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My first planted aquarium Petco 6.6 Bookshelf Iwagumi (Full Tank Shot 09/27/2012)

40K views 97 replies 31 participants last post by  Williak 
#1 · (Edited)
Current State of Aquarium (September 27, 2012)


Full Tank Shot (September 10, 2012)


State of Aquarium (August 25, 2012)

Boraras brigittae feeding on Instant Baby Brine Shrimp product

I'm new here, and I've really enjoyed looking at all of your beautiful tanks, and trying to absorb all of the great information.

My tank is the seemingly popular Petco 6.6 gallon bookshelf. It looks like several of us are starting with this tank, and others have used it as their starter tanks in the past. I really look forward to following the progress of others' tanks. I picked mine up about a year ago on sale, and I put in the substrate and some locally collected rocks, but then I let it sit until I could acquire some of the plants I wanted to use. When I went into Petsmart and saw they now carried DHG and other quality plants, I picked up a couple of packs and got started on my tank.



My initial layout is using Flourite and some quartzite rocks. There are kyanite crystals in the quartzite, but these are all sealed completely with no kyanite exposed, and these same rocks have caused no issues in my son's aquarium, so I think they should be safe.

Here is the tank after my initial planting after one week of growth.


Specifications:

Tank
Petco 6.6 Gallon Bookshelf Aquarium
Material: "Acrylic" (actually another type of plastic)
Dimensions: 8.13" D X 24" W X 9.25" H

Lighting
Single 18" Hagen Life-Glo T8, 15W, 6700K, 960 Lumen
Distance above substrate: 8 inches
Estimated Par Value using Hoppy's PAR chart: 75 (medium light) -- I hope my interpretation is correct

Substrate
Flourite
Osmocote inserted 2 beads per square inch beneath substrate

Dosing
NPK (very limited N and K now -- N from fish waste and food and K from GH boost)
Flourish
[STRIKE]Flourish Excel (once plants move to submerged state)[/STRIKE]
Stopped Excel dosing after pressurized CO2 added

Flora
Eleocharis Parvula (dwarf hairgrass) -- primary carpet
Lilaeopsis brasiliensis (microsword) -- texture change for base of rocks
Pogostemon Helferi (downoi -- little star) *To be ordered (maybe)
[STRIKE]Anubias Nana "Petite"[/STRIKE] -- accents near rocks -- Removed due to scale
Background behind the rocks
- cryptocoryne wendtii 'green' (will remove if it gets too big)
- Hemianthus glomeratus -- like fine leaf structure of these stems -- these will take awhile to fill in behind the rocks.

Fauna
Nerite (Zebra) snails (added 08/13/2012)
Amano shrimp (added 08/13/2012)
Otocinclus algae eater (added 08/12/2012)
[STRIKE]cardinal or ember tetras or tiny rasboras to be determined -- most likely Boraras brigittae (to be added)[/STRIKE]
Boraras brigittae (added 08/21/2012)

Added Pressurized CO2 end of July, 2012, 1 BPS
Increased to 2 BPS Aug, 2012
CO2 Tank: Kegco 5 lb aluminum tank
Regulator: Aquatek
Glass check valve and in-line bubble counter: AquaticMagic on e Bay
Backup Check Valve: Cheap plastic LFS check valve

[STRIKE]I'm assuming I'll need to upgrade my lighting very soon as I move to the submersed state and for some of the plants on my wish list.[/STRIKE]
Lighting has remained the same. Due to very shallow tank depth, standard T8 lighting is sufficient. I would like a longer bulb to prevent low lighting near the ends of the tank.

I'm open to any and all suggestions as I'm a complete newbie at this, especially on plant suggestions and light upgrade suggestions.

[STRIKE]If this goes well, I would love to do an ADA MINI style aquarium or perhaps a 12G Long.
[/STRIKE] I have decided to now do a larger ADA tank such as the 60-P.


Thanks so much for all who take the time to share your knowledge.

Salty
 
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#2 ·
I don't think you NEED better lighting, 6700k normally covers all your non-picky plant needs, otherwise you will need to upgrade. I LOVE these 6g tanks so I look forward to the progress.
 
#5 ·
Thanks, Quentin. There are several PetSmarts near me, and they vary quite a bit. Some have the more desirable plants in the small sealed bags like I used, and most of these plants have been in excellent health. The way they grow their dwarf hairgrass makes it very easy to cut and propagate. But there are others near me that have aquatic plant tanks, and most of those plants look terrible. I went to lift a plant out of one, and it was covered in a heavy mat of algae.

Salty
 
#8 ·
For a first tank, I would say that is one of the best layouts I have seen. It has amazing proportions and focal points. Kudos to you.

I have not worked with it (any plant for that matter haha), but I believe a lot of iwagumis use Vallisneria Nana. You could plant that on each side of your tank behind the rocks.

Subscribed!
 
#10 ·
Week 2 Update

I'm trying to update my progress once a week, at least here in the initial stages. I have some anubias nana 'Petite' arriving after the heat wave passes, and I have added some cryptocoryne wendtii 'green' behind the rocks, so that their leaves will provide a backdrop. I'm not sure if the crypts will stay. I'm really thinking I want some stems with fine leaf structure for behind the rocks. I'm experimenting.

Below are several angles of the aquarium. As always, all suggestions are welcome. Thanks!
 

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#12 ·
Week 3 Update

It's week 3 of my dry start, and I'm starting to see some nice root growth where the dwarf hairgrass is touching the glass (plastic :icon_smil). Here is an iphone pic of the root growth.


I went out of town for a few days, and even though I kept the humidity high in the tank while gone, the plants seemed to miss the twice daily misting. My crypts suffered the worst. I will be trimming up the crypts and giving some of the longer dwarf hairgrass a haircut next week. As soon as some anubias petite arrive next week, I plan to clear up one scratch and flood the aquarium.

Below is week 3 on the dry start.
 

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#16 ·
Week 3 Flooded

I started trimming the dwarf hairgrass (e. parvula) this afternoon. That is so hard to do. You wait for weeks for it to grow and fill in, and when it is finally beginning to look good, you have to give it all a flat-top haircut. Well, you don't have to, but it causes it to send out new runners and new growth comes on more quickly that way. So, I picked up a cheap pair of hair trimming scissors for $4 from Target and did the deed.

I managed to capture in my fingers most cuts, and tweezered out some loose bits, but it quickly became apparent that it was going to be tough to collect all of the tiny loose hairgrass clippings, despite my best efforts to retain them. So, I decided to go ahead and flood the tank and just dip out the floating debris. I'll begin doing daily water changes and dosing Excel and will begin the EI method soon. Right now, Osmocote in the substrate is taking care of the nutrient needs.

So, here is Week 3 updated with the tank flooded.
 

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#19 ·
Week 4 Update

It's week 4 of my planted aquarium. This week is my first full week of being submerged with daily water changes. With only 6.6 gallons, it doesn't take long.

I also added some beautiful anubias nana 'petite' from KingPlakat. I'm on the fence about keeping them in this aquascape, though. What do you guys think? Even though they are 'petites', are they too large for my scape and throw off the sense of scale? I'd appreciate your opinions. If I do keep them, the one on the left needs to be repositioned. It looks cramped and unnatural to me.

I want to add some regular baby tears, hemianthus micranthemoides (HM), behind my rocks. Right now I have a couple of crypts back there, but I think the HM is going to be the ticket. I need to get those ordered.

So far, so good on algae. I do have what I think is a little bit of cyanobacteria in the lowest point of my substrate along the glass. Due to the low spot, this area was often underwater during my dry start. I've been dosing Excel all along, and today I started injecting it directly onto this spot with a syringe. We'll see if that will take care of it. I will also cover that area with a piece of black tape for the next few days.

The latest pics are below. One is a FTS and the other is from slightly above. If anyone has suggestions, please let me know. Thanks!
 

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#22 ·
Thank you so much, Williak. There is something about the dimensions of these Petco bookshelf tanks that makes them appear much bigger than they really are. I think the fish will appreciate the length as well. I hope this one will turn out OK. I've had a few very minor issues, but overall it's going very well for my first planted tank. Fingers crossed it will stay that way.

I would not put cardinals in there. Maybe neons, but cardinals would be too big.
I'm leaning more and more toward ember tetras. I think I need something tiny to maintain the scale. I wish the embers were a different color, but I think the size needs to overrule the color.

As a fly fisherman, I also love the Celestial Pearl Danio's. They look so similar to a brook trout. Do you think they would work? I understand their natural habitat is flooded grasslands, so they may like the DHG carpet.
 
#23 ·
Having kept planted tanks for a while (and generally enjoyed what looks to be a jungle since I am bad at trims / maintenance) I am astounded at how beautiful your FIRST planted tank looks and as someone mentioned earlier, had I not seen the dollar bill I would not have realized how small the tank was. Absolutely beautiful.

I might consider CPDs/Galaxy Rasboras (whatever they're being called at the LFS now...) just given the size of the tank and I think they're beautiful little fish. I just saw you mentioned them as well and I think they'd be great in that tank.

Also, I used to keep Espei's Rasboras and they are beautiful fish when they settle in, with an electric but asymmetric orange band on them that's captivating. Underused fish IMO. I'd consider those as well.
 
#26 ·
I might consider CPDs/Galaxy Rasboras (whatever they're being called at the LFS now...) just given the size of the tank and I think they're beautiful little fish. I just saw you mentioned them as well and I think they'd be great in that tank.

Also, I used to keep Espei's Rasboras and they are beautiful fish when they settle in, with an electric but asymmetric orange band on them that's captivating. Underused fish IMO. I'd consider those as well.
Invert1, thank you so much for your kind words. I've really gotten the bug bad, and now I want to get a larger ADA tech, full high tech setup, and do a really nice aquascape. I think they are amazingly beautiful. Since I initially wrote up the section on fish, I've been going round and round, and now I'm leaning toward something in the very tiny rasboras line. There are quite a few that are incredibly tiny and will work with the scale of the tank. CPD's are still on my list, but definitely considering others, now. I originally thought I only wanted fish with color, but white fish actually pop against the dark blackground, so even some of the less spectacular fish can look good, I think.


Bro your setup is awesome. Love those local rocks. As far as fish go, are you stuck on a schooled? How about some male endlers? They are very social and tiny to boot!
Thanks fishoutawater. I'm learning a lot this time around, so hopefully I can improve when I drop the big bucks on my next aquarium. I like the local rock, because I feel I have a connection to them. In fact, they come from near Crowders Mountain, a popular mountain for rock climbing, hiking, and I've thought about trying to reproduce that mountain in a larger aquascape. It will be challenging.

I really would like a schooling fish if possible. I've looked at the make endlers, and they are beautiful, but not quite what I'm after. I do appreciate your suggestion.

Nice tank! I was just wondering... Does the tank come with the 15w T8 light, or does it come with something else?
Maxwellag, thanks. The aquarium does come standard with the 15W T8 fixture. There are two downsides. The stock bulb tends to be on the red side and not very bright (at least visibly), and two, it is only 18" long while the tank is at 24" long. That creates some low light on the sides. In fact, the reason I typically have the image on the dark side is because the light range from high in the center to low on the sides is pretty hard to photograph.

Are you considering one? I think they are a great size, and a fun starter aquarium.
 
#27 ·
Week 5 - The calm before the storm

This marks this fifth week for my aquarium, and the second week of having the tank flooded. Since flooding, growth has slowed significantly. I'm dosing Excel, but I think the plants would really like more CO2. All of the CO2 items have been ordered, and I found a place directly across from my office that will do CO2 tank fills for very cheap. Cool! :cool: I looked at the jaggedfury thread and was just about to go that route, but then decided for just a little more, I could get the Aquatek regulator with a solenoid and maybe be a tad safer. I thought about building a regulator for this tank, but I am getting an ADA tank in the future, and I will have CO2 on it, so I will need another CO2 system (different floor), and I'll spend the money for a kickbutt dual stage regulator with an Ideal needle valve on that tank. To spend $200-$250 on a regulator seems hard to justify on a Petco plastic tank. :eek:

I had originally placed Osmocote under the substrate for nutrients, and those are still there doing their job, but I am now dosing NPK on even days and Excel Flourish on odd days. Before my fertilizer came in, I crushed some Osmocote and placed it into a solution that I dosed. This would cause an ammonia spike, but by the next day, the bacteria had taken care of it. Even though the evidence is iffy, I decided to add beneficial bacteria to my tank after major water changes. At least it can't hurt.

TPT member Trenton is a spreadsheet master, and seeing his dosing spreadsheet made me want to create one of my own, so I copied much of his layout and added a few more items I wanted to track. It is proving to be very helpful to track everything and to remind me where I'm at in my rotation.

It may have been a mistake now that I look at it, but this week I decided to try removing my light hood and shooting with the tank lit only by an incandescent bulb. To the natural eye, it made the tank look rich and warm, but on film, well, not so much. I also have few shots showing the aquarium, so I included one for this week with the included hood back in place and the much whiter light.

Next week, CO2 should be up and running and the week after that, I'll have reached the point where I'm only doing a 50% water change once per week, and I'll add some wildlife to the tank at that time.

Below are the tank shots and a screenshot of the spreadsheet I made based on Trenton's awesome work. I have the water level lower than normal to create some surface agitation.
 

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#28 ·
I'm getting in some regular baby tears, and in researching the plant, I realized that I have been mistakenly referring to it as HM (hemianthus micranthemoides). Evidently, HM is thought to be extinct, and what we are using in the aquarium industry is HG (hemianthus glomeratus). So, I updated my specs with the new name. Darn, I had finally memorized how to pronounce and spell micranthemoides. :wink:
 
#29 ·
Week 6 - Algae, Spiking Nitrites, CO2 Arrives (sort of)

I've been slowly tapering off water changes. At the end of next week, I'll be down to only one water change per week. Without the frequent water changes, algae began to grow on the rocks and along the glass near the substrate line. I've been dosing Excel fairly heavily, and that has done an excellent job knocking back what little algae I've seen.

Here you can see some algae growing on the glass along the substrate, but check out the roots on the DHG! It continues to send out runners, and my substrate has visibly lifted nearly an inch in some places. The blades of grass are finally starting to break through. I keep expecting it to explode with growth soon as all those blades finally break through and fill in the gaps.


I planted my hemianthus glomeratus this week behind my rocks. Most of it is hidden from view on a front shot of the tank, but it will quickly grow and fill in, and I'll keep trimming it back until it forms a nice, thick bush effect. You can see just the tops of HG peaking from behind the rocks here:


I cleaned off the algae, and took a tooth brush to my rocks, today, and my water looked like a dust storm in Kansas. I was scheduled to perform a 50% water change, tomorrow, but I decided to go ahead and clean up the debris and did two 50% water changes to clear things up.

I was able to get my 5 lb CO2 tank filled this week. I also received the Aquatek regulator for this tank. I received my high end regulator and needle valve that I'll use for my future ADA tank, as well. I didn't pay attention when I placed an order for some parts such as my glass nano diffuser on Ebay that the seller is overseas, so some parts won't be here until mid-August. I couldn't wait that long, so I hit up the LFSs for a temporary fix with a Fluval CO2 ceramic diffuser. Either they didn't carry it or they were out, so I remembered hearing about the bamboo diffusers. My son happened to have some bamboo that he had dried for a project, so I borrowed a tiny piece and shaped it into a makeshift diffuser. It actually works amazingly well and creates a fine mist of CO2 that floats around the tank. I couldn't get a great picture of it, but here is a shot where you can see the CO2 micro-bubbles being swept to the right.


I've been testing my water parameters, and I was somewhat surprised to see my nitrites spike this week. I thought the tank might have cycled during the dry start, but I rushed it by a week or two when I flooded it, and so it looks like I'm cycling, now. So, no fauna for me for awhile longer.

Finally, here is the tank shot for this week. The hairgrass is really filling in, and I'm looking forward to seeing the HG behind the rocks fill in. With the CO2, I should have a good jump in growth for next week's shot. Here's hoping!
 
#31 ·
They are coming along nicely. Thanks. I believe so, PinkRasbora. Unless I discover something that changes my mind in the next couple of weeks, I'm going to go with Boraras brigittae (Chili Rasbora). I think their tiny size will work with my nano tank, and once the HG grows in, it should give them some nice hiding places that they should enjoy. Before I order them, I'm going to make sure I have on hand some of the Instant Baby Brine Shrimp product and a high quality food that I'll grind into small pieces.
 
#32 ·
Week 7 - A bad week

I was out of town for a few days, so my son helped out and fertilized my tank while I was away. Since I have no fish or other animals in the tank there wasn't anything else to do. My lights and CO2 are on automatic timers.

The day before I left, my nano diffuser and drop checker finally arrived from Singapore. I replaced my temporary bamboo diffuser, and a fine mist of CO2 streamed out of the new diffuser. The plants were looking great with the addition of CO2, and I was looking forward to seeing how much the plants would grow while I was away.

When I returned, I was shocked by what I found. A large area of hairgrass in the center of my tank was dead and brown. Large areas of bare substrate were visible. A few clusters of hairgrass along the side were dead or dying as well. I couldn't believe it. I immediately trimmed the hairgrass back in those area to remove all of the dead blades of grass, and I did a 50% water change and dosed some fertilizer.

Here is the tank after the trimming of the dead hairgrass. It looks worse in person, as you can more clearly see the areas of bare substrate.


I don't know what caused the die-off, but I suspect it may be related to low-flow. Before I left town, I did a water change and turned down the flow to minimum on my HOB filter. I forgot to turn it back to full flow, so there was practically no water movement in the tank. When the tank was dosed, it's possible the fertz burned the grass or that simply the lack of movement caused the issue.

I am also experiencing some algae this week, and you can see some of that on the rocks in the image, above.

It's disappointing to lose so much of the hairgrass carpet, but hopefully it will recover quickly and send out new shoots. The other plants seem to be doing very well. The hemianthus glomeratus is loving the CO2, and the tops are twice as big as the bottoms. It will soon be time to trim and replant some of those stems to develop the thick bush effect behind the rocks.
 
#33 · (Edited)
Week 8 - Recovery and Equipment Update

Last week I discovered my hairgrass was dying after being away a few short days. I do believe most of this was a result of low flow from the filter and the transition from Seachem Excel carbon to gaseous CO2 at the same time. I'm also going to up my GH a little per Somewhatshocked's suggestion to see if that will make my plants more healthy.

I've been taking water parameters daily, sometimes twice daily, to see how my bacteria are doing. Over the last week, I've added excess ammonia and watched as ammonia rose, then nitrites rose, and then by the next morning, everything was back to zero ppm. My tank is fully cycled. Everything except nitrates always zeros out. I am noticing that after dosing fertz, my nitrates are rising too high, so I'm going to be cutting my dosage in half going forward, and I'll be closely monitoring that for the next week or so.

Because of my tinkering with the CO2, I've caused some fluctuations, and that caused some algae. I cleaned up some of it manually, and I added two otos to help things along. After purchasing the otos, I began a 1 drip per second acclimation process, and after about 5 hours, I transferred them to my tank. When I purchased them, they were pale grey, almost translucent. Now, they are dark brown with deep black banding. They began feeding almost immediately. Both of these otos won't remain in my tank. It's just too small. One will likely remain and the other transferred to my son's tank or to a future tank after the heavy cleanup has occurred. They do seem to like to stay together, at least in this early stage of being transferred to new surroundings. You can see one on the right hand corner of my tank, below.

The hairgrass is recovering somewhat, but still experience some die-off in other sections. Now that everything is stabilizing in the tank, especially the CO2, I'm hoping for a full recovery and lush carpeting from here out. I trimmed some of the new growth on the hemianthus glomeratus and planted it more heavily behind the rocks for what I hope will become a very thick bush effect. Most of that planting is hidden from view at the moment, but will soon rise above the rock. I removed one crypt behind the right main rock.

In week 6, I showed the homemade bamboo diffuser I constructed. It worked amazingly well. Just before leaving town, I constructed a homemade bubble counter. I thought it did a great job, as well. This bubble counter is made from a Paul Prudhomme's Blackened Redfish Seasoning bottle. I drilled two small holes in the lid and stretched some airline into the holes. No sealant was required.


Since returning, I setup all of the glassware I had ordered from e Bay. I installed some mini airline tubing to my nano diffuser and made a curved hook out of rigid airline tubing by heating the rigid tubing with a hair dryer and shaping it around a dowel. This prevents kinking of the airline as it wraps over the top edge of the aquarium.

Here is the new glass check valve and bubble counter. It barely fits on the side of my shallow tank. I had just performed a water change, so the water is a little cloudy.


My CO2 tank is a 5 LB tank from Amazon. When it arrived, it was labeled as a Kegco tank. I might polish my tank and remove that lettering. I'm using an Aquatek CO2 regulator with this, and have found it to be very reliable and the needle valve easily adjustable and it stays in the position I set. I am currently running CO2 at 1 BPS.

Here is the most recent shot of the tank. You can see the nano diffuser on the left and if you look closely, you can see my glass drop checker on the right. I have the glass globe above the water line to reduce its presence in my tank, since my tank is so small. Only the mouth of the drop checker rests below the water line. One oto is eating algae in the bottom right corner of the tank.


After some additional growth from the HG and the GH adjustment, I will order some Boraras brigittae.
 
#34 · (Edited)
Week 9 - Clean-up Crew Added, Algae Gone

This has been a busy week for my aquarium. I began raising my GH a few degrees over time and KH slightly, and I feel like I have my CO2 dialed in to the correct setting. To accomplish this, I purchased a Sera GH and KH kit to measure my current GH and KH, and I also purchased this TDS (total dissolved solids) meter. These things are amazing and cost next to nothing. I paid a little over $8 with free shipping included.


I also created some 4dKH water for my CO2 drop checker using a very accurate sub-gram scale and baking soda. I had gotten pretty close with a Taylor scale that I use for ultralight camping, but this scale is much more sensitive for small amounts in the tenths of grams. I purchased a calibration 100g weight, and it was 99.98 percent accurate without calibration. I'll also be using this scale when making up GH booster solution going forward.


So, that was the new equipment this week. The tank had some elevated nitrate levels from dosing heavily, so I did a number of water changes and brought the nitrates down to the 10 PPM range. I then added a clean-up crew to deal with algae. This population will be reduced soon and they will be divided up with my son's tank.

I added two zebra nerite snails. One hardly moves and sits in the hairgrass all day. The other has covered every rock and every bit of "glass" in my tank two times. You can also see in the background the next two members of my clean-up crew.


I added two Amano shrimp. The next morning, I checked on them, and one was lying dead in the dwarf hairgrass. :icon_frow I tweezered his lifeless pale body out. I was worried when I purchased him, because he seemed less active than the other Amano and looked paler in color. That evening, I looked on top of a rock, and there were two shrimp. What the heck! I looked in the trash, and then I realized what had happened. My pale Amano didn't die...it molted! :icon_bigg Now, both Amanos have molted. They have been enjoying the algae, some flake fish food, and blanched zucchini.


The last members of the clean-up crew appeared to be starving when I purchased them, but they are fat and happy, now. They love rooting around in the hairgrass and cleaning the rocks and "glass". They are very active and love swimming the length of the tank at blinding-fast speeds. Here are my two otos camped out beside my nano diffuser.


Last but not least, here is the updated tank shot. The dwarf hairgrass continues to recover, and the hemianthus glomeratus continues to grow at a nice fast pace, and is being trimmed and replanted for a thick bush effect behind the rocks. You may notice the anubias are gone. I donated the remainder of my anubias nana 'petite' to my son's tank. The scale just didn't work for what I was trying to achieve. Next week, I have Boraras brigittae coming in. Woohoo! Can't wait.
 
#41 ·
I also created some 4dKH water for my CO2 drop checker using a very accurate sub-gram scale and baking soda. I had gotten pretty close with a Taylor scale that I use for ultralight camping, but this scale is much more sensitive for small amounts in the tenths of grams. I purchased a calibration 100g weight, and it was 99.98 percent accurate without calibration. I'll also be using this scale when making up GH booster solution going forward.
I am pretty excited to hear there is another aquarium hobbyist that is into ultralight backpacking/camping! Ultralight backpacking is my first passion with aquariums being my second. I find that both tend to cost more than ever originally planned.
 
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