55 Gallon Low-Tech / Low-Maintenance Build

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McLumpy

Aquarium Advice FINatic
Joined
Jan 17, 2011
Messages
843
Location
Omaha, Nebraska, USA
Just like many fishkeepers, I decided to take the plunge and begin a planted tank. My main goal is to keep this as low-tech and low-maintenance as possible.

So, here is my plan...

Maintenance:
Just like many people on here, time to perform weekly tank maintenance can be very limited due to hectic work schedules, family outings, etc. I decided today it was time to figure out a way to help minimize the amount of time I spend performing partial water changes.

On average, it takes me anywhere from 1-2 hours to perform a thorough water change. Why does it take so long? One of the reasons is because I do things “old school” by using a bucket. ;) However, that isn’t really as time consuming as vacuuming the gravel. Before I vacuum, I move the décor out of the way so that I can get as much food/waste particles out of the gravel. I don’t have a problem doing this, (although my fish don’t care for me moving their “homes” lol), but this only adds to more time spent on the water change.

The areas of the tank that seem to have the most waste particles are the left and right sides, (where I have large amounts of artificial plants and décor). After deciding to turn my tank into a planted tank, I wanted to keep the majority of my nice artificial plants in the rear corners of my tank to help hide the air hoses and such. This leaves plenty of space in the middle of the tank to add my live plants.

For the past couple of weeks, I have been researching undergravel filters. I have heard both good and bad things about using them. The biggest complaint that I found is that they don’t suck up all the debris. What I noticed is this occurred more frequently when an UGF was used in tanks >30 gallons. I strongly believe this is due to the powerheads not having enough suction to pull from the entire area below the UGF plate. Mainly the center area furthest away from where the powerheads are located.

With this in mind, I decided to purchase a UGF, but I went with the 15/20 gallon model. This will allow me to place one section on the left side and one on the right side of my tank. The total area on each side being covered with the UGF grates will be 12”x12”. What I’m hoping is that the powerheads will help eliminate waste in these areas and, if all goes well, reduce the time to perform a pwc by half. Since this will be a partial UGF system setup, I will continue to run my HOB filter, (for obvious reasons).

With the addition of the UGF, this would leave me to maintain clean gravel in the center of the tank. As this area will be filled with live plants, this shouldn’t be too difficult. Why? Because once the plants grow and their root systems make their way through the gravel, I will need to take extra care when I vacuum anyway.

This partial UGF setup may or may not be something that others have tried, but it seems logical. The 2 powerheads that I will be using are Penguin 550’s. I already have one of these and purchased my 2nd one today. I have been extremely impressed by its performance. It has a lot of power and isn’t very loud at all.

Below is a rough draft layout of my partial UGF plan.

Low-Tech Lighting:
Now for the fun part, maintaining a low-tech planted environment. Thanks to the great advice provided by the many nice people on here, I have purchased a new light fixture to replace my (2) mildly pathetic 15w fluorescent fixtures. My main goal with my new fixture is to be able to provide enough light to successfully maintain a steady growth of my low, (and possibly medium), light plants.

The light fixture that I finally decided on is the 48” Coralife Aqualight T5 Series Double Linear Light Strip. Unfortunately, the site where I purchased it from, (Big Al’s), didn’t have the freshwater version in stock. With that being the case, I decided to purchase the saltwater version. This model comes w/ (1) 10000K 28w T5 Bulb and (1) Actinic 28w T5 Bulb. I purchased another bulb, a 6700k 28w T5 Bulb, so that I can replace the Actinic bulb with that bulb and have a full 56w of beneficial light for my plants. That puts me at 1wpg and there will be no need to implement a CO2 system.

I only have a few live plants in place at the moment, but I will definitely be buying more at a later date. Surprisingly, the ones I do have are still holding strong under my old light fixtures. In fact, I noticed a new leaf spreading on my Amazon Sword!

I will keep everyone updated once I get my equipment in, get it setup, and test it out.

As always, suggestions and comments are welcome! :D
 

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very nice plan...thorough and very well thought off..well done.

Thanks! :D I hope the UGF works out according to my plan. If not, I will be out about $10 for the UGF and I could always keep the extra powerhead as a back-up. I'm optimistic though!

Check out what Diana Walstad is doing. She does natural tanks.

Sent from my Epic 4G using Aquarium

I just googled her name and skimmed a quick article. All I can say is her methods are extremely interesting! She used potting soil, no filters whatsoever, (w/ the exception of a powerhead to introduce current)... and no water changes are needed for 6 months?! Now that is low-maintenance! lol

Thanks for the reference btw! I will definitely read more about her methods.

OT: Did you get your light fixtures yet?
 
does she have fish in her tank or just plants? 6 months without water change and filter, no heater, sounds impossible if there are fish.
 
Still waiting on it: (.

Yes, she is a master at it. I've been looking at her stuff for ideas too.

Sent from my Epic 4G using Aquarium

That sucks. :( Hopefully it will show up tomorrow. Looking forward to your thread on it! (y)

does she have fish in her tank or just plants? 6 months without water change and filter, no heater, sounds impossible if there are fish.

There are fish in her tanks. Amazing, huh? Apparently the fish act as fertilizers and the plants act as a filter. It makes sense, but I doubt I could be successful doing something like that. Not to mention, my husband wouldn't like me getting rid of his blue gravel. lol

Edit: Link to her "Aquatic Eden" blog.
 
daileene said:
does she have fish in her tank or just plants? 6 months without water change and filter, no heater, sounds impossible if there are fish.

She's mainly plants, but I think she does some fish. Proper balance and anything's possible I guess.

Sent from my Epic 4G using Aquarium
 
wow...just amazing...let me go take a good look at that blog..thanks dear..i have to go to bed now...night night...thanks again..
 
IMO there is no real need to keep your artifical plants if you don't want to. A lot of waste does collect in a planted tank because of the inability to do a thorough cleaning of the substrate, but the fish waste provides a food source for the growing plants. Will be following!
 
IMO there is no real need to keep your artifical plants if you don't want to. A lot of waste does collect in a planted tank because of the inability to do a thorough cleaning of the substrate, but the fish waste provides a food source for the growing plants. Will be following!

Actually, I had considered replacing the artificial plants w/ live plants once I got some nice background plants established. But for the time being, the artificials will suffice. :D

After doing more research, there seems to be mixed opinions when it comes to placing live plants over an UGF grate. Some state that the plant's root system could clog the slits in the grate and make the UGF system fail. On the other hand, there have been many people that rave about how well their plants are doing by having their roots in open waters below the substrate surface.

I think what I may end up doing is stick w/ my plan to place a few live plants over the UGF grates in the rear of the tank, (once the plants are established enough to cover the airhoses). I will have my large decorations placed in the center of the grates, so no plants will be located in this area. I can then place a few plants in the foreground area. This should help eliminate a large root system from clogging up the grates.

I got confirmation that my order shipped today btw, so hopefully I will get it in before Friday. I'm really anxious to get setup, because well, I already started putting together my plant list. ;)
 
Really interesting!! Looks like you have been doing a lot of research and I congratulate you for it.

People like you, willing to try something new, help us all to understand the options available.....and learn from your experience.

I will be following!!
:)
 
Really interesting!! Looks like you have been doing a lot of research and I congratulate you for it.

People like you, willing to try something new, help us all to understand the options available.....and learn from your experience.

I will be following!!
:)

"A lot of research"? That, my friend, is an understatement. ;) I don't recall researching this much when I was in school! lol

With me working full-time and being a busy wife and mom, my free time is extremely limited, so I had to do something to simplify my tank setup. This may be a success or it may flop, but it doesn't hurt to try, right?

I appreciate the compliment btw, although it's really not necessary. ;)

Glad to have you along for the ride! :D
 
Build Begins This Weekend!

I just checked the status of my order and it looks like it will be here tomorrow!! :D

Hopefully nothing is damaged in shipping so I can begin working on my project this weekend. I'll need something to do seeing as how we're expecting SNOW!! :mad:

I'll keep everyone posted. (y)
 
McLumpy said:
I just checked the status of my order and it looks like it will be here tomorrow!! :D

Hopefully nothing is damaged in shipping so I can begin working on my project this weekend. I'll need something to do seeing as how we're expecting SNOW!! :mad:

I'll keep everyone posted. (y)

Pictures please!

Not that I'll steal any of your grand ideas ;).

Sent from my Epic 4G using Aquarium
 
Pictures please!

Not that I'll steal any of your grand ideas ;).

Sent from my Epic 4G using Aquarium

LOL Pics will definitely be posted. :D I just hope my fishies don't get too upset when I start moving things around. They're pretty good about staying on the opposite side of the tank though, so it should be easy enough to setup the UGF.
 
WTG Big Al's!

I received my order from Big Al's today and I was extremely impressed! They packaged all the items really well and nothing was missing. Their shipping dept definitely knew what they were doing and I couldn't be happier w/ my first purchase! :D

I haven't opened the boxes containing my fixture or bulb yet, but I have no doubt that they made the trip ok. There was so much bubble wrap around them that I had to use a knife to cut it off, (and managed to cut my finger in the process lol).

Anyway, it looks like I have some work to do. (y)
 
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