Dan's 2.5 Gallon Planted Tank: Rocky Ruins *New Scape on Page 7*

[gnod]

uppppppppppdate! upppppppppppdate!

[dj2005]

7-8-11:
After removing the Blyxa, I haven't done much except remove some of the pesky Java moss.

[Basil]

Any new developments? Pretty sweet ideas with the emerged moss.

[dj2005]

Originally Posted by Basil

Any new developments? Pretty sweet ideas with the emerged moss.

I've been busy so I haven't changed anything. Right now, the moss is taking over the tank so I will have to fix that.

[Basil]

Nice! Yeah, life and other tanks happen. It's still a really nice tank. I've got a 2.5 gallon and I might just borrow some ideas.

[dj2005]

Update:
Hmm, it has been awhile since I gave a worthwhile update on this tank. If you want a picture update, then come back in ~one week.

As some of you may have guessed, I tore down the old scape (I still love how the scape looked at its prime even though my camera wasn't good enough to capture its beauty) as the hitchhiking Java moss took the whole tank over. Partly my fault for not giving the tank the attention it needed, but there was no way for me to remove the Java moss without tearing down the scape anyway, since it intermingled itself in with the Mini Pelia, which also happened to be the plant it hitchhiked with.

As such, that means all my mini microsword is long dead due to light starvation, and it seems no one sells mini microsword nowadays. This isn't all that shocking since I was one of the very few selling it back in 2010/2011. Still, it's a shame as I found that plant to be excellent and wouldn't mind using it again.

But, thankfully, I have quite the stockpile of Anubias nana petite; a plant that I also have a slight affinity for, as some of you know. So, the new 2.5 gallon scape has Anubias nana petite as its main plant with Fissidens as a forground carpet. Simple, easy, and maintenance free, at least I hope. Equipment is the same: Coralife 18w fixture (running one bulb at 9w), Red Sea Nano filter, Aquasoil Amazonia II Powder, and petrified wood from my old 10 gallon scape. I would love to instead use a Mini S tank but I can't get myself to spend the $60 for one. Maybe one day...

I'll hopefully have some pictures of the new scape in about a week. I think it came out quite nicely for the five minutes that I spent creating it. The fauna will be a CPO and maybe some amano shimpies that will likely crawl out and die within a month.

[dj2005]

2-3-13:
Well, I couldn't resist taking one last image using my old Canon A630 camera (getting a DSLR soon so expect better quality shots in the near future).

As stated in the previous post:

Flora:
Anubias nana petite
Fissidens fontanous

Fauna:
Olive Nerite
CPO (should have him by the end of this week)
Amano shrimp (should come with the CPO)

Equipment:
Petrified Wood
Aquasoil Amazonia II Powder
Coralife 18w fixture with one 9w bulb running (10K)
Red Sea Nano filter
Cheap Petco/Petsmart 2.5G tank
A piece of black construction paper for the background

Total cost, excluding the CPO and Amano shrimp: $0

I didn't realize this until I filled the tank, but the scape is very similar to my last 10G scape. That's a good thing as I enjoyed that scape besides the constantly cloudy water.

I stole this Fissidens from my Mini M but ran out of slate to glue the plant to, so the foreground is only 50% done.

FTS:

[Basil]

Now that's a great scape. Will you house another betta in it or go shrimp only?

[dj2005]

Originally Posted by Basil

Now that's a great scape. Will you house another betta in it or go shrimp only?

Thanks Basil.

My Betta passed away a couple months ago so I'll be keeping a male CPO and one or two Amano shrimp instead. Besides those fellas, there'll be my Olive nerite though he isn't doing the best, at the moment.

I'm pleasantly surprised how cheap CPOs have become. I've always wanted to get one but they were out of my price range.

[dj2005]

2-5-13:
My Amano shrimp and CPO are arriving tomorrow, so I am quite excited. It has been a while since I've gotten new inhabitants for any of my tanks. Are male or female CPOs less violent, or does it depend mostly on the invert's personality?

My Olive Nerite seems to have perked up a bit so that's good news as he'll enjoy cleaning these rocks off once they get the usual coating of algae. Hopefully the CPO doesn't eat him.

I found a few extra SS mesh pieces that I made back in ~2010/2011 and attached the Fissidens to them. This way the Fissidens will grow in mats rather than puff balls.

[dj2005]

2-6-13:
CPO and Amano shrimps have arrived:



A gift from Mordalphus. Sadly, I think this shrimp arrived DOA :


Joking aside, a big thanks goes to Mordalphus for the beautiful crayfish and shrimp!

[dj2005]

2-8-13:
Here is the female eating a small Ramshorn. She loves food.

[The Trigger]

Very cool little tank

[dj2005]

Originally Posted by The Trigger

Very cool little tank

Thanks Sam.

I just realized I haven't changed out the fixture's bulb since sometime in 2010. I have a new one in storage but with the low-light plants that I have in the tank, I'm thinking it would be best to keep the old bulb to avoid algae. New bulbs tend to give me GSA on the glass.

I may be getting some Red Root Floaters for this tank so I guess I'll change out the bulb if the RRF works out.

On that note, do you guys think adding RRF is a good idea? It might destroy the scape's sense of scale. Hmm.

2-8-13 Update #2:
This might be the last picture I take using the ol' point-and-shoot camera.

I'll be adding a lovely stainless steel prefilter to the intake next week (from h4n, of course). In the meantime, the window screen works well, despite its ugly appearance.

And I've added seven RCS as a clean up crew. The Amano shrimp don't do as well of a job as RCS, at least in my case.

[assasin6547]

This is, pretty much what I want my new tank to look like! It's so amazing...