3 tanks, one bedroom. 5/10/20g Low tech.

[theericafish]

The room


5g

Specs:
-5g craigslist tank
-13w 5700k cfl bulb
-Azoo aquasoil
-Aquaclear 20
-25w Heater
-Petrified wood
-Stainless steel mesh

-Riccia
-Mini xmas moss.
-Xmas moss
-Peacock moss
-Fissiden
-Flame moss
-Anubias micro
-Anubias nana petite

The Journal(newest to oldest):


4/21/13
A lot of the mosses died in this tank, had no cleanup crew for the glass and had huge brown algae blooms. Picked up some nerite snails(1 horned, 1 spotted with heart shaped spots ). The Blue velvets had shrimplets and I'm assuming there is about 10 in there. Letting the tank do its thing til the shrimplets reach a larger size.


1/9/13
New contributions to the scape: anubias mirco and anubius nana petite. It's coming together.


1/9/13
Purchased some new moss off craiglist from a tpt member. (haven't got his name yet :P) Moss carpet is coming along now, just have to wait for things to grow.


1/8/13
This is our new project. Planning on xmas/other moss carpet with ss mesh. Stocking ideas are oebt or tiger shrimp. Possibly dario dario.



20g Long
The current 20

Specs:

-20gallon long
-t5NO 2x18w lighting fixture
-Azoo Aqua soil
-Aquaclear 30
-Marineland 75w heater

-Amazon Swords
-Ludwigia
-Java Moss
-Java Fern
-Anubias
-Water Sprite
-Rosefolia(died)
-Dwarf Hairgrass(doing so so)
-Some kind of Sagittaria

-Alpine Manzanita driftwood
-Various slate peices


The Journal(newest to oldest):


4/21/13
This tank is doing great. Had a bit of a disease issue for a while and lost some embers and galaxies. Most likely it was costia or parasite infection. Treated with aqua cure pro and kanaplex. Removed and euthanized infected fish. The cherry shrimp population is up to around 40 or 50 now displaying a variety of colors, red, brown, pinkish, rili looking etc. Just letting it do its thing and letting nature take its course. The tank is also very heavily planted with a variety of stem plants. Added 2 siamese algae eaters about 2 days ago which seem to be liking their new home. I have been dosing liquid co2 now for about a week and the plants are responding well. (battling hair algae :O)


1/8/13
20 is doing well, trimmed the moss a bit. Looking for a cheap co2 setup :x


12/8/12
Cherry shrimp been breeding as they do, have about 25 now. Letting the tank get overgrown.


11/15/12
Shrimp breeding like crazy, tanks getting overgrown and pretty full. Moved the java fern to the front and the root system is nice looking. Tanks doing well, had to break up the large anubias into several peices.


9/14/12
Long time no update, this is how the 20 looks right now, pretty planted 10 ember tetra 7 galaxy rasbora 6 cherry red shrimp 3 oto cats. 21 different types of plants, assassin snails, filter baffle. Not dosing anything. Just light and substrate.



7/15/12
Got a lot more plants and rearanged everything. Added some moss to the wood via fishing line and moved a lot of the slate around. In between this time and the previous date I also leveled the tank(was getting on my nerves seeing the waterline off :O. Not sure if this is the final setup, kinda like it and don't so unsure.


7/6/12
Planted some more plants and weighed the driftwood down with some slate.


7/1/12
Our first plants went in and we began soaking the driftwood in the tank(didn't have anything larger to soak it in :I)


6/29/12
Filled the tank, it was a little cloudy but not too bad, poked around the soil to remove air bubbles.


6/28/12
Brought home the new tank and set everything up.



Here is our first attempt at a freshwater aquarium! Please, let us know what you think! ^_^

Our 10g!

Our tank video:

Our 10g dirt planted tank~! Neon/Shrimp/Oto! :D - YouTube

Our 10g dirt planted tank~! Neon/Shrimp/Oto! :D - YouTube

Specs:

-10gallon
-2 5100k cfl bulbs
-MiracleGro Organic potting soil
-Aquaclear 20
-Topfin 50w heater

-amazon swords
-ruffle swords
-java moss
-a variety of anubias
-java ferns
-duckweed
-anacharis
-driftwood

-7 neon tetras
-3 amano shrimps
-2 oto meowmeows
-2 assassin snails

The Journal(newest to oldest):


4/21/13
The 10 is still alive and kicking! Lost one neon to constipation/overfeeding issue. It was a female food hog. I am now feeding less and they seem to be responding well. Lots of floating plants in this tank taking over, so far I'm liking the look and the nitrates are noticeably reduced. Have about 70+ assassin snails in this tank which are being fed algae wafers and flakes and seem to be thriving. Possibly going to sell some of them to lessen the population. Dirted tank is really awesome but the gravel does get a bit icky, mts might solve that issue but with the amount of assassins they would be instantly consumed :x.


1/13/13
Changed the scape on the 10 to give the neons more room. Trimmed the plants and moved the driftwood back a bit.


1/8/13
Replaced the stock hood with a glass top and light fixture with two screw in cfl bulbs. Added a ton of plants I picked up from someone off craigslist. Neons ottos and amanos are still doing fine. The male amano went missing for a week but showed up out of the blue just when I thought he'd left for good. Having some issues with fungus on the wood and black beard algae. Not so much since I got the new fixture though, it cuts back the light a bit.


12/5/12
First tank is doing good still, assassin snails breeding like crazy, have at least 40 now and feeding them algae wafers. Neons got pretty big, swords growing, some algae issues but nothing major.


7/16/12
Update on the 10g. Moved one of the swords to the 20g tank, anacharis is growing like crazy and managing to keep the duckweed under control. Also have tons of baby assassin snails. Might sell them to my local fish store The anubias second on the right had some algae problems and one of the leaves is falling off. Ruffle sword not doing too well also. Other than that all is good and the fish are happy.


6/22/12
Added small branch driftwood around the tank to even things out a bit. Made a moss tree with one of the branches behind the large driftwood. Trimmed some of the sword leaves that were dying off. Ended up turning the driftwood around and moving some plants around to provide a better feel to the tank.


6/14/12
Added anubias coffeefolia to the front center of the tank. Moved the heater to a new location because it was causing the duckweed to gather inbetween it and the filter(made a mess ). Java ferns growing a ton!


6/8/12
Weekly water change. Moved the heater to a less visible position and moved the moss onto the driftwood. Moss tree!


6/2/12
Neons getting bigger and tank still growing well, Also added 2 oto which seem to be doing well.


5/26/12
Tank starting to become grown. Added 3 java ferns.


5/10/12
Added 3 Amano shrimp! 2 females with eggs and 1 male.


5/4/12
Clear Water after water change.


5/2/12
Water a bit brownish due to leached tannin from the driftwood.


4/24/12
Added 4 neon tetras around this time.


4/18/12
Removed faux drift wood/added moss/more anacharis.


4/2/12
Day 1 After filling the tank(water a bit murky due to the dirt still seeping though the gravel).


EXTRA FISH & STUFF PHOTOS



The Neons


The Shrimpies


Assassin snail on the hunt


A shot of the otos resting after feeding.


From below.


Feeding frenzy.

[Schwartzy61]

Looks pretty righteous man! Keep uploading pictures of the growth down the road!

[theericafish]

Originally Posted by Schwartzy61

Looks pretty righteous man! Keep uploading pictures of the growth down the road!

Thank you so much! We've added more photos!

[Scars]

I like the look so far, those must be some happy tetras. Much better than my first "attempts"

All those tanins might be coming from your dirt. I have a 20 gallon im working on now that turned to tea after water changes. Try adding a little purigen in a nylon bag to your filter. Clears it up beautifully.

[AaronMB]

Looks good! Looking forward to more progression pictures of growth.

I really like these tank journals - certainly makes me wish I took more photos along the way.

[theericafish]

Originally Posted by Scars

I like the look so far, those must be some happy tetras. Much better than my first "attempts"

All those tanins might be coming from your dirt. I have a 20 gallon im working on now that turned to tea after water changes. Try adding a little purigen in a nylon bag to your filter. Clears it up beautifully.

Thanks!

Yep, our neons are happy little dudes. They school merrily all day long.

Yes, we had tanin problems when we added our dirt. We also had problems with the dirt and bark floating to the top. Next time, we plan on soaking our dirt longer, so hopefully that will help. To clear up the water we did partial water changes everyday for a few weeks. It was a hassle, but we've decided to steer clear of synthetic additives as much as possible ^_^.

Good luck with your 20 gallon! I hope to see pictures. We're making plans for a 20 gallon too!

[Azarakiah]

are u trying to cause a problem for urself? i dont think u examined ur heater very well... i have the same one its not fully submersable.. not meant to be underwater all the way.. theres a "maximum water line" printed on the heater itself..

[livingword26]

Originally Posted by Azarakiah

are u trying to cause a problem for urself? i dont think u examined ur heater very well... i have the same one its not fully submersable.. not meant to be underwater all the way.. theres a "maximum water line" printed on the heater itself..

Actually that looks like a Top Fin® Submersible Aquarium Heater to me. I think that the water line is a "Minimum" water line.

http://www.petsmart.com/product/inde...ductId=2752191

[livingword26]

Nice looking aquarium. If your are like the rest of us, you are already thinking about your next (bigger) one.

[CatB]

nice tank, but that seems really soon to be adding fish...maybe not. are you sure the tank is fully cycled, have you been testing?
(also, those amazon swords will get HUGE in time, watch out for that)

[mrduna01]

Originally Posted by livingword26

Actually that looks like a Top Fin® Submersible Aquarium Heater to me. I think that the water line is a "Minimum" water line.

http://www.petsmart.com/product/inde...ductId=2752191

You are correct

Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk 2

[Azarakiah]

ok now i feel dumb lol the rubber part on top was covering half of the text >.< now im in my place lol

[2in10]

Good looking tank

[theericafish]

Originally Posted by livingword26

Actually that looks like a Top Fin® Submersible Aquarium Heater to me. I think that the water line is a "Minimum" water line.

http://www.petsmart.com/product/inde...ductId=2752191

I believe we have a similar model to the one in that link. Have had no issues with the heater so far but it is usually on only during the morning and I try to keep an eye on the temperature. Reviews lead me to believe any heater can be faulty so its definitely something to watch out for. Fried fishies wouldn't be a good day for me :'(

Originally Posted by livingword26

Nice looking aquarium. If your are like the rest of us, you are already thinking about your next (bigger) one.

Appreciate the compliment! I really want a 20 long at the moment. I would like to keep the existing tank going though so I'm looking for a 2 tank stand. Nothing seems to be sturdy enough or fit what I'm looking for style wise. May build my own! :O What plant are you growing on your substrate? I was thinking for the 20 I wanted to go for the carpeted effect.

Originally Posted by CatB

nice tank, but that seems really soon to be adding fish...maybe not. are you sure the tank is fully cycled, have you been testing?
(also, those amazon swords will get HUGE in time, watch out for that)

The tank cycled pretty quickly with the plants that were from an existing planted tank at our local fish store. Before we had fish there were pond snails and I think rams horn snails that came on the plants(as eggs). They were thriving on algae that was growing due to excess nutrients in the water much before we added fish. We've been checking the water throughout the process with the api test kits. The tank was 0 ammonia 0 nitrite and between 2.5 and 5ppm of nitrate when we added the fish, so pretty close to ideal water conditions.

During the cycling process we observed a spike in ammonia and nitrite which the snails seemed to have no problem with(not that I wanted to expose them to toxic water, but didn't have much of a choice). The pond snails breathe air also so I don't think the water quality had a huge effect on them.

As for maintenance we are doing ~30% water changes every friday and trimming plants if needed. The shimp seem to enjoy eating some dead leaves so if theres not too many I just let them be. Going for a more natural balanced eco system(as natural as fish in glass tanks can get at least :P). At this rate the water change happens around when the nitrate reaches about 5ppm.

I'm hoping the swords continue doing well, I've already planted some of the "baby swords" that grew almost entirely in our tank(off the stems that come out). They are growing really fast. Planning to grow enough to have a decent amount of plants to move to the 20g whenever that happens. Always good to save some money!

Originally Posted by 2in10

Good looking tank

Thank you Your 75 looks good! Wish I had room for a bigger tank... someday...

Excuse the lengthy post

[HappyToLearn]

Nice tank
I'm started my own planted tank about a month ago, so it's fun to read journals from other newbies. I'll be following yours.
BTW, how many watts on your lights?