An upgrade?

[Mito]

I’m finding less and less time to look after the three tanks I have. My wife is disabled and I have to do more things for her and living in the country off grid is time consuming as well. I supposed we could be called “geriatric hippies”! To this end I’m thinking of getting a made to measure tank, 150 x 40 x 45cm tall to combine the occupants of two of the tanks into one. I think the fish are all compatible and without problems (list at the end).
As it will quite a tight fit I was thinking of having a bottom entry and exit, is it worth it or not. I’m going to use both filters from the other tanks, a Fluvial 307 and a Aquael 1200. I hope that will give enough filtration and flow. They have no heaters, normal temp is 20ºc without heaters, give or take a degree, going up in summer to 26/27ºc. Water here is about 29gdh so I use rain water, when it rains, or RO to bring it down. Unfortunately the LFS I use has changed direction. It has now become a pet shop with emphasis on four legged creatures. I get RO water from there but have to buy something, fair enough, but with the changes it sells virtually no fish related consumables.
Substrate, I was thinking (I’m doing a lot of thinking, dangerous) of an aqua soil covered with sand with wood and stone. Around us is a lot of olive and almond, olive I’ve used without problem but would almond be OK? It’s low tech setup, perhaps CO2 one day, plants I have some extras but recommendations please. Aquascaping is not my forte, more aquaplonk.
Fish:- Golden Barbs
Trifasicus
Danios
Peppered corys
Bronze corys
Serpae tetra
X-ray tetra
male guppies
a lonely otto.
Snails!
The Danios and guppies are “leftovers” from a previous project. The barbs are originals now about 5 years old.
Any suggestions, help or comments would be greatly appreciated and will help decide whether I go ahead with this project.

[Lo1]

I make the tank 270l.

307 is rated at1150l per hour

1200 is rated 1200l per hour.

[Martinspuddle]

The Guppies would be my only concern with Serpae Tetras, these do a repetition to be thugs. I'm surprised you manage to keep Pencelfish, Tetras and Otocinclus at such a low temperature, Danios, Golden Barbs and Guppies I can understand.

Almond, you talking branches or leaves? If Almond leaves, then dried in the sun would be fine, wood I'm not to sure.

Can you not order online for aquatic goods where you are @Mito?

[Mito]

The Guppies would be my only concern with Serpae Tetras, these do a repetition to be thugs. I'm surprised you manage to keep Pencelfish, Tetras and Otocinclus at such a low temperature, Danios, Golden Barbs and Guppies I can understand.

Almond, you talking branches or leaves? If Almond leaves, then dried in the sun would be fine, wood I'm not to sure.

Can you not order online for aquatic goods where you are @Mito?

Oops, I made a mistake with one of the fish, not pencelfish but black ruby barb. The memory and age. Nights here are not as cold as further north and the house has very thick walls. The sun warms the walls which keeps the room warm. I was meaning almond wood not leaves. There are few leaves this year because of the drought. We didn't get the usual autumn rain and it doesn't look like we'll get spring rain either. There's plenty in the West and north, but not here. The guppies are with the Serpae with no problems, there are plenty of hiding places. There are several on-line shops which I use and Amazon too but I like visiting too and fish by post is not an option, I lost almost a complete order some years ago, the driver couldn't be bothered to finish his round. I think things have improved since then, there are now options to have special deliveries if you are prepared to pay. You are very lucky in Britain with the choices you have there.

[Martinspuddle]

Black Ruby Barbs, the temperature is so much an issue then. As for Almond wood, I can't find anything about it being used for aquatic use.

[plankton]

What's in the third tank, I can't remember?
I tend to agree with Martin about guppies v serpae.

[Martinspuddle]

What's in the third tank, I can't remember?

Yeah, pictures would be nice, don't think I've ever seen yours @Mito.

[Mito]

What's in the third tank, I can't remember?
I tend to agree with Martin about guppies v serpae.

In a 60lt tank I've got cardinals so a bigger tank would be a no no for them And the heater has packed up today. I've got a cheapie Chinese one spare I'll put in.

[Mito]

What's in the third tank, I can't remember?

Yeah, pictures would be nice, don't think I've ever seen yours @Mito.

Pictures will be posted. They are an example of how not to so I must devote a day to spring cleaning and trying to get rid of the algae. I'm not particularly proud of them. The learning curve is taking a long time. I think I posted a long time ago some photos when I had them in a shed, they're in the house now.

[plankton]

What's in the third tank, I can't remember?
I tend to agree with Martin about guppies v serpae.

In a 60lt tank I've got cardinals so a bigger tank would be a no no for them And the heater has packed up today. I've got a cheapie Chinese one spare I'll put in.

That would be too warm for the guppies which is a shame, but if they've been ok with the danios then who knows with the nippy tetras.