Hello guys, I am interested to set up a 4' x 1.5' x 1.5' tank using this piece of driftwood and petrified wood blocks on it's left and right scattered all around.

using algae as the plant life,

and stocking it with congo tetra's, axelrodi, bumblebee's, red crystal shrimps and an exotic pleco.

the question is do i need a co2 diffuser for this setup or any special equipment, was thinking bout getting a chiller and a canister filter for the setup.

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Sorry for not introducing myself properly and greeting all the ppl in the forum, was a little pre occupied with the postin. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

first time heard using algae as plant. hahaha...What kind of algae you want? New tank water with high lighting sure can get BGA. If plus the strong flow of water. Then you will get hair algae. If water temperature went up, then you will get brown algae. But then algae will disappearing after your tank stable.

Beside that, CRS(Crystal Red Shrimp) need low PH like 6.2-6.6 max. You need to keep some mosses as the micro-organism will grow inside the mosses. That is the source of their food. What grade you want to keep? C? B? A? AA? AAA? S? SS?

And...your congo might take the CRS as their meal.

weird that you would like to keep algae. i'm sure you mean mosses and liverworts. mosses, pellia and moss balls[marimo are considered algae] would be suitable for your tank. congos may make a meal of your shrimp but with enough hiding places they should be fine. congos hangout at the top most of the time anyway.

you probably need things as you get into it. chiller would be good to keep temperature around 25-26c. [too low and you get condensation on the glass] silly i think...

normally people keep crs alone as breeding it is perilious with predators[fish] or perceived predators around.

HTH

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So many aquascapes, so little time...http://www.my-mac.net/forum/

looks like this guys got few more aquariums....
notice the poster around???
kekekeke......

Hahahaha...damn funny...sorry...couldn't help it. I have free hair algae if you want some, easy to propagate, just provide high light and lotsa fertiliser.

Besides that, if you want a community tank, you really need to know whether some fish will get along with its tank mates. For example, congo tetra (look at the size) vs CRS shrimp(1" at max), I don't think this is a good choice.

If you are just a newbie into planted tank, it will be good if you do some reading first in some forums first, or ask some experienced experts out there for advice. Posting a generic question like that won't help you go too far.

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Isaac Goh©

Moss: Singapore, Taiwan, Weeping, Spiky, Erect, Xmas.

Pellia: Coral pellia, Normal pellia, Medium pellia?, Wild mini pellia.

I can provide some cladophora too... Quite impossible to get rid of... I guess the 'ideal' algae if you do indeed want to cultivate algae.

Thanks for the advice guys, guess what I had in mind is a mat of moss or short grass. Something like the one seen in Aquapets ( issue no 36 or 37 ).

Will take your points into consideration. Yes I do have a coupla tanks both 5' tanks to house my Aro.

Just recently came intop possession of a 4' with cabinet, wuz thinking bout setting up lanscaped tank.

The piece of driftwood I got from my friends shop, using his digital camera.

i dont know whats in the magazine u refering too..... but u can use various type of moss for the "algae effect you want"

well, here is a few of moss to choose from....

java moss, christmas moss, weeping moss, taiwan moss and etc....

and moss must be kept in cool water.. below 27 degrees...

well, here's a start, u planning to add in co2 to your tank or non-co2...

list out what u want, browse pictures and show it here...

only if we know what you want, the forumers here can help or advise whether it can be done or not.... why not post what is in aquapets for us... so we can direct and guide you along....

yeah...
ggMing is right, you got to plan well enough...to avoid alot more work...
like me, i din plan well enough, so i got to rescape the tank sooner...cause the tank looks like a wall of plants more than a aquascaping tank.

Regards,
John