12.5G Tetras Tank with MTS Invasion (May 2011 - now)

[doncityz]

HISTORY
Let me intro about my fish keeping background. When I was a teenager, I bought an Oscar and rear it in my dad's 50g tank.
I kept him for years, but he is alone in there for all those years. FInally, my dad gave him away because I went to study
abroad and nobody to take care of him.

Anyway, few years ago I thought of starting fish rearing again. But little did I know about it, since when I was rearing my oscar,
my dad set up and maintain the tank for me. I bought a 10gal and put in tap water, pour in the gravel, put in some plastic plants
and rocks, and a powerhead filter, and immediately put in some tetras (neon, rummy nose, baloon eyed, etc).
About 3-4 weeks later, one by one the fish died until all of them died. Many suffered ich and fin rot as well
Yes, I forgot to put the anti chlorine... ... I felt dumb.

Then few months later I start again, this time remembering to put anti chlorine. with some cichlids with 10 gal i kept 6 cichlids!!!
and true enough, one by one died due to fights. i was stubborn, not listening the advices given in the forums about overcrowding.
i tried to rearrange caves, plants, rocks.. but they still die from fights. and they also die from sickness such as dropsy,
and some sort of bacteria infections... Yes, I did WC once a month only.. Here are some pics of the tank when it houses
the cichlids.


And my Mbuna Cichlids:


After the death of my last cichlid, I decided to quit.

For a while that is, when a friend suggested me to start Planted Tank instead! I thought since the tank is lying around empty,
I gave planted tank a try. Of course my initial idea was just to have plants in the tank.. like an underwater forest that is nice to look at..
with no fish, it should be easier.

As I setup planted tank, I've came to learn about how to make the tank suitable for a plant -
the nitrogen cycling, the weekly water changes, fertilizers and CO2 injection.

MY TANK AS OF NOW (CURRENT CONDITION)


and.. so I started Planted Tank.. for history of planted tank see Post #3 below.

The Current Tank Specs:
TANK:
-Rimless OceanFree 12.5g with Curvy front edge. (i calculated the volume properly based on the dimension that i measure, it is actually 12.5g)
-ADA Amazonia Soil (Coarse Type)
-Lil bit of gravel for a "shore" kinda feeling lol
-AquaZonic Powerhead (1000L/h) with Top Box Filter (Scotch Brite sponges and some ceramic rings as bio media).
-AquaZonic Top Lamp - "Hacked" - fitted with 2x 11W CFL Bulbs (Control by timer from 12noon till 9pm).
-No CO2 (used to run DIY CO2 but got tired of making them)
-Liquid Ferts (dose weekly).
-Added aerator to combat algae (Feb 2012).

FLORA:
-Dwarf Sagittaria
-Bacopa Caroliniana
-Argentine Sword (or Melon Sword) unsure
-Water Sprite
-another stem plant (?)

FAUNA:
-12 Cardinal Tetras
-2 Flying Fox
-Lots of Malaysian Trumpet Snails

[sAroock]

Being new, thats a good move. start with a small and low tech setup, get ur experiences with this tank.(im noob too) making sure u dont completely bury the java ferns.

good luck.

[doncityz]

PLANTED TANK BEGINS
I started with planted tank in May 2011. See how crappy the tank was. LOL.


Added a few more plants, and got cheated by the non aquatic plant.. LOL
Check out the hideous scaping....... he he

[doncityz]

been looking at some of the awesome tanks scape in here, and started to try something with my tank.
Major rescape done.... looks kinda ok, but I am still not satisfied...



Soo....... I changed the scape againnnnnnnnnnn



But NO, i change again. LOL

[TwoStrokeKing]

Nice tank!!

[doncityz]

Hey thanks TwoStrokeKing. I just added a few more plants... Progress 4.

[Plant keeper]

wow nice are u using a desk lamp?

[doncityz]

Originally Posted by Plant keeper

wow nice are u using a desk lamp?

Plant keeper, thanks!
No. I am using aqua zonic (china made) aquarium lamp. However i modified its interior to fit 2 cfl bulbs. I put in 2x 11watts energy saving bulbs in there. Equals to about 80w total.

[doncityz]

It's been a while. I thought I take some photos of my tank as of now.

My new oto cleaning up the anubias that has been covered with diatoms.

[MissCoryCat]

Love it. You'll have to post more pics as the plants grow, it'll be looking fabulous for sure.

[sAroock]

it's turning out terrific. The java ferns are very impressive. You thinking of adding shrimps?

[doncityz]

sAroock, actually I tried adding 1 yamato shrimp before. then i left for my hometown for 4 days. when i came back it was dead (orangy stuff at the filter intake). So since then, I am scared to put a shrimp in. I was thinking to make another nano all-shrimp tank though.

[lurrch]

The tanks looks great. I love danios. They don't always photograph well, but they're constantly up to something.

If you're looking for shrimp, I've kept ghost shrimp in my 10g with no problems.

[doncityz]

Just did a major rescape today. Check out the photo in the first post.

lurrch, yeah.. I love danios as well. They are super active!

[firefiend]

Looks good.

I would have left it as it was though, it was really filling in sweetly.