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Lara's 5.5 gallon "Minuet"--update 3/15

10K views 56 replies 25 participants last post by  non_compliance 
#1 · (Edited)
I recently got the urge to rescape my 5.5 gallon. I thought that with the new scape, the tank deserved a name :biggrin:

Tank
5.5 gallon 16x8x10

Lighting
Hampton Bay desk lamp, 27 watts

Substrate
All-purpose sand

Fertilization
EI dosing

CO2
None, but I'm considering adding a DIY bottle. All the plants I used were already in the tank, so I know they'll grow without the DIY. I do dose excel daily.

Flora
Ludwigia arcuata
Limnophila sp. 'guinea'
Rotala rotundifolia
Blyxa japonica
Marsilea minuta
dwarf hairgrass
HC
java moss

Fauna
Cherry shrimp
Celestial Pearl Danio babies

Questions

1.I'm worried about the depth of the sand on the left side...how often should I agitate it to prevent anaerobic pockets?

2. There's an open area in the very back on the left 'mound'. What can I put there? More moss? Something else?

Here's the tank so far; I'll get a better pic when the water clears:



Thanks for looking!
 
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#31 ·
This is a beautiful concept. It reminds me of talus slopes at the base of mountains, where there are pebbles mixed in with larger boulders, and a few patches of grass and shrubs manage to work their way between the rocks.

The shape is dynamic, I love those sweeping hills.
 
#33 ·
I thought I'd post an update on this tank since it has been a couple of weeks. The HC growth is reeeeally slow. I think it might be time to trim the java moss, though I'm afraid of what it will look like when I'm done... Usually I take the moss rocks out and trim them in a separate container, but I don't want to mess up the scape on this one.

I have some super exciting news!!!! One of the Tiger shrimp I got last week is berried!! I'm so so so happy! Here she is:



And here are some other weird shrimp I saw in my tank (I seem to have a lot of strange colored shrimp):

A white "cherry" shrimp:


A beige "cherry" shrimp:


Today's FTS:
 
#34 ·
I love this tank. I don't know what it is yet. Maybe it's the unusual substrate color. Or, maybe it's the oddball colored cherry shrimp. :)

The cool thing about Java moss (and really any of the mosses) is that you can whack them back pretty good and they'll always come back in a few weeks and look just as cool as ever.
 
#37 ·
I love this tank. I don't know what it is yet.
For me it is the natural appearance it has, along with the sense of scale. Great job on the tank.
 
#39 ·
I believe that my CPDs are really healthy--I've had them since birth :) I've experienced one loss, but it was a jumper :-(

The CPDs were really active when they were in a group of 20 (this was a grow out tank). I transferred 13 of them to a different tank, and the remaining 7 have become EXTREMELY skittish. They hide almost all the time, and are scared to come out to eat. I felt so bad that I decided to move the rest of them to the other tank. I've moved a few more since then, but I can't seem to catch the remaining 4. They hide in the rotala 'forest'. It's going to be tough!

I'm not sure why 10 gallons is stated as the minimum. Swimming room maybe? They are active, but I wouldn't consider them to be fast swimmers, and they do like to 'hover' from time to time.
 
#41 ·
Trim time... I feel like trimming always brings the 'scape a step back, but it's still necessary :redface:

I was DREADING having to trim the moss. It was definitely time though. I tried to trim the moss rocks while they were still in the tank, but that made the biggest, most regrettable mess I've ever seen. It took me an hour to get all the pieces out. In any case, even after going through all the trouble, I had to take the moss rocks out anyway :angryfire I waited way too long to trim, because the moss that was holding everything to the biggest rock had died....

I had to tie new moss onto that rock, and now it doesn't have that nice bushy look to it anymore. At least I know that java moss grows fast!

The rotala in the back right isn't doing very well at the moment, and I think it's because I backed off on dosing ferts. I had a few cherry shrimp die in the past few weeks, and I thought it might be the copper in the micros. I have a feeling that it's not the ferts, so I'm going to start dosing again. I replanted some HC because some of the sand that settled buried a lot of it. It doesn't look like it has filled in, but I promise it has. I had to 'transplant' some to areas where I removed marsilea and dwarf hairgrass. It should start to fill in better now :)

Here's a 'before' picture:


And here are some 'after' pictures:



 
#47 ·
The tank is doing well, except for a couple of things:

1. I had to replant all the HC on the left side because when I let the water level get a bit low, the water pouring out from the filter uprooted all of the HC on that side :mad:

2. I started dosing excel and ferts again, and I've had two more dead cherries. It's gotta be either the ferts or excel. I'm really upset, because my favorite cherry died--she was the brown 'cherry' a couple pages back. Could it really be the ferts? I need to figure this out. Maybe I should dose excel every other day instead of every day.

The lights are already out for the night, so I'll have to wait until after the sun sets tomorrow to get some pictures. The java moss has already grown back and I think it's time for another trim.
 
#54 ·
Aquarist_Fist: As it turns out, I'm not even using DIY CO2!! The excel alone is growing this carpet :D

Fat Guy: I think I'm just going to move the cord out of the way. For this tank, I think i'd prefer a white background.

derf9h: Haha. It must be a black cat thing, because my gray cat doesn't go for tank water!



I'm really enjoying this tank, except that the left side carpet won't stay down!! I keep having to replant every few days, and it's been that way for months. The flow from the filter is uprooting everything daily. I keep the water level high, but that doesn't seem to help. Any suggestions?
 
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