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Dutchy's 30 gallon non CO2 tank

Discussion in 'Aquascaping' started by dutchy, Nov 26, 2012.

  1. dutchy

    dutchy Plant Guru Team
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    Hi,

    Here's a pic of my 30 gallon non CO2 tank. This tank is purely designed as a low light, low maintainance tank. So no stem plants. The light is two 18 Watt T8's, 6500K, which gives a PAR of 30 mmols at substrate level @ 8 hours of duration.

    The fish food is enough to provide NO3 and PO4, so only traces are added. There are not much fish in the tank, a small school of cardinals, three bettas, (one male, two females) and a few ottos.

    No algae whatsoever. No BBA, GSA, GDA.... you name it. Some plants look even better than in my display tank.

    I don't touch this tank for weeks, maintainance wise. If you want low cost, low maintainance and no worries, this is the way to go.

    [​IMG]
     
    #1 dutchy, Nov 26, 2012
    Last edited by a moderator: Nov 26, 2012
  2. Hallen

    Hallen Guru Class Expert

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    I love these type of tanks. Less light, less problems, less maintanance and still alot of fun to watch and play around with!
     
    #2 Hallen, Nov 26, 2012
  3. krandall

    krandall Prolific Poster

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    Lovely! When you find the "sweet spot" with this kind of tank, they can be jewels. I especially like the Crypt growth under these conditions.
     
    #3 krandall, Nov 26, 2012
  4. jerrybforl

    jerrybforl Lifetime Members
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    Looking good HJ! These can be really nice tanks if we give them time....lol :eek:
     
    #4 jerrybforl, Nov 26, 2012
  5. dutchy

    dutchy Plant Guru Team
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    Thnx all.
    @Karen: Means a lot to me that you like it :)
     
    #5 dutchy, Nov 26, 2012
  6. krandall

    krandall Prolific Poster

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    :) While I appreciate the artistry of intricate aquascapes, and can grow/maintain high growth tanks, I am mostly a "lazy" gardener... I love tanks that look wonderful with little work!;)
     
    #6 krandall, Nov 27, 2012
  7. dutchy

    dutchy Plant Guru Team
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    My 180 already gives me all the work I can handle, so this one has to be carefree and without worries :)
     
    #7 dutchy, Nov 27, 2012
  8. rickycxiong

    rickycxiong Junior Poster

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    Hydrocotyle tripartita? can you carpet that in low light set ups?
     
    #8 rickycxiong, Dec 12, 2012
  9. dutchy

    dutchy Plant Guru Team
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    I think so. Some runners are now close to the substrate and still doing well.
     
    #9 dutchy, Dec 13, 2012
  10. jerrybforl

    jerrybforl Lifetime Members
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    I really want to try the hydrocotyle as a carpeting plant. Think it looks very good!
     
    #10 jerrybforl, Dec 18, 2012
  11. dutchy

    dutchy Plant Guru Team
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    Hi Gerry,

    I also have it in my display tank, it's a nice plant. As a carpet plant it will have the tendancy to grow up, so regular trimming will be required, it's a fast grower.
     
    #11 dutchy, Dec 19, 2012
  12. dutchy

    dutchy Plant Guru Team
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    Hi,

    A new picture from my 30 gallon non CO2 tank. Only traces are added in this tank, the rest comes form fish food and waste. Light is provided by 2 18 Watt T8 bulbs and a PAR of 35 at the substrate with 8 hours duration.

    This tank has no algae whatsoever and is because of the absence of stem plants very low effort in maintainance. No waterchanges.

    [​IMG]
     
    #12 dutchy, Oct 5, 2013
  13. UDGags

    UDGags Lifetime Charter Member
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    I really like the right side in the picture. Love seeing simple tanks that looks so good.
     
    #13 UDGags, Oct 5, 2013
  14. reef12

    reef12 Member

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    Nice set up, I remember back in the 70's a fellow from Holland did a bunch of tanks all sand bottoms and Val and sag I think as plants no water changes or filters.

    Looked great they did in the old TFH mags which were small back in those days, nice to see a low maintenance tank , with no fuss of cleaning everything.

    Jeff
     
    #14 reef12, Oct 6, 2013
  15. Kathy328i

    Kathy328i Lifetime Members
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    Could you list the plants in the tank? I would like to study them further.
     
    #15 Kathy328i, Oct 6, 2013
  16. Asmack Arabia

    Asmack Arabia Banned

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    i keep a number of crypt species in my high tech tank before but then decided to transfer them all to a smaller tank with only gluta as source of carbon because they were being overrun by bba and gsa. now, they are doing a lot better with no algae whatsoever at all. i think crypts in general do much better in non-co2 tanks.
     
    #16 Asmack Arabia, Oct 7, 2013
  17. Whiskey

    Whiskey Member

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    That is such an amazing tank!!! Great work.

    Have you made any special effort to get atmospheric CO2 and O2 into the water? Like extra surface agitation? Do you add any Excel or glut?

    Did you have any algae issues at any point?

    Thank you!
    Whiskey
     
    #17 Whiskey, Oct 7, 2013
  18. dutchy

    dutchy Plant Guru Team
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    Surface agitation is minimal but I do take care of a clean water surface with a surface skimmer. The turbulence in the skimmer will provide some extra O2 to the water. I try to preserve natural CO2 ,with keeping light intensity and duration low.

    2 ml of Excel per day.

    Light is with 35 mmols at it's max. If I go just 15% higher, BBA will start to grow.
     
    #18 dutchy, Oct 8, 2013
  19. Whiskey

    Whiskey Member

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    That's really interesting,.. I found the same thing with my no co2 tank, there is a fine line between algae free and algae showing up in the higher light areas.

    Whiskey
     
    #19 Whiskey, Oct 8, 2013
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