9x2.5x2.5 tank Journal

[axl10]

Needs some peoples opinion on what they would do with a 9x2.5x2.5 tank. I have purchased make my leds for the lights and have got some beautiful pieces of driftwood to use. I was thinnking of having anubius nana and needle java fern over the driftwood. a thin white sand at the front with it been slighty thicker at the back for plants around the driftwood. My main purpose of the tank is to keep the discus heatlhy and fat hence the thin substrate. Just trying to get the right balance in the tank. Don't want to run into to many algea issues either and I'm worried if its too planted keeping the substrate clean could be a issue. Was thinking of avoiding the co2 to start with until the tank is up and running nicely. Any advice would be much apprecieieted. Cheers Axl

[Debow]

First that's a sweet tank size, I love long tanks. I think if you plan on doing anubius nanna and java fern you can plant pretty thick just pay attention to where you plant and think to your self will I be able to vacuum round and in between the plants. I plant my plants with that in mind. I think the thin substrate is a great idea in the front and thicker in the rear for the plants, I did the same on my tank. If you keep low light plants and keep it simple you shouldn't need co2. When I first started my 240 I ran co2 for several months and then decided to go without it and have not had any issues with plant growth. The only thing I suggest is get a timer for you'r lights it makes a difference with algae start with a long light cycle and kick it back a hour at a time if you start to notice algae issues, plus it takes some of the work away from you turning on and off the lights and gives the fish a nice daily scheduled. A simple mechanical timer for $15 works wonders and is cheep. The other thing is filtration and heating don't be afraid to go big and be able to dial it back, better off that way than be under filtered. I also have had experience with system issues if one part of my 2 part filtration system goes down I can isolate it and keep things running wile I fix the issue for example two sumps with separate equipment and valves to close off each system in case of issues. I was happy I did this when I though one of my sumps was leaking I shut down that system and ran the tank off of the other system with out issue. Well good luck and its good to see another big tank member!

[axl10]

Thanks for the info the tank will have a 6x18x18 sump undderneath and I'm going to use 2 pipes that are are drilled in the bottom of the tank. This will suck debiris and waste from the bottom and flow up and then down into the sump. I will use 2 wave makers to create a flow through the tank to keep the waste of the bottom. This is going to be a very big project for me and will take alot of planning and thinking.