My Planted Community Setup (150 cm, 420 L, light CO2 and ferts)

Honestly the nicest tank I've seen. Love the plants and stocking. Thanks for sharing!!

 

Tank looks beautiful @JimmyHD

 

Wow thats a show stopper! Very beautiful tank @JimmyHD

Sent from my MAR-LX1M using Tapatalk

 

So, you know how some people post a series of photos showing how they scaped their tank in a logical, start-to-finish sequence? Not me!

I just found some old photos from about two years ago when I first set up my tank. I thought they would be interesting.


This is the empty setup. Being quality inspected by Cat.


I tried arrangements of wood and rocks first. It's mopane wood (from Aqua Empire) and rando rocks from around where I live. In hindsight, I should have bought nicer dragon stone but things had started to get expensive already.


In goes the gravel. It is Langa Aqua Soil with a height of about 5 cm throughout although I used plain black gravel at the back, underneath, to raise the height at the back while being cheaper.


Wood and rocks now in place. People say you should place them directly on the bottom, but I didn't. They were well supported in the substrate, though. I went for the two-sided layout with a depression in the middle (U-shape, some call it) which I liked and is supposed to be easier.


Then, some basic planting. Started with some crypts and amazon swords. (Crypts still going strong, amazon swords gone.)


Added some anubias, pearl weed (MM), hydrocotyle, and some taller stem plants like ludwigia (maybe others too, can't remember). Incidentally, the pearl weed grew like crazy, really being a weed. I ended up removing it. The hydrocotyle never really flourished...


With some water.


Lights, camera, action. I was quite pleased with the result, even though it looked very sparse. The plants had to grow a bit. Which they did, although it did take some time. Begin cycling.


After cycling for about two weeks, I added the rummy noses and harlequins. Still going strong today. (A few have died off along the way, but given the short life expectancy of tetras, this is normal.)

Over time, I added much more biological media to my sump. Weird collection of ceramic rings, Seachem Matrix and whatever was available.)

So little of the hardscape is still visible today. If I wanted it to be more prominent, I should have gone MUCH bigger; I really underestimated the hardscape relative to the size of the tank. Still, I like the planted results, and as I mentioned previously, the hardscape serves as scaffolding to elevate some of the mid-level plants and give a good sense of perspective.

 

Bit of a novice myself, but I drag the photo (e.g., from a folder or from my desktop) into the text box of the web browser where I'm typing, and then the photo appears in a list underneath the text box. I then select the "Insert Full Image" button and it pops the image into the text at the cursor. Use the Preview option at the end to check out your post and make sure that the images are where they should be. Not sure if this is the best way, but it's what I do. Seems to work.

 

Ah, I see your difficulty. No idea, sorry!

 

I normally type what ever, then tap on upload a file, then the Pic shows on a list beneath the text box, then I click insert full image, then I try tap beneath the picture to carry on typing. If you look carefully next to the Pic on the bottom right that line that shows where you're busy typing should be right alongside the picture..
LOL I hope this makes sense..

 

Yip, in fact for me it's just easier to take the picture on my phone and upload it straight instead of trying to put it on my pc first

 

The way @T. Guppy works both from mobile or laptop/pc

 

@JimmyHD
Your tank looks great! I got the same tank about two months ago. It is going well except for the normal challenge with Diatome and recently some BBA. I use CO2 and Sonoff timer helps to run CO2 for 3 hrs before white light turns on. I noticed that you mentioned your light has both red and blue diodes. I also run another tank with a Zetlight Lancia 2 and there algae is less of a factor and plant growth more impressive without CO2. I considered a new light but it will mess with the nice lid setup. Any advice?
The sump with all the biomedia is also so effective that I am left with nearly zero NO3 and zero PO4, putting the plants under stress. I fertilise regularly with Scape Complete.
I am also trying to source a Cerges CO2 reactor but wasn't successful yet. Any suggestions where to go?

 

Thanks! I’m still loving my setup. Got a bit more junglified since posting, but that’s okay.

 

But over to your tank. Looking great!

Lights:
The light fixture (if the same as mine) has two switches, (1) for the main white lights and (2) for the secondary red/blue lights. You could consider running the secondary one for a shorter period as I have found that red light especially can lead to algae growth. I think, though, that it your plants get a bit bigger, they’ll soak up more nutrients and outcompete the algae. I also had occasional BBA but some photoperiod tweaking and Siamese Algae Eaters have dealt with that.
By the way, you can fit Zetlight Lancia 2 units (1.2 m or 1.5 m) under the canopy flaps resting on the end bracing; could do one in front and on behind the existing central light unit. They won’t interfere with the aesthetic as they would be entirely invisible from the outside.

Filter:
Ja, the filter is very good (a 1.2 m tank all by itself!), especially if stocked with bio-media. I only do a 10% water change every 3 weeks, mainly just from the first chamber of the sump to clean the mechanical media and take out a bit of water. Never gravel vac the main tank or take out large quantities. Nitrates still remain low. I dose with scape once a week (should be twice a week but I forget).

CO2:
The reactor I have was homemade, not by me but from the person I bought it from. Based on a water filter canister and plumbed inline with the return pipe. Drilled a little hole in the top for the CO2 line to go through and attached a standard diffuser to the end of the line inside the canister, then sealed around the drilled hole. Works well. I looked for a “neater” inline diffuser but couldn’t find any in South Africa to fit the relatively big pipe (about 25 mm, if I recall).

Hope this helps!

 

Thank

Thanks for the detailed response. The plant growth in your tank is really impressive. What kind of substrate do you have? Any root tabs?
Do you rely on the Grech pump (mine is the HJ 1842 40W 1800L/hr) only or did you add WaveMakers?

 

My substrate is Langa Aquarium Soil (and a little black gravel underneath at the back to build up the height). It was the cheapest aqua soil I could find at the time. No tabs.

Initially, the stock Gretch pump was fine but when I added my CO2 via the in-line reactor, it slowed the flow rate down too much so I bought a Jebao DC 5000 lph pump. Better. I run it at about 75% capacity. No wave maker. I tried one for a little while but didn't like it.