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"Zen Sands" Picotope new pics 5/11

26K views 133 replies 35 participants last post by  JessDay06 
#1 · (Edited)
So I have decided that the one thing my house is missing is a fish tank (I used to have a 75 gallon koi tank, but I sold it to get my parrot a new play gym).

Once this is complete I will have every Order of life living in my house: Mammalian (dogs and humans), Avian (Saba and Teak), Reptilian (African Housesnake), Amphibian (Dart Frog), Insectia (flies and crickets for frog), Fish (uh...the fish), Invertibrates (Shrimp), Plants (plants), Fungi (there is some of that in the frog tank, Bacteria (are everywhere).

Instead of just focusing on the tank I have set up a whole plant corner in my birdroom with an orchid that hopefully I can keep alive.

Here is the first step! The wood is African Root Wood, the bottom is a combination of Plant Gold and sand, there is one rock and one bit of petrified wood. I've painted the back black with good old fashion acrylic.

There is a 9w 50/50 on the little lamp and a 29W tropical grow light (that was turned off for this photo cause of camera glare), so there is more light than it seems in this photo and I will be getting all low light plants. I have also moved the pico light to the back up on a peice of glass.

The water is pure RO with RO Right added to give it a soft/medium hardness. The heat is provided by a reptile heat pad stuck to the back glass. CO2 will be provided by a slight overstock on small schooling fishes (hopefully Aussie Blue Eyes).

I'll be updating pics as I go!

Day One:

 
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#4 ·
The heat pad is working well, mostly since it is a bird room which is already kept at an air temp of 77, it's keeping the tank around 78. So it doesn't have to work very hard.

Fish go through respiration the same any any other animal does, so why wouldn't they provide CO2? I used to have a 2 1/2 gallon closed system with plants and fish and it lived happily and grew well for three years (until I upgraded to the 75).
 
#6 ·
I will have plants I was just letting the water temp stablize. The filter is hidden behind the drift wood, if you look through the arch you can see the waterfall.
 
#8 ·
That filter is as silent as the grave, it's great, although it's little more than a way to get a little flow through the tank and give a place for bacteria to grow. It has a tiny sack of carbon and a tiny bit of a filter pad inside.

I have moved the 50/50 to the back of the tank and pointed it down back behind the driftwood just so that I can see back there and give the tank a little more 'depth'. I know the actinic does nothing for the plants, but I like the hue it gives to the back of the tank.
 
#9 ·
I just planted this tank with:

Java moss (like everyone else in the world)
Petite Nana
Anubias
Crypt Beckettii
Crypt Wendtii (green)
Dwarf Red Lilly
And a bulb of some description.

I'll take a pic when the water declouds (I stirred up some of fertilizer under the sand which is like a kind of clay Plant Gold).

All plants are Low Light and Easy to Medium. It's a lot in a little tank and I don't expect everything to survive. We shall see how it goes!
 
#12 ·
Heehee! Thanks! I forgot about the sig! I'll go hunt that down. Hugs!

I've chosen all *easy* plants so hopefully they will be happy.

Off to change sig!
 
#13 ·
I love these fish! They are Galaxy Danio (Danio margaritatus) sometimes known as Celestial Pearl Danio. I want some and I know just where to gets them. They look like tiny trout. Very small, inch or less.

Undiscovered until 2006.

 
#15 ·
Agreed about the CPD's.

The Celestial Pearl Danios are good schooler I find, and need to be in a group of at least seven or so, and will require a tank of at least 10gls. I tried them in a 5.5gl and that was still too small.
With a tank of that size, I would suggest some sort of shrimp, either RCS or CRS to start out with- they will also double as an algae crew.
 
#16 ·
Here's a pic with the water not so cloudy, I'm thinking of scraping off some of the black paint behind the archway to give a bit more dimension.

Jumping can be a problem, although the surface area of this tank is large enough to house such fish (I've been over to the CPD forum).

 
#17 ·
I went into a pet shop today that had a petite nana with eight leaves (I counted them) for 29.99. I laughed at their insanely priced plant. I got the nana above for 9.99.
 
#19 ·
I can do that no problem! I'll take them tomorrow...can't go in that room right now cause that's where the parrots sleep and they get angry if I wake them before dawn. Giggle. I'll also drag out the tripod so I can take some 'no flash' shots.

I pawed through a HUGE box of wood at the fish shop looking for those two pieces. Then I boiled them for hours while my husband looked at me like I was insane.

This is the parrot, Saba, and from this picture you can see why she is to be obeyed at all times.

 
#20 ·
It put a little life in my tank, two little cherry shrimp. One of them is berried, has anyone had good fry from buying berried shrimp or does the stress of transport upset them? They have been in the tank about 12 hours and are swimming around and eating. They are so much fun to watch. Here's a pic of the non berried one munching on the single fish flake I placed in the tank.

 
#22 ·
Really like your tank. I have the same one in my office full of Red Cherry Shrimp. I know you'll find them entertaining as I do, and if you can get a few more, you'll have a nice breeding colony in no time!
(BTW, very jealous of how nice your pictures turn out!!)
 

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#23 ·
Thanks! One of the shrimp is heavy with berries if they don't hatch I'll get a pair of males (I ended up with two females).

I LOVE watching the shrimp, I sat there for two hours last night just watching them effortlessly zooming around the tank.

The photos are taken without flash on a tripod with the lights in the room turned off and a Nikon D40.
 
#24 ·
I added a sponge over my intake cause I'm afraid that if my berried cherry shrimp does hatch her little ones that they'd all get sucked away and chopped up.

I'm also putting one on the filter in the ten gallon where I plan to start breeding Galaxy Danios from a already captive bred source. I'm so taken by this fish that I want to help the captive bred population to hopefully reduce it from being snatched from the wild.
 
#26 ·
Looking like A good start just one thing that bugs me is I think the DW is just too big for the tank standing vertical like that. The wood on the right looks like it has some interesting holes did you try laying it horizontal?
One more thing I'm surprised nobody mentioned is don't bury the rhizome of the nana like that or it will rot with time. You can bury the roots however.
 
#27 ·
I used mature water from a friend of mine's tank for most of the water. So don't worry about two little shrimp spiking my tank.

I'm going to be removing the nana and placing it on driftwood in the ten gallon.

I like the oversized wood.
 
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