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Andrew's 2nd tank - planted spec 2 tank - boraras maculatus & wild tigers arrived :D

22K views 68 replies 18 participants last post by  horsedude 
#1 · (Edited)
Hey all, soooo I got multiple tank syndrome bad... I have been playing with my spec V since early july and now have it basically where I want it (link in my signature) and I am feeling like I need another project, but don't want to commit the funds or energy into a huge project (not sure how long I'll be in this apartment, etc) so nano's make sense for me now.

So last night I ordered up the oldish fluval spec (to be replaced by their spec 3 in their product line now). It is a well known 2 gallon nano tank. I plan to make it a heavily planted betta tank.

---Ordered list:

Spec 2 nano tank
Aqua Soil Amazonia
La Plata Sand
Congo Sand
Seiryu Stone
25w heater
CFL 13w clamping light
Ball valve for pump control (so I can get it real low for the betta)
Misc stuff like filter media & thermometer)

Right now I am at about $120 shipped for the project

---Need to buy list:

PLANTS!

1 male betta
dwarf shrimps?




My other tank is a gravel/rock type substrate, for this tank I definitely want to go with a white or tan sand on top of a chunky mulch like soil (like organic choice) with the top layer being not super uniform in sand, I like the dirty look.

The scape I have in mind might not use any driftwood or if so only one small piece, I want to go with a tier or two of rocks with substrate within the first tier if that makes sense...

As for plants I am not really sure yet what direction to go with, I won't be going with CO2 but my light should be able to support low to mid light requiring plants so I should have more options with plants than my stock led using spec v tank...



Thanks for reading :fish:
 
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#35 ·
heh thanks

I dunno, I am new to this hobby for one not to mention this is my first time growing it - I have heard it grows in the moderate range as far as carpeting out goes
 
#36 ·
Great looking tank!
I see you we're thinking about a darker betta, I have one, he's great, but I can't really see his face, and that bothers me! I'm not exactly sure why, but I live to see their faces....which ended up with me getting another betta!
Good luck with your tank and future betta!
 
#38 ·
thanks! yeah, I see what you mean there - however I have decided against a betta for this tank :confused1:


Up date please im really enjoying this thread buts its only cus i like to look at pics of tanks XD

thanks! I know what you mean ;)
 
#39 ·
Soooo, I have had some algae issues with this tank - my pennywort was FULL of it, the leaves are still a bit messed from it, but today I took out all of it and rinsed it down and actually thined it out because that stuff really grew!

I also put in a part of a window insect screen over the bulb within the shroud of my light to cut down a bit on its power to help against the algae... also I am going to reduce my light on time per day - but I am hoping my dosing of flourish excel here in a few days when I get it in the mail helps as well.

But of course when I get it stocked I will be able to control it better - that said...

I am scratching the betta plan and going with a CRS colony. I would also like to get a 3-5 chilli rasboras. What do you guys think about that? Could I house some of those guys? I always do frequent water changes (well at least on my cycled 5 gallon tank, minimum of 2 a week usually lol).

Finaaaally, I have some manzanita driftwood coming and I plan to minorly adjust my scape and get a nice branch cluster of manzanita in the tank that I plan to attach my anubias petite to (as well as two more rhizomes coming in the mail as well as some fissidens)

So yeah, I guess I can't stop tinkering.

Pix:





you can see the ludwigia basically needs a trim already!



I guess I'm not surprised that pond snails have hitchhiked into the tank but I am also surprised they have been surviving the water chemistry! However now the ammonia is actually almost 0ppm, nitrites 0ppm, and the nitrates are real high (so I guess the cycle is real on its way :D )


thanks for readin ;)
 
#41 ·
Hi thanks for the great pics and the tank is deffinitly coming along nicely,
my personal views on housing the chilli rasboras is a definet yes. i love rasboras, i have 9 in my 20 gallon and their breeding aswell so i think there graet little fish. i also love crs but i can get another tank as my parents wont allow me:(. i love the idea of having manzanita i there aswell and i like anubias also.
keep up the great work and updates! (lol) :)
 
#42 ·
thanks for the comments guys!

the tank finally was testing good so I added what the tank really needs... algae prevention, two amanos will do the job well I think.

Well, my LFS actually had some DHG in today so I bought some and added a lil bit extra and a lil cardamine in the background and removed like 50% of the pennywort floating on top.

I am waiting for some fissidens and more anubias petite - I will be tying or gluing these to some manzanita that is also enroute, later this week I should have that.


Finally, the amanos... I feel pretty bad to say it but I got them in the tank and got on my computer for a second and cleaned up some of the mess from planting and when I looked in the tank next I only saw 1 of 2 amanos........ needless to say I hadn't put the cover on the tank yet! :eek:

DOH, I looked around, all over, in the filter wells, etc... no where to be found.

I took the tank off the stand and then removed the stand and found him tucked between these pieces of cardboard I have under the stand trying to level it.

He was probably under there for 5-10 min or something!

I got him back in the tank and now like nearly an hour later he has some color back. Structurally and behaviorally one couldn't tell he spent that much time under the stand, main thing noticed was his carapace seemed darker than the other amano and he also lost a good bit of the slight brown/tan hues the other amano has.

I wonder if I will find him dead tomorrow though.

Here is a picture of the pair after the drama: (the Houdini amano is the one hanging out on the dwarf sub)





 
#43 ·
also, I am in the market to buy 4 or 5 chilli rasboras & 10 crs shrimps.

I am trying to figure out where is the best place to order them, someone that can ship me both in the same package.

Any pointers? CRS are pretty easy to find but good looking chilli rasboras seem a bit harder, the ones at my LFS don't look very good - C.Campbell on here who is local said he thinks they arent really rasbora brigittae
 
#45 ·
Ya I was thinking I should contact her about it.

Oh and I found the escapist amano shrimp alive and eating this morning, sooooo so far he seems ok - I am impressed he is surviving such stress still, hope he makes it. He is grazing some and appears to be ok but wow 5-10mins out of the tank under the stand is pretty impressive to survive at all from!
 
#53 ·
Oh and I found the escapist amano shrimp alive and eating this morning, sooooo so far he seems ok - I am impressed he is surviving such stress still, hope he makes it. He is grazing some and appears to be ok but wow 5-10mins out of the tank under the stand is pretty impressive to survive at all from!
I had a cover on my Eheim Aquastyle 9, but I had one get out around the cover since the heater cord created a bit of a gap. It was found hours later about 12 foot away from the tank in the kitchen floor. It apparently crawled across 10 foot of carpet to make it there then a couple of feet into the kitchen. No idea how it did that. I know it lived for awhile, because it wasn't there all day then it was.

The others I had will sometimes get up on top of the filter completely out of the water looking to escape.

Glad yours made it.
 
#47 ·
im gonna go with msjinkzd - she said she is getting some rasbora brigittae (chillis) in on monday so after a quarantine they can be sent to me along with 10 crs s grade :)
 
#49 ·
Soooooo... I finally made adjustments for this tank.

I added a couple pieces of manzanita wood. I attached some fissidens and anubias petite to the two pieces.

I plan to put in some chilli rasboras so I want to create enough cover in the tank for them to feel more comfortable. Though I am still thinking it might not be enough cover for them.... perhaps I will add some riccia to float on top.

Also I added an assassin snail from my 5 gallon tank to help control the snails that hitched on the plants, he has been doing his job so far pretty handily.

Pix:







The tank also still has two amano shrimps in it to help control algae until I get a colony of CRS in there.

Oh and as far as stocking goes... I am having a real hard time finding any chilli rasboras available anywhere - nobody has them in stock! :( and the ones at my LFS are probably not really rasbora brigittae from what I have seen.

Well hope you like the changes to the tank and the plans for the fauna ;)
 
#50 ·
that is really cool and unluckly on the rasboras. i can see whhy u want them they are very cool little fellas and it would look really cool:) anyway i got some DHG and i was going to make a carpet with them But my hopolo catfish (sanchez) had other ideas and destroyed it and up rotted every 30 hand planted plant- it made me made but oh well.
keep up the good work and UPDATES! :)
 
#54 ·
wow your shrimp was quite the adventurer haha!

I guess mine just being out of the tank for about 10 minutes was fine, he is still ok and grazing today!



soooooooooooo finally Msjinkzd is probably getting in some rasbora brigittae in (chillirasbora) so I will order like 5 of those, I also paid her for 10 CRS to brighten up the bottom of the tank ;)

I am going to consider diffusing the light a bit more because the rasboras probably won't like the intensity - also I am going to get giant/greater duckweed for the surface so they feel like they have more cover.
 
#55 ·
sooo finally got some CRS in the tank (ordered 10 from Msjinkzd, still waiting on her to get chilli rasboras in) :D

I am waiting on some giant duckweed to come in the mail from a user here, I plan to put a lot of cover for the lil rasboras that should be in the tank in a few weeks hopefully.

Besides this the tank is just going along :) it has a bit of algae but whatever... I guess the two amanos have been slacking ;)

here are pix!















andrew
 
#58 ·
soooooooooooooooo this tank is just too hot...

I know that CRS like the temps lower than what the tank is at...

I have my 25w heater turned ALL the way down but the tank stays at 77/78 .... I wish I could get it more like in the mid to low 70's - I have heard about CRS dying off when the temps are high and they really need 70-74 to be healthy and I am sure most all of you will agree with that.

I don't know what to do because all small heaters under 25w dont adjust and just automatically go to 78 degrees, and my 25w is too powerful even at its lowest setting that says it is set to 72 but wont drop under 77/78!!!

Maybe its just my 25w is low quality?

I dunno!

If anyone has any ideas about a heater that actually maintains low 70's and could work with my 2g tank I am all ears!

andrew
 
#60 ·
thanks man :)

I swapped heaters with my 5gallon tank and it appears this heater is a bit easier to run cooler (it doesnt seem to want to cycle on as easy as the other on low setting) and the temps have been running around 75 and I dunno I think the shrimps seem a bit more animated now but maybe that is just in my head lol

I might get a REAL low wattage heater made for a betta bowl or something that is preset and see how it works with the setup...
 
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