Info

Objective: EXTREMELY low-maintenance plant tank

Tank Size: 58 G (219 L) Oceanic

Original Tank Startup: March 29, 2002

Filtration Equipment: Eheim 2026 canister

CO2 Setup: Pressurized CO2 tank, Eheim diffuser (with needle valve controlling .5 to 1 b/s flow rate from regulated ~13 psi output pressure)

Lighting: Two All-Glass 110 W compact fluorescent lights; ~12 hour photoperiod

Substrate: 2-to-3 mm round gravel/Seachem Flourite mix

Additives: Seachem fertilizers/micronutrients (Flourish, Potassium, Iron, Trace, Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Tabs), NaHCO3, Dolomite, Jobe's Spikes (Palm/Fern)

Rough Water Chemistry Targets (used to be):

Rough Water Chemistry Targets (now):

Current Plants: Cryptocoryne wendtii, Cryptocoryne walkeri, Cryptocoryne x willisii, Cryptocoryne x willisii lucens, Microsorium pteropus, and Nymphaea mexicana (I've tried a fair number of plants to get here!) 

Animals: Otocinclus affinis, Corydoras adolfoi, Corydoras panda, Hyphessobrycon herbertaxelrodi, Hemigrammus ulreyi, Paracheirodon axelrodi, Gasteropelecus sternicla, Palaemon pantanal, Palaemon scarletti, and Neritina reclivata

Cooling

Cooling the aquarium during the summer is a more real temperature stability concern than heating during the winter--even in relatively mild Western Washington. Here are CHEAP and EASY modifications to slow summer heating:
  1. Reduce water level.
  2. Mount light fixtures (and canopy) on two 1/2-inch rails.
  3. Remove canopy lid.
  4. Position a small fan to blow air directly over lights and aquarium hood. Never use this setup with an open-top aquarium. Always connect electrical equipment used with an aquarium through a ground-fault circuit interrupter (GFCI).

These steps take several degrees F off the high on moderately warm days and up to 5-plus degrees F off on the warmest days. This is not as effective as a chiller, but a it's much cheaper. Together, these measures do enough to make a difference.

Algae Control

These action worked for me:

  1. Added Olive Snails (Neritina reclivata) from Arizona Aquatic Gardens. These are truly amazing. They also do not appear to reproduce at all. They lay lots of eggs, but none appear to be fertile. Could be they need a brackish environment. Some originally landed with barnacles attached (which eventually all fell off). These appear to last about a year in fresh water.
  2. Reduced heat buildup during summer per "Cooling" strategy above.
  3. Kept a regular maintenance schedule.
  4. Afterdark airstone. Apparently the CO2 buildup that occurs when the "p.m. airstone" is not running causes a runaway algae bloom (due to my constant CO2 input approach). I did not know this until my old air stone died and I went a couple of weeks without driving air into the tank Whoa. That was a mistake. I cleaned up the big algae mess aftermath, put in a new airstone, and voila...no more algae problem.

Since getting rid of the Anubias and Rotala plants, reducing fertilizers, and allowing fish reduction by attrition, algae growth has been negligible (or at least easily cleaned out quarterly).

Maintenance Schedule

This plant tank is getting to have a manageable routine:

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Sun Dec 03 19:55:05 2006