10.5 Gallon Planted CRS, Espei Tank -- Updated 2/6 More Pics

[fusiongt]

Updated 2/6/2012:
Was getting really low flow from the Fluval G3 so I cleaned out the tubes and pipes. Took a few pics to show more plant growth (the background really filled in).








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Updated 1/12, plant growth and new camera so new pics:

Macro shot of the almost inch espei rasboro:


The plants are growing well


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Updated 12/9, new tank top, new poppy glass, new video of the tank in motion

It's on the second page and here is a direct link:
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/ta...ml#post1628932





Video of the tank:
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25xs5LI7Lb0


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Update 11/20, new filter added!

Scroll down to post #11, http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/ta...ml#post1602801


New Fluval G3:



Tank with lily pipes. Intake is the metal ADA Metal Jet Pipe - V1 (13mm), and the output is ADA Lily Pipe Outflow P-2 (13mm).



Fish and shrimp enjoy the new filtration (or don't care at all)



Lily pipe closeup


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First post 11/7 below:

Hi all, this is my first post! I've been a fan of planted aquariums for a while now and currently have a 10.5 gallon tank with Crystal Red shrimps (3-4 generations there breeding), 9 espei rasboros, and a couple glowlight tetras which are getting old now and I haven't replenished their school because they're on their way out unfortunately.

Specs:
- Soil: ADA Aquasoil Amazonia & ADA Bright Sand
- Filter: Fluval C2 (power filter, put eheim substrate in place of carbon pad, added a pre-filter sponge on it)
- Supplements: Flourish Excel (the liquid C02), Flourish Supplements
- Lighting: Archaea 36W Power Compact Light Fixture

The tank definitely looks busy/overgrown but I think it's more of the pictures... I've been thinking of re-landscaping it but right now it's been a good home for the shrimps and as long as they're breeding I'm happy.

Cover on:


Cover off with floaty plants (a bit too many at this time):








Any feedback appreciated!

[discuspaul]

Your photography is excellent ! And your plants look superb. Keep it up - show us more.
Love rimless tanks, and love Rasboras !

[PinoyBoy]

Looks amazing. You make me want to get rid one of my 2.5g and get a 10g. Then again, I've never seen any tank locally that looks like that.

[fusiongt]

Originally Posted by discuspaul

Your photography is excellent ! And your plants look superb. Keep it up - show us more.
Love rimless tanks, and love Rasboras !

Thanks so much. I am really into photography and I found shooting aquariums pretty difficult so I'm still learning and trying out different techniques (still have yet to set up a good flash setup for it). I've always admired the pro-shots (like the ones from Amano and ADA) and hope to figure out that clean technique soon.

[fusiongt]

Originally Posted by PinoyBoy

Looks amazing. You make me want to get rid one of my 2.5g and get a 10g. Then again, I've never seen any tank locally that looks like that.

Thanks PinoyBoy. I think it's a pretty low tech tank too and one that I think everyone could pull off (I saw your list of low tech ones). I found that starting off with the ADA Amazonia soil is really good not just for plants but also for setting the water requirements right for fish that need around PH 6.5. If you use more leafy plants and not small ground cover ones you can get by with Excel (and maybe not even need that).

I actually think my tank needs a good trimming or maybe some new plants (or repositioned the taller ones more to the back than the middle). But plants growing too much is always a good sign =)

[doubleott05]

What Kelvin is that light burning at?

[fusiongt]

Originally Posted by doubleott05

What Kelvin is that light burning at?

It's burning at 6700K. Here is the light on Aqua Forest's website (I bought it from them in store)

http://www.adana-usa.com/index.php?m...roducts_id=452

It's a good light, I recommend it. The bulb does reduce a lot though after a year (like I imagine most do) so it's good to change it even if it hasn't died out yet.

[dunehole]

Great looking tank. What are the floaters?

[fusiongt]

Originally Posted by dunehole

Great looking tank. What are the floaters?

I'm pretty sure they're Amazon Frogbite. I purchased them a few years ago from Aqua Forest and forgot to write down the names but looking online they resemble Amazon Frogbite a lot. Let me know if you'd like some (I see you're close in Berkeley) because they grow really well and I have to throw them away pretty often which feels like a waste. And if you have anything extras in your tank we can exchange =)

[dunehole]

Thanks for the offer. I'd love to setup a trade. But, I'm moving out of state in a month and I'm going to have to break everything down and start over when i get there.

[fusiongt]

New pictures added!

I decided that my old power filter (Fluval C2) would get clogged way too often. It was most likely because of my pre-filter but I needed that to avoid shrimp fry from getting sucked up so that had to stay. I know when I go on vacation I have a cat sitter who will feed the fish, but I can't ask her to clean the filter haha. So ultimately I decided to get a canister filter. I decided on the Fluval G3, which is definitely overkill for a small tank like mine, but I liked the looks of it and its price has gone down a lot since it first came out. It was going to be placed in plain view on my kitchen counter so I wanted it to look nice. I added on a inline heater so I could remove the existing heater which was in the tank. Finally I lowered the water level that way I could remove the tank lid (though I plan to create a metal mesh lid for it still).


New Fluval G3:



Tank with lily pipes. Intake is the metal ADA Metal Jet Pipe - V1 (13mm), and the output is ADA Lily Pipe Outflow P-2 (13mm).



Fish and shrimp enjoy the new filtration (or don't care at all)



Lily pipe closeup



In order to use smaller 13mm lily pipes I had to convert 5/8" tubing to 1/2" tubes. I received the solution from friendly folks at Aqua Forest as they showed me they did this to their tanks. They put in 1/2" tubes 2-4 inches inside of the larger 5/8" and voila, it works. To make sure it was sealed even better, I wrapped a rubber band around the 1/2" tube's edge and then jammed that into the larger tube as far as I could have. You can see some of the rubber band sticking out in this picture.

[fusiongt]

And an extra bonus shot of a berried CRS. I had about 4 generations of CRS but until last week had no idea this is what a prego CRS looked like!

[ghotifish]

Wowsa! That tank is gorgeous! I'm so impressed that you are able to do all that without CO2. Everything looks so healthy. What's your secret???

Unfortunately, viewing this journal will probably cost me a couple hundred bucks because now my next tank simply must be rimless!

Congrats on a beautiful tank!

[gnod]

really liking the set up.
what brand tank is it and what's the plant in the left front corner?

[fusiongt]

Originally Posted by ghotifish

Wowsa! That tank is gorgeous! I'm so impressed that you are able to do all that without CO2. Everything looks so healthy. What's your secret???

Thanks, yea I'm still debating whether or not to get CO2. I've had it in the past on larger tanks and it really does give the kick in the pants needed to get the plants to grow like crazy. Right now I'm just dosing once a week with Excel (just like 1 thread on the cap, very little) and the plants do grow but not as rapidly which is kind of a good thing because it's a lot less maintenance (trimming small amounts weekly or bi-weekly). The ADA substrate Amazonia really helps and I don't have any hard to grow plants in there (I don't think). Ground cover plants that you want to spread out throughout the bottom will definitely need CO2 which is why I avoided it. I also do very small water changes every 1 or 2 days (like a 16 oz cup full) because it's right next to my kitchen sink.

Originally Posted by gnod

really liking the set up.
what brand tank is it and what's the plant in the left front corner?

Thanks! For the left corner plant, I am pretty sure it's Blyxa japonica (but not 100% as I forgot to write it down after I purchased it years ago).

Edit - The tank is 10.5 gallon rimless glass by "Huey Hung Miracle Baby". I like the tank a lot, it's held up 3 transfers where I didn't completely take out all the substrate/water/fish. It comes with removable plastic sides and a glass top as well (seen in the first post, first image). I couldn't find the tank on the companies website though; I bought it from my LFS Albany Aquarium (http://www.albanyaquarium.com/) and I imagine they could ship one if you contact them. The tanks are really affordable compared to ADA stuff and I think the quality is really nice - they come in a few sizes but I forget the exact gallon sizes... Mine is 10.5 gallon and they have one less than that and one that is more.