# Planted Tanks > Aquascaping >  Planted Low Light 400L

## André Alcantara

Hi fellows, How I said this is my new low light tank.


*SETUP:*
*Size:* 130 x 60 x 50 cm
*Lightning:* 2 fluor arcadia 36W - 8h/day
*Substrate:* ADA Bacter 100, ADA Penac W, ADA Penac B, Tropica Aquacare 5L + sand river 2mm (Rio Grande do Sul)
*CO2 injection:* 1buble/sec
*Filter:* Fluval 404 + Eheim Ecco 2236
*Plants:* _Anubias barteri var. nana, Bolbitis heudelotii, Cryptocoryne crispatula var. balansae, Cryptocoryne wendtii ''brown'', Cryptocoryne parva, Cryptocoryne x willisii, Cryptocoryne beckettii, Cryptocoyne wenditii tropica, Nymphaea Rubra, Ceratopteris thalictroides_(only for the beginning)
*Fishes:* 5 _Pterophyllum Altun_ 7 _Otocinclus affinis_, 26 _Trigonostigma Espei_, 2 SAS, 2 _Neocaridinas japonicas_, 3 Red Crystal Shrimp


The Tank Project


Initial Hardscape


First hour

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## André Alcantara

Almost two months later...

Finally the cryptocorines start growing, except the parvas  :Sad: 
The anubias and bolbits are give me new leaves.

I don't have idea what fishes I can include.
Sugestions are welcome...

More driftwoods and little rocks to give a more nature look. What do you think?

Sorry about my poor english.

Regards.







Right side view


Crypto detail

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## Jervis

I find you use of wood and small stones perfectly natural... the tank looks really good and "real"  :Smile:  Anymore plants to go in?

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## André Alcantara

Thank you Jervis.

I would like to my Crypto parvas growing more, but I don't know...
I wanna use a different anubbia like coffefolia, and 1 or 2 different cryptos like My Oya or undulata.

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## zenscape

I like this tank alot! 

Very natural looking and the choice of stones and pebbles and its placement add in the effect of wilderness. I am sure you are frequently exposed to great nature in your country to come out with this layout. 

The arrangement of _Anubias barteri var. nana_ is nice and well balanced. Well done Andre  :Well done:

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## André Alcantara

Thank you Zenscape,

last week I put one a little shoal of Trigonostigma espei, but is very difficult to find this fish here.

Unfortunatly I live in a metropolis. The bigger city of South America.  :Sad:

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## acc

Nice aquascaping!

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## dwgi32

Nice arrangement of the driftwood, a very good and natural look!

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## Cpark188

Very impressive setup and nice layout of the DW. plants are well planted and especially the contrast of the gravels, so... matching. Well done. :Well done:

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## ballsmyberries

very nice...have that natural feel.........

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## Jervis

The more I look at this tank... the more I love it! The sand is mesmerizing  :Well done:

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## André Alcantara

Thank you friends!

A new picture, just for sharing


I introduce a new schoal of 26 _Trigonostigma espei_ and 5 Red Crystal Shrimps.

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## Jervis

Your Bolbitis grown quite a bit! Now where are your CRS?  :Laughing:

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## Verminator

I can just invision _Echinodorus Uruguayensis_ growing up to 60cm+ inbetween the two sections of wood. That would look stunning, unless you want to keep it separated ofcourse, inwhich it would look good growing over one side, or both!  :Grin: 

Stunning tank. That's alot of Anubias nana! How on earth did you secure it all!?!?!

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## André Alcantara

Hehehe Jervis! This is my fun now. Find the CRS...

Thanks for the advice Verminator, but I like the open area.

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## André Alcantara

Last weekend I finally realized an old dream and buy 4 _Pterophyllum altum_ from Orinoco river to my tank.
They are very young and small (around 6 cm) but they eating very well.




Probably I need to change some plants because the altums needs specific conditions like high temperature (around 30C) at least in the first mounth, so maybe the Bolbits felling sick.
I will need to do more greater water changes so probably I lost some cryptos.

The Trigonostigma shoal is very well and I like the mixing with the Altums, they are much smarter than the other tetras so I believe that they won't be eaten by the Altums.


That's all. I will update more pictures soon.

Regards

André

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## k3nlim

Will the crs be in any danger from the altum? :Confused: 

A really beautiful tank and scaping :Well done: 
Looks so natural

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## Verminator

Simply love the Altums. I hope you can keep them alive and healthy  :Smile: 

One question. Your Anubias nana on the wood. It looks like it stretchs for about 30cm on one piece of wood. My question is how long did that take to grow and take a decent rooting for itself! Must take absolutely ages, mine has been in my tank 3 months and barely even moved an inch  :Laughing:

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## illumnae

Congrats on realising your dream  :Smile:  Altums are indeed a dream fish for many...I realised mine recently too 

The crs will most probably be eaten by the altums. Mine just ate up the sakura shrimp i put in. Altums seem to love the shrimp body but leave the head alone. I found a number of shrimp heads when i got back from work yesterday  :Knockout:

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## Morgan01

love your setup. natural and pleasant to the eyes

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## André Alcantara

Thank you!

Yes probably de CRs will be eaten when the altums grow. But they have a lot place to hide... i don't no...  :Sad: 

Verminator: this anubias nana is from my old planted tank, they grow in 4 years in these tank, but they are growing very well in this new tank too.
You can check my old aquascaping here:
http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...ht=Andr&#37;E9

Ilumnae: How long do you have your altuns? What size they have?
I would to like to buy another one for this tank. It's to much for 400L?


Thank you again.

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## Flowerhfanatic

interesting stuff from someone from a great footballing country  :Smile:

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## illumnae

Hi Andre, my altums are currently 4-4.5 inches tip to tip. they grow really fast! I have 7 currently, but they are still in my 2ft tank under quarantine. I don't think you will have a problem keeping 5 in your 400 litre tank, so go ahead and get one more  :Smile:

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## Joseph*

very nice tank!

I love nanas for their shade of green and their cute little leaves. Actually I also prefer to have the abundance of gravel space as the color contrasts with the green nicely. It feels so spacious, your fishes will be glad for the open space.  :Well done:

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## uklau

Wonderful tank. Looks so natural!

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## André Alcantara

Thank you guys!

I introduced another altun last saturday without problems, they swimming in a beautiful shoal. But I can see the greenspots algae growing to much, so I intensified my water changes.

I show you new pictures soon.

Regards

André

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## André Alcantara

Hi guys,

some new pictures of my babies. They growing fast.





The frontal view:




Yeah the CR's had disappeared,but I believe they is hidden.

Regards

André Alcantara

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## illumnae

congrats on your beautiful altums!  :Smile:  they are indeed growing well and beautifully! I can't wait to transfer mine to my waiting 4x2x2 ft too  :Smile:

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## ranmasatome

Andre,
Its wonderful.. love seeing how this tank progresses. :Smile:

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## blue33

Beautiful scape you got there!  :Smile:

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## Flowerhfanatic

whenever i see altums my heart aches... cos they suffered high casualty under my care last time... :Crying: 

nice tank you have got there.... :Grin:

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## André Alcantara

Hi,

I made some changes in the aquascape to give more space to the Altuns.
As I thought the algae appeared and my bolbits are suffering with temperature.
I try to keep in 27C and made 2X water changes per week, I cut the Fluval exit to reduce the water oxigenation and start to put Tropica's Liquid Fertilization Plants (without NI and PO).
I entered new floating plants as Salvinia Natans and let Ceratopteris floating too and tied some microsoruns philippines on the driftwood to create some shaded areas in the future.

Definitely a low light setup with big fishes is not easy to keep.

Some pictures

General view


The new driftwood


At least the Altuns remain beautiful and healthy...




I hope I can show nice pictures soon...

PS.: The Trigonostigmas start breeding.

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## WiNd08

they are sooooo beautiful, brother!

really grew big in the matter of months! 

i have 2 suggestions:

1) Add another 100pcs of espei

2) Fill in your tank with more crypts!  :Grin:

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## livionakano

Hi Andre! Nice to meet you here!

Gee, I have found some Altums in my LFS, and I believe that maybe them and yours are relatives (or collected at the same time), because they have arrived here almost at same time that in your tank. Of course, they are soo beautiful that even the owner of the LFS doesn´t seems to be much interested in sell them  :Grin: 

I really hope your CRS are not hidden inside the stomach of any Altum.

Best regards,

Lívio

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## Cpark188

The Altums looks beautiful and well done keeping it in good shape.

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## André Alcantara

WiNd08: I hope my cryptos grow soon... but I have a fear to overpopulate my tank, so maybe I introduce only some corydoras shoal.

Cpark188: Tanks guy!


Hi Livio!!! It's great to see you here too!

Do you have Altuns too? Did you bought your Altuns in EcoAnimal?
Please show them for us. If you need some advices about Pterophyllum Altuns and another Angel fishes do you want to make a register on finarama.com, it's a very especialized forum. You will love this.

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## livionakano

Hi Andre!

No, I am still not an owner, but just a "secret admirer".

These Altums I've seem are living inside an exposition tank at my local fishstore. Really beautifull!

finarama.com? I surely will bookmark this.

Regards,

Lívio

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## André Alcantara

Hi fellows,

just to sharing the Altuns grow.

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## lazyMF

really nice altums you have there, really like your tank!

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## newtank

after the change it syill looks as good, although I was a little mesmerised with the wood on the right in your original scape, gave it a cliff-like look.

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## Viper007

Wow nice and simple!

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## tcy81

nice low light setup , very beautiful altum angels you have there.

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## Jervis

Yes beautiful Altums in a beautiful setting. I particularly like the empty path that you created... the vertical visual opening suits the Altum very well  :Well done:  The vision will be much clearer once the Bolbitis is to grow thicker  :Smile:

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## André Alcantara

Hi Guys.
New pictures just for sharing. Finally the plants are recovering and start to grow.









Regards,

André Alcantara

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## feide

Very nice setup! 
Your Altums must be really blessed to have a owner like you  :Smile:

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## Mildnomsed

nice setup you have there! But just thinking that your tank height (50cm) may be too low for altum angels. Now that they are still small but when to grow to adults size, there may be a problem. What you guys think? Actually I have been thinking of getting altums as well, but I am worrying about the tank height. Usually the recommended tank height is 2.5ft but that will make most foreground plants suffers, unless I use MH. Any bros here have experience on altum angels tank with MH? I am wondering is a chiller needed because altums prefer water temp of 28 to 30, which i think its okie to go without chiller, but if I install a MH.. that would be a different story isn't it? Hahaha...  :Smile:

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## André Alcantara

Thank you guys!

Mildnomsed: My tank height is 60cm and not 50cm. I think it's OK... and about temperature I think they live well until 32C.

Sword: I don't use surface skimmer.

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## Verminator

Coming along very well. Your Altums are growing up nicely. Not too many casualties either by the looks of it. Congratulations!

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## iwishweallcouldwin

Nice setup, neat altums. Well done :Smile:

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## Mildnomsed

Ic.. ya.. actually I also prefer 60cm. 75cm is abit too high for lights to reach. Let us know more about your tank updates.. =) keep it up!

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