Holland tank

[fischkopp]

I was playing a bit with some new camera toys, so I thought I might try to take a picture of my tank. The planted one. It's slowly recovering from a long summer.



For the techy folks:

• Tank: Hagen 55gal, 48Lx13Dx20H
• Substrate: Fluorite black, medium sized, 2.5 inch or so deep
• Light: 3x54W T5HO, 2x Giesemann Aquaflora, 2x Giesemann Midday, 9 hours
• CO2: yupp, injected via 2 ceramic diffusers in both back corners, dispersed and distributed via MJ400, 9 hours, 1.5 hours before light
• Filtration: 2x Eheim classic 2213, filled with Siporax only
• Flow: via spraybar filter output and both MJ powerheads
• Air: comes on after light off for a few hours to ensure sufficient O2
• Heater: no, temperature averages ideally around 25deg celsius
• Water change: 95% weekly
• Fertilization: daily, in hopefully sufficient but not excessive amounts

Enjoy.

edit: image size

[nissannx]

looks great!!!! I was never successful with plants but looks like you have it figured out lol. I am also surprised you get all that growth on only 3 t-5. I am assuming the c02 makes all the difference. Any fish in that setup?

[redbelly]

95% weekly water changes, wow good for you!
I did not realize that a planted tank required such large and regular water changes.
Is that to improve clarity?

Nice looking tank!

[RoxyDog]

Pretty!  I love to look at planted tanks but don't know how you guys deal with the upkeep.

[Fishnut]

Beautiful!  Why the 95% water change though?

[Brine]

very nice tank indeed 

[dan2x38]

Cool nice setups.... Dutch tanks are fishless plants only (for the most part). I did think I saw an Otto Cat in there though.

[freshfishies]

what is the octopus-looking plant in the back left? The crinkly one :p It's beautiful!

[fischkopp]

Thanks.

Those 95% water changes sound a little scary, I know. But I haven't had any adverse effects by doing it. The idea behind it is to control the amount of fertilizers in the tank without measuring anything. Many of you are well aware of EI dosing; but the 50% water changes aren't enough to "reset" the water conditions. Unused nutrients would only be removed by 50%, thus accumulating in the tank over time. A time bomb. On the other hand I know my tap water and can tailor my fertilization as I see a need by observing the growth of the plants. Hope this makes sense to you.

There is little fish in there. One of my lessons learned is that it is best to give a tank one purpose, and one purpose only. For example, if you have a fancy wild caught fish, you would setup an aquarium just for that species to provide your little friends with the best possible environment, anything else would be secondary. Apply this concept to a planted tank: I want to provide the plants with the best conditions, so I just don't want to worry about any fish in there. Fish and food can adds an unknown variable. So I simply keep my fish in other thanks. Also, I like to experiment a lot, and some of those experiments have been proven to be lethal in the past ...

I am not saying that you can't keep fish in a planted tank, it simply gives me more control and less headaches. There are a couple fish in there that I find essential: about 10-20 otocinclus. These little guys keep everything pristine, a must have for a planted tank. Recently I also added 3 siamese alge eater. Never had any before, but it seems like they live up to their reputation. All the fish have to live from what they can find in the tank (algae); they are not given any supplemental food.

That solitary plant on the left is Crinum calamistratum.

[fischkopp]

A little update.

The layout is work in progress. I decided to go with a more natural look, allowing the plants to get mixed up a bit. It's slowly getting there ...

[Jeff1192]

Wow.....I can't find any algae in those shots.....haha. I completely agree with you that the fish and feeding add all sorts of variables that make it hard to control things. I have always had a bit of a BBA problem in my tank. I recently cut my feedings down and it has done wonders for cutting down the BBA (I was really bad for over-feeding).

Tank looks great.

Jeff

[charlie]

Fantastic job Robert, looking good.

[OttawaFolkFestivum]

Great Stuff. Thanks for the updates.

[sas]

What a beautiful tank, I like the wild look .
Thanks for posting.

[fischkopp]

I believe this tank is up since the end of 2008 and still going. With a change in vegetation ...

[exv152]

Excellent tank! I really like the different textures and colours mixed together. Good example of a dutch-style planted tank. Just surprised you don't have more comments on this thread given how nice your tank is. Thanks for sharing.

[sas]

Awesome tank:o.........it's still wild and wooly. Love it.
Are you still doing the Water change: 95% weekly
Fertilization: daily?

[Nyx]

Absolutely stunning! Thanks for sharing the pic. Your tanks are always an inspiration.

[brotherluv]

Oh my goodness not only does that tank look amazing but It's a stunning picture as well!  

[Janny]

Wow! Absolutely gorgeous!