fishy_mcfish
New member
Was just wondering how many people with reef tanks have planted tanks as well? I was thinking of setting up a 20 long I have as either a freshwater planted tsnk or a saltwater macro algae tank. Still deciding
Anyone here have freshwater planted tanks?
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fishy_mcfish
New member
Yea if I go that route it would be a low tech setup for sure to help minimize the amount of work needed.
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hersheyb
Active member
i had one, with co2 n the works... had a 40gal ada setup, 6 months and ended up taking it down too much work... a lot of work... continuous trimming to keep the aquascape or else it'll start looking like a jungle, weekly water changes killed it for me...
now i just have a 5 gal low maintenance shrimp tank, i just let stuff grow like crazy so it looks like a jungle lol
now i just have a 5 gal low maintenance shrimp tank, i just let stuff grow like crazy so it looks like a jungle lol
Irish Mortal
Member
I don't have one now, but had them in the past. They're awesome. They're very can and serene. My discus were constantly spawning. I think they can surpass reef tanks in beauty if done right. And since you are already in the habit of dealing with water parameters, you should be quite successful. The main things are a proper substrate and dissolving CO2 into your water.
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o2manyfish
o2manyfish
I have a 90g cube. I spent a bunch of money at the start for the proper soil, the co2 setup, the $100's of dollar Co2 glass diffuser. I setup mine with it's own RO System and a drain line. So 2x every day the RO system runs for 90 minutes for top off/water change.
Once I got the right plants, it became necessary every 2 weeks to go in with scissors and trim the the tank.
For the last 2 years I stopped the Co2, and stopped adding the plant additives. It's a jungle tank. But it's full of livebeares and some cardinals. There are 100's of different colored shrimp. And now I only have to trim the plants back about once a month. Unfortunately the Otocinculus are not good enough at keeping the glass clean so it still requries me to use a flipper to clean the glass every 2 or 3 weeks.
Dave B
Once I got the right plants, it became necessary every 2 weeks to go in with scissors and trim the the tank.
For the last 2 years I stopped the Co2, and stopped adding the plant additives. It's a jungle tank. But it's full of livebeares and some cardinals. There are 100's of different colored shrimp. And now I only have to trim the plants back about once a month. Unfortunately the Otocinculus are not good enough at keeping the glass clean so it still requries me to use a flipper to clean the glass every 2 or 3 weeks.
Dave B
fishy_mcfish
New member
Do you have pics of the tank Dave? This another reason to make the drive out to your place to check out all your tanks! Haha
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o2manyfish
o2manyfish
These are pics from July of 2016, taking Pics of plant is not as interesting as corals.
These are photos about 3 months in in 2014 - I spent a fortune on giant driftwood pieces that almost reached the surface and we haven't see the driftwood in years.
Dave B
These are photos about 3 months in in 2014 - I spent a fortune on giant driftwood pieces that almost reached the surface and we haven't see the driftwood in years.
Dave B
dodgerblew
Team RC
Dave's tank is simple and beautiful
fishy_mcfish
New member
I have been keeping FW tanks since I was a teenager. Reefs only a few years. My FW tanks are low tech with relatively easy, slow growing plants.
The angelfish tank (with cats) was once a hi tech tank with CO2 and lots of stem and other plants about 10 years ago. However, it was too much work to keep under control so I got rid of the CO2. I change ~20% of the wateronce a month or so. No fertilization at all other than by the fish and many years old compact fluorescent, 2 x 54w [MENTION=255083]500[/MENTION]0K and 2 x 54 watt @ 6500K. 2 x Eheim canister filters
The discus tank has only pool sand as a substrate with plant food tablets pushed into the root area. Lighting is 2 x 54w Giesmann Tropic and 2 x 54w Giesmann super Flora. No algae to speak of beyond some on the wood. It has been running about 2 years with a 40g breeder sump that contains quite a bit of siporax pond 3 x 200 micron mesh socks. I recently replaced 2 chambers of the Siporax with foam to try and reduce the debris on the remaining Siporax. Tank was just fed before the photo so some debris still floating around.
For me, FW is much easier than the reefs as they don't need much attention beyond water changes. No parameters to test or adjust for the most part.
The angelfish tank (with cats) was once a hi tech tank with CO2 and lots of stem and other plants about 10 years ago. However, it was too much work to keep under control so I got rid of the CO2. I change ~20% of the wateronce a month or so. No fertilization at all other than by the fish and many years old compact fluorescent, 2 x 54w [MENTION=255083]500[/MENTION]0K and 2 x 54 watt @ 6500K. 2 x Eheim canister filters
The discus tank has only pool sand as a substrate with plant food tablets pushed into the root area. Lighting is 2 x 54w Giesmann Tropic and 2 x 54w Giesmann super Flora. No algae to speak of beyond some on the wood. It has been running about 2 years with a 40g breeder sump that contains quite a bit of siporax pond 3 x 200 micron mesh socks. I recently replaced 2 chambers of the Siporax with foam to try and reduce the debris on the remaining Siporax. Tank was just fed before the photo so some debris still floating around.
For me, FW is much easier than the reefs as they don't need much attention beyond water changes. No parameters to test or adjust for the most part.
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fishy_mcfish
New member
Nice looking tanks! So I can get away with just using sand as long as I supplement with plant food tablets pushed into the sand near the roots of plants?
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Thanks! It depends on the plants, but those that I have (Amazon swords, Valisneria, Cryptocorynes) have no problem with the sand substrate and fertilizer tablets (Seakem Flourish in my case). If you are interested in a few discus, PM me. I have too many.
fishy_mcfish
New member
ethangoldbergg
New member
I have a lot of duckweed, anubias and amazon sword plant as well.
Dave,
If you want a super red male bristlenose pleco to help with keeping the glass clean, I have one for you free of charge for all that you do for us SoCal reefers. I have a breeding colony in my cherry red neocaridina shrimp tank so he won't bother any of your shrimp. Full grown and about 4" long.
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