Gareth's 29 Gallon West African Tank

[GDominy]

Well, its a lousy picture, but it gives yo uan idea of the tank. This is a very, very dark tank. I am keeping it lit with a single 20 watt tube over a 30" x 12" 29 Gallon tank. This tank is filtered with a Fluvan 404 Canister filter that I salvaged from the 135 after it leaked.

I decorated this tank with every pieve of Mopani that I resuced from the 135 gallon, as well as all the anubias plants that had been growing on them.

[Nordic]

Have you eaten mopani worms yet.... They are quite the delicacy in africa.

[Buck]

Gareth did I read that right... ? A single 20 watt bulb ? Huh?
Do you hate those plants? LOL
I agree that we sometimes get carried away with lighting but 20 watts over that tank aint gonna cut it in the long run. Why not grow it with a few more watts and then use a moonlight bulb for photo's and viewing effect?

[Wasserpest]

Why not?? You won't need CO2 or fertilizers at that level of lighting, and those low light plants might still survive. Talk about low maintenance... regular water changes, that's about it! What fish are you going to have in there?

[fishpoop]

I think the plants on the upper branches under the bulb might make it

[GDominy]

Originally Posted by Buck

Gareth did I read that right... ? A single 20 watt bulb ? Huh?
Do you hate those plants? LOL
I agree that we sometimes get carried away with lighting but 20 watts over that tank aint gonna cut it in the long run. Why not grow it with a few more watts and then use a moonlight bulb for photo's and viewing effect?

Buck I have been growing plants under these low light conditions for years. I don't speak up about it often because people always say it can't be done. You just have to choose the right plants.

This tank has grown plants under this configuration for 2 years, I've grown amazon swords to 14" across (the leaves were folding in the tank, lol), Crypts, Hygro (varies species), Bacopa, Cabomba, Java Ferns and Moss... You just have to be patient.

[hypsophrys]

You rock, Gareth!

I've been thinking about this a lot lately. It seems like everyone is striving for the very maximum level of growth that these plants can achieve. That's certainly one methodology, and is definitely the "state of the art," but is it natural? I doubt most aquatic plants receive anything close to optimal growing conditions, most of the time...

Just my $0.02. :-)

Ian

[hixy]

hello GDominy
i think your tank looks really nice

[plantastic28]

I dont want to give newbies the wrong Idea, but I setup a low maintenance plant tank for my parents. I gave em some Anubius Nana, Java Fern, Java Lace. They kept all of these plants under a single 20 watt bulb over a 29 gallon for years and they all did fine. Now they never thrived, but they also never rotted or deteriorated away. The tank was total low maintenance. They never did one water change either, Im sorry to say, and all fish lived including a pair of nanochromis Transvestitus! They also never added any ferts! All in all everything was fine.

I also have friends who have had similar experiences.

[Buck]

Its a quality of life issue for ya plants Gareth... ya lucky I dont sick "Friends Of Plants" on ya for this... thats the sister group of whiners like the "Friends of Animals" :lol:

We want light... We want light... We want light...

[hypsophrys]

rotfl!

[Raul-7]

Nice tank, I think the dark lighting enhances the tank even better..I really love that huge piece of driftwood!

[^iMp^]

I believe it...

I put a clump of java moss in my sump, thinking I'd do something with it at a later time. Naturally, I forgot about it...

More than two weeks later, I fish it out--perfectly green and healthy and it had even grown quite a bit. Amazing, considering practically no light gets into the cabinet.

[GDominy]

Heh.. its hard to show in this picture because the camera I was using takes terrible low light shots.... But the plants are actually doing really well. My anubias is growing (slowly, but growing) and there isn't any algae growth really... (there was some on the wood already from the previous tank).

I will try to get shots of the Krib fry when they hatch (if they hatch).

[GDominy]

Yes the plants are STILL alive under 20 watts (neener neener Buck)

heh heh.. But seriously, the plants have actually grown several new leaves and I've been able to remove several leaves that were covered in spot algae from the old tank. The Kribs love it in here, so I dont think I will add any more fish. I'll just keep this as my Krib breeding tank :-)