Suggestion for 3 feet tank!

[shrimppaste]

Hi guys,

Ok. I posted another thread about the same, but slightly different thing.

Ok, here's the thing. My father has a 3 feet tank which used to be a marine tank with hanging Metal Hallide lighting. Teco Chilelr, Eheim 2028. He wants me to convert it into something with less maintenance.

With these things to play with, what would you guys suggest I convert the tank into???

I was thinking of either African Cichlid tank, Black water biotope, etc? My only concern is, with such high lighting and no plants to take away the fish waste's nutrients, would algae bloom?? But then again why was there no algae in the marine tank??

Thanks!!

[shrimppaste]

CRS tank??? With moss only???

[shrimppaste]

Any suggestion guys?

[shrimppaste]

Hmmm how come no one is giving suggestions HAha. I need to start soon. This weekend in fact!

[EddyTing]

In my opinion, even planted tank is not that easy to maintain bro....I believe many still struggling to obtain the balance of the chemistry, including myself...but I like schooling fish very much though...you can try with lots of plants for them to swim in and out...

[shrimppaste]

But my father in law wants something that does not need fertilisation etc. So high tech planted might be out.

[densagoku]

why not hang your metal halides higher, just my opinion, anything above 40cm from water surface significantly reduces the intensity. You still can try low tech...give it a shot you might succeed. The important thing is you still have the chiller..but you might want to get it throughly cleaned and serviced.

[deacon]

Sell away everything. Nothing to maintain.

[shrimppaste]

Hi,

Thanks for all the suggestion. Well, Cause I know even low tech would also need CO2 the first few months. So I don;t think he will want that. Haha.

[cooljazz]

deacon is right. Sell everything = zero maintenance.
is that what your father in law really want?

[Desewer]

try the walstad method. use garden soil as a base, and then top up with about 5cm of sand or gravel.

for plants, you can try slow growers like java ferns and anubias species. also, you can add in amazon swords or vallisneria species, they are also quite hardy.

thing is, i think you have to control the light. a metal halide lamp might be overkill for this kind of low tech tank, so maybe reduce your photoperiod to about 4 hours daily, max?

if you can reduce your lamp wattage to a 75W MH bulb, might be good for your tank. you should be able to grow several green stem plant species such as ludwigia or rotala.

plant heavily to avoid algae issues!

[shrimppaste]

NO lah, if he wants to sell the tank he would have done so. Or given it to me. He wanted to plant other things, but not evberybody has the knowledge to do it.

[deacon]

NO lah, if he wants to sell the tank he would have done so. Or given it to me. He wanted to plant other things, but not evberybody has the knowledge to do it.

Well, its just to save him the time really.

No matter what the choices, there'll always be maintenance and WCs to content with. Even in a low tech tank and it you plant more denser to combat algae, still requires a fair amount of maintenance. Plus with a metal halide lamp. Might as well sell it at the marketplace, make someone happy and he also happy no maintenance.

Or he can sell the metal halide, buy 2x3ft red/pink florescence tube and throw in 2 luo han

[Fireball]

Hi guys,

Ok. I posted another thread about the same, but slightly different thing.

Ok, here's the thing. My father has a 3 feet tank which used to be a marine tank with hanging Metal Hallide lighting. Teco Chilelr, Eheim 2028. He wants me to convert it into something with less maintenance.

With these things to play with, what would you guys suggest I convert the tank into???

I was thinking of either African Cichlid tank, Black water biotope, etc? My only concern is, with such high lighting and no plants to take away the fish waste's nutrients, would algae bloom?? But then again why was there no algae in the marine tank??

Thanks!!

Hi Shrimpaste,

For a start, why not start a planted tank with fast growing plants since he has the Metal Hallide lighting?

Also have a full community of tetra or other community fishes?

I think the maintenance should be lesser of the marine tank, but with a fast growing planted tank, it may keep his hands full too.

Let us know his decision.

Regards,
Mark

[felix_fx2]

NO lah, if he wants to sell the tank he would have done so. Or given it to me. He wanted to plant other things, but not evberybody has the knowledge to do it.

Maybe he wants to go potted plants but don't wish to look aunty ?

Change to vivarium, Low tech ones no mist.

[bryan]

Hi,

Thanks for all the suggestion. Well, Cause I know even low tech would also need CO2 the first few months. So I don;t think he will want that. Haha.

Who told you that?

There's a 2ft crypt jungle at my brother's place using potting soil and a top layer of lapis sand. It has only tasted CO2 from fish.
My pleco tank is crammed full of anubias and ferns and I don't use CO2 on it.

[shrimppaste]

Ah ok. Maybe I will just simple go low tech with moss and ferns since he has a chiller. Thanks guys! Will post pictures soon