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Fluval Spec Desk Tank

3K views 25 replies 12 participants last post by  GMYukonon24s 
#1 ·
Hello Everyone,

I've been reading a lot on here and thought i would share my small piece of relaxation. I started a new job recently and couldn't wait to get settled in so i could setup a desk tank. Thankfully my boss has a few at his desk so he was actually thrilled at me setting one up too. I wanted something that i don't have to do much with, and wanted it to fit in with my feng shui corner. I ended up deciding to do fw plants, rcs, and a couple neons/white clouds. i found a member on here by the name of dustin (sorry i don't know his user name) but he totally helped me out with some plants, i wanted stuff thats less demanding and easy to care for. after a week or two of sourcing everything and cycling my tank i ended up with this:

front shot


some of the inhabitants.



and, feng shui now complete.


i'll post more pics as it grows out. everythings been in there for about a month or so now, maybe a bit longer. Hope you enjoy, because i love looking at your guys' tanks daily!
 
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#5 ·
Thanks everyone. The plants are low light requirement plants which i wanted because of the light the spec came with, so i have java moss, some christmas moss, marshweed, brazilian waterweed, and a baby amazon sword. no co2, no dosing, just clean water and light! everyone thing has been growing great so far, it pretty much propogates its self as it grows. i have 3 white clouds and 3 neon tetras, and 15 cherry red shrimp. it draws a lot of attention from coworkers and helps me get thru my work days.

and thanks for the bonsai comment! that thing grows like crazy lol
 
#9 ·
so one by one, my shrimp have been disappearing, and i honestly couldn't figure out why. and now i think i do. i had a few unwanted mini snails and my lfs told me assassin snails would be the answer, well they couldn't be more wrong. in less then 2 weeks, 15 cherry shrimp are all gone and this is the reason. i couldn't be more bummed... guess i gotta toss this killer beast and buy more shrimp. :mad:
 

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#11 ·
That seems like a lot of occupants for such a small tank! I love my spec but am way too chicken to have that many creatures residing in it. (your set up is beautiful btw - and I love the bonsai!)

Hope you don't mind me asking how often you change the water and how long it's been set up now.


Edit *I suppose I should read fully! You did say it's been set up about a month ;) I need more coffee!!
 
#12 ·
no worries! lol. by now its at the 2.5 month mark or so, i started off with just 5 cherry shrimp and 3 white clouds. i added 3 neon tetras because of the heavy plantedness and ordered 10 itty bitty cherry shrimp off [Ebay Link Removed] everything was great until i added that assasin snail 2-3 weeks ago. as days went on i thought the shrimp just kept hiding. so unless my white clouds or neon tetras are killing these shrimp, its this snail...

i change about 2 cup fulls of water every few days from a filtered water source here at work.
 
#14 ·
From your first picture of the cherries they dont look that healthy and that could have lead to your assasins attacking or feasting on them. And the Neons in there could have tried hunting them down since with that small of a school in that small of a tank. I personally would rehome the Neons, and if you do wanna do shrimp check around this site to see what people are offereing. Usually better deals and healthier shrimp than Fleabay.

Nice looking spec and desk by the way.
 
#16 ·
fair enough lol. i'll move the neons to my boss's tank. i never knew neons could be agressive. they always chase each other around the tank but never thought they could harm the shrimp. the white clouds are way more relaxed so can i atleast ckeep the 3 white clouds?

i moved everything around and have 1 shrimp left lol, he's a nice bright red and almost a inch in size, hopefully he stays alive. i'll look around the boards for more shrimp as well.

the shrimp came from a personal tank of someone in florida who breeds them. he shipped them in a breather bag with moss and they were small, i thought they just needed to grow a bit n color up.

i just got my fluval 13w light in today so hopefully my plants do better as well, some started melting from the led light.
 
#21 ·
haha yeah they are pretty damn bright huh, a lot of light floods out - I just got one myself for the spec ;)
 
#22 ·
thanks!

i never knew tetras ate shrimp either :confused1:

and yes, this light bleeds like crazy, my coworkers were like damn thats a bright light over that tiny tank. so i was sitting there like what can i do to minimize the light bleed. a quick n easy makeshift hood was the first thing that came to mind. a blue folder, some tape, and staples and away i went. now all the light is directed down towards the tank. hoping the heat doesn't make it fall apart. if it does, im gonna get some wood and use the folder paper as a template and glue together a nice wooden hood for the spec. my plants should be super happy now :)
 
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