120 cm tank - Brain Freeze

[stormhawk]

Got annoyed with my old scape since most of my E. tenellus and my Vallisneria were uprooted and destroyed by my Laetacara and 2 Angelfishes (gone to a good home), so I did this, just a few hours ago:



Got some tough hardy plants in except the Potamogeton gayii to the right of the picture. I'm thinking of Japanese hairgrass or E. tenellus for the foreground in the sand area, or should I try a hardy Cryptocoryne like C. wendtii? Probably going to tie some ferns, mosses and some Anubias on that branchy driftwood in the picture, but undecided at the moment since I may move it out altogether.

Any suggestions?

Tank is a 120 cm (4ft) SunSun tank
pH: 5.6 (must be the GEX soil)
Temp: 32 deg C (need to work on venting the hood)
Lights: 3 x 39W T5 lamps (going to retrofit with LED)
Filtration: Eheim 2026 + OHF tray in the hood
CO2: Nil

Trying to keep this tank simple, but probably biggest thing now is to fix the temperature problem.

Livestock: Laetacara sp. x 3, Cardinal Tetra x 5, Ruby Tetra x 8, Corydoras habrosus x 6, Rineloricaria sp. L10a x 1, Peckoltia brevis x 1, Otocinclus affinis x 1, Nerite snails x 3, Red Ramshorn Snails x 4

[limz_777]

how big is your Peckoltia brevis ? if you fix the temperature problem (did you add a fan?) , can try to add tied java moss , its quite a good filler

also more bigger rocks (can tied your plants to it too) to border the planted area will be better

[stormhawk]

I don't intend to use rocks in this tank at the moment. Got some pieces of driftwood and some leftcover coconut shell pieces from those cheap Java Ferns that died on me.

The Peckoltia is about 7 cm. Doesn't knock the plants around. I need to modify the hood but that will be a little later. The problem is coming from the in-built lights. Need to retrofit with LED lights. I'm keeping the front cover open with 2 fans running at the moment.

[limz_777]

addition of plecos to my small set-up really mess up the sand substrate , they have this habit of using their caudal fin to really stirred it up badly until the crypts got up root , with front cover and fan its still 32 c ?

[stormhawk]

Right now at 30.5 deg C. I need to find the adapter for the 2nd fan but it seems to be missing from my house.

So far the Peckoltia and Red Lizard did not mess up the sand. Haven't had the time to visit the LFS to get some plants, maybe this coming weekend. Intend to rig up a CO2 injection system as well, since my old CO2 cylinder is empty.

[aquarius]

Some suggestions - You could plant some crpyts along the edges between the sand and the soil. As for the centre and back maybe you can go for valis, some stem plants and lotus. It's best not to use the driftwood cos it looks a bit out of place in your tank (it looks too small for the tank) but if you must then don't put any moss on it cos the wood is too small for the moss to make any/much impact. Hide the driftwood among the vegetation and let a bit of the branches peek out from the vegetation. Use hairgrass for the foreground.

BTW the big plant behind the coconut shell looks nice. Is that a Nana?

[stormhawk]

Hello aquarius,

Yes I know that branchy driftwood is too small. I bought it for a 50 cm tank I recently acquired, but decided not to set that tank up so the driftwood went into my 4ft tank. I was planning on tying some mosses and ferns, and then hiding it among some stem plants.

Yup the big plant is an Anubias. I have no idea which species it is, but probably the commonly found A. barteri. The leaves are large and I like it since it's a hardy plant. They were in good condition so I got them while I was at C328 about a week ago. 2 pieces already gave me so much cover. The sand and soil are separated by pieces of leftover coconut husks and some small driftwood pieces. I might get some Crypts but I need to deal with the temperature issue first.

I had a pot of Japanese hairgrass but they melted away when I left it over night in the tank. It's still probably too warm for the hairgrass to thrive. I'm having a hard time bringing down the temperature but there is some improvement. Currently at 30 degC, so hopefully with my 2nd fan up and running, it will go to 28 or below. I found that my light set in the hood was creating an insane amount of heat.

[limz_777]

maybe your second fan can direct to suck out air to circulate , also are you using all 3 lights ?

[stormhawk]

Only 2 of the tubes at most times, I use that pinkish light for night time to get the fish to settle down before I turn off the main lights. That way my fish don't get spooked. I still can't find the adapter, might have to buy the cheap adapter for it. Temperature has fallen to 29.2 deg C. This is with just 1 fan. I figure it will probably drop further once the other fan is up.

[Navanod]

How's that temperature problem coming along? Since the bioload is low, perhap switching off the OHF will help for the interim? The pumps actually contributes more heat to the water than lights from my observations of my old tank.

[stormhawk]

I might do that since I need to modify the hood slightly. Lowest recorded temperature is 28.4 deg C so far, but tonight is a cool night, so I guess I'm lucky. Another FTS after I added in some new plants and fishes. Went to C328 and Polyart, ended up bringing home E. tenellus, 2 types of Vallisneria (I think) and Marsilea hirsuta. Added in some BW Minerock pieces to the tank to shore up the shells on the right island. I intend to eventually house some hardy Cherry shrimp.



Found some HUGE Poropanchax normani at C328, took home a half dozen and they seem to be in breeding mood as it is. Fishes underwent a short PP bath before being added to the tank.

I definitely need CO2 injection one of these days.

[Navanod]

PP bathing the fishes! I would never have the courage to do that!
Does it prevent ich?

I would offer you mosses for that DW but not at the current temperatures. heh heh
On the other hand, if you ever need some cherry shrimps, I would be happy to provide some

[stormhawk]

I dipped them for a very short while in a holding net in a weak solution of PP. Next day one of them developed symptoms of the ailment that was attacking the others in the same tank. Oh well, ended up with 1 diseased bugger (which I fished out and pretty much let it die in a container) and 1 died off in the tank. I'm down to 3 males and 1 female from a group of 6. At least the survivors are feeding well.

I doubt it prevents ich since the only way to eliminate it is when the parasite is in the free-swimming stage.

No shrimps for this tank yet since my Laetacara decided to spawn.. again. This time on the right-most Minerock.

[limz_777]

should be nice once it starts to fill up , maybe some co2 injection to kick start the growth

[stormhawk]

Can't get the CO2 tank this month, maybe next month. My old 3.5 liter cylinder out of gas long ago. I don't even know what to do with it. Maybe sell to karang guni man.

The other problem now is, the male Laetacara decided to mess up my sand bed. He dug up a big crater at one end near the driftwood to the left and basically uprooted some of the newly planted tenellus. Drove me mad.

[RonWill]

CO² cylinders are not disposable lighters... so get it refilled lah. Nice tank but IMHO, could have done better with more plants at the rear corners and/or at least Oyama backing.

What substrate is that anyway? Seems a tad too bright to be Gex soil and how are the C. habrosus and Red Lizard Whiptail doing? Feeding well I suppose?

[stormhawk]

Hi Ron,

I'm intending to get a brand new cylinder, but maybe next month when funds permit. Old cylinder is probably unsafe for use now. Base is rusting anyway. I decided not to use Oyama paper for this tank. Waiting for the current plants to start growing. There's new leaves coming out but some of my fish keep uprooting the Potamogeton. The substrate is a mix of GEX Red and Green soils and Sudo Sand for the foreground.

The catfishes are fat and happy.

[limz_777]

can try to tie your plants onto stainless steel mesh then buried it

[stormhawk]

I might consider that but I have Corydoras in the tank. I think getting the CO2 up and running is of paramount importance now. I sparsely planted the sand area because my Corydoras love to root on that surface. The Laetacara have been herding their fry all over the tank but so far, digging has stopped.

[pangcv]

For laetacara, whenever they ready to spawn diggging job will start . what type of laetacara u got?