# My last go at a planted nano



## jahmic (Jan 30, 2011)

Nice find on the LEDs (sneaky sneaky with getting the ebay link to work too, haha)...I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on those bulbs since I also have a fluval edge, I'm tempted to try those. I've replaced the halogens with MR11 LEDs (15 per bulb), and added a coralife 10w bulb, along with a $25 sun light desk lamp from home depot to alleviate some of the poor light spread in the front of the tank. One thing I will say...it may be a good idea to add a splash guard to the tank, especially if you inject CO2...the bubbling at the surface gets all over the LEDs otherwise; it'd be best to protect those bulbs since they sit so close to the surface. I used a piece of acrylic sheet that cost under 2 dollars from the home depot, cut it to size, then just used 4 of those metal picture hangers (the ones that you tap a nail into at an angle) bent into shape over the acrylic lip in the tank to hold the sheet up. 3 dollar solution that actually looks decent.

I've found that with this tank it's actually better to turn UP the filter's flow for more surface agitation and oxygenation, especially if you fill up the tank all the way. If you end up doing DIY CO2, you shouldn't have to worry too much about off-gassing the CO2 with that limited surface area, and I think your fauna would appreciate the added oxygen being that the surface area at the top of the tank is sparing when filled to the top glass. I had filled up the tank all the way last week with the flow turned down to an (almost) minimum, and saw my shrimp scurrying for the top of the tank after about 16hrs. I immediately removed some water and they calmed down 5 minutes later. After a couple days, I filled it back up again, this time turning UP the filter's flow almost all the way, and they've been fine since then. No other changes were made to the tank during that time. If your fish, plants,and even your substrate prefer a lower flow though...then I'd say go ahead and keep the flow rate low, but you may have to be wary of filling it up to the top glass.

For what it's worth...I have my LEDs and the coralife on for 8 hrs a day, and the added desk lamp is on for 4hrs in the middle of the photoperiod. I had been playing around with lighting quite a bit initially before adding the shrimp, and that seems to work pretty well.

Disclaimer: I'm fairly new to planted tanks too. That being said, I've beat the odds since I have a pretty bad streak with house plants...but haven't killed anything in my edge over the past 6 weeks though...and stuff is actually growing, haha.


----------



## mike_freegan (Oct 15, 2008)

Thanks for the tip. I did read that the LED bulbs sometimes corrode. Do you have a photo of your mod?

I will try the 8 hour light cycle.

Does anyone have tips on:


Which / how much ferts?

Should I use blue LED?

Any better plants?

DIY CO2 hints?

Should I stop replacing the carbon in the filter?


----------



## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

I'm afraid IDK that much about LED technology, it's pretty new on the market and I just haven't researched it that much. There's a few threads going over in the lighting forum, though, so you may want to read through those and also you might want to start a separate thread asking for LED lighting feedback for this specific tank.



mike_freegan said:


> Which / how much ferts?




At the very least I'd get a bottle of Flourish Comprehensive (good supply of trace and micros) and a bottle of Excel. You may need to dose more depending on how your light works out... but you can just watch your plants for deficiencies, too.


> Any better plants?


I think Dwarf Sag is probably going to work better as a midground or perhaps even background plant for a tank this size, depending on how it grows for you. It's a plant that can grow very differently (and sometimes unpredictably) depending on light level and which cultivar you actually end up with. Marselia minuta is a carpeting plant that I think you should consider- it would be a nice scale for the tank, I think.


> Should I stop replacing the carbon in the filter?


 
You can use carbon if you want. Most planted tankers do not use it. I personally prefer Purigen chemical media, I use it to "polish" my water (does a great job with tannins) and I like the fact that it can be regenerated and used over and over.


----------



## jahmic (Jan 30, 2011)

mike_freegan said:


> Thanks for the tip. I did read that the LED bulbs sometimes corrode. Do you have a photo of your mod?


Here you go, just grabbed a couple shots when I got home.

Here is the sheet installed on the tank, it's just resting on top of the picture hangers...lifts right out when I need access. It's made from an 8x10 piece of acrylic styrene from Home Depot...it's non-glare and was labeled for "crafts and picture frames" ...less than 2 bucks with tax:










And here is one of the picture hangers. I used 4 in all. Basically, I just used a pair of needle nose pliers to bend the upper portion out a bit; it's usually pinched up against the side of the hanger. It's probably pretty obvious, but then you take the lower portion that used to hook up and to the right (pointing at about 2'oclock), and just bend it the opposite way into a flat plane to lay your acrylic on. I just hung the upper portion over the acrylic lip in the tank after pinching it down a bit so it fits securely...they don't move at all.


----------



## mike_freegan (Oct 15, 2008)

Awesome job. I will likely copy this. I've also seen it done with suction cups in place of picture hooks.

I am going to but some flourish comprehensive this week. What dosing would you recommend?

Should I also use root tabs?

Would Marselia minuta grow in sand? I thought it was a root feeder?

Ironically, the grass is doing great in the girlfriend's plain old betta vase with no lights, filter, co2 or ferts. Definitely my must successful plant yet *sigh* .


----------



## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

Any carpeting plant will do much better in a substrate containing nutrients, but can grow in sand too as long as you are sure to give them some nutrients. Root tabs can work well.

I believe the recommended dosing for Comprehensive is either on the bottle or on Seachem's website... you shouldn't need much in a low light tank. I'd probably only dose after water changes.


----------



## mike_freegan (Oct 15, 2008)

lauraleellbp said:


> Any carpeting plant will do much better in a substrate containing nutrients, but can grow in sand too as long as you are sure to give them some nutrients. Root tabs can work well.
> 
> I believe the recommended dosing for Comprehensive is either on the bottle or on Seachem's website... you shouldn't need much in a low light tank. I'd probably only dose after water changes.


Great info. I do wish I'd had the foresight to use eco complete in the first place.

Tell me, fish folk; if I do manage to catchand extract my fish and change substrate, is my tank likely to crash sure to loss of bacteria populated surface area?


----------



## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

Since you're working with such a small tank, I'd definitely plan to do daily water changes for a week or so after a substrate change just to be sure the water stays in good shape, but if you keep your filter cycled, save some tank water and collect lots of mulm to put under the new substrate you should be able to safely switch everything out in the same day without harming the fish.


----------



## mike_freegan (Oct 15, 2008)

Just bought a hefty bottle of flourish comprehensive. Think I'm just going to go for water feeding, rather than root feeding plants as a substrate change will be expensive and drastic. I intend to pick up some java fern and anubias nana this week which can be tied to bogwood.

Hopefully the dwarf sag will work out too, as a rhizome feeder.

Going to try and pick up the components to make a splash guard this lunchtime. Will post pics of progress.

Will my blue leds help any or will they be the wrong spectrum?


----------



## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

I'd post up the details of your LED in the lighting forum and ask, because IDK the answer to that one. I lean towards "no" but am by no means sure. LED technology is pretty new on the market especially in terms of planted tanks.


----------



## mike_freegan (Oct 15, 2008)

UPDATE:

The first MR16 LED lights came, but one didn't work. The one that did work made a hell of a difference though!

So I replaced them with some 21 SMD ones that are sealed. They seem to work just as well so I'm happy, and they're sealed, so should be quite water resistant. I have also ordered a piece of clear acrylic cut to size for £1 on eBay which will stop the LEDs getting splashed.

The LEDs are 310lm. The difference is that they're '6500k cool white', rather than '6000 - 6500k day white'. Can anyone tell me if this will be a problem?

I'm also awaiting 2 LED strips which I hope to angle to spread the light better.

The diffuser came and is diffusing my DIY CO2 nicely, although it took a day to build up enough pressure.

I picked up some anubias nana, a java fern and added my (what I think is) dwarf sag. I then re-scaped the tank.

The tank is full of tannins as the mopani wood is still leaking, despite being heavily boiled. It is expected though.

Here is a photo of the tank, comparing LED to stock halogen:










And here it is re-scaped. Please ignore the random piece of marble weighing down the mopani wood. It's still a bit buoyant.


----------



## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

Looks nice!

I definitely like the more "natural" look with the live plants. Nice job. :thumbsup:


----------



## gbose (Nov 21, 2010)

Love the tank with real plants ! A little concernd about dwarf puffer with neons. I hear DPs can be nippy -- no personal experience.

GB


----------



## mike_freegan (Oct 15, 2008)

gbose said:


> Love the tank with real plants ! A little concernd about dwarf puffer with neons. I hear DPs can be nippy -- no personal experience.
> 
> GB


I'm new to plants, but puffers are one thing I am familiar with.

You're right - dwarfs are horrible little sods. The trick is, distract with snails (which they love to eat), don't let them get hungry and buy small fish that can swim faster than they can.

If you put anything big/fancy in with them, it'll have no fins within 2 days. In fact even neons will likely lose a few chunks at first, but they soon learn to swim away when the puffer is prowling, and the puffer soon learns that the neons aren't worth chasing 

Dwarf puffers are not to be kept more than one in a tank though. People will say give them 5 gallons each, but even then, once they find each other, they pretty much battle to the death.


----------



## mike_freegan (Oct 15, 2008)

OK update.

Generally, things are going well. the grass (Which I now believe to be pygmy chain sword) is spreading really fast. I guess thanks to the flourish comprehensive and root tabs and 8 hours per day of light.

The Java fern is growing little java ferns and the anubias nana is putting out new leaves.

I do have two problems though:

The first is this algae, which is growing on my java fern. Well only on the leaves directly under the light. I've never seen algae like it before. Can anyone tell me what it is a sign of? I guess I could just move the fern a little further out of the light. I don't have any algae on the glass etc.











The next issue is this mould/fungus growing on my bogwood. I think I read that it means it's not proper bogwood, and that it's decaying. Would you guys agree? Do I need to pull it out an replace it?










My amano shrimp now just hide behing the bogwod and rarely show themselves. They are not interested in helping clean up the rest of the tank!


----------



## mike_freegan (Oct 15, 2008)

Hey guys

Everything's growing great, but I'm still suffering algae.

I don't have a test kit, but I was thinking maybe some stem plants would suck up spare nutrients that algae was growing on. Any recommendations?


----------



## jwalls1082 (Jul 14, 2010)

I could be wrong but that looks like hair algae. How much are you dosing? How often? If you look at the common algae types article on here, it says hair algae is because of overdose of nutrients. Remove as much as possible by hand to help get it under control.


----------



## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

Looks like Staghorn algae to me. A few doses of Excel should kill it off.

I can't tell for sure what's on your driftwood, but if it's fungus it will die off on its own eventually and isn't anything to worry about. If it's algae, Excel is likely to take care of that, too.


----------

