# Kara's Low Tech Planted 5 footer **UPDATED**



## Kamivy (Jan 3, 2010)

Well, after months of questions and reading and planning, I've finally got my very first planted tank up and running. Many thanks to all of the input I have recieved from members of this forum along the way! It took me a good two days, and that was with assistance from my sister as well for the actual planting, but I think it was worth all the mud and muck and effort! (and washing....thanks to the sloppy clay and mineralised soil landing all over my curtains!) Anyway, here are the specs:

*Tank Size:* 5 foot (100 gallon)
_*Filter:*_ AquaOne 2200L per hour(approx 580 gallons per hour) Cannister Filter
_*Substrate:*_ Mineralised Topsoil with all the additives, capped with 3ml smooth fine black gravel
*Lighting* Twin 4 foot T5 HO Fixture, 54 watts per tube: 108 watts total
_*Water Parameters:*_ Pure rainwater - PH under 6, KH 0 GH 0 - Black granite gravel raises PH to an unmoveable ph 7.7, KH 4, GH 9
*Hardscape*: Large Driftwood


*Plant Species:*

Various Echindorus sp. - Amazon, Red Mellon, Red Ozelot, E. tennellus narrow leaf and broad leaf, also a large sword called Queen of Hearts (don't know it's scientific name)
Crypt Athinaius ?; Crypt Wendtii
Val - thin and giant
Cardamine lyrata and Giant Cardamine
Rotala Rotundifolia
Hygrophila Polysperma; Hygrophila difformis (wisteria); Hygrophila Corymbosa (Blue Stricta)
Red Lud
Java Fern
Telanthera (exact variety unknown)
Anubias Barteri; Anubias Congensis
 Banana Lillies
Violet
Lilaeopsis
Hair grass
Hammiantains maconodeas; H. micro maconodeas
Originally, the list I gave my supplier contained mainly crypts, swords, java fern and a few easy stems, but being a friend and very generous he ended up giving me a large variety of plants, a couple of which I'm expecting will struggle and/or die in my low tech setup, but we'll see.

Anyway, here's the photos, your feedback and suggestions would be very much appreciated!

Regards, Kara
P.S 1st Photo - close up Left Side of tank, 2nd Photo-Right side of tank
3rd Photo - front corner FTS, 4th photo FTS (a little over exposed sorry).


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

Looks fantastic! I'm gonna enjoy watching this one evolve.



[You forgot your lighting specs in your list ^^^]


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## 00nothing (Apr 1, 2010)

gorgeous tank love it

+1 on the lighting would really like to know what u are running


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## i love planted tanks (Apr 27, 2008)

very nice tank


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## jball1125 (Mar 9, 2010)

Wow that's beautiful. Would love to know ur dosing regimes and lighting. I have afeeling I will be watching this thread for a ling time


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## Kamivy (Jan 3, 2010)

lauraleellbp said:


> [You forgot your lighting specs in your list ^^^]


Sorry about that, have edited the original specs list!:icon_smil

Thanks for all the positive comments from everyone, it is much appreciated. Don't forget constructive criticism is also welcome :thumbsup:

At the moment the driftwood log is still buoyant so it is not positioned quite how I'd like, hopefully in time in will sink a little more, though the plan is still to have an overhang about mid tank height. I have some moss on the way next week - peacock and christmas moss- to tie onto the log, so hopefully that should make it look part of the scape a little more.

It's hard to see at present but I intend the tank to have a low growing open area underneath the highest part of the overhanging log, a kind of semicircle space surrounded by taller plants, with the val behind it. But it's going to take a bit of growing in and some pruning to see that happen I think! The back left hand corner behind the driftwood is a raised area with a feature sword, the queen of hearts, so once it gets a move on that should be nice, you can't really see it at the moment. Many of the plants are in their emmersed form, as I went direct to the wholesalers aquatic garden greenhouses for my plants so it's going to take some time (and some melting I fear!) before it starts to look as it should. 5 days in so far nothing too drastic has happened, and the only plant to show signs of melting is the wisteria, which has a big change to make to turn into it's submerged form. The banana lilly on the other hand has grown 5 inches!:hihi: Both cardamine varieties have also taken off.

My lighting is going to be a bit of trial and error I think, I know I'm more into the medium light range, so it's going to take some time to work out a photoperiod that balances nicely without alage running riot. I was thinking of starting off with 10 hours a day, but am worried this might be too much? What would you recommend LauraLee? The lights (diy) are on seperate ballasts with seperate switches, so I can always turn one off. The downside is that I can't time them seperately, so if it's too much light with both on, I may have to simply run both and shorten the photoperiod, or run one and leave it on longer(but I don't think one will be enough). Manual operation by me would be a disaster thanks to my forgetfulness about these things!:tongue: Another option that has occurred to me is to replace one bulb with a NO bulb, 28 watts. But I need to ring a lighting company first to see whether this is safe or whether it will overdrive the bulb and/or blow it. If it worked that would give me 54 watts of HO plus 28 watts NO.

Jball - no dosing as yet, and hopefully none in the future! I'm relying on the MTS to supply the nutrients, and of course the fish load once they're in there. The plan is Low Tech all the way, and hopefully minimal water changes. As it's rain water I'm reconstituting with a basic dose of Seachem's Equilibrium in any new water added, and if deficiency's occur later down the track I may utilise Tom Barr's low tech dosing suggestion using the Equilibrium.

My 3 bn will be going in at the end of the week, and a couple weeks after that I will begin stocking by adding a school of 6 ottos and 6 sterbai cory's.

I'd love to add some Khuli Loaches, my gravel is fine and very smooth with no sharp edges, but not sure whether they would cause havoc in a planted tank?

Schools of Cardinals and Rummynose will be the order of the day, to be added last, and I'd love some ember tetras, but not sure about that yet.


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

I'm down to 6 hrs/day running 108 watts of T5HO over my 90gal, so I suspect that 10 hours is way too much unless you have quite a few floating plants in there...

What about suspending the light up a few inches off the tank? That might also help get more light to either end of the tank, since the tank is 5' vs 4' fixture.

And I don't think that running a NO bulb in an HO fixture will reduce your light, I think the NO bulb just ends up overdriven so burns out more quickly.

I think Khulies would work, I'd just give all the plants time to get established with decent root systems to reduce the risk of them being uprooted. [same issue with just about any catfish, too]


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## Kamivy (Jan 3, 2010)

lauraleellbp said:


> I'm down to 6 hrs/day running 108 watts of T5HO over my 90gal, so I suspect that 10 hours is way too much unless you have quite a few floating plants in there...
> 
> What about suspending the light up a few inches off the tank? That might also help get more light to either end of the tank, since the tank is 5' vs 4' fixture.


Ok, that's good to know, gives me a starting point. I might go with 8 hours, and watch it carefully. No, no floating plants, although I did want some. Actually there's some duckweed rapidly multiplying as I type, so give it a week and it'lll probably cover the whole tank lol:flick: Anything floating seems to get sucked into the filter anyway (it has a secondary intake at water level) The light is screwed into the top of the hood rather than sitting on the glass, so it's already a few inches above the tank. 



lauraleellbp said:


> I think Khulies would work, I'd just give all the plants time to get established with decent root systems to reduce the risk of them being uprooted. [same issue with just about any catfish, too]


Ah, didn't think of that, ok, I'll get the ottos first, and then the rummynose, and leave the cory's and loaches for a while til everything settles in.


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## pianofish (Jan 31, 2010)

Tank looks fantastic! +1 on the MTS and lowtech. Plants look great and that DW is gogeous *in a New Jersey accent*. Have you considered getting any shrimp?


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## Kamivy (Jan 3, 2010)

pianofish said:


> Tank looks fantastic! +1 on the MTS and lowtech. Plants look great and that DW is gogeous *in a New Jersey accent*. Have you considered getting any shrimp?


Thankyou! I did think about CRS or RCS there for a while, but there are a couple of factors that make me lean against it - a) my temps get very high in summer and b) I really looove loaches :hihi: I plan on Kuhlis, and although some say they've had success keeping them together I'm thinking, probably don't bother!


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## Guest (May 4, 2010)

Your tank is impressive! I would love to see the Kuhlis, they have such personality. Raising the tank lights for my situation has helped significantly. I run my lights for 8 hours a day with a siesta of 2 hours in between...


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## Kamivy (Jan 3, 2010)

Thanks Sandie. I have gone back to 10 hours a day - my light fixture has no reflectors (it's a diy house fixture converted to T5HO,) and that combined with the squarish shape of the fixture means a lot of the light is wasted, I reckon it's nowhere near as efficient as a purpose designed aquarium light with reflectors. But that's ok, I get to see my tank for a bit longer before lights out! I'll still watch carefully though in case my eyes are deceiving me about the intensity, no algae as yet, though it's only been 2 weeks. A few of the plants are struggling - the red lud, the giant cardamine and the wisteria. On the other hand the HC or HM (don't know which it is - it's pearl grass anyway) and the telanthera seem to be doing just fine and all the swords, microswords, crypts and val are really taking off! Have decided not to add the cories or loaches for a while yet to let the roots sink down, so first up will be 10 rummies and some ottos. (more rummies to come, but slowly does it) Am going away next week for a week, so will wait til I get back to add the fish. Will post pics when I do!


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## F22 (Sep 21, 2008)

awesome low tech, awesome work.


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## Wasserpest (Jun 12, 2003)

If you get some Cherry Shrimp (not sure what they think about water that's that soft) you could let them overrun the tank for a few weeks, and later when you add loaches etc they have established and the population will most likely survive in a large densely planted tank, even if some get eaten.

Not sure if the two bulbs are really too much light for a tank this size. One issue could be light distribution... directly underneath the bulbs it might be "high", but towards the front and back of the tank light will be blocked and you might end up with underlit areas there. I think 18" deep tanks are a bit borderline for a single bank of lights, and could benefit from bulbs that are more evenly distributed back to front.

And yeah, exchanging the bulbs for NO will just overdrive them to HO levels and perhaps cut a little into their lifespan.


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## Kamivy (Jan 3, 2010)

Thanks F22.:icon_smil

Wasserpest -That's a good idea, but I've decided to reserve the RCS for a 2 footer I'm going to set up next. And I agree about the overdriven bulbs, have given up on that idea. My light fitting is situated at the back of the tank (a necessity because of the hood design) so yes, I think the light is definitely stronger directly underneath(although I don't think it's high enough to cause co2 deficiency), but the plants directly underneath the light are val, and a variety of swords, all of which are loving it and growing very well, and being mostly heavy root feeders have plenty of nutrition for now thanks to the mineralised mud underneath, so I don't think it should cause any problems. And the lack of reflectors means the light is not concentrated in any one place, it's dispersed evenly over 180 degrees, if you get what I mean (because of it being a house fitting, not an aquarium light) which I think softens the impact. Also my tank is actually 22 inches tall, not 18 :icon_smil, so the light is a fair way up off the tank. I agree though, a more even distribution of lighting would be much more beneficial, but I'll make do with what I've got for now. It seems to be going ok at the moment, but we'll see.

Oh, and as for the water parameters - I started out with pure rainwater with a GH and KH of 0, and a ph in the 5's. Those parameters now measure GH 9, KH 4, PH 7.4 :icon_frow A bit of a shame, I really wanted to keep the soft water, but it seems my gravel has some significant buffering capacity. I was warned about black gravel, but i thought only marble based black gravel caused such a reaction and given this is natural quartz based (I think) I thought it would be fine. The only things I have added to the water is initially some Seachem equilibrium, enough dosage to measure 4GH. After a week when I tested the GH and found it that high, I thought I must have overdosed and added too much, so I did a 40% water change with pure rainwater, but another week later it's back up again, so it must be the gravel. Since changing the gravel is definitely not an option I'll have to make do. Will a GH of 9 and a PH of 7.4 still be ok for the rummies, and cardinals I had planned? THe blue ram currently in residence seems very happy, but I know they love soft water too.


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## Wasserpest (Jun 12, 2003)

Kamivy said:


> Also my tank is actually 22 inches tall, not 18 :icon_smil


I know... I meant 18" front to back "deep". Is that what you call "wide"?

Sounds like perfect water parameters. Unless you want to breed tetras all the time, supersoft water is overrated. 

And if your lights don't have the super reflective optimized alu mirror reflectors, I think that's another indication that your light levels might be just right for that size tank.


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## ryanlogic (Dec 21, 2009)

tank looks great.


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## h2osanity (Sep 19, 2008)

You can keep cherry shrimp with most anything. I have a 35 gallon community tank with kuhliis, rams, corys and rasboras and a 20 gallon with yo-yo loaches and corys and they both have overrun populations of cherry shrimp with some amanos and glass shrimp in the 35 as well. You don't have to worry about feeding your fish if you have to go away for a few days.roud:

If you wait until your mosses are established they will have even a better chance.


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## Kamivy (Jan 3, 2010)

Wasserpest said:


> I know... I meant 18" front to back "deep". Is that what you call "wide"?
> 
> Sounds like perfect water parameters. Unless you want to breed tetras all the time, supersoft water is overrated.
> 
> And if your lights don't have the super reflective optimized alu mirror reflectors, I think that's another indication that your light levels might be just right for that size tank.


Yeah, when you said deep I was thinking height, sorry Glad to hear you think the water parameters are fine - I must say the gravel's effect on the water does save the annoyance of having to dose equilibrium - I'm guessing that when doing water changes I should keep them no more than 20-30% (pure rainwater) to prevent major fluctuations in the gh? How much is it safe to alter the gh at a time - like for example, in my experience, a change of half a point of ph is the maximum i'd allow before worrying about overly stressing the fish(not on a regular basis, I'm aware of the importance of stable ph). Anyone have an opinion on how big a change in gh is considered allowable without overly stressing fish? 2 degrees for example?

Thanks ryanlogic.


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## Kamivy (Jan 3, 2010)

h2osanity said:


> You can keep cherry shrimp with most anything. I have a 35 gallon community tank with kuhliis, rams, corys and rasboras and a 20 gallon with yo-yo loaches and corys and they both have overrun populations of cherry shrimp with some amanos and glass shrimp in the 35 as well. You don't have to worry about feeding your fish if you have to go away for a few days.roud:
> 
> If you wait until your mosses are established they will have even a better chance.


Wow, you must have a really strong breeding colony for the cherry's to survive despite the yo-yos and rams!! I thought they'd hunt them to the last! Once I get my shrimp established in my 2 footer I might try introducing some into the 5 foot.


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

Kamivy said:


> Anyone have an opinion on how big a change in gh is considered allowable without overly stressing fish?


That's going to depend on the species, source, and overall health of each individual fish. Since you won't know it's a problem till too late, my advice is to keep things as stable as possible, and if you do need to make any changes, make them as gradually as possible.


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## Kamivy (Jan 3, 2010)

lauraleellbp said:


> That's going to depend on the species, source, and overall health of each individual fish. Since you won't know it's a problem till too late, my advice is to keep things as stable as possible, and if you do need to make any changes, make them as gradually as possible.


Would you advise reconstituting the water change water before adding it to the tank, to the same GH as the tank? I'm just concerned about raising the GH any further than it already is, but as long as it's the same, it shouldn't raise it should it. Am I correct in my understanding that the buffering effects of the gravel will alter the pure rain water but will not alter water with the same parameters? (That the buffering effect has a limit on how high it buffers?) SOrry, don't know if I even making sense!:icon_lol:


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## Wasserpest (Jun 12, 2003)

What you call "buffering" is really leaching of calcium carbonates. There are two issues with that - it will add to any existing hardness. So if you reconstitute your rain water to a particular hardness, the leaching will still continue to add a few more degrees as time passes. The other issue is that this effect might be temporary, after a couple of months of regular water changes it will decrease and finally go away.

Best thing you could do would be something to bring some consistency to the fluctuations. For example, change a small amount of water (say 20%) twice a week. This will make the GH fluctuate somewhat, but not as much as large wc's every other week for example. Whether you reconstitute the water before adding is up to you, my advise is just to do it consistently, and mark any changes well so you know the cause when things "go south".


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## Kamivy (Jan 3, 2010)

Yes, I read up on calcium carbonates when reading about Kh and GH. I thought calcium carbonates raised the KH only, not the GH. It's not the KH, I'm concerned about it's the GH (in which case I really shouldn't refer to buffering capacity I know as that's usually reference to KH) Phew! Ok, so technicalities aside, to sum up I'm assuming the gravel is responsible for hardening the water in terms of GH, but regardless, it doesn't really change your and lauralee's advice I guess - stick to small water changes to reduce fluctuations in water parameters, and keep a record. I hope that the possibility you suggested of it being temporary is correct but doesn't matter I guess. Just focus on CONSISTENCY. THanks. Hope my head's still on straight.:biggrin:


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

Most of the time gravel is inert and won't leech anything. Where did you get yours?

When you mixed up your MTS, how much dolomite did you add?

I think you grabbed the bottom line, though- there's no real predicting how much your water params will or won't change till you get in there and test/start watching them. Everyone's water composition is slightly different, especially once you start factoring in the organic decomp and tannins coming off driftwood in the actual tank...


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## Kamivy (Jan 3, 2010)

Dolomite was just a general dusting on the floor of the tank, with dolomite and muriate of potash added I could still easily see the bottom of the tank.

Anyhow, it's not like the water conditions are unsatisfactory, just different to what I was expecting. The gravel was bought at my lfs. I'll try a test with a cup of plain rain water and a cup of water with gravel and see what happens. Hmm, and there's a fair bit of organic decomp. at the moment(due to plants still settling in and discarding emmersed foliage), I try and scoop out the larger stuff, is there any need to be fastidious about it? I assumed that it would just feed the plants. I've been testing to make sure no ammonia is accumulating as there are a few ocuppants, but 2.5 weeks on still no ammonia/nitrite/nitrate readings at all, so I'm guessing the plants are using any that is produced. There's a dead spot from the filter at one end, behind the driftwood, I find a lot of detritus seems to accumulate there. Is it worth adding a power head for circulation, or can I let shrimp/clean up crew look after it?


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

The dead spot is a judgment call. I've got one in my tank but I don't worry about it b/c it's my Cories' favorite hangout spot and I know they don't leave a scrap of food behind LOL


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## Kamivy (Jan 3, 2010)

*Update with lot's of photo's.*

Nearly 3 weeks in, just thought I'd update with a few photo's. THe val has really taken hold, I'm going to have to start ripping it out soon! Have split up and properly planted the lilaeopsis, hairgrass and pearl grass in the foreground. E. Tenellus already chain swording away as per it's name:wink: Everything seems to be going well. One main casualty - the giant cardamine. Got brown spots all over the leaves then started rotting, there's still a bit in there but I don't expect any to survive. Not sure why. Not enough light there perhaps? It's a little crowded by the blue stricta and java fern. The cardamine lyrata on the other hand is doing well. The only other plant that hasn't done much is the wisteria (hygro. difformis). I don't think it's grown at all, but at least it has stopped shedding leaves.
Here they are: (hover over photo's with your mouse to get description)


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## Kamivy (Jan 3, 2010)

(P.S Excuse the junk stuck on the moss in the last lot of photo's- Should have cleaned it off before the photos! Where's some shrimp when you need them...)


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## Kamivy (Jan 3, 2010)

*Update*

Well, next week the tank will be 3 months old, and is going well. I had some BBA initially, but lowering the photoperiod by a couple of hours and splitting it into two (more for my convenience for optimal viewing times) has wiped that out. I occasionally pick out a string of green thread algae, but it is isolated and easily removed, not causing any problems. No other algae is present that I can see, so I'm pretty happy about that. 

Plant growth news: The plants are growing well, although I did have some losses: the Red Lud, giant cardamine and broadleaf chainsword all died off, they rotted. The wisteria nearly died off, but has finally taken hold and is starting to actively grow. (Bear in mind all of these had to convert to submerged foliage, which added to the transfer shock) I took out the cardamine lyrata as it was too messy and didn't "fit" the look of the tank. All the rest are growing strongly. I removed all the thin val and replaced it with giant val, which still has some growing in to do. I also added some red tiger lotus, but you can't see it in the photos yet as it's still too small. 

Livestock news: I ended up removing the 3 x bristlenose as despite being fed fresh veges and algae wafers, they were too rough on the plants, and particularly took a liking to the giant val - they decimated it and i had to get more. All the plants like the telanthera and the E. Tenellus were looking wrecked as the leaves were bruised and broken due to the BN's. So they have found a new home. The blue ram was happily in residence along with a 100 or so RCS (thanks FreeRangedFish) until I added my first lot of rummynose tetras. I didn't quarantine as the blue ram was the only inhabitant, and I paid the price - 2 days later I noticed the 15 rummynose had a good case of white spot. I didn't notice when they were first put in - the rummynose were white in colour from stress, and the white spot was probably minute at that time, but progressed quickly in just 2 days in warm temperatures in the tank. So, due to being unable to effectively treat in the 100 gallon and not wanting to harm the shrimp, it took me more than 2 days to catch 15 rummynose and put them in a quarantine tank, along with the now exposed blue ram. Started White Spot Eliminator treatment, within 12 hours of the first half dose treatment I lost 8 tetras. Anyway to cut a long story short, 3 weeks later I have 5 healthy tetras remaining, the long suffering blue ram is still doing well and they will be going back into the empty 5 footer on Monday. Phew! I will be quarantining everything for minimum 2 weeks from now on, and will never use white spot meds on tetras again, I think I'll stick with raised temp next time.

5 x sterbai corys and 6 more rummies will be taking up residence in the quarantine tank next week, so hopefully things will go more smoothly this time.

So enough talk, here's the photos. The driftwood has finally lost some of it's buoyency (thanks to a rock and some fishing line) and now sits in place correctly.Please excuse the mess on the surface, some val has wrapped around and entangled some floating ferns, I'll have to sort that out. First photo is FTS, 2nd photo shows close up left hand side of tank, I'm pretty happy with it so far, it's filling in well. Unfortunately it looks "flat"in the photo, looks better in RL. The other end still needs to do a lot of filling in, and some plants are still not in their final placement.


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## Kamivy (Jan 3, 2010)

I would appreciate any input on design and layout - particularly for the right hand side of the tank which I am not happy with.


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## the planter (Jul 8, 2010)

your tank looks amazing!

as for some plants for the right side....maybe Cryptocoryne lutea? 
Lobelia cardinalis?


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

Looks to me like the right side of the tank doesn't get much light, so some Anubias nana 'petite' might be a really good choice there- it offer some variety in color and texture against your midground plants, too.

The tank is really lovely!


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## Karackle (Dec 11, 2007)

your tank is gorgeous! I don't have any constructive criticism at the moment but if I think of any I'll let you know since you asked for it!  :hihi: :biggrin: 

I love how lush the tank, that you took the time and got the plants to fill it up s well at first planting is amazing, beautifully done!


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## Kamivy (Jan 3, 2010)

Karackle said:


> your tank is gorgeous! I don't have any constructive criticism at the moment but if I think of any I'll let you know since you asked for it!  :hihi: :biggrin:


Please do!  Thanks for the comments everyone.

planter, crypt lutea looks nice, I don't have that one yet. I do have some crypt wendtii green in that side, but it's only recently been put in so hasn't filled out yet.

lauralee - despite the light being perfectly centred, the photo does look dark at that end, but that's my bad photography  combined I think with the fact that all the plants at that end including the lilaeopsis are a very dark green, with no lime/bright greens like the other end. That end looks darker overall, something that I hadn't pinpointed until you mentioned it actually, so thankyou. Perhaps getting some brighter green plants established in that end with some contrasting red will help tie it into the rest of that tank. Once the crypt wendtii green takes off, that should provide some vivid green, and I think I might transfer the lilaeopsis to my other tanks and put some more E. Tenellus in front. The lilaeopsis has been fine, but grows so slowly it's almost dormant. I think it will benefit from higher light. And once my Red Tiger Lotus grows it will be a nice feature for that end.

Ok, thanks for the suggestions everyone, I'll move things around a little, and give it a few more months to fill in at that end. I'll update with another photo in a month or two.


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## Kamivy (Jan 3, 2010)

Update: Well, I've had a few ups and downs with this tank recently, but I'm still working on it. Went away on holidays and while away the floating plants had a massive growth spurt and covered the entire surface of the tank - which led to a major outbreak of brown diatoms and my stem plants rotted. After chucking out the floating ferns and replacing the stems (just telanthera and hygo) a few patches of BGA emerged, which I spot treated with H202. The brown diatoms were just starting to disappear when one of the ballasts in my light blew, so now it's only operating on one light tube while warranty sends a new ballast, grrrr. My hygro is hanging in there, but the telanthera is melting, I blame it on a combination of really low light making it a bit touchy, and my gang of thugs (5 juvenile angelfish) eating/ripping it up for sport. Grrrr. sigh. Am hoping once the light gets fixed the telanthera will rally round as it used to be a lovely splash of colour, but I don't know if it can stand up to the angels. 

Have done a bit of a rescape: decided the problem with the right hand side was there was no perspective, and the gravel was too flat. So I built a slope with some rocks and piled in more gravel and made a "path" through the jungle which should be more evident once the foreground fills in properly. I have replaced the mish-mash of foreground plants with E. Tenellus which is still in the midst of adapting to submerged life. I have added some A. Rigidifolius, a chunk of bolbitis and some narrow leaf java. I also added some V. Neotropicalis in amongst the giant val to bulk it out. Thanks to the bare stalks of telanthera at present, the right hand side is looking a little empty - hopefully that change.


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## Michelle_WI (Aug 18, 2009)

Just want to chime in to tell you that I really like the look of you tank. I'm in the process of rescaping mine and yours gives me some great inspiration!


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## RAWR (Aug 29, 2010)

I started a thread only yesterday asking for advice on my first proper planted tank. Also a 5x2! I love how your tank looks, if my tank looks as good as this I would be very happy!

I'm going to be following your thread and seeing how you get on.

It's really very impressive, it has a really nice balance to it and looks really natural and organic.

I salute you!


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## Kamivy (Jan 3, 2010)

Michelle_WI said:


> Just want to chime in to tell you that I really like the look of you tank. I'm in the process of rescaping mine and yours gives me some great inspiration!


Thank you Michelle!


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

Your tank has come such a long ways!

It's lovely, and I bet it's really a stunner in person.


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## Kamivy (Jan 3, 2010)

RAWR said:


> I started a thread only yesterday asking for advice on my first proper planted tank. Also a 5x2! I love how your tank looks, if my tank looks as good as this I would be very happy!
> I'm going to be following your thread and seeing how you get on.
> It's really very impressive, it has a really nice balance to it and looks really natural and organic.
> I salute you!


Thank you! I would love to check out your 5 footer, I'm always very interested in viewing 5 foot tanks to see what others have done with their space - it's a great way to get ideas! I have discovered, like many others, that low tech is a long term project, particularly if you favour the lush, full, jungle style as I do. So many times I've been tempted to wack my c02 system on there and sit back and watch it fill in before my eyes - but that would be cheating! So progress is slow and steady, which makes it all the more rewarding.


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## Kamivy (Jan 3, 2010)

lauraleellbp said:


> Your tank has come such a long ways!
> 
> It's lovely, and I bet it's really a stunner in person.


Thanks Lauralee. Sometimes it's hard to know whether the changes I make are for the better or worse! I'm glad you think it's improving.


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## Hyzer (Mar 9, 2010)

Great job on your tank, even after your pesky floater invasion. I'm a fan.roud: The subdued lighting works very well. Sort of... mysterious.


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## Kamivy (Jan 3, 2010)

Thanks Hyzer. Yes, I quite like the look of the dimmer lighting as well, but I think I like the way my plants grow better with both tubes running, so I'm still waiting for that ballast, but it still hasn't come!


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## Kamivy (Jan 3, 2010)

After a complete melt down due to copper in my rainwater, (took months to figure out what was wrong) a rescape was necessary. Here is the tank currently.


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## smiller (Dec 4, 2011)

Vey nice. How long did it take after your meltdown for things to recover to this point? How did you finally figure out what the problem was? You just decided to test for copper?

I just noticed the rainbows. If you mentioned them before I somehow missed that. How are they doing? How many?


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## Chrome (Feb 26, 2012)

Wow, I guess a lot can happen in a 1 1/2 years. That tank is gorgeous. 
Out of curiosity, how did you get copper in your rainwater?


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## Kamivy (Jan 3, 2010)

smiller and Chrome: After the melt down I basically had to start over, and this time round I used a heavy metal neutraliser to turn the copper into it's harmless form - things boomed from day one on the rescape and haven't looked back since, 11 months now. I use the neutraliser for every water change also, as my water always has a copper reading. This is because rainwater has a very low ph, and as it travels through the copper water pump plumbing it dissolves minute amounts of copper - enough to get a reading of 0.3. I could solve this problem permanently by trying to add some kind of buffer to the rainwater holding tank to raise it's PH, but now that everything is under control I want to leave it alone. Discovering it was copper contamination was a lengthy process of trial and error, and was eventually diagnosed by a fellow forum member on another site. I know this journal is missing a lot of info, (too hard to update both all the time) so if you want you can see the full story here:http://www.aquariumlife.com.au/showthread.php/22995-Kara-s-Low-Tech-Planted-5-footer-*UPDATED-26-2-2012* Just skip the first couple of pages or so, as it will be exactly the same as this one.

Oh and the rainbows are mentioned in the other journal, but I am now a PNG rainbow convert and this tank now contains 6 x M. herbertaxelrodi, 5 x M. boesemanii, 7 x M. lacustris, and 4 x G. incisus. As well as the old rummies/cardinals from the old setup and a sturdy old blue ram who has been through everything in this tank and keeps going strong! Still want to get G. wannamensis and an Australian Rainbow - M. australis "Upper Katherine River".


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## smiller (Dec 4, 2011)

I read much of your other thread. Thanks for that link. One thing I am unsure of and maybe I just missed it, are you still running Co2 or did you cease that? What is your dosing schedule these days?

Well done!


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## Kamivy (Jan 3, 2010)

It was mentioned somewhere in there, but no, I'm not running CO2 on this tank now - It had it for maybe 6-8wks after setup, but then I took it off. It doesn't get dosed with anything these days - The rainbows are big enough now to provide enough nitrates, and I haven't had to worry about the rest thanks to the substrate. Thanks for reading!


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## smiller (Dec 4, 2011)

What is your water change schedule? I have been researching rainbows for a few weeks. There isn't a hec of a lot of info out there on them but the couple of forums and articles I have found stress weekly semi-large water changes, and of course low tech planted stress minimal water changes.


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## Kamivy (Jan 3, 2010)

I haven't found my rainbows to be particularly sensitive - they are in a large tank that is heavily planted and has good filtration. I do a 30 - 40 percent water change on average once every 2 months. When I say low tech I mean low tech!


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## mollbern (Feb 18, 2014)

...about time for another 2.5 years later update?


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