Swamp thing

The start of my little tropical system !!!

Having dabbled in Marine systems 4 or 5 years ago, and been heart-broken on various occasions, I never thought I would get back into the ornamental fish hobby again.

After cruising the TASA forum several weeks ago, and being amazed how different freshwater systems are to what my perception was IE: Bathwater, chuck in some fish and sit back and enjoy.......

CO2, Sump, DSB, Hardcore Lighting, Fertilizers, WC,s...........WTF this sounds like Marines again :suspicious::suspicious::suspicious:

The one aspect that really got me going was the different levels (and budgets) available for a newbie ......although you can progress to a higher tech/maintenance system if and when you want to. Hmmmmm......thinking of those pretty avatars of the Amazon.......Discus.......one day....one day.

Couple of things I had decided on, off the bat.

• Larger water volume is always easier to maintain.....that is true in any water system
• Bacteria, Bacteria, Bacteria your most trusty ally....you can never have enough natural filtration
• I want plants...
• Keep it simple, till I can handle more, or I am going be heart broken and loose interest AKA marines

First up, I needed a tank, I had decide on a water volume of around 200 litres or so. Like all my previous tanks, I found a good 2nd hand deal.

Next is my filtration enough ? Got a TetraTec EX1200 canister filter with the tank, and then found myself a 2nd canister - Cascade 1500. Straight up I changed the filter media, Bio balls gone and added Volcanic rock and Seachem Matrix.....got to say this makes FW so much easy, love these canisters :bigsmile:

Next up - If I want to keep plants, substrate and lights need to be considered. The tank's lights were t8's, and that had to change straight away. Done and dusted...replaced with t5's- 39watts x 3. Although plants can grow in playsand, I liked the different colours and shapes of the "plant" substrates.

Added Black Earth, Flourite and Flourite Red.

With no experience of aquascaping, I decided on a very simple layout - substrate, driftwood and some rocks. Pics to follow......

I now have the necessary, but frustrating period of the tank cycle, but one thing I really like, is at least I can have plants while the tank's bacteria get spawning.

So where to from here......got some plants, and put them in the tank, in no particular position, as I have no knowledge what so ever, but I needed to get them in water, after there long trip from Rustenburg (Thanks @FishLover) I will change things around and as we go along......

So what list of future in-mates ? So much to choose from !!! Remember...keep it simple...

Sure this could change, but here is the list so far:

• Bristlenose Ancistrus or Borneo Sucker
• Sterbei Corydora
• Tetras - Neon, Cardinal or Rummy nose
• Siamese Algae Eater
• Dwarf Gourami
• German Blue Rams

Other future additions/projects

• As bioload goes up on the tank, connect up the 2nd canister filter
• Replace my in/outlets with Lilly pipes......so pretty
• I want to makes a DSB/refugium......would replace one of the canisters

All advice and suggestions are welcomed :bigsmile: Especially on the noobie mistakes, I have tried to cover all bases, but I am sure I have forgotten/missed something

Anyway let the adventure begin !

 

Lets put some stuff in the tank

 

Next plants and water

 

All filled up....now we wait Sorry tank glass not so clean..... Any advice on the plants at present.

 

Looks like it has big potential.

What plants do you have ?

 

Ludwigia ovalis
Willow leaf hygro
Anubias barteri
cryptocoryne undulata
Rotala rotundifolia
Hemianthus Micranthemoides
Some spiky moss

But I cannot tell you which is which ...... LOL

 

Nice start man. Just some advice, try grouping the stems together ie rotundifolia with rotundifolia. This creates more harmony in the scape.

 

i love seeing new tanks! this setup looks good already... cant wait to see what it looks like in a few months. seeing builds like this excites me for my tank build eventually for my frontosa setup when i get there! good work so far Warr

 

Nice Warr! No advice from me..... I see you did heaps more research than I did. So we watch how our tanks and our knowledge develops. Exciting times indeed.

 

@FishLover, Cool, I will definitely do this, thanks again for the plants

Thanks @ nodac

Broder...thanks m8

 

@Warr7207 it is looking great, I love the hard scape and can't wait to see the plants grow in.

 

This is great. It looks like you will be a couple of weeks ahed of me, so I will closly follow this to avoid any snags you may encounter:bigsmile:

 

First water tests:

pH - 7
NH3 - 0
NH4 - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 0

Looks like the Nitrogen cycle has not begun. Any suggestions on kick starting this ?

Tank has been running for a week with plants

 

Add a bit of fish food to the tank.. Just a pinch..

 

Yeah... had the same problem bud. I added 5ml of Scrubbs ammonia a day, until I got to 0.1ppm ammonia. Can't remember how much I added in total, but it was a LOT!! Took a week and a bit for ammonia to zero, nitrite peaked a week after that, a week later all good to go.

 

Thanks for the advise guys....I was just wondering, don't the plants give off any waste products to contribute....this was the main reason I didn't chuck in any food or ammonia... thought the plants would trigger the cycle...anyway seems like a wasted week

 

Looking good. You will have problems with algae but do not be disheartened keep with it. With those substrates you should be fine for ferts in the beginning. But as the tank matures you have to think of carbon source and fertilizers. ask @HennieRoux .. he learnt the hard way

 

What will cause the algae ?

 

I had brown algae covering everything which lasted for about 2 weeks, but has now suddenly stopped growing. Read that it's caused by silicates from the substrate, but I doubt that somehow. I reckon it's just one of those things that you have to take in your stride. I have bright green cyano bacteria growing on some of my driftwood now. Hope that vanishes just as pronto.

 

Thanks @Broder. I have some hair type algae on the front panel, and on some of the plants' older leaves. Your silicate idea might be right, as there no other nutrients in the tank