Rimless 5.5, now with more baby shrimp!

[Dollface]

This may or may not be a journal.
I posted a shot of this tank in another journal a while back, but I've since given up on that tank, so this one is getting it's own thread.



Where to start, oh boy.

Besides the delicious looking green water, I've got a nasty case of thread algae that's tangled in everything. As well as a bunch of fuzzy hair algae that's coated my blyxa. There's also these short hairy strands stuck to the glass that don't want to come off.

I'm pretty sure most of this is due to my lights being on too long, and my lack of co2. Solution being digging up an old timer soon, and making a new diy reactor next weekend since my old one developed some leaks. And maybe get some amanos.

Otherwise there's not much to say. I recently upgraded the light to a 27watt archea fixture from AFA, and a zoomed 501 canister. Next on the list are some lily pipes, and maybe eventually painball co2.

I also really need to get some trimming scissors, the HM is getting a bit out of control.

[Dollface]

oh yeah, anyone have suggestions for what plants to put in the far right side behind the lantern? I've got some giant hair grass along the back wall, and some more blyxa back there too, wich I might pull eventually and put it in a slightly more visible spot. I'll also prolly pull that little piece of blyxa in front.

I want to get some purple bamboo to grow out of the water, but after that I have no idea.

[Ariel301]

I like the idea of the bamboo in there, to kind of keep with the oriental theme of that lantern decoration. (Is it a lantern? I was thinking it was some sort of building lol...) Maybe keep it really simple with the bamboo and the hairgrass, sort of like a japanese ink painting.

[TsuRyuu]

Purple bamboo would be rad. Maybe some Diplis diandra in the back left and right corners would look nice, too.

[Dollface]

dipilis diandra looks nice, I think if possible I may get either that or some sort of rotala (wallichii or nanjenshan)

[TsuRyuu]

Wallichii is GORGEOUS, but apparently it's also a toughie to please. I'm thinking of trying it or Rotala macrandra v. narrowleaf "magenta" (see here) in an 8" cube. No idea if macrandra would be any easier than wallichii. Texture's slightly different, but it still has the nice red hues that would look lovely offsetting the green of the DHG and blyxa.

Have you tried a (clean) toothbrush to get the algae off the blyxa? You can kind of twirl the brush around and wrap hair algae up in it, worked great in one of my old tanks to get rid of algae lurking in the plants.

[Dollface]

I love wallichii's fine texture, but not the red color, it turns this weird brick-ish sort of red that I don't exactly love.

I've been trying to pick the hair algae out wtih bamboo skewers, but I've never tried a toothbrush (I don't know if I have an old clean one either, hmm). I wonder if that would also work for the hair algae on the sides of the tank.

also, because I feel a little guilty for chatting without pictures.

Three of the 15 or so snowballs I have in this tank. One of them is even berried. (not pictured, obviously)
I'm glad that I got snowballs in the end instead of one of the other color morphs, they're great.

[Dollface]

Quick update:


water is crystal clear, the glass however, is not.

Still a bad case of thread algae, and the HM really needs a trim.
It looks quite alot nicer in person though, camera brings out all the flaws
pulled the blyxa in hopes of getting some new stems soon. I'm thinking about pulling the riccia rocks, they're doing nothing.

I may eventually pull out the UG to use it in another tank, I think it's for the better, it's not doing anything for the tank.

[Dollface]

Big changes



I took out alot of stuff, mainly the UG and the riccia rocks that were just plain ugly.
HM got that trim, and I receive a lovely plants package from malaybiswas of myriophyllum mattogrossense and didiplis diandra which is stuffed behind the lantern.

My HC is covered in algae, and it's dying off, I really need to get some CO2 on here. and my hairgrass is stagnating, which is a bad sign I think. I've also got a really bad P deficiency, my water lettuce is showing bad signs. It makes sense though, since I'm not dosing P.

[Dollface]

Guys!
Guys!
Guess what I saw just now!
A Tiiiiinnnyyy little baby snowball, you know what this means?! They're breeding!
I saw a female with eggs a while back, but I had figured she had dropped them, since I never saw her again, but evidently she didn't! and they just hatched!
SO TINY!

Big changes though, I moved today, and I set up a really nice metal shelving unit, 24" wide with adjustable shelves. I have my 10 gallon on the bottom, the 5.5 on the second shelf, and then eventually I'm going to have a 30cm cube on the top shelf. It's in a corner of my living room, and it looks great.

No pictures yet, I'll have some up whenever we find the camera.