CryptKeeper54's Schuber Wright Mini 66 (pic heavy)

[aweeby]

interesting... you planning to use co2 on this?
If not, I think an island style layout would work nicely with that wood. i.e. clean sand in the foreground, use the branch wood as a centerpiece with some smaller ryouh, instead of smooth river stones. some NLJF in the background and perhaps some anubias nana in the foreground, maybe some Mini pellia on the rocks... the wood is just the right size for that little tank, personally, I think i'd be a waste to ditch it in favor of an iwagumi.

[CryptKeeper54]

Originally Posted by starfire12

I would do the stones with a black substrate, plants in the back, some type of carpet plant but not over the whole front part of the tank so that some of the dark substrate shows.

I was thinking the same thing. I still got left over fine black sand I used in my Fluval Edge. Looks great IMO.

Originally Posted by aweeby

interesting... you planning to use co2 on this?
If not, I think an island style layout would work nicely with that wood. i.e. clean sand in the foreground, use the branch wood as a centerpiece with some smaller ryouh, instead of smooth river stones. some NLJF in the background and perhaps some anubias nana in the foreground, maybe some Mini pellia on the rocks... the wood is just the right size for that little tank, personally, I think i'd be a waste to ditch it in favor of an iwagumi.

Thanks for your input.

This will have pressurized CO2. Wanted to do something different by using smooth river stones. Maybe it's just me, but it seems like iwagumi tanks are done to death now a days. You're describing tanks that look like those of TPT member manini. Love the tanks in his store Aquascapes but I'm trying to be different. I do plan on some mini pellia (expensive little thing). You have an eye for aquascapes, no doubt about that.

[toastedtoast]

Dammit CryptKeeper, looking at your photos for a week has pushed me over the edge and I've ordered the 6g version of this tank. Now I just have to find a place to set it up--maybe on my filing cabinet at work.

[CryptKeeper54]

Originally Posted by toastedtoast

Dammit CryptKeeper, looking at your photos for a week has pushed me over the edge and I've ordered the 6g version of this tank. Now I just have to find a place to set it up--maybe on my filing cabinet at work.

Lol.... you only live once. Enjoy the ride my friend. I hope this tank brings you joy rather than frustrations. Hope to see a build journal from you.

[CryptKeeper54]

Update: this looked a lot better in my mind. The black sand with river stone combo. Black sand was supposed to top aqua soil. Now I'm second guessing, a beach sand look might look better as aweeby suggested. Going to simmer on this scape for a few days. I might just stick with it for the sake of trying to be different.....lol.

Possible flora: anubias petite (@ base of driftwood), umbrosum & micranthemoides combo (behind driftwood), java moss (growing on branches), some kind of erio (planning on the erio to be the lone star of the plant show, front right corner), and maybe ranunculus papulentus ( spread throughout). Depends on what my LFS has at the time.

Sorry for the phone pic.

[aweeby]

Yeah, you gotta love jojo's scapes. But I do see your point. There's so many ideas that get thrown around a lot because 'they work', and very few people have a distinct style. If you notice some of the scapes at aquascapes tend to use really oversized hardscape materials which turns out to be really refreshing, but I think it's hard to pull off unless you have a shop full of branches and rocks, lol.

I like the idea of the erios. I personally think the textures would really pop if you planted them amongst the river stones. That'd look very neat. I've worked with m. umbrosum before, and I have to tell you, it's definitely not for everyone/every tank. It grew so fast in my 55g that I'd have to trim it 2x a week just to keep it from unrooting, but I'm sure that will vary. It might be just me, but I think that echidnodorus sp. vesuvius would look really neat with the wood and dark sand. Green doesn't get much brighter than that plant.

Anyway, keep the updates coming. It looks very promising.

[wetbizquit]

looks awesome!! i love that setup in the last pic, reminds me of what im trying to do in my 20g long! keep it up, are these things really over 300$$!!!!?

[CryptKeeper54]

Originally Posted by wetbizquit

looks awesome!! i love that setup in the last pic, reminds me of what im trying to do in my 20g long! keep it up, are these things really over 300$$!!!!?

$300? What are you refering to? This tank setup retails for $109.

[CryptKeeper54]

Originally Posted by aweeby

Yeah, you gotta love jojo's scapes. But I do see your point. There's so many ideas that get thrown around a lot because 'they work', and very few people have a distinct style. If you notice some of the scapes at aquascapes tend to use really oversized hardscape materials which turns out to be really refreshing, but I think it's hard to pull off unless you have a shop full of branches and rocks, lol.

I like the idea of the erios. I personally think the textures would really pop if you planted them amongst the river stones. That'd look very neat. I've worked with m. umbrosum before, and I have to tell you, it's definitely not for everyone/every tank. It grew so fast in my 55g that I'd have to trim it 2x a week just to keep it from unrooting, but I'm sure that will vary. It might be just me, but I think that echidnodorus sp. vesuvius would look really neat with the wood and dark sand. Green doesn't get much brighter than that plant.

Anyway, keep the updates coming. It looks very promising.

Thanks. After further deliberation, I have decided to toss out the black sand and save it for another scape. Doesn't flow well with me. Going to add more pea gravel on top of aquasoil and plant sporadic plant varieties here and there. Hope it doesn't look like garbage, but that's the fun about being an amateur. Experimenting and learning.

The umbrosum/micranthemoides combo has always stuck with my visions of a planted tank since that's what Amano used a lot of early in his career. I just finished looking over some of my older books collection. I have the 1st book he came out with (and several others) and I can't believe people are selling this on amazon for over $200. Anyone else notice that? It's like a comic collectible or something. I'm gald I have it but I don't know if I would pay over 200 for that book. Maybe I just misread the price or something.

[Jack Gilvey]

This is a very classy-looking setup. I could do without all the text on the tank base, though, that part's cheesy. I'd cover it.

[nanobettaman]

I was seriously considering buying the Fluval Spec V as a shrimp/CPD fry grow-out tank in a couple weeks, but this... oh my.

It's much more elegant, the lighting is so much better, and the flip-up lightstand/base is fantastic.

I guess I'll be buying this for my birthday on the 12th

Oh, and on Amazon and Ebay they're 89.99 plus shipping.

[CryptKeeper54]

Originally Posted by nanobettaman

I was seriously considering buying the Fluval Spec V as a shrimp/CPD fry grow-out tank in a couple weeks, but this... oh my.

It's much more elegant, the lighting is so much better, and the flip-up lightstand/base is fantastic.

I guess I'll be buying this for my birthday on the 12th

Oh, and on Amazon and Ebay they're 89.99 plus shipping.

Well worth it IMO but it doesn't come with a filter in that setup (I think). If I could do it over, I'd look into the fluval C2 or aquaclear 20. I just bought the spec V and although cool looking, the light is built for low light plants.

Originally Posted by Jack Gilvey

This is a very classy-looking setup. I could do without all the text on the tank base, though, that part's cheesy. I'd cover it.

Agreed. Definitely a love or hate it tank setup. I plan on covering it with my soon to be plantednanotanks.com logo sticker. We shall see.

[nanobettaman]

Originally Posted by CryptKeeper54

Well worth it IMO but it doesn't come with a filter in that setup (I think). If I could do it over, I'd look into the fluval C2 or aquaclear 20. I just bought the spec V and although cool looking, the light is built for low light plants.

You're right, no filter for the 89.99 package.

I do like the aquaclears. I've had a few of them over the years, and I'm running one right now on my main tank. The C2 interests me, but I've heard that the flow is quite heavy - one review I saw said the C2 set on "low" had more flow than an AC set wide open. Do you have it? Is it too much for a 4gallon?

I'd even consider a small canister if I could control the flow and block the intake properly to protect fry/shrimplets.

[CryptKeeper54]

Originally Posted by nanobettaman

You're right, no filter for the 89.99 package.

I do like the aquaclears. I've had a few of them over the years, and I'm running one right now on my main tank. The C2 interests me, but I've heard that the flow is quite heavy - one review I saw said the C2 set on "low" had more flow than an AC set wide open. Do you have it? Is it too much for a 4gallon?

I'd even consider a small canister if I could control the flow and block the intake properly to protect fry/shrimplets.

I have an AC 20 and I thought the C2 used the same motor. So I can't speak on the flow of the C2 but I was considering it as an option. The Zoo Med 501 seems to be a popular canister filter for nano tanks.

[nanobettaman]

I noticed your new Fluval thread had a pic of this tank in what looks to be dry-start mode...

Watcha doin' CK?