as carpeting, is often tied to wire mesh. I've never heard of anyone simply inserting them into the gravel but it does sound like a good idea.

Is it possible to skip the base fertiliser?

Anything's possible, Joanne. If you don't like base fertiliser, skip it. Most plants absorb nutrients through their leaves anyway. Guppies are tough fishes; they shouldn't have problems living in a pail for a week. But use a basin instead of a pail. A bigger surface area is better than more volume.

I can understand laziness as I'm a lazy bum too but if the tank is just 2 feet, it's a piece of cake to redo. With gravel, a tank always look better. Gravel helps to keep the water clear by trapping the dust particles. With gravel, you can half-bury your rocks to make them look natural. And last but not least, plants need something to anchor their roots.

Tyrone Genade uses sand which is okay but sand is quite difficult to come by in built-up Singapore. You can find sand in the streams around our reservoirs but I don't know if it's illegal to collect it.

Joanne and Kee Hoe - When I was trying to grow aquatic plants many years ago, I never had much success because in those days, there was no such thing as CO2 injection. The discovery that by injecting CO2 into the tank can cause prolific plant growth was the thing that revolutionalise the hobby. In the old days, people kept fish and some plants. When the plants die which they often do, they were replaced with new ones. Now, people grow plants and keep some fish. With the discovery of CO2 injection, many hobbyists will tell you that their plants grow so well, they throw bunches away all the time. It would be a terrible pity if you 2 don't even want to try DIYing your own CO2 generator. It's cheap and easy to rigged up. But don't ask me to describe how it's done Just do a search on Google. There must be plenty of web sites describing the procedure.

Loh K L

[keehoe]

Kee Hoe, Hair Grass is Eleocharis parvulus. Without CO2, it would be difficult to get them to grow well. Java Moss, if used as carpeting, is often tied to wire mesh. I've never heard of anyone simply inserting them into the gravel but it does sound like a good idea.

Would it be very difficult to remove once it blend itself into gravels?
I Just got an idea, it might turns out to be one whole piece of carpet of "grass" which i can migrate they to bigger tank to continue its growth. That would be a good piece of bio waste disposal handiplus for any fish tank.

Anything's possible, Joanne. If you don't like base fertiliser, skip it. Most plants absorb nutrients through their leaves anyway. Guppies are tough fishes; they shouldn't have problems living in a pail for a week. But use a basin instead of a pail. A bigger surface area is better than more volume.

Yah, guppies very tough. I never follow the rule of chaning half tank water at a time for them. I got bowl size plastic container, keeping one guppy each definately no problem (with no filter, no aeration and no water change for 2 weeks). Just some java moss and sunlight.

Tyrone Genade uses sand which is okay but sand is quite difficult to come by in built-up Singapore. You can find sand in the streams around our reservoirs but I don't know if it's illegal to collect it.

Would sand be more messy as they are so fine and easy to stir up.
It is more difficult to burry plants root also.

I got a question:

Why my neon tetra don't swim in group? Is it my tank too small?

Loh, i think i have just redefine the standard of Laziness.

Any suggestion on where to get CO2 system? the 24hour shop sell for 240 for one set of complete everything. I felt that are too expensive.
So i need sometime to do R&D on that. Maybe really do some DIY.

My shrimp count have just reach 14, expect 16 in two more days. Anyone seen red nose shrimp on sale in singapore? The good thing about these shrimp is they like plants. Looks good to have a bit of red colour on green plant.

[keehoe]

Ronwill, i seen that picture when i was fixing spyware at LOH's place. It is cute. Thanks for posting it. I keeping it for my "funny" collection.

[timebomb]

Would sand be more messy as they are so fine and easy to stir up. It is more difficult to bury plants root also.

Kee Hoe, sand isn't messier than gravel. Just like gravel, with sand, clouds of dust will appear if you stir things up. But if you going with sand collected from streams, there's a chance you may introduce some parasites into your tank. But I suppose you can disinfect everything first. I met someone from France a couple of years ago. He works for an aquatic plant import/exporter in Holland. When he was here, I brought him to the streams around our reservoirs. He collected some sand and brought it home in a bottle. He told me that there's something unusual about sand, in that when it's used in a fish tank, the water becomes very clear. He believes that it's something to do with the colonies of bacteria that is found naturally in sand. If you using sand, you will have a substrate that is quite unusual in colour. I've seen it done once in a friend's tank and I must say it's quite beautiful.

If you really want to use sand, I can tell you where you can find it but I can't help you carry it home. It's going to be back-breaking work. Just bear in mind to collect the sand that is accumulated around the bends of the streams. Supposedly, that's where it's full of nutrients.

Why my neon tetra don't swim in group? Is it my tank too small?

I don't think it's got anything to do with the size of your tank although it would be harder for the fish to shoal when the tank is small. Fish shoal because it's a defence mechanism against predators. If you really love to see shoaling, introduce a predator.

Any suggestion on where to get CO2 system?

The 24 hour shop is what you call one of the "new kids on the block". The old established fish shops are the best when you're looking for reasonably-priced equipment. Besides Clementi 328, there's Keong Seong at Havelock Road and Petmart at Serangoon North. Nature Aquarium along Balestier Road is one of the few new kids to sell equipment at competitive prices. On the other hand though, the market is so cut-throat these days, many shops are already selling their stuff at very low prices.

Loh K L

[shortman]

Keehoe,

This is very nice fern from the gallery those at the lower right is call glossostigma elatinoides from the first image.

I think you are looking for something like the second image. Nice grass.

Kwek Leong, sorry I used your image did not ask for permission.

[timebomb]

The second picture looks so nice I can't believe it was once my tank .

How on earth did I get the Erect Moss to grow so well? I still have some in my tank but they're nowhere near what it looks like in the picture.

Loh K L

[keehoe]

Yeah, thats the carpet that i was dreaming about. Unfortunately i think that required strong highlight and co2.

Loh, my have tank have no cover. My shrimp and fish will all jump out of water if i introduce a predator fish. You talking about fish eater not those fighting fish right? Piranha is definately out. Any suggestion?

[joteo]

Most us who keep planted or fish tank got spare lying around somewhere in the store room. If you don't mind used or 2nd hand substrate I have 5kg to spare.

Does this go beneath the gravel? Or is this the gravel itself. If it's not sand, I'd be interested in it.

Thanks
joanne

[joteo]

Joanne and Kee Hoe - When I was trying to grow aquatic plants many years ago, I never had much success because in those days, there was no such thing as CO2 injection.

Loh K L

Guess it's time to pull out the yeast from my baking supplies cupboard

[timebomb]

Does this go beneath the gravel? Or is this the gravel itself.

It's the gravel, Joanne. The gravel and the base fertiliser underneath it, is referred to as the substrate in our tanks. 5 kg of gravel isn't much. My 4 feet tank required 4 bags of gravel, 22 kg each. With a 2 feet tank, I would say you need at least one 22 kg bag.

Loh K L

[shortman]

Most us who keep planted or fish tank got spare lying around somewhere in the store room. If you don't mind used or 2nd hand substrate I have 5kg to spare.

Does this go beneath the gravel? Or is this the gravel itself. If it's not sand, I'd be interested in it.

Thanks
joanne

As Kwek Leong has pointed up 5kg isn't enought I have a pack of gravel in 10kg rice bag. It is very heavy and not too sure it can cover 2feet tank but at least it should be able to cover half of the 2feet tank with 2inch thick.

Best Regards

[joteo]

As Kwek Leong has pointed up 5kg isn't enought I have a pack of gravel in 10kg rice bag. It is very heavy and not too sure it can cover 2feet tank but at least it should be able to cover half of the 2feet tank with 2inch thick.

Best Regards

Okay then. Sure. I'll PM you regarding this. I've no problems with 2nd hand stuff at all.

Thanks
joanne

[shortman]

Yeah, thats the carpet that i was dreaming about. Unfortunately i think that required strong highlight and co2.

my have tank have no cover.

If you are using the 1feet tank you should not have problem with lighting.
Due to the low height you plant will get enough light. As for the CO2 you can DIY it.

Get some plastic sheet from the hardware store and make a cover for the tank. BTW, killies are good jumper.

The neon tetra are not very good in schooling around the space in the 1feet tank. You just need to get one fish that is bigger than the neon tetra.

[joteo]

Hello Everyone,

I really appreciate all the replies and insights into a lazy tank. It seems ultimately that a lazy tank is one that hides and propogates dirt - ie gravel. Without gravel, I can see all the scum at the bottom of the glass.

Gravel to me, seemed like a tough maintenence job, but it seems that it's really on the setup, or when you do a major replant that it really becomes difficult.

Thanks very much to Kho who has offered his spare gravel. Appreciate it.

I hope to start on this project when my time clears up a bit.

Thanks
joanne

[FC]

Hi Joanne,

When you uproot plants and things, does a lot of yucky stuff fly up into the water? How do the fish react to this? This is my worry about all that substrate stuff that seems to be required to go below the gravel. Messy, messy?
joanne

Sorry for the late reply. No, it doesn't. I place the base fert at the bottom and covered it with 2~3 inch thick of fresh gravel.
Should you wish to go without base fert, you need to use porous gravel like those from Amano. The cheaper version is the Japanese gravel (brown) sold in Nature Aquarium. I cannot remember the name but the whole pack is full of Jap words (recommended by Ronnie). Mix them evenly with 50% lonestar gravel.