Newbie.

Just wanted to post the set-up I am working on. Still a complete work in progress but since my wife hates my hobby I thought I would find someone who might actually share my enthusiasm.

Here are the pics of the building progress of my tank:

Still not set-up inside yet but soon. Ill post some more when I get it planted. Light is built inside hood. About 31-31 inches above the bottom of tank. Probably 27-28 inches above substrate when I get there.

Any advice on starting with a low-tech heavily planted set-up?

Thanks in advance.

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Permalink Reply by Peter on March 25, 2014 at 10:31pm

looks good, nice stand

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Permalink Reply by Rumble Fish on October 1, 2014 at 9:15am

+1 how's the tank looking now? Did you go the dirt route?

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Permalink Reply by Steven Brown on January 31, 2015 at 7:14pm

I did go the dirt route and am very impressed with the plant growth. Although, I am a bit skeptical to go dirt again in this big of a tank. It is incredibly messy and after a few cleanings the wood from the dirt mix started to surface a bit. I have a pic I am going to post to update the tank in a minute.

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Permalink Reply by Steven Brown on March 26, 2014 at 10:57pm

I had a few questions about setting up the tank as a heavily planted tank. I watched Dustin'd videos about substrate and I agree it is very important which is why I plan to go dirt. My question is: should I add something like clay or crushed coral in with the soil mix to buffer the pH? If so, in what ratio?

What I am mostly worried about is starting this tank and being flooded with algae or having something happen that discourages me to the point of giving up. I feel that it being a bigger tank that the chances of something happening are less likely but I want to prepare myself with the knowledge so when the time comes I have at least an idea of what to do to react. Although, my attitude has always been more pro-active so any light anyone can shed on the subject would be cool.

My lighting is more than sufficient (4xT5HO) which I plan to run about 8 hours a day with 2 bulbs and sneaking in about 2 or 3 hours of 4 bulbs during that period. The bulbs are going to be about 27 - 28 inches above the substrate too.

I DO NOT want to do a CO2 injection at least until I get the basics down first. This means it will be more low-tech.

Can I get away with just a 1.5" soil base and a 1.5" gravel cap without adding anything else as a buffer?

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Permalink Reply by Fishtank Thumbnail on April 22, 2014 at 1:17pm

lighting seems like it would be about right, being that high off the substrate, still hard to say... without co2 you might still get algae but each tank is different. You'll want to keep that lighting schedule right about what you said imo.

As for substrate, I hate dirt... but thats just because I do hi-tech set-ups and need to know what fertz are available to the plants at any given time. With dirt, you get a lot of nutrients but you never know exactly what is in it and how long each nutrient will last. That being said, it can work for low-tech set-ups nicely. If you're not like me, someone who loves moving plants around constantly.... then you're just asking to break the cap.

Keep up on WCs... Nice build for sure and good luck my friend!

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Permalink Reply by Stay off my lawn! on October 7, 2014 at 1:44am

Algae shouldn't be a problem if you plant heavily enough. Don't add anything to the substrate to move you ph up or down, because I think Rock and driftwood should be the way to do that. If anything happens don't get discouraged. There are plenty of people and online resources to help you through any problem you encounter.

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Permalink Reply by Steven Brown on January 31, 2015 at 7:32pm

I stuck with about a 1.5" dirt layer with about an 1" of pool filter sand as a cap. Worked really well for a while but being new to this I made some small errors and have some wood that was surfaced from the dirt layer. I have a few issues currently that I am trying to get under control. They are as follows:

- green hair algae

- dark green spots on some of the plants (very frustrating...)

- plant mixture isn't my greatest accomplishment

I figured this would be a learning curve for sure so I just added things I thought would look good. I tried Java Moss and liked it at first but it grew at an intense rate and starting separating from the driftwood I had it tied to and very quickly clogged my filters. That wasn't the worst decision though... DUCKWEED. Maybe it works for some but with the filtration I had in my tank just swished it around to the point where it was just flowing all through the tank. Getting rid of it took a few WC's. The green hair algae came from a plant I bought from the LPS. Still find it on plant leaves.... The dark green spots have turned black in some areas and I tried to GOOGLE it but it still comes back on the bigger plant leaves. It started on a type of Anubias plant. It has to be a chemical thing. Either too much of something or not enough of something. I have some water sprite in there but I dont like the way it grows (roots grow at junctions where branches meet and the bottom yellows) The last plant I cant remember the name of but it grows incredibly long. The I used it as a background. Any tips on how to fix some of the algae issues without tearing up the tank?

Ill post a pic below.

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Permalink Reply by Deborah Dodge on January 31, 2015 at 4:56pm

Really nice look to your stand & canopy :D

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Permalink Reply by Steven Brown on January 31, 2015 at 7:33pm

Thanks! I left it with the real wood look but may stain it in the future.

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Permalink Reply by Steven Brown on January 31, 2015 at 7:35pm

Here is an update. Took me forever but we had a new addition in January 2014 and my daughter is a handful.

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Permalink Reply by Steven Brown on January 31, 2015 at 7:36pm

It is incredibly low-tech. Nothing special for lighting. But it holds water and has taught me a lot.

I am currently running 2 Aquatech 110's which I haven;t decided whether its enough or not. Really thinking I might move away from the HOB type soon. The intake gets clogged way too easy. May try and customize the holes to go up further then the small area currently designed with. Lately, since algae issues have surfaced, I decided to just run 2 of the T5HO out of 4. 4 seemed like too much after the algae started. May be another issue altogether though.

Anyone know why my tank heaters keep randomly unsticking from the glass? I have tried cleaning the suction part and scraping glass with razor blade to get it clean but they continue to fall off quickly. Any ideas?