# Am I too late?



## keithrocks (Jul 20, 2009)

Boy, i wish I had found this site earlier. It would have saved me a lot of monet and stress. I have just setup a 30 gallon Long tank with an average of 4" of eco complete, Sand Stone, and Mopani Wood.

4- 8W T5 bulbs
1- 20W T8
Total of 52 Watts or 1.73 WPG
6' Blue Rope light for Moonlight
HOB 50 Power Filter
Air Stone

2-Wendtii, Red (Cryptocoryne wendtii)
2-Wendtii, Green (Cryptocoryne wendtii)
2-Anubias Nana (Anubias barteri v. 'Nana')
2-Anubias Coffeefolia (Anubias barteri v. 'Coffeefolia')
10-Vals, Corkscrew (Vallisneria americana)
2-Wendtii, Bronze 
1-Sword, Amazon Sword (Echinodorus bleheri)
2-Java Fern (Microsorium pteropus)
1-Tiger Lotus, Red (Nymphaea zenkeri)
2-Crypt Lutea (Cryptocoryne lutea)
10-Sag, Dwarf Subulata (Sagittaria subulata)

Current Inhabitants are 3- oto cats, 4 ghost shrimp and 5 zebra danios.

Nitrates are barely readable. Nitrite = 0

What can I still do to make it as low maintenance and natural as possible? Here are some pics.


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## jasa73 (Jun 18, 2007)

It's never too late! Welcome and congratulations on the tank. Personally, i like it. Visually, i like how the topline slopes down to the left. And i love that gnarled peice of wood. 

Overall i think you made a good choice of plants for easy care. All i would say is dont go overboard on the lights with resepct to duration. Metaphorically i like to think of lights as the speed of a car. The more speed the more control you will need in order to prevent it from crashing (ie ferts, co2 etc). Slow and steady and i think you are off to a good start.


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## Avi (Apr 7, 2004)

You can keep it low maintenance, but you'll be best off keeping the fish population very low if that's what you're shooting for.


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## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

I would turn off the air-stone. Unless your fish are gasping at surface for oxygen, all you're doing is removing CO2. CO2 is the one nutrient that plants need most and the one that can so easily be lost.

Make sure that you have a 12 hr daylength. 

I would consider removing some of the rocks or the driftwood. You want to have as much surface area devoted to plants as possible. Also, if these objects are resting directly on the gravel/Eco-complete, they may smother bacteria in the substrate. You may eventually have problems with anaerobic pockets generating toxins.

That said, you have a pretty tank. I am pleased to see that you have started out with a nice assortment of healthy-looking plants. I hope that the plants grow well in this 4" deep substrate. It so, you are on your way to having a healthy tank-- irrespective of the fish load.


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## keithrocks (Jul 20, 2009)

Thanks for the comments and suggestions. I really have no idea what I am doing, but I am already addicted. I definitly did the slope intentionally. I really am pleased so far. Some crypt melt but new leaves are coming on. Some browning on the vals (end of leaves) Should they be cut or left alone? Are there any fish or inverts that will eat the dead leaves? The anubis is growing and the sags are showing signs of growth. The tiger lily came in a bulb and I can see growth every day.

I am running the lights 10AM till 10M. I have the moonlights on all the time. Should I shut them off for a period of total darkness at some point in the night?

I'll kill the airstone. I just put in because I read somewhere else that I needed to keep the water moving.

Are there suggestions for fish? Any that are better suited to the Low maintenance tank? I love barbs and bettas, but I assume that pairing them is BAD. My ph is kinda high 7.5 to 7.8 range, can tetras handle that?



Sorry for all the questions, but I do respect the opinions of all of you.

By the way, I will get a copy of Ms Walstad's book.


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## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

keithrocks said:


> I am running the lights 10AM till 10M. I have the moonlights on all the time. Should I shut them off for a period of total darkness at some point in the night?
> 
> I'll kill the airstone. I just put in because I read somewhere else that I needed to keep the water moving.
> 
> Are there suggestions for fish? Any that are better suited to the Low maintenance tank? I love barbs and bettas, but I assume that pairing them is BAD. My ph is kinda high 7.5 to 7.8 range, can tetras handle that?


The moonlights should be no problem. Indeed, the longer the daylength/photoperiod, the better. I have found no evidence that plants need a rest period, so go for it!

Glad you killed the airstone.

Tetras should probably be okay with pH of 7.8. For breeding them, a high pH may be a problem, but I'm not sure on this.


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## keithrocks (Jul 20, 2009)

dwalstad said:


> The moonlights should be no problem. Indeed, the longer the daylength/photoperiod, the better. I have found no evidence that plants need a rest period, so go for it!
> 
> Glad you killed the airstone.
> 
> Tetras should probably be okay with pH of 7.8. For breeding them, a high pH may be a problem, but I'm not sure on this.


Thanks for the advice on the airstone. I thought I had lost some of my shrimp and otos but when I removed it, 30 minutes later all 3 otos and the shrimp were all swimming around. Could it be that the airstone had scared them?


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## Avi (Apr 7, 2004)

dwalstad said:


> .... I have found no evidence that plants need a rest period, so go for it!....


I've wondered about that...but some of the plants in my tank literally close up in the evening even though the lights are still on...about 7:30p.m....most notably the Cabamba furcata which completely closes it whirls and then opens them at about 9a.m. in the morning. Some other plants in the tank show this habit to a lesser degree, like the Limnophila sessiloflora.


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## Johnriggs (Jun 26, 2009)

Hmm, what about the animals, do they need day/night cycles? African Dwarf Frogs, for example, are nocturnal creatures who are active mostly in the evening. I always wondered if people who left their aq. lights on 24/7 stressed their fish.

John R


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