My "attempt" at a 2.5g nano tank *updated 4/26/07*

[Cydric]

Ok thanks for that suggestion! I like it. I'll do a little aquascaping and take another picture and post it.

[Cydric]

Here's a little update - I just can't leave it alone, I think I like it one way, then I think of something else to add so here is the latest picture taken today:


The river rock is holding down the piece of driftwood, I decided not to soak the driftwood in it's own tub of water since it's so small and I'm in no hurry whatsoever to add livestock(just 4 feeder guppies in atm to try to keep it cycled) so it can leach all the tannins it wants and I'll just keep doing weekly water changes. The piece I added is a grapevine piece of wood wrapped with java moss.

Not sure if this is how it's going to remain, haha.

[dufus]

It looks good now.
the grapevine may not even leack tannin.

[pens_fan]

looks very nice i really like the DW

[RESGuy]

Great looking nano! The drift wood looks really nice in there Can't wait to see it with some shrimp

[Cydric]

Thanks everyone for the comments and suggestions. The tank is coming along pretty well so far. I guess you can say i'm experimenting with the dosage. What i'm doing is dosing Seachem Flourish Excel, Flourish, and Iron every other day. This setup has no co2 so i'm guessing the excel will work in that aspect. Hoping the Flourish will give me the essential nutrients for the plants along with the Iron.

The mosses I have in their right now are doing good. I have Java moss attached to the dw and I have Taiwan moss on the left rock. They're both growing new bright green buds on the ends. The HM is taking root pretty well although some of the leaves are a little brown. Not quite sure why, perhaps it was the move from my 29g to the nano. The HC is just kind of...there. I hear it's a slow grower so i'm not too worried about it. The Rotala Rotundfolia is doing pretty good along with the Hygrophila Polysperma.

The four feeder guppies are hiding as usual in the plants. I never see them only for a couple seconds when I throw in some Hikari fish flakes. I have a couple ponds snails(hitchhiked w/ plants) and 2 brown ramshorn snails(they were intentional). I see snail eggs sacks throughout the tank, not quite sure if they're the pond snails' or the ramshorns'.

Still not sure what type of shrimp I want to put in here. Definitely not going to go with an expensive type. I'd like to do snowball as I mentioned before but now it seems like they're hard to come by and are sort of rare so there goes that idea. Might try tiger shrimp. I don't want to put any of my RCS or CRS in my 29g in there since I already have them. I'm not going to do Amano's either since they committed suicide in my 29g tank the first two weeks I had them also they're a little bigger than the other dwarf species and i'm assuming they need more room than a 2.5g nano tank.

Decisions, decisions.

That's a little update since i'm sitting here bored on a wintery, cold, miserable day.

[Rion]

that grape vine is gonna give you problems. you don't use grape vine an aquariums because it doesn't sink also it's gonna get a white film/fuzz on it from decomposition if I remember correctly.

[Cydric]

Originally Posted by Rion

that grape vine is gonna give you problems. you don't use grape vine an aquariums because it doesn't sink also it's gonna get a white film/fuzz on it from decomposition if I remember correctly.

I beg to differ. You think i'd use it if i knew it was just going to rot and give me problems? No. I've done my research.

[Cydric]

Ok, nothing much happening with my nano besides a little bit of an algae outbreak...errg. I've been dosing Flourish, Excel, and Iron every other day trying to combat any algae but I guess it's not working or i'm not giving it enough time.

Pictures:

Full tank shot taken today 02/05/07


Two Ramshorn's in my tank:



I don't even think my Ramshorn's look that healthy, are their shells supposed to have that whiteness on them? They were stowaways with plant purchases so I won't be too crushed if they bite it but I do think they're neat.

[RESGuy]

The tank looks great And those are some sweet snails

[dufus]

How hard is your water?
they need the calcu=ium and stuff to grow proper shells, but don't fret if they die, they aren't really rare, i have a breeding population of about 500 in my 55.

[Cydric]

I'm not worried if they die. I just wanted to stick something else into my nano, haha. They came from my 10g guppy tank. I also have a booming population in my 29g planted tank. I have no idea how hard my water is.

[SCMurphy]

Originally Posted by Cydric

Ok, nothing much happening with my nano besides a little bit of an algae outbreak...errg. I've been dosing Flourish, Excel, and Iron every other day trying to combat any algae but I guess it's not working or i'm not giving it enough time.

You aren't giving it enough time. Relax, it will grow in and you will be ecstatic. It's almost time to trim the stems and replant the tops back into the stand. This will help you get that bushy look and increase the plant biomass.

[Cydric]

Ok, been a couple weeks since I've said anything about this algae ridden nano. I added a couple olive nerites and 4 RCS today to see if they'll eat any of the algae. That's all the inhabitants besides those pesky pond snails.

I've just been dosing excel every other day trying to combat the algae but i'm losing terribly(hopefully i'll win the war). I'm really trying not to make this to high tech of a tank. I'm not adding any co2 besides adding excel every other day. No ferts for the plants although I know I should but I'm concentrating so hard on trying to keep my 29g alive by using micro and macro ferts. I really, really don't want to get into that with my nano but if i have to, i will (unfortunately).

As you can see in the picture, the rotala rotundfolia is taking off pretty well. My HM turned a little brown but still seems to be managing it. My moss looks pretty good. My HC spread a tiny bit which i'm most proud of.

Well that's a brief update, critique if you like.

[hooha]

it's growing out nicely bro....
What kind of algae is in there? You can try a lower photoperiod and adding floaters/hornwort for a higher plant mass until it grows out.