# Natural semi Hi Tech Setup



## d3tained (Sep 21, 2006)

Hi all.

I dont know if this is the right place to post this. ( Moderaters please move if its needs to go to aquascaping )

I have a 100 Liter ( 25 Gal ) tank I will be showing the setup of for you guys.

Tank: AQUAh20 76cm
Lights: 8 x 14 Watt T5 giving me about 3.8 WPG on this tank. ( 10 000 Kelvin Mixed with 6500 Kelvin lights. )
Co2: Very little at about 2 Bubbles every 3 seconds. ( Soon to be removed )
Fertz: Not dosing any.
Substrate: Bottom layer of Natural River soil mixed with Sera Flora depot.Top layer of sand smoothing into pebble gravel to the back with higher to back slope.
Temp: 27 degrees C
PH: 6.5 ( Stable )
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5
Plants: Various swords
Fish: Platies, Rams ( Breeding pair ), Ottos, Bristelnose, Corries, YoYo Loaches,Tetras, Rocket Pencil Fish, Blue I Rainbows.

Pictures:

Day of setup:



I had no problems with mirky water.Planted a bit of Tennelus and Microswords out of previous setups.All was fine at this stage.Added a few fish after testing water.

1st plants:



I planted a few plants just to get it started.Already had some nice pearling.No signes of distress in fish.

More Plants:



The next day I added much more plants as we all know the more plants the better.Still had loads of pearling.

1 Week:

This is the tank after 1 week:



Plants growing and settling in nicely.Fish all doing fine.No signes of any algae.Only problem is about 100 000 Hydras in the tank.Suspect they came form the river soil.Monitoring them closely.Added soem more fish to keep the fertz up.Moved one or 2 plants around.

2 Weeks after setup.



2 Weeks after setup and the tank have grown allot.Still no sign of Algae and the Hydras have mosty died off.Few left.Spotted sword made a seed sprout.Fish doing great.

Hope you guys enjoyed it.

Will post updates as it goes along.


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## onemyndseye (May 12, 2006)

Nice tank!!.... I have a 5g bowfront that I am more-or-less trying the hybrid methods out...

My own soil mix. 70% Sifted soil, 25% natural clay, 5% boiled peat.

Co2 injected with 34 watts ( 2x13watt PC and a 8Watt t8 )

Thing pearls like mad!...

Good luck with your new setup, it looks GREAT!!!.. 
-Justin
One Mynds Eye


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## d3tained (Sep 21, 2006)

Thx allot!!


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## cs_gardener (Apr 28, 2006)

Wow! Its looking great. Hard to believe its only 2 weeks old. I like the various leaf shapes and how the rocks just barely peep out here and there.


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## Satirica (Feb 13, 2005)

Great tank! 

Did you decide to add the CO2 just while the plants are settling in?


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## DataGuru (Mar 11, 2005)

What kinda swords are those larger ones in the back?

Justin: with 34 watts over a 5 gallon tank and CO2, I'll bet things pearl a lot! LOL Growing like gangbusters!


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## onemyndseye (May 12, 2006)

> Justin: with 34 watts over a 5 gallon tank and CO2, I'll bet things pearl a lot! LOL Growing like gangbusters!


LOADS!! ... lol . I dont know yet if I'll be able to keep it balanced but we'll see. Its past its 1st week now and alittle thread algae has apeared. Need to add some fish and snails to round things out...

If I cant balance it (which I really believe I can - even if its a foolish belief...LOL) I'll remove the stock 8watt T5. (or try to replace it with something that will serve has lunar lights.) ....Thatll knock almost 2WPG off.

I added a mini canister today (one of the zoo med turtle filters....makes a great nano canister) and built a Co2 reator and plumbed it inline with the filter.... wow did that ever make a difference!!! 

Take care,
-Justin
One Mynds Eye


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## Tiapan (Jun 14, 2006)

thats absolutely crazy growth in the tank, i try to stay away from that much grow because i have no time to prune that much. but it does look great. of course i could prune every 2 weeks on my 60 and it all comes back again. no matter how much i take it just catches right back up.


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## d3tained (Sep 21, 2006)

Thx all.

Im a little scared to remove teh c02 now as i dont want algae cause teh balance seems perfect now.C02 was installed just for a good kickoff for teh plants.

Sorry but i dont know the name of those big swords at the back.As soon as teh start to grow to high im gonna take of teh glass cpver and get them to grow out of the aqarium


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## onemyndseye (May 12, 2006)

with 3.8WPG youll probably need to keep alittle going to keep the tank in balance.

The trick will be hitting a balance that will require little or no fertz dosing. 

-Justin
One Mynds Eye


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## John N. (Dec 11, 2005)

Fantastic green tank, with such rapid growth. I haven't seen a high tech el natural tank before.

-John N.


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## Kelley (Aug 27, 2006)

This is one cool tank! I would keep the CO2 on. Why mess with success? Good luck!


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## d3tained (Sep 21, 2006)

Hi all.

Thank you very much for the great comments.

Well its been about 10 days now as i was on holiday so here is a update for you.

I have a little bit of GSA in the tank but nothing serious.As for the plants they all growing really well but i have noticed on or 2 of them dropping leaves because they have melted for some odd reason. ( Maybe lack of maintanince over the holiday period. )Besides that all good.

Picture:


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## aquabillpers (Apr 13, 2006)

That is a beautiful tank!

But I would be amazed if you could avoid dosing and all that goes with it, in such a high light, CO2-enhanced environment.

Please keep us informed

Bill


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## d3tained (Sep 21, 2006)

Hi

Thank you.

Ive started dosing last night with a little fertz to see if it makes a change.The plant growth is really fast and good even without the dosing but I have noticed some plants showing def signes.

Also trimmed out all the old leaves.

Will keep you guys updated!


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## d3tained (Sep 21, 2006)

Hi all

Update on this tank.I moved some plants back as it was growing to big.

All looking fine.Just a bit of GSA


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## Neon Shrimp (Apr 26, 2006)

Great looking tank, it makes me think of an amazon river


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## d3tained (Sep 21, 2006)

Thx allot!!

I stopped dosing for now as it did not make a diffirence.


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## Squawkbert (Jan 3, 2007)

I'm thinking that dosing is not making a diff. because you haven't fully depleted the soil of its nutrients yet - plants should let you know when that happens (esp. root feeders like swords).

Looking v. good!


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## d3tained (Sep 21, 2006)

Thx guys.


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