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rroopesh
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Location: Trivandrum, Kerala
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 Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 8:16 am Post subject: Starting an outdoor cement aquarium |
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Hello friends, I would like to start an outdoor planted cement aquarium. I have the following plants already in place
Cabomba
Hygrophila Polysperma
Ceratopteris thalictroides
Vallisneria
Cryptocoryne wendtii (thank you aquaholic)
water lilly (thank you aquaholic)
amazon sword
two more unidentified plants
Size is approx 4' X 1.5' X 1.5', gets about 3 to 4 hours of direct sunlight. Plants are potted and were put in about 2 weeks back, have been doing partial water changes since start.
I have put in 2 adult sword tails one male and one female yesterday. My problem is that green algae is forming on the side walls. I would like to put in an algae eater, which fish do you suggest I put in ? Ultimately I would like to put in live bearers and gold fishes in this tank. Read somewhere that putting common pleco along with gold fishes is not a good idea. So kindly suggest an alternative. |
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madhu_ulysses
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| Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 8:23 am Post subject: Re: Starting an outdoor cement aquarium |
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| Anything that has direct sunlight is most likely to get algae. Also for the rosettes like amazons, pots seldom work as they give out long roots. Its better to have a full substrate and a couple of power filters around the corners so that there will be water circulation in all parts of the tank. |
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Severumkid
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| Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 10:44 am Post subject: Re: Starting an outdoor cement aquarium |
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get a garden shade and put it on top of your cement tank, that way you will get diffused sunlight and wont face algae.
I suggest you go for ottocinclus, but I think you should ideally wait for at least a month before you introduce them to your setup.
Hope this helps.
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retro_gk
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| Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 10:52 am Post subject: Re: Starting an outdoor cement aquarium |
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| Throw in a couple of tilapia fry. |
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rroopesh
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| Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 11:20 am Post subject: Re: Starting an outdoor cement aquarium |
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| madhu_ulysses wrote (View Post):
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Anything that has direct sunlight is most likely to get algae. Also for the rosettes like amazons, pots seldom work as they give out long roots. Its better to have a full substrate and a couple of power filters around the corners so that there will be water circulation in all parts of the tank.
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I didn't add substate as I felt cleaning a bare bottom with siphon will be easier with potted plants. I haven't thought of filter , is it really necessary if you have lots of plants in the tank ? I plan to siphon clean the tank and do WC every few weeks. please advice regarding filteration |
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nature_lover
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| Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 11:35 am Post subject: Re: Starting an outdoor cement aquarium |
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Cleaning a tank with pots is an even greater pain than cleaning a substrate filled tank. I agree with Madhu on both the issues of algae and having a substrate for your rosette plants.
A 4" deep substrate with laterite bottom will do wonders. A shade net is an absolute necessity to maintain temperature and filter sunlight. |
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Seetharam
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| Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 11:36 am Post subject: Re: Starting an outdoor cement aquarium |
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| rroopesh wrote (View Post):
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Ultimately I would like to put in live bearers and gold fishes in this tank.
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Roopesh - Keeping Goldfish in a planted tank is not a good idea. You might want to reconsider that.
Algae is due to the direct sunlight your tank gets. Try using some kind of mesh to diffuse the sunlight. You could look at adding Otto's , but pleco's again is not a good idea since they grow quite big and could end up messing up your plants. |
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rroopesh
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| Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 12:33 pm Post subject: Re: Starting an outdoor cement aquarium |
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Severumkid - will get a garden shade, fixing it will be easy as
I already have a net lid with wooden frame made. as for ottocinclus, I don't know where I can find one, will try to get it.
retro_gk - won't tilapia when they grow up be too big for my tank ? also aren't they aggressive ?
Seetharam - I didn't know that gold fish should not be kept in planted tank, but then I had seen a lot of cement tanks and ponds with gold fish. how do they manage it ? |
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Seetharam
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| Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 1:22 pm Post subject: Re: Starting an outdoor cement aquarium |
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| @ Roopesh - Goldfish will eat up some of the plants that you have like Combamba for example......they are kept in ponds and tanks but with very hardy plants. |
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rroopesh
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| Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 1:35 pm Post subject: Re: Starting an outdoor cement aquarium |
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| I maybe able to get 2 siamese algae eaters. how do they compare with ottocinclus in their ability to eat algae ? also do they harm gold fish ? please clarify .. |
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retro_gk
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| Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 1:49 pm Post subject: Re: Starting an outdoor cement aquarium |
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Roopesh, you simply replace the tilapia when they get to about 3".
Personally, I do not have any issues with plants in pots outdoors or goldfish in such setups. Such setups are very common. Don't bother siphoning the tank or anything, you are likely to lose lots of fry and it really won't do much good for the appearance of the tank. Just top up evaporation losses. The plants and algae will take care of biological filtration. |
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Aquaholic
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| Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 2:51 pm Post subject: Re: Starting an outdoor cement aquarium |
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Its cryptocoryne spiralis not wendtii.
Like Debarghya suggested, use garden shade top. Yea, dont bother to clean, siphon, filter etc etc just leave it as it is and it will become an ecosystem on its own.
Cheers
Vince |
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rroopesh
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| Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 4:23 pm Post subject: Re: Starting an outdoor cement aquarium |
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| Aquaholic wrote (View Post):
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Its cryptocoryne spiralis not wendtii.
Cheers
Vince
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 Thanks for the correction... I am not much into plants, so did not know the difference b/w them
| retro_gk wrote (View Post):
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Roopesh, you simply replace the tilapia when they get to about 3 inches
The plants and algae will take care of biological filtration.
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Good suggestion, but procuring tilapia will be diffcult for me.. will have to enquire at some LFS. Plants and algae can take care of biological filtration, but what about the mechanical part ? and also what about the fish poop that will collect at the bottom ? Should'nt it be siphoned out
What do you people think of the siamese alage eater ? Is it a peaceful community fish, that can be added along with gold fish ? |
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retro_gk
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| Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 4:44 pm Post subject: Re: Starting an outdoor cement aquarium |
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Come with us next time Vincent and I head out You can have all the tilapia you want.
The fish poop will soon degrade into a cottony accumulation (google "mulm") which will eventually disappear.
I've had outdoor tanks that went 10+ years without any siphoning and looked none the worse for it. |
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rroopesh
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Posts: 76
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| Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 4:53 pm Post subject: Re: Starting an outdoor cement aquarium |
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| retro_gk wrote (View Post):
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Come with us next time Vincent and I head out You can have all the tilapia you want.
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 Most definitely I will, waiting for that date...
But what is your opinion about siamese algae eater..
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