Ok I have my tank all ready, 125g of glorius hard work. DIY Stand, Hood, Plumbing, and sump. My goal is to create a low population fish tank, high invert population, heavily planted tank.
I have 100lbs black sand I picked up from lfs, I want to do a layer of soil w/ clay mud underneath 4 inches of sand. I'm going to add all the nessecary freshwater DSB inverts, mts, planaria, and blackworms.
I'm trying to keep water changes to a minimum, I want to try for some kind of natural tank balance, with predators/prey, and keep things relativley clean.
so my stocking list goes something like this:
1 dwarf puffer to keep snails/shrimp in check
a colony of cherry shrimp
5 otos
pond snails
MTS snails
ramshorn snails
assassin snails
Schooling fish (I was thinking something that could reproduce in a heavily planted tank that stays super small. Any ideas? Endlers maybe... was hoping for an egg layer, and maybe the sheer size of tank, and the low population of fish would help a few eggs survive if i get egg layers)
plant wise I have just figured I want java grass or microswords carpeting the bottom, havent decieded on the rest yet.
The tank will turn over 10-15x an hour, I was thinking of some volcanic rock to add to sump, to help the nitrate removing bacteria colonies thrive.
lighting will be 2 96w PC 10,000k and 2 60w PC 10,000k (so far only the 96w is up an running, need to install the other fixtures.)
I was thinking that the soil underneath the DSB would leak CO2 to the plants, and therefore I wouldnt need a CO2 system. That is just a dream though, I left room in the stand for a preasurized CO2 system that would sit in the sump.
Filtration consists of micron net under drain, and then various size filter pads, and then another DSB in the fuge to help culture blackworms incase they dont survive in the main tank.
I'm hoping the dense plantings, and the diy rock wall background break up the tank enough that the dwarf puffer will be well fed, and entertained enough to not kill everything in the tank.
I read alot of articles on this forum about dsbs, and I think this will work... looking for any and all feedback please.
I have 100lbs black sand I picked up from lfs, I want to do a layer of soil w/ clay mud underneath 4 inches of sand. I'm going to add all the nessecary freshwater DSB inverts, mts, planaria, and blackworms.
I'm trying to keep water changes to a minimum, I want to try for some kind of natural tank balance, with predators/prey, and keep things relativley clean.
so my stocking list goes something like this:
1 dwarf puffer to keep snails/shrimp in check
a colony of cherry shrimp
5 otos
pond snails
MTS snails
ramshorn snails
assassin snails
Schooling fish (I was thinking something that could reproduce in a heavily planted tank that stays super small. Any ideas? Endlers maybe... was hoping for an egg layer, and maybe the sheer size of tank, and the low population of fish would help a few eggs survive if i get egg layers)
plant wise I have just figured I want java grass or microswords carpeting the bottom, havent decieded on the rest yet.
The tank will turn over 10-15x an hour, I was thinking of some volcanic rock to add to sump, to help the nitrate removing bacteria colonies thrive.
lighting will be 2 96w PC 10,000k and 2 60w PC 10,000k (so far only the 96w is up an running, need to install the other fixtures.)
I was thinking that the soil underneath the DSB would leak CO2 to the plants, and therefore I wouldnt need a CO2 system. That is just a dream though, I left room in the stand for a preasurized CO2 system that would sit in the sump.
Filtration consists of micron net under drain, and then various size filter pads, and then another DSB in the fuge to help culture blackworms incase they dont survive in the main tank.
I'm hoping the dense plantings, and the diy rock wall background break up the tank enough that the dwarf puffer will be well fed, and entertained enough to not kill everything in the tank.
I read alot of articles on this forum about dsbs, and I think this will work... looking for any and all feedback please.