# Neptun's 110 liter



## Neptun (Dec 18, 2004)

Cyano... everywhere I looked, there it was!
I tried everything, had several experts trying to help me with anything in between chemicals to blackouts. But it always came back!

After nearly two years (!) of struggling I gave up. I decided to get rid of my beloved cichlids and instead give the low-tech aquariums a shot.

So here we go!

Below I will show you how I set up my tank, please feel free to give comments and suggestions!

To get the soil to settle quicker and to get rid of some ammonia I decided to soak it for a few days. This was done in the tank itself, but next time I'll do it in a separate bucket.










When I drained the tank after a week, the soil was stirred up slightly and ended up grabbing hold of the walls of the tank. So to avoid that the next time, I'll soak the soil somewhere else than in the tank.
However, I added some gravel along the edges and used toothpicks with marking on them, stuck into the soil, to level it to about 2.5 cm (1").









We have got very soft water where I live, so I added some crushed lime on top of the soil. I bought a Red moore root which I found very attractive. Unfortunally it was a little bit to big for this tank, but never mind that. I'll put it in another tank next time. 










When planting I added gravel with a tea spoon around each plant to get them stable.










The soil was later on covered with about 2 cm (0.8") of gravel, which turned out to be to little. To avoid stirring up the gravel and soil I put a plastic lid on top of it before slowly filling it up with water.










I also added a few pots of vallisneria to prevent algea until the growth kicks in. The next day I bought some stem and floating plants aswell as four Black mollies at the LFS.










Hmm... 10 days... this was not what I expected...










Day 11 - I don't know if it was the root or maybe the soil that coloured the water, but it ain't that pretty. I also had some trouble with white spot with the black mollies, so it might have been the blue treatment that caused it? The root was boiled before it was set into the tank, but maybe not enough to prevent the colouring of the water.

However, it looks worse in the photo than it was for real, and the fish doesn't seem to bother. The plants are doing great aswell and I had to move one of them to my 540 liter tank since it was getting much larger than I was told at the LFS. This was where I noticed the drawback of a thin layer of gravel. The soil followed the roots when I pulled the large plant out, even though I did it very carefully. To prevent to much soil to leak out I added a pile of gravel around the plant and gently pulled it out.

I also got some new plants at a local auction and these were planted today, together with 10 Cherry shrimps (No I did not plant the shrimp... ). Did a major waterchange to get rid of the brown water.










Just above 2 wpg, no ferts
pH - 7.4, stable
KH - 3.5
NO3 - none so far

Current inhabitants

Poecilia sphenops - Black molly (4)
Neocaridina denticulata sinensis var. red - Cherry shrimp (10)
Pomacea bridgesii - Applesnail (2)

Cabomba caroliniana
Microsorum pteropus
Hygrophila polysperma
Cryptocoryne beckettii
Cryptocoryne undulata
Limnophila sessiliflora
Vallisneria americana 'Mini Twister'
Vesicularia sp. 'Christmas'
Pistia stratiotes
Cerathophyllum demersum
Echinodorus something, a small one 

In the future:
I will add some small rainbowfish later on, Iriatherina werneri or Pseudomugil gertrudae.
 
I would like to have more forground plants, but I have not found any suitable yet.
Maybe I'll plant some Anubias nana in front of the root.

Please feel free to give suggestions on setup, plants and fish!


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## John N. (Dec 11, 2005)

I loved the look of the driftwood wood paired with the vallisneria. But in the last photo I see that there aren't any more vals there. I think some tall background plants will make that driftwood pop out more than it currently does now. 

-John N.


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## DataGuru (Mar 11, 2005)

Wow. that really did leach tannins!

You definitely need some more rooted plants and more floaters wouldn't hurt. Hows the water doing?


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## onemyndseye (May 12, 2006)

No Kidding!

If it dont settle down you might try boiling it for afew hours. 


Nice start on a great looking tank non-the-less 

Take Care,
-Justin
One Mynds Eye


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## Satirica (Feb 13, 2005)

Beautiful tank. I would also like to put in a plug for the vals. Major enhancement of the driftwood.


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## Neptun (Dec 18, 2004)

Thank you for your comments!
The Vallisneria will outgrow the tank in just a week. In my large tank (540 liters) it grows to about 1.5 meters in no time.
I do like having vals in the tank, but they keep growing out of control, and I would prefer not to have runners all over the tank.

Will try to get a new photo posted in the next few days.


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