My 3ft IOS Tank

[himyick]

Sharing my 3ft IOS Tank.



Dimension - 3ft x 1.5ft x 1.5ft
Lighting - 4 x 36w PL Lights, 7hrs daily
Substrate - GEX soil
Fertilizer - 1 squirt of Wondergro Micro daily with occasional Seachem K
Filter - Internal overflow with 2.5ft sump tank, fitted with Rio pump (2300l/h)
CO² - 4-6 bps during lighting period only
Temp - 26.5 - 27.5 °C, running 2 x DC fans

Its a still a work-in-progress.
Enjoy.

[Aquanoob]

Quite a nice scape. Only the left side is still thin, but you have another month to make it even nicer for the IAPLC contest.
By the way, mind sharing what flora you have in your tank?
I think I see Crypto parva, rotala and swordplant, what is the left plant? Echino or Sagittaria?

[himyick]

This is my first tank after a 5 year break from this hobby.

for rosette plants;
Cryptocoryne willisii
Blyxa japonica - newly added
Echinodorus amazonicus
Echinodorus quadricostatus for the patch on the left
Cryptocoryne wendtii "Green Gecko" a small bunch in front of the E. Quad

For stem plants;
Hygrophila corymbosa
Hygrophila stricta 'compact'
Hemianthus micranthemoides
Ludwigia repens

I bought 2 pots of crypts, one labeled C.parva and the other is C.Willissii. but both appears to be the same plant when grown in my tank. The other day was told by the plant farm in pasir ris that C.parva is rather rare to find. Pictures from the net seems to show that my crypts are too big to be c. parva. Probably the crypt experts can shed some light on this?

[David Moses Heng]

nice work there.

p.s: Your avatar... Looks very familiar... do you build plastic models?

[barmby]

It is good to see you back. Isn't nice to have a tank of planted scape in your room? Sit back and enjoy the tank.

On the scape - I feel that there are still much work to do and complete the scape. But ...you will get there - I am sure. Cheers

[himyick]

p.s: Your avatar... Looks very familiar... do you build plastic models?

You're right, but nowadays I collect more than I build. Haha.

On the scape - I feel that there are still much work to do and complete the scape. But ...you will get there - I am sure. Cheers

Thanks, yes the scape is still evolving. Hope I'll get 'there'.

[k3nlim]

I like your tank!! Especially the feel that the driftwood gives, that lead to the space.

[lowniu]

hi,

i am newbie here, just want to ask regarding the soil...what the different between ADA soil & GEX soil? is that the same? any soil brand recommend? any shop recommend? going to setup a 2 ft plant tank, so need to ask these stupid question. what plant recommend for a start-up tank?

[jiajuen900]

ADA and GEX. hmm... Well if im not wrong ADA will bring down your ph while GEX should not and ADA is generally higher in fertiliser content. It is also considered a better subtrate system to use as it can be gotten for different layers for different purposes e.g Powder soil is easier to plant in and looks better

[Desewer]

Hi bro, nice scape.

Care to share a pic of your IOS tank?

Am looking to get a 3ft planted with sump but maybe IOS is another option which may suit me.

[himyick]

Thanks k3nlim.

I've not used ADA before but GEX soil does bring down the pH. My tank's pH is 6.2-6.4 when measured from the sump. water in my sump does not contain much CO². I find GEX soil easy to work with for first time soil user.

desewer, I'll take pic of it this weekend.

[ranmasatome]

BRudda!! (brother) hahaha.
Good to see you back man!

[himyick]

Wah lau, long time no see, brudda! Haha...

Care to share a pic of your IOS tank?

Here is my sump tank;
Although sump size should be bigger the better but this size is slightly too big for my preference. As I don't have much space to store other stuff.

[ranmasatome]

wa! what if some of the stuff tip over and fell into the sump? like the ferts or the food.. i think that one will be quite jialat (serious).

[Desewer]

thanks for sharing. looks quite cramped in there, but you managed to improvise with placing your co2 on top of the plastic crate

[eviltrain]

hee hee i guess his CO limits him a 3 feet x1.5 feet area.
i will take the chance and do a 3 tier 3 feet rack

[himyick]

wa! what if some of the stuff tip over and fell into the sump? like the ferts or the food.. i think that one will be quite jialat (serious).

No worries la, the food and ferts are all in dispensing containers, if they gets tipped over into the sump, the contents are unlikely to spill into the water. In the unlikely event an opened food container or fert bottle gets tipped over into the sump spilling the contents, just switch off the pump and the damage is contained within the particular sump compartment only. Which I think is the beauty of sump tanks. So far, I have have not encounter such accidents in the 6 months of use. (Touch wood)

hee hee i guess his CO limits him a 3 feet x1.5 feet area.

Actually my tank is setup in my girlfriend's home. I ordered the tank from a marine tank maker, thus the bigger than normal sump. I would prefer a smaller one though.

[himyick]

Did a major rescape of my tank. Kinda tired of high light/maintenance tank, decided to go easy on the scaping and opted for a low light/maintenance tank. Took out the old 1 year old GEX soil and replaced with old school JBL base fert + lapis sand.

Tank - 3 x 1.5 x 1.5 ft with sump
Lighting - 2 x 36W PL light - 5 hours a day
CO2 - 1 bps
Water ~ 30°C (pH 7.0-7.2)
Water change - once a week , 1 pail each change

Pics taken using hp. pardon the quality.

[Peanut8787]

Very nicer rebuilt ! I wonder if some foreground plant will make your tank perfect. Bro i think the left side Nana, you can trim it a bit and make it look like a picture from the right to the left cause when i see it, it is like very perfect height from right to left then suddenly a nana pop out. Just my suggest though. And your ground is extremly flat !!!! Nice work!

Nice work mate !

[Fingerling]

Nice Altum planted setup you got there, just thought maybe you can raise the plant level on the right side to cover the IOS flow compartment.