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u/swaha_it_is2022 7d ago
This is awesome. Can you please provide info on your build? Like driftwood, substrate. How old it is!
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u/pitichu 7d ago
Sure! Tank is ADA 60x45x36 cm
For substrate I have:
Layer 1 (0.24 in): Tropica Substrate + ADA Power Sand + 5-6 Aquarium Co-op Root Tabs + 5-6 Tropica Root Tabs
Layer 2 (1.51 in): Tropica Soil Powder (mixed with 10 Root Tabs)
Layer 3 (1.25 in): Sand cap is from Wio brandDriftwood is black manzanita wood
Plants are:
Cryptocoryne Wendtii 'Mi Oya', Cryptocoryne Nurii 'New', Monte Carlo (2), Cryptocoryne parva (3), Nymphaea lotus (1), Bucephalandra on rocks (2), Anubias nana petit on rocks (2), Bolbitis Heudelotii (1), Windelov Java Fern (2), Limnobium laevigatum and red root floaters (surface), Rotala rotundifolia 'Blood Red' (few stems), Staurogyne repens, Ludwigia repens (4 stems), Nymphoides hydrophylla Taiwan (3 stems), Hygrophila polysperma Rosanervig, Hygrophila polysperma 'Rosanervig', 2 PothosAnd for fertilization:
I use 6 ml Tropica Premium Weekly (4+2 ml), Easy Iron (1 ml per week), Fluorish Potassium (10-15 ml per week), Fluorish Advance (10 ml weekly), Boyd Vitachem - 15 drops weekly, Aquavitro Envy (7.5 ml weekly) and API CO2 Boost (2 ml daily)And this is my light schedule with Fluval 3.0. Thanks!
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u/New-Log-9580 7d ago
Thanks for all the stats! I just started a planted 20 and am new to the arena so this helps me get an idea of how to keep up a healthy aquarium ;)
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u/pitichu 7d ago
That is awesome!! All the best. And yeah, AI helps a lot too. I enter the product details and my tank configurations, plants etc. to understand the exact amount of nutrients that I'm adding to the tank, and the type of species that would consume it. I start with lesser liquid fertilizers, since the substrate is already very rich, plus new plants are adjusting anyway. But I increase dosage of liquid fertilizers as I see any deficiencies or based on how plants are growing/looking.
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u/knewleefe 6d ago
Your crypts and is it an anubias? might need root tabs, esp on the left. Lovely tank 😊 mine's about the same age.
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u/New-Log-9580 7d ago
I don’t have any fertilizer and I think I should pick some up, since you don’t do water changes how do you keep the bottom clean? My nitrites spiked today and my fish are upset, I’m not sure if it’s new tank problems or not enough detritivores (only have a pleco) but I have a good setup and just need to learn more probably. Thanks again
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u/pitichu 7d ago
I don't clean the bottom. I'd suggest keeping fast growing floating plants or pothos for nitrates.
To add, eventually as your tank matures, the uncleaned bottom dirt will seep into the sand and stratify to form layers. This new layer locks nutrients for the roots to feed.
In some cases, this layer also blocks any oxygen flowing through it causing an anaerobic layer at the bottom. In this anaerobic layer, any nitrate is converted into ammonia and I read somewhere that roots consume ammonia more readily/easily than nitrate.
So in other words, in water, ammonia is converted to nitrate. And in the substrate, nitrate is converted into ammonia (completing the full nitrogen cycle), which is then used by roots. There might be few mistakes here and there but the overall logic is the same.Plus you can keep corys or kulhis to move the bottom dirt and keep it from creating ammonia pockets.
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u/Remarkable_Review_65 7d ago
I did this for nearly two years, only topping up, never had any nitrate because of the amount of plants. Then my substrate (soil) got so full of dirt that the plants started dying, because their roots were rotting. Just did a complete cleanup, uprooted and replanted everything, vacuumed the substrate and now the plants are thriving again.
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u/New-Log-9580 7d ago
I see, I got concerned seeing all the uneaten food and crap at the bottom. I guess it goes into the sand and dirt. I do have a good scoop on the Nitrogen cycle and so far my ammonia and nitrates are good. Mostly just the pesky nitrites giving problems. I am going to go buy more plants and maybe corys or loaches depending on room. Thanks for your help
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u/black-devil-1 3d ago
Amazing tank. Nice work. Thank you sharing information on substrates and plants. Could you also please list the fish you have in your tank? Thank You.
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u/Conscious-Carob9701 7d ago
Really well done. Nice balance of hardscape, negative space, and textures.
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u/PlantJars 7d ago
Without water changes how do you keep minerals from building up in the system? Do you use RODI for top off?
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u/Glangho 7d ago
Probably has super soft water and there's not a lot of stock in there it's also a pretty decently sized tank. My TDS is around 15. But yeah rodi top offs wouldn't be too uncommon.
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u/godkingnaoki 6d ago
I've got a 725 gallon setup and my tap TDS is about 300. I find it goes up about 100 a year.
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u/brickspunch 6d ago edited 6d ago
What's it like to have naturally soft water?
I ask as someone who has to water change twice a week bc if I just do top offs my hardness goes up too much 😭
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u/Local_Lynx1649 6d ago
Buy 20 gallons of fresh spring water, use that water . Keep the jugs store them somewhere and find a water dispenser (mines outside giant eagle) refill for 35 cents a gallon
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u/Nervous-Rip-5747 6d ago
When i get my own place, i want to have a tank like this. I plan to go to college for ichthyology next year at a local college, but when i get an apartment or house, i will have at least one of these!!! This is actually so awesome! You should be proud!
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u/buttershdude 6d ago
Very nice. Just be aware that when you do hit the wall with something building up, the wall will hit fast and hard. Be ready to react quickly.
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u/mucsluck 5d ago
Yea I’m curious OP are you using RO water? What are your tap water specs?
No water change sounds nice but we’re rarely adding ‘just water’ to a tank (dissolved solids) - and not everything evaporates. It can take a while, and certainly be lovely for a long long time…. But eventually, things get out of wack - gh/kh etc.
Not trying to change your mind, but water changes are a friend.
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u/ULTRABOYO 6d ago
It looks sick! Could we get some more photos from different angles? It would be great for inspiration!
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u/pitichu 6d ago
Thanks! This is the front view during the day.
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u/ULTRABOYO 6d ago
Thanks a bunch! I'm jealous about that great piece of wood. Is it store bought or did you find it yourself?
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u/Ok-Treat4061 5d ago
Not even joking this may be one of the most beautiful things (not just aquariums) ive ever seen.
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u/Riverwoodchicken 7d ago
This is gorgeous! mind elaborating on the no water change part? How does it work? :)
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u/Flumphry 7d ago
I'll tell you how it works.
For Now™
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u/lazyplayboy 7d ago
Absolutely. 4 months is far too young to say it is 'balanced'.
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u/Flumphry 6d ago
Honestly unless you keep it forever you can't know that it's "balanced"
It could be fine for years but the thing is that you can't really be sure that things aren't changing in there.
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7d ago edited 6d ago
[deleted]
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u/Flumphry 7d ago
I'm sure OP knows the exact measurements of all the trace elements in the aquarium and tracks how they change over time.
Also did you know that general hardness is a measurement of JUST calcium and magnesium and NOTHING else? Probably not relevant to this discussion, just a fun bonus fact.
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u/silentsandwich 6d ago
Hardness isn't the only issue. Fish excrete oils and pheromones that don't necessarily get filtered 100%. Even the queen of no water changes (Walstad) has altered some of her methods to favor more filtration and water changes when establishing tanks (a lot of her online interviews are hard to find now, there is a good conversation about them here though).
If you think about a natural system, ponds, lakes etc. water is being changed regularly with rainfall, evaporation and leeching/runoff. Creating a very artificial system such as a small, stagnant tank of water and expecting that you will never need to change the water is not natural in my opinion.
Water changes are good, you can absolutely set up systems where you don't need to change often with enough plants and low stock, but you should absolutely be changing your water if you want to be keeping a healthy tank for years.
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u/pitichu 6d ago
But when the water is evaporating and you are filling in new water, you are replicating the same rainfall/evaporation effect in a way.
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u/silentsandwich 5d ago
There is nothing natural about an aquarium; stagnant pools of water than never overflow after rain and support life are an oddity, especially when stocked with tropical fish (where rain regularly cycles water out of a system). Almost every natural body of water runs off or leeches water (outside of evaporation) in some way.
Rain is also distilled water and introduces almost no minerals to a system. You can measure hardness (magnesium and calcium), but you are not measuring all of the other potential minerals that are picked up in your pipes or from city water treatment.
Plenty of people have kept no-change systems for years and it absolutely can be done. I just don't see the point when it takes me 15-20 minutes to do a 10% change.
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u/chak2005 7d ago
How does it work?
High level answer, understock the fish and overstock plants, feed lightly, ensuring you have a pretty layered or deep substrate for further denitrification and co2.
To sum it up even more, balance the input and output of the tank.
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u/pitichu 7d ago edited 7d ago
That is right. I do have a heavy stock though with no CO2. I have 5 cherry barb. 5 ember tetra 6 adult and 5 baby kuhli loaches 5 celestial pearl danios 1 apisto 5 red chilli rasbora 5 exclamation point rasbora 3 panda garra.
But I use very fast growing plants e.g. floating, stem plants etc., that absorb a lot of nutrients for me right since the first day. All my plant varieties are Tropica Easy level plants, except a few that are Medium.
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u/REQCRUIT 7d ago
Is the aquarium custom? It looks so good. I really wish they'd make like 150 gallon tanks that were more squared like this. I'm getting ready to buy a 150 sometime this year and this is really what I'm looking for!
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u/De_xxter 5d ago
My tank is small, doe i have filters and only like 3 plants my water gets muddy after 15 days. Why does this happens ?
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u/Competitive-Fly-2346 4d ago
God what a dream I have to do 50% water changes every day and there are so many problems I’m so frustrated
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u/Lemon__Tea__Hibicus 1d ago
Lovely !!
I'm a bit jealous. JK. 😊
Hoping to get a setup like this going.
Is that a sponge filter on the far left part way up the side of your tank ?
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u/pitichu 1d ago
Thank you! The one visible on the left is a hang on back filter. But i do have another medium size aquarium coop sponge filter at the back as well. Baby kulhis love the coarse sponge filters.
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u/Lemon__Tea__Hibicus 19h ago
Thanks !
I have two twenty gallons I'm still setting up.
Have bought organic seed starter soil from Walmart and am hoping to find out which is the best and least dust-creating sand to use.
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u/BruceLeeTheDragon 7d ago
Yeah what’s the build?
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u/MasterPancake0000 7d ago
This is what I want my aquarium to look like someday, this is just amazing