First Planted Nano

2494 Views 17 Replies 7 Participants Last post by ikuzo, Dec 1, 2007

JDNels

Discussion Starter · Nov 29, 2007

Hello All,
I have done fresh/salt/reef on and off for years, never planted though.
so I had an Alife 7 collecting dust and thought i would give it a go.
lights 2 13W 50/50...1 of which i`m changing to 6700,
about 2 inch of flourite sand,
chamber 1 mech sponge
chamber 2 heater
chamber 3 seachem matrix/carbon
chamber 4 rio 180 return
No fish yet, tons of questions
any advice would be great..
Thanks Jeff

See less See more

2

1 - 18 of 18 Posts

dirkgent001

· #2 · Nov 29, 2007

hey JD,

Love what you have so far.. very striking!

As for your 50/50 light ... I'm a noob too, but from what i've read here, Actinic lights do nothing for the planted tank, so maybe better to replace both bulbs? I'll let others chime in on that one.

Good Luck!

JDNels

Discussion Starter · #3 · Nov 29, 2007

Hey.. Thanks for the comment.
From what i have read so far may drop to 1 13W, seems to be more inline with
low tech

jaidexl

· #4 · Nov 29, 2007

I think if you want to go down in wattage, sticking with the 6700+50/50 might work out well. There is some usable light coming from the 50/50 plus it will probably improve viewing, 6700ks sometimes have an ugly yellowish glow depending on the maker. 13 watts is cutting it close even for low tech, still doable with the right plants.

Looks good, my advice would be to find a smaller piece of wood to make room for more plants.

Some anubias would really look nice and work well with lower light. If that's a sword in there, you might find it to be a hassle once it acclimates and starts to grow, they get huge but trimming older leaves every few weeks can keep it small. I've managed to keep mine under the radar in my 30gl that way, for the most part.

JDNels

Discussion Starter · #5 · Nov 29, 2007

perhaps I`ll stick with the 50/50 while i add some livestock and begin cycle.
Always used 20k on my reefs for color. And wood is still leachin tanins so
thats not helpin the look

Yea the wood is a bit overwhelming but there is room for more planting
and I do have an Idea as to what i`m going for as far as scaping

Thanks for the input

dlawlor

· #6 · Nov 29, 2007

Wow, I always love how the cubes look when used as a FW planted tank. Great job so far. Personally I like the wood, I think it'd look awesome with some nice moss on there - maybe some christmas moss or flame moss.

What are you going to do livestock-wise?

jaidexl

· #7 · Nov 29, 2007

It is a cool piece of wood now that I take a second look. I like the bridge effect it has, really would look great with some moss hanging over the top of it.

JDNels

Discussion Starter · #8 · Nov 29, 2007

I don`t know what live stock yet..like shrimp...like fish...Hmmm..
As far as scaping, the moss idea sounds great, Also there is a deep
cavity in the middle of the drift wood just in front of the over hang
that could be filled with sand and planted (i think).
I need to do more reading because I`m not sure which sups to dose.
flourish excell???
Marc Weiss from reef fame has a planted sup.
Any help would be awsome...

jaidexl

· #9 · Nov 29, 2007

That's about all you'll want to dose if you add any livestock. Your lighting might not be enough to induce enough uptake requiring any ferts. But if you go with the entire 26w or anything higher, you will want to cover the macronutrients, nitrate, phosphate and potassium, and also micros in the form of a trace suppliment like regular flourish or CSM+B. Also depends on whether or not you plan on injecting any CO2, it will induce faster uptake also, there comes a point where light and CO2 are basically plant steroids and the plants will easily strip any natural nutrients from fish food and waste within a matter of days.

If you decide to go high light/CO2, check out some threads on the EI (estimative index) method of dosing. It's a good, easy method for keeping full levels of nutrients especially on smaller tanks since it incorporates 50% weekly water changes to reset the level of nutrients and avoid a buildup.

See less See more

Fugu

· #10 · Nov 30, 2007

very nice! My suggestions:

Fish:
2 otos
ad a small shoal of mixed tetras (about 8)
Plants:
I think something like flame moss, or weeping moss on the driftwood would look great!

eon17

· #11 · Nov 30, 2007

dont mix tetras stick to one type. they are shoaling meaning they stick with their own species....

JDNels

Discussion Starter · #12 · Nov 30, 2007 (Edited)

jaidexl: Thanks for the info. I am going to change 1 lamp to 6700
and keep 1 50/50, gotta have a little actinic

.

So from reading, 8/10 green tetras and shrimp BAD?

here is cropped long shot (POS Cam)

See less See more

jaidexl

· #13 · Nov 30, 2007

How many gallons?

JDNels

Discussion Starter · #14 · Dec 1, 2007

it`s a seven but after sub. and wood five gallons topped it up.
I like the oto.. cool little guys

ikuzo

· #15 · Dec 1, 2007

what kind of background is that?

JDNels

Discussion Starter · #16 · Dec 1, 2007

Umm..It`s a plastic divider that seperates the filter area at the back of the tank.
The tank is an Alife7, kinda old , was new in 01, similar to JBJ nano6

jaidexl

· #17 · Dec 1, 2007

Tetras might be a big distraction in there. What about some Boraras maculatus, maybe a few Hara jerdoni for the bottom? I want Tyttocharax tambopatensis in my 8gl but can't find any.

ikuzo

· #18 · Dec 1, 2007

i'll go for rasbora brigittae

1 - 18 of 18 Posts

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.