# Not 1... not 2... but 3 NPT's



## f1ea (Jul 7, 2009)

Hey all,
Finally decided to make a thread about my new tanks: 

Tank 1) 36" x 12" x 20"H (36 Gal)
Tank 2) 24" x 16" x 16" (26 Gal)
Tank 3) 36" x 18" x 18" (50 Gal)

All of them are soil based tanks; more or less al Natural, except I am using DIY CO2. All custom made (except #1) with custom made stands, designed by... me! 

Lighting is 2x T5HO for all. 
Tank #1 has a filter that I will remove once i get a powerhead and pre-filter for it. Tank #2 will have the same. And #3 will have a canister filter + UV.

- Tank 1 was set up and filled about 3 weeks ago as a Wild Pterophyllum scalare (Peruvian Altum) breeding tank. They are taking care of about 200 wigglers right now. For that reason, I havent been able to prune, or treat some BGA on the substrate with any chemicals to avoid disturbing the parents or killing the fry... i'm guessing they'll be free swimming tomorrow or so.

- Tank 2 has hardscape, and I have already planted some of the plants for a partial dry start.

- Tank 3 has only the tank and the stand ready (the stand is painted black as well, it just wasnt yet in the pic).

Flora and Fauna:

Tank 1. Rock, sand and gravel. Eleocharis acicularis, Lilaeopsis mauritius, Echinodorus tenellus, Blyxa japonica, Crypt. Lutea, Crypt. green gecko, Crypt. undulatta, Crypt. wendtii, Echinodorus Kleiner bar, Anubias barteri, Bacopa caroliniana, Cabomba caroliniana, rotala rotundifolia, Alternathera reineckii, Nymphoides taiwan, Sagittaria, Myriophyllum aquaticum, Ludwigia repens, Bacopa australis, Hygrophila polysperma. 2x Wild Pterophyllum scalare.

Tank 2. All green. Rock, sand and gravel. Eleocharis acicularis, Hydrocotyle verticilatta, anubias coffeefolia, Vallisneria spiralis, Bacopa caroliniana, Crypt. parva, Egeria densa, Bacopa caroliniana, Echinodorus martii. 12x fancy Guppies, 8x Corydoras panda.

Tank 3. rock, sand, gravel, driftwood. Not sure yet on the plants. Fish will be either:
a) 5x Pterophyllum scalare 'gold', 12x Cardinal tetra, 8x Corydoras sterbei/3lineatus/skunk (depends on which i am able to find). 
b) 5x Pterophyllum scalare Wild, 12x Lemon tetra, 2x German Ram, 8x Corydoras panda or sterbei/3lineatus/skunk.

Here's some poor intitial pictures of what's happening so far:
(hopefully by the next round of updates I will have better camera and pictures)

Maybe you guys have some suggestions... questions... reccomendations.. criticism... fire away!


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## gf225 (Mar 26, 2005)

Doesn't CO2 injection make them non-El Natural?


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## Dielectric (Oct 7, 2008)

Oh man that is some nasty cyanobacteria! Can't wait to see the progression on them. If they turn out anything like your big boy they will be awesome.


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## f1ea (Jul 7, 2009)

gf225 said:


> Doesn't CO2 injection make them non-El Natural?


Yes, you are right. But I don't think people should bind themselves with a certain methodology; I am more interested in using all the resources available to reach a certain goal: a long term, low maintenance, healthy growing, more or less aquascaped tank.

No dosing, no fancy equipment or substrate, no extensive pruning, no back-breaking water changes...
Maybe breaking some little perceptions of what low tech or high tech tanks should look like... and how much maintenance/equipment is really necessary to have a nice tank. Besides, DIY CO2 is natural-ly occuring  hehe



> Oh man that is some nasty cyanobacteria! Can't wait to see the progression on them. If they turn out anything like your big boy they will be awesome.


cyanobacteria is my evil algae! this area is very warm, my tanks are running now at 84F. But the BGA is dying though... i havent been able to remove any of it, but the snails are eating it, and i think the plants are beggining to beat it.

The tank is only 3 weeks old with a soil substrate, and for example the Myrio was emersed and is still transforming, just recently its showed submersed foliage. The Cabomba also took some time to beging growing... it looked pretty poor for a week or so, i think until it rooted.

Hopefully these tanks turn out better! I think they will.

I am building the hardscape today for the 36x18x18. Once done, I will post a pic of the planting plan... so hopefully the knowledgeable guys will help me up a bit.

Thanks for the comments!


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## Dielectric (Oct 7, 2008)

f1ea said:


> Yes, you are right. But I don't think people should bind themselves with a certain methodology; I am more interested in using all the resources available to reach a certain goal: a long term, low maintenance, healthy growing, more or less aquascaped tank.
> 
> No dosing, no fancy equipment or substrate, no extensive pruning, no back-breaking water changes...
> Maybe breaking some little perceptions of what low tech or high tech tanks should look like... and how much maintenance/equipment is really necessary to have a nice tank. Besides, DIY CO2 is natural-ly occuring  hehe


+1


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## gf225 (Mar 26, 2005)

f1ea said:


> Yes, you are right. But I don't think people should bind themselves with a certain methodology; I am more interested in using all the resources available to reach a certain goal: a long term, low maintenance, healthy growing, more or less aquascaped tank.
> 
> No dosing, no fancy equipment or substrate, no extensive pruning, no back-breaking water changes...
> Maybe breaking some little perceptions of what low tech or high tech tanks should look like... and how much maintenance/equipment is really necessary to have a nice tank. Besides, DIY CO2 is natural-ly occuring  hehe


Excellent points!

I was just wondering, why bother with the DIY CO2 at all?

Do you think you need it to actually grow the plants or are you just after faster growth than non-CO2?

Some may consider DIY CO2 relatively high maintenance, with the need to change mixtures etc. and the fluctuating CO2 possibly contributing to potential algae issues.

Please don't think I'm trying to be antagonistic; I'm genuinely interested in your reasoning.


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## f1ea (Jul 7, 2009)

gf225 said:


> Excellent points!
> 
> I was just wondering, why bother with the DIY CO2 at all?
> 
> ...


oh no problem. Most things have a downside anyway, so even if you were being antagonistic you'd probably be right 

In my case, the extra CO2 is only there to help the least competitive plants grab some CO2, because the peaky stem plants drain the CO2 quickly. When you have enough light to reach the ground covers and have the stems looking good, nice color etc. with this ammount of light, the stems hog up the Co2 before anyone else gets a chance.

Normal NPT pratices (such as low disturbance, a siesta to allow co2 build-up, soil decompositions etc) allow a steady, constant supply for the slow and root feeders; not much, but steady... it is not enough for some plants when forced to compete with the stems, but enough to not have a total crash in case DIY fluctuates or if you forget to renew the mix for a couple days. i feed daily, trim every 2 weeks or so, and change the DIY bottle every 2 weeks. That's it. Not that much work really, with an automated fish feeder i could leave the tank completely alone for a week or more... all without having to spend $ hundreds.

Its when you have to dose macros one day, micros the other, trim, water change, weight and prepare fert solution, clean the filters... then changing the DIY is an added un-welcome hassle. Pressured Co2 is definitely better. But expensive, specially for several tanks (in different rooms etc); Also one gets tempted to crank up the light and co2... then the headaches start all over.

About algae
i get BGA; and some green spots on the anubias that gets the most light. Once the stems grow thicker and shade it a bit, i'm sure the GSA will be ok. The problem is mainly BGA... we'll see in the coming weeks how the tank beats it.

They dont mature and look their best in a week or so though... maybe 1-2 months; but then its very easy to get by. Also, the plants look very good with the rich substrate (normal cheap yard potting soil) and lean water column in the NPT environment.

Gee, that was long. Makes sense??


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## gf225 (Mar 26, 2005)

Makes sense. Thanks!


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## f1ea (Jul 7, 2009)

Ok, some pictures that look kinda washed out

But basically, BGA is gone completely. About a week ago it simply started dying, i havent suctioned any out; but its been over a week and not a bit has regrown. Didnt need H2O2 or anything else. 

Maybe because the tank had been set up for about 2 weeks before I added the fish, and even after, it is a very light load; so the NO3 got pretty low (I measured at about 5ppm). Now with fish feeding, NO3 has probably bounced back to a good level (havent measured lately)

You cant really see much from the pics, but pretty much all the plants are growing well and seem to have recovered from the initial planting and purchase trip...

I planted some of the plants into the 26G. Mostly stems, hairgrass and hydrocotyle. In the next week will buy and plant the remaining... rosettes (crypts, echinodorus). I'm getting tempted for a red plant... Ludwigia arcuata...... but i dont know. My heart wants to keep it green.

Here's bad pics from the 36G and 26G. I will have better pics when the time is right.

I have the hardscape and soil and substrate ready for the 50G. Will plant it this weekend. it is coming along very nice. Had a little set back with a floating island  but i'm very excited with this tank.


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## f1ea (Jul 7, 2009)

*The 50 Gal*

Finally got the 50 Gal planted. I was simply way too busy and couldnt find even a minute for it.

On this tank I have:
HC, Lilaeopsis mauritius, Eleocharis acicularis, Hydrocotyle verticillata, Crypt. Parva, Crypt cordata, Crypt. Wendtii, Microsorum pteropus, Anubias narrow leaf, Vesicularia montagnei, A. reineckii, Vallisneria americana, Myriophyllum aquaticum, Bacopa australis, Ludwigia repens, Bacopa caroliniana, Rotala rotundifolia, Hygrophila difformis, Hygropila polysperma, Nymphoides taiwan...

Will let the tank fill in a bit before adding anything else. Maybe some more crypts, and tie some moss to the driftwood and switch some stems for others... will see. My plant selection is very limited so i have to work with what i can get.

Tank has a soil bottom, canister filter with only sponges. Wood is 'Caoba' (some precious redwood used to make furniture and boats), i had it soaking for a few weeks and so it sank right away, but the hardest part was getting it to stay at an angle. The CO2 is working inline through the intake pipe. So far it seems to work well.

Will get real decent shots with a good camera when its worth it. So, a couple weeks from now.

Here's the tank with hardscape and then 2 minutes after flooding...

Please some advice/suggestions... what is terrible (besides the pics), what is nice, what needs to be changed???
i need some help, as I'm not the most artistic.........

Regards


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## Dielectric (Oct 7, 2008)

I think it looks great! sorry i cant really offer scaping advice, as i suck at it. looking forward to seeing it fill in.


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## f1ea (Jul 7, 2009)

Dielectric said:


> I think it looks great! sorry i cant really offer scaping advice, as i suck at it. looking forward to seeing it fill in.


Thanks! 
Yes aquascaping is waaaay underated. Especially the "nature aquarium" style. Some of the guys here are incredible artists...

But it is definitely easier to spot someting wrong in a scape than it is to create a great scape. So that's why i ask for advice hehe. However, the best aquascape technique is: healthy plant growth.

So people please chime in... before all these plants root in and its a nightmare to change stuff


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## Aquaticz (May 22, 2009)

Seems like it is all going well & you make a lot of sense. 
I like your take on a good scape - it all starts with healthy plant growth. The guys that do nature aquariums are quite talanted and it seems have no real budget. I am not so sure that there are that many of us that totally rescape a tank every 2 months and start all over. Howeverr I have also noticed from my own actions that once you concentrate on being able to grow whatever & then try to compose a scape with color, positioning and all the rest that goes into it it takes at least twice as long. I usually change something after the first few weeks or at times even a week. I think the best you can do is exactly what you have done- it looks good & will look better as time allows it to fill in. I subscribed and look forward to seeing it progress


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## f1ea (Jul 7, 2009)

Some pics.

This is the 26G a couple of weeks ago. Surprisingly, the Ludwigia Repens is not doing too well in this tank... dont know why. I still have some improvements to do: some prunning, allow the carpets to fill in and some planting bits i'm not all happy with... but the plants are growing well. No algae problems in this tank. No dosing, no excel and not a single water change either. 

I had Neon tetras, Serpaes and Shrimp. The serpaes were actually a temporary adoption, but i liked how they look in this tank so i'm keeping them.

The neons all died, at pic time there was 1 out of 12 remaining... 
But I have re-stocked since the pics with Black neon tetras and a pair of Ramirezi cichlids along with the Serpaes and shrimp. I preferred the neons, but they are so difficult to find good stock, so i won't keep wasting money to have them die. Everybody else is doing very well.

Here's a pic of one of my shrimps... i have 2 of them in here, they were wild-caught locally, and i havent been able to ID them... maybe someone knows what they are..... 

Their size here is pretty much adult size (judging from what i saw in the wild population). I've had them for over 4 months and i'd say they are mildly aggressive. They dont attack the fish, but will put up a fight if needed. Haven't lost a fish to them (i also have some of them in my large tank and havent had a fish loss), but i did see them eating on a dead neon tetra.


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## f1ea (Jul 7, 2009)

This is the 36G.

Terrible pics! i dont know why these pics look so awful. I took them the same day as the ones above... but these ones are terrible. For some reasons the colors are all wrong and i had a fresh CO2 on that day so there were a lot of tiny bubbles around. I'm still waiting for Jason's (Baliban) article in TFH due out this month to see if i can finally learn to take good pics hehe. 

In general, this tank is doing very well. There is a Crypt Lutea there on the right that played a trick on me and simply grew too much. I have C. Lutea in other tanks and it doesnt grow over 4-6". For some reason this one went crazy.

I dont like the scape on this tank. But the plants are growing very well. The Cabomba is not too good, it grows, but so-so. Yet, the L. repens has no problems; on the other tank, Cabomba is very well but L. repens is struggling 

I have dosed NO3 to this tank, because fish load is too light... i dose NO3 about once a week to keep NO3 at something like 15ppm.

A bit of hair algae growing on the moss there... and it has spread to some places, took some out after this pics... but at least there's never been any other algae showing up. No water changes either.

The angels have spawned a few times, but i didnt get the fry feeding too well and they've died at like 2 weeks. I have a good supply of brine shrimp eggs for the next spawn.


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