New World 90gal Low Tech - a Pictoral Journey!! (56k) 1/20 Update

[lauraleellbp]

Well, the time has FINALLY come, I start the final setup tonight, and hope to start planting by this weekend. I started working on this tank back in January, believe it or not- and it has become quite a project! This is going to be a VERY abbreviated pictoral journal- if you want to read through the whole thing, see the link in my Sig. There will be lots of posts at first to bring it all up to speed...

I started this with a $500 budget, and so Tank #1 was a major fixer-upper:







After some time, lots of elbow grease (involving vinegar, CLR and acetone), removing the background and refinishing the canopy and stand, I ended up with this:





Which I then promptly sold!!! Honestly, I only broke even on the deal, but I learned so much reasearching in the meantime that I was able to replace what I had with better equipment for about the same money.

[James From Cali]

OMG I cannot wait to see this tank up and running. What ar you going to do plant wise?

[lauraleellbp]

Tank #2 came from Tpt's own Forddna, it has sat here in my office next to me for the last century, it seems...:



The stand came from Drs.F&S, and will be assembled (hopefully) by tonight.

I'm VERY happy with my new light fixture; for only $40 more I upgraded from an Odyssea 260w PC (it went with the old tank) to this Solar T5HO with individual reflectors and moonlights:





There are currently 2 actinic bulbs and 2 10k bulbs, which I'm calculating will give me 108 watts of T5HO 10k lighting for the plants. Remember, this is a low tech tank! I'm going to start with 8 hours of 10k, run the actinics during the rest of the day for my own viewing pleasure, and then moonlights at night. This tank is in my home office, and since I work from home (spending a lot of time in my office!) I want to be able to view the fish all the time.

For filtration I'll pair a Rena Filstar XP2 with an HOB filter; first an Emperor 400 (used) though I'll likely upgrade in a little while to a new Aquaclear.

I plan on using a heater for the first time in probably 15 years... I got a Hydor 300watt inline, and will start with about 80 degrees for the tank. If/when I get discus I'll bump it up to 82/83.

Substrate issues sparked a huge amount of research for me. I originally was going to use EcoComplete, but after purchase learned that Eco has a tendency to raise and buffer pH and hardness. As this tank may house discus in the near future, I took it back and traded for Fluorite black and Fluorite black sand. My entire substrate plan:
-bottom layer of peat mixed with established tank mulm
-mixture of 2 bags Fluorite black, 4 bags Fluorite black sand, + 50lbs black Colorquartz T grade
-35lbs of black gravel for an unplanted "river" (I HATE white sand! LOL)

I'm going to see how this tank does with no fert dosing. Instead I'll be using WonderGro fert tabs (from TPT's own Orlando).

[lauraleellbp]

Originally Posted by James From Cali

OMG I cannot wait to see this tank up and running. What ar you going to do plant wise?

Lots and lots of swords- I'm totally infatuated with them!!

Echinodorus tenellus and E. tenellus 'narrow' will be the carpet. An E. "Kleiner bar" will be my Specimen plant. I have a new species, E. africanus on order that should come in next week. I have some E. angustifolius 'vesuvius' floating in my 10gal ATM waiting. I also want to try E. parvaflorus 'tropica,' though I hear that they may need additional lighting. I keep going back and forth whether I want Jungle vals, V. nana, or E. angustifolius in the background... I may also go for some Rubins and/or Indian Reds.

For stems I have Cabomba floating in another tank ATM, Bacopa carolinia and Blood Stargrass (Didiplis diandra) on the way next week.

[James From Cali]

Yay, a Sword Tank. I think it will look awesome. Good luck with all the tanks.

[SeaSerpant]

Wow i was just waiting for you to set up a tank journal. i can't believe it took this long. lol.

[James From Cali]

Originally Posted by SeaSerpant

Wow i was just waiting for you to set up a tank journal. i can't believe it took this long. lol.

Better late than never though.Any pics of some of the respective plants?

[lauraleellbp]

You would ask... LOL

These are pics I've collected from various places for inspiration:

Echinodorus angustifolius 'vesuvius'


Vallisneria nana:


OR

E. angustifolius:


E. tenellus 'narrow' (carpet plant, these are some of the actual plants since this is my 10gal I will be pulling from, that cory cat (Corydoras schwartzii) will go over, too )


E. 'Indian red'


E. 'Kleiner bar'


E. parviflorus 'tropica'


E. 'Red Rubin'


Oh yeah - Frontinalis antipyretica (Willow moss) will go on the Manzanita driftwood


Didiplis diandra (Blood stargrass)


Bacopa caroliniana


Cabomba furcata (on the left)


This tank has the only pics of E. africanus I can locate ATM, they're in the back (I'm buying them from this owner, I REALLY like this tank ):

[James From Cali]

I am so subscribing to this thread now lol. And of course I would ask . Let me know how that Didiplis diandra does. I heard it needs high light.

BTW I would go with the Echinodrous angustifolia over Vals. Keep it in the Echino Family(Yes I too have an unnatural infatuation with Sword Plants aswell lol)!

[lauraleellbp]

Yep some of these I may need to swap out one of my actinics for a Geisemann 6000k to keep showing any reds... we'll see. I'll probably float the cabomba?

[James From Cali]

Yeah get those actinics out. They do nothing for plants and I think you would be better off with regular flourescents. I think the floating combomba would look nice. Of course I always find that if any plant gets in front of the outflow it goes under water and makes a mess.

[lauraleellbp]

LOL if I put the full 216watts of T5HO lighting over this tank it will DEFITINELY NOT be a low-tech tank any more! I'm hoping that 108 watts won't be too much, as it is...

[fishman9809]

wait, willow moss isn't SA, is it?

[James From Cali]

Experiment with it.....thats always fun! I just read about your gravel desicion. You are using flourite black and black sand as the main substrate right? Then you are going to have a black gravel river stream thing . Are they different shades or is the work you put into it going to be worthless?

Also is this going to be a biotope or something down those lines. Maybe I missed it(doing homework and this at one time lol).

[lauraleellbp]

Originally Posted by fishman9809

wait, willow moss isn't SA, is it?

Nope it's a New World themed tank, not a straight up biotope. There are some plants included from the USA (aka willow moss), plus some that are cultivars. I'll also have Amano and RCS, LOL

James, I'm not looking for contrast with my river, just with the totally gravel portion there should be no or minimal plant growth... this strategy worked pretty well for me in the past when I had a pea gravel "river" surrounded by regular Fluorite...