10 gal Eclipse 1 journal

[supaoopa]

Just setup a new ten gal tank with and eclipse 1 filtration hood. Hood was originally of a 12 gallon eclipse kit but it leaked and i was able to buy the hood for cheap.

Inital setup:

10 gal tank
Eclipse 1 hood
eco- complete plant substrate
50 watt Visi-thermal stealth heater
Nutrafin co2 canister w/ ladder diffuser

upgrades/mod's

Ahsupply 36 watt CF bright kit w/ custom box for ballast
fluval 203/204 sponge on stripped cartridge with bio-max media


Inital startup



Next came the ahsupply 36 watt retrofit into the eclipse hood



Since tank is on a counter there was no place to secure the ballast so i just put it in an aluminum box and drilled some holes for the power wires and for cooling.




the much improved light...



And with the improved light comes more plants.




I left some open space in the front for some carpet plants. Still can't decide between glosso or Hemianthus callitrichoides. I want a really dense, low carpet of green.

Here is a pic of the fluval 203/204 sponge in the filter area.





I just moved some plants around and spread the riccia a little better on the wood. Will update when i start to add the foreground plants.

Let me know if you have any suggestions.

[Buck]

Thats going to be a nice little tank
Keep the test kits handy, the CO2 bubbling and the water fresh and it will be a gem in no time.

[Fosty]

That tank looks great. I can't wait to see it when its grown out bit. That lighting makes such a huge difference.

[Tino]

Looks great! You are on the right track, my friend. What are you doing with the foreground - marsilea? microsword?

[supaoopa]

Thanks for the compliments.

Tino for the foreground i would like to add either glosso or Hemianthus callitrichoides.

Although i have been thinking about doing a mix of both... what do you guys think? .... VVVV

Glosso to the left of the anubia nana

and

Hemianthus callitrichoides to the right of anubia nana.




I added about 10 gold dust molly fry and one black molly fry from a friend that didn't know what to do with them. Had a brain fart and put them in my tank before taking out my betta. Only 5 Gold dust molly's and the 1 Black molly made it before I realized what was going on and scrambled to get a container to but my betta in.

LOL, additional changes made to make this tank more suitable for fry and plants were...

prefilter sponge on intake as well as Nutrafin co2 canister and ladder diffuser...





Poly fiber on filter output to reduce flow that was blowing the fry every where as well as causing to much surface disturbance (lose less co2)...





Then for some added water polishing i packed some filter floss in the filter area where the water is first pumped in.





here are some better pics of the riccia, bacopa, rotala, hornwort...



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Also wanted to add some baby tears at the base of the larger peice of wood or infront of the rotala indica in the left corner.

Going to also add some japonica shrimp as soon as i can find some at a LFS.



Not bad for 2 weeks.

[Thanks]

Originally Posted by supaoopa

Not bad for 2 weeks.

I agree.

[depthC]

Thats a great looking tank with plenty of pics, awesome. Keep us posted with lots more images .

Andrew

[supaoopa]

Originally Posted by depthC

Keep us posted with lots more images .

Andrew

Careful what you wish for.

Here is a link to all the pics for my tanks (and more) if interested.

http://www.reaction-image.net/galler...k-Civic?page=4



As for the 10 gal i just planted some glosso and baby tears. Hopefully i have enough light for them to stay growing horizontal and not vertical.




Pic of the my baby black molly.


As you can see in the pic above, i am having some problems with hair algae that came with the riccia. The baby fry have been picking at it but not enough to make a dent in reducing it. WHat can i do to without adding any aggressive fish, to help fight this algae? I already put an otto and 2 amano shrimp in this tank but the shrimp just stay in the shaded areas and the otto perfers to snack on the brown algae which was starting to creep up since i didn't have any clean-up crew scavangers in there. Should i wait a week and see what happens or should i just reduce the amount of hours the light is on?

routine:
Flourish 1ml 1X week
Flora plant couple drops 2-3X week
Light on 11 hours per day

Suggestions and comments welcome.

[supaoopa]

update.

pics taken 2/12/05 my plants are starting to staighten out and the riccia is taking off.

[John P.]

Looking really, really good. Nice work!

[Thanks]

awesome! you look about ready to plant that glosso, and jus imagine it when it covers the gravel
really, really nice work.

[Newkidonthetank]

Hey can you possibly pm me with instructions how to retrofit my eclipse 1 twin lamp, i am 15 and afraid of screwing up wireing.. and if i take that twin lamp out can i put it in another shell or is it like a trasher. thanx i kinda wanted to know.

[supaoopa]

You have pm.


update:

the fry in my tank are growing at an astonishing rate. So today I decided to add a couple cardinal tetras to liven it up a bit. Also added about 6 japonica shrimps.

Hoping to get my hands on some cherry shrimp in the near future.

Will update with a pic in two or three weeks when everything fills in a little better

[Crs2fr]

hey supaoopa, how did you get that riccia on that log?.. what did you use?

chris

[supaoopa]

I just used cotton thread. I thought that the riccia would attach itself to the wood so i used cotton since it eventually disolves away. Now that i know better I will be using some nylon thread/ fishing line when i take to out to trim.

Edit*

Well the Hagen CO2 packet only lasted about 2 weeks. I just set it up with a new pack 2 days ago and nothing happened. Not one bubble? Container was rinsed well, luke warm water was added and nothing. Could it be the one way valve i have on the canister the might of sezied up?