Tanks at home

Here are a couple small tanks in my home office I've been tinkering with.
Ram breeding tank on left (not for profit - just fun) with a pair of Dark Knights.
Right tank is a 2ft I set up a little too hastily as I had it lying around and grew impatient :/ First time using ADA soil so am really using it as a test project ahead of an all new bigger planted tank at some point. Some white clouds and surviving neons in it from my largest tank as my 3 x medium sized angels oneday began trying to eat them. They'll go into a small curved 10gal/ 38l tank in my lounge pretty soon and then I intend to keep a small shoal of green neons along with maybe a couple clown killis. Or rams, being ram obsessed as I am.

At that time, might combine these and use the wood from my ram breeder in the larger tank and rescape.
Seen some epic tanks on the forum so got a bit of catching up to do haha.

Things I've learned with the 2ft that may help some others:

- Patience! Focus on the ideal hardscape until you love it. Rushed mine a bit.

- ADA or similar soils seem to need better filtration than say gravel. If anyone into aquascape follows Green Aqua on Youtube you will have seen their video on filtration. I can now agree!
Had planned an Eheim Classic 350 external (overkill) on it until the larger tank is set up but for now the internal canister that came with the tank, paired with the sponge filter is working ok, especially with a pretty light bioload and pretty regular water changes. I hated the neon green things at first but have gotten used to it and not too bothered anymore. Got this sponge option simply for the option to add Matrix in them (works great). More Matrix in part of the internal filter.

- Catch 22 of smaller tanks - all real estate in the tank is precious and any equipment eats into it so much. HOBs an option but against white on a rimless tank would be a bit of an eyesore on this setup. External sump or canister felt like too much work, space or money for the tank size to me.

- Shallow planted tanks like this, with suitably thick substrate, make equipment even harder to fit if internal. I intended just to carpet the left equipment side, so only the right has some good depth for rooted stuff. I'd probably have done a tall 2ft (+- 75l) on a do-over, but got this little Juwel with hood/light + internal canister for a good price (condition pretty much as new).

- Rimless and without a lid makes heaters work hard in winter, but I manage to avoid that issue as my office is generally kept warm. Used an on-hand 50W heater at first and it was nonetheless on almost non-stop. Can't fit more than a 100W if kept vertical (aesthetic preference) so thats what is in there now and its doing fine for the 54l size (47lt actual water).

- I don't mind tannins but the wood is still leeching a fair amount. A small amount of Purigen has done wonders for that and as far as I am aware doesn't impact water parameters or fertilisers. I'm still experimenting with the dosing, keeping it pretty moderate, and as yet very little algae has turned up. There is a window with blinds on the left that I sometimes keep semi-open as rams tend to be a lot less jumpy when raising their fry with natural sunrise and sunset light. I turn off the 12W above the breeder once they lay eggs as it can startle them in the mornings. So, algae always a factor to consider.

- We have far too few good LED options for planted tanks in SA. Amazon via UK next time as the Beamswork EA series would only manage to grow sand in a taller tank. ADA soil is doing most of the work for me, plus ferts, plus the shallow height. That said, I'm kind of just experimenting at the moment with different plants, seeing what works.

- I put some vallis on the breeder tank to help the cycle along on start up, plus the javamoss and duckweed. It rooted around the wood and is now there to stay! Seems to grow fine in very low hardness water (TDS below 120 at all times, usually 90). I add minor ferts when the rams are not breeding. Duckweed, while annoying at times, worked well with the moss and tangles up in it nicely. Also the rams love to 'chew' on it, looking like cowboys with toothpicks in their mouths which is pretty amusing. It also acts like a makeshift cover- my rams sometimes hop up into it during feeding time and its like a blanket holding them down.

I've learned other things but back to work for now. Open to any advice! For now these are running pretty well and having fun tinkering with them.

 

Looking at your scapes, I'm open to advice from you!. Very nice!

 

Thanks! Still much to learn about the planted side of things and aquascaping in general. Couple years or so back in the hobby and much has evolved in 15-20 years.
Been fun and now MTS has taken hold

 

All your tanks look great!

Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk

 

Looks really nice not to over done i like it. Good job

 

Looks really good

 

Thanks a lot guys. Smallest tanks I have owned since my first 2ft and they have their own appeal and needs (insta-waterchanges for one).

@A new day Thanks! - I will try to update as I go - I spend quite a lot of time in the office so tend to play around with things a bit.
I alternate focus between the breeding and general tank tweaking, when they take a break from spawning.