Rrrrramos' 2.5g Rimless

[rrrrramos]

I had a coupon for $5 off at Petland and when I went there to save some money I found their 2.5g's for only 8.99. As I've usually seen these at 15 or so I had to pick it up. My brother and I took the rim off and cleaned it up a little, I don't have anything in it at the moment, not sure what my plans are for it, not sure if I want to try HC in this as I'm not having the best of luck with it in my cube. Once I decide on plants I plan to overdose CO2 until I get the growth I'm looking for and then maybe will add some shrimp or maybe a dwarf puffer.
As far as equiptment goes, right now I've got the light from a Finnex for it, a Red Sea Nano Filter and an extra DIY CO2 setup. I don't like the HOB filter on it, it looks bad and I don't know how much I trust it hanging on just the glass. I'm thinking of an Ehiem 2213 very strongly for this tank. Doubt I'll use a heater unless need be.
I'm either going to get Aquasoil or Eco-Complete as far as substrate goes. I'm not sure if I want to keep the light and upgrade the blub, as the one in there now is no good, or just upgrade my whole lighting system. Anyways here is the tank by itself:

[iluvbetta]

I myself am planning on making a 2.5g with the same tank (i believe), however the ones I find for sale at the big chain stores look like someone got a little too happy with the silicon gun.

Did you have to scrape the silicon off the edges and corners to make it look neat like that?

Keep us updated on what you do!

[rrrrramos]

Yeah this one was covered around the edges with excess silicone. About half an hour with a razor blade produced the results I got, though there are some parts I still need to hit to have it look cleaner. Also I noticed on the glass build of this tank the bottom piece is flush with one side (that I deemed to be the front) and maybe 2 or 3mm out on the other side. I do like that the 4 walls sit atop the bottom glass unlike I've seen on larger tanks where the bottom glass is encased by the 4 walls and the bottom is a few mm above the surface.

BTW I filled this last night to check for leaks, let it sit 24 hours on top of a towel. After emptying it the towel was nice and dry, just like when I'd put it in! So far so good.

Any suggestions on filter options and/or light options?

[iluvbetta]

Glad it worked out for you. I was scared of attempting this because I was worried that by removing the excess silicon it would result in leaks later down the road (this is my first tank). Hopefully that's not the case!

[rrrrramos]

So tomorrow I'm looking to start work on this tank. Tonight I laid out some hardscapes and decided on the one to follow. Also made some decisions on equipment and plants for it as follows:

Equipment:
Lighting: Finnex Lamp with 6700K and/or 10000K 13W bulb
Filtration: ZooMed 501 Canister Filter or Hagen Mini Internal Filter will try Hagen first
CO2: DIY out of a 1L bottle via Glass Nano Diffuser
Substrate: Eco-Complete

Plants:
Hemianthus Callitrichoides
Blyxa Japonica
Possibly a short stem plant for the far corners

Here are some pics of the hardscape I've decided upon. I'm going with some slate that I found around the house that's from a previous tank. If I can find a nice piece of driftwood I may go about incorporating that as well:






Also, here is a picture of the light I will be using, though I'm likely going to rig something up to hold it from the back


Like I said before, in place of that towel I'll be using Eco-Complete, probably only gonna let a small part of the sides of the slate show. As far as placement of the plants, I'm going to try to get a decent amount of HC in the area between the two rocks, then put the blyxa on the sides. Depending on how that comes out, I'll then decide on a stem plant.

Also the plan is to just run the tank without livestock and dose Excel alongside running the CO2 for likely the first month or two. I may even attempt emerrsed growth of the HC as it doesn't seem to be propagating at any pace in my 12g.

Any feedback is welcome!

[rrrrramos]

Will be posting a semi big update later in the night or early tomorrow morning, I got most of the supplies barring the plants as the LFS didn't have anything I liked. Also the ZooMed was out of stock so I picked up the Hagen Mini Elite Internal filter but for the generally short plants I've decided upon for this tank they won't hide it well and it's kind of unsightly in this tank. I'll use it for clearing up the water and whatnot but as soon as I can get the ZooMed I'll be using this for CO2 diffussion in my cube.

Also a LFS around here was having an amazing deal today, %50 off all fish and plants, and I saw some CPD's that looked amazing and couldn't pass up the deal they had so I picked up 5 of them. They are in my Nanocube for the time being, but will eventually be the inhabitants of this tank.

If you guys have any suggestions, any comments, compliments or criticisms at all please let me know!

[CL]

I can't wait to see the updates!

[FrostyNYC]

I think your slate is too flat. Maybe I'm not grasping how you're going to work them into your substrate. Post pics again once you have the eco in there. I used slate in my tank with success. I actually took a hammer to it to get it more texured and then stacked it and used slope to make it more interesting.

[rrrrramos]

Originally Posted by FrostyNYC

I think your slate is too flat. Maybe I'm not grasping how you're going to work them into your substrate. Post pics again once you have the eco in there. I used slate in my tank with success. I actually took a hammer to it to get it more texured and then stacked it and used slope to make it more interesting.

I guess I didn't explain how I was going to go about it, did I?
I put about an inch of eco-complete down then placed the slates on top of them, then put eco complete on top of the slates, about 1/2". This all has a slop that is about an inch difference. I'll edit this post with pics once I fill it and its settled and all.

[rrrrramos]

FTS. Hagen filter is just in there to provide circulation I personally think its taking up too much room:




Side shot to show the highest point of the slope. You can tell from these photos that the front center is the lowest point as I have a slight slope to either side as well:


Here is the best photo I could get of the future inhabitants of this tank, one of 5 CPD's. I had read a lot of places that these guys were shy but 3 of them are schooling with my Endler's and the other two are makin their way exploring all the tank. These guys look amazing too! This is one of two that is starting to get red on its fins:

[sewingalot]

This is going to be super cool!

[rrrrramos]

I went ahead and planted a 1x1 patch of HC that was in my main tank in here, spread it out plant by plant at about an 3/4" apart. I also tossed a background on it, its a dark navy blue, but its dark enough for my liking and goes well with it. It also makes the Mini Elite less pronounced so I may end up keeping that in here.
I also went ahead and hooked up CO2 to the tank, put the tubing where the breather valve was on the filter and its doing great at dispersing the CO2. It still has only the 6700K 13W lamp over it, hopefully that's enough for the HC. If I can find a better bulb for this fixture I'd rather that but I'm going to look into a better light solution as once I get my other plants I don't think this bulb will cut it.

[Phoenix-cry]

I have a school of 7 CPD and I just *love* them, such wonderful little fish!

[rrrrramos]

I got a new light for this tank, its 27W and looks MUCH better than my other one did, plus its not putting anything unnecessary into the tank so that makes me happy. Here are some pics of the tank as it currently stands:


Close up of the tank:



I'm currently trying to get a few more plants for this, also if this is strictly planted is there any need for a heater? The water is staying warm but not as warm as my other tank.

[luckydud13]

As long as the tanks dont fall below like 65 they should b fine.