'tiger in my tank' JG's 10G

[MrJG]

I've had this tank lying around for some time trying to decide what to do with it. Up to now its been a holding tank and an emersed setup. I broke down on saturday and set it up for another scape. Its all just practice right now anyway.

I used some granite I had lying around. Its the same stuff thats in the 20 long so it'll look much better after it gets some age on it.

Started with the intention of doing a stone dominated scape that takes the majority of the tank volume up while hoping to get some terraces in there between the stone to grow UG in to spill over the rock work. The cave dead center just came about as I tried to make the pile o rock look natural. Nothing about the layout screams golden ratio.. oh well. Its got a lot of growing to do.

Tank:
Standard AGA 10 gallon
2x24W T5HO current fixture
Used aquasoil I... the kind that breaks down if you look at it wrong
pressurized CO2 through a glass diffuser

Plants:
Eleocharis 'belem' in the foreground
Utricularia Graminifolia on the hill and between rocks
Baby staurogyne 'porto velho' in the back right
Mass of fern + anubias came from a chunk of driftwood in my 40

Skrimps:
Orange Eyed Blue Tigers

Some starting images:

[RipariumGuy]

That looks great! Cant wait to see it grown in!

[!shadow!]

I like the uniformity of the rocks. Nice job. l can imagine this with a hc carpet *drools* :P

[CL]

It's different, but I like how natural it looks. It reminds me f something I'd see in the Smokies.

[sapphoqueen]

try wall frogs in that!

[MrJG]

Thanks for the comments. I think a few weeks of growing is going to change the appearance greatly. Hopefully at that point it'll look a little less contrived and even more natural, especially after the rocks lose that "new" look.

Once that happens I may ditch the anubias and ferns to try to scale things back a bit so it looks larger.


Sapphoqueen: I have no idea what a wall frog is... care to share?

[ZooTycoonMaster]

Woah...how much does that huge stone weigh?

And do you have any plans for fish/inverts so far?

[trackhazard]

Your water is amazingly clear. i had to look over to your CO2 diffuser to see if it was actually filled or not.

I would normally say the rocks and bg plants are too big for the tank but for your setup, I think it creates a very "intimate" feeling for lack of a better term. Great job.

-Charlie

[MrJG]

ZTM: Its heavy. No thoughts for any life outside of plants at the moment as it may be a short lived tank depending on how it grows in.

Trackhazard: I think it took over an hour to fill it. Mainly because as I was planting and spritzing I noticed that pieces of soil were already breaking down into the brick dust deal. So much for "deals" on used soil heh. Thanks for the comments. Looking at the tank in reality the stone is right up to the front glass with only a small section for plants up front. Trying something a little different.

[MrJG]

I snapped a few pics of the tank this afternoon to update the thread a little.

Not too much to post about. The tank is settling in fairly well. Getting a little hair algae that I always get when starting new scapes so no surprise there, should be gone in a week or two.
Eleocharis 'belem' is starting to carpet up well in the front. UG in the rock cracks is showing a little progress but lagging behind a bit. The baby staurogyne 'porto velho' on the right is taking the biggest hit at the moment doing a good job of melting away. If it doesn't bounce back soon I'll just pull it and replace the whole bank on the right with more hairgrass.

[MrJG]

Quick update. Sorry for the dark pic, I lost the pink freshwater bulb in my fixture so its only running 1x24 right now. :-/

Tank is doing well. Minimal algae so far. UG is slowly stating to get going between the rocks and the staurogyne 'porto velho' finally decided to wake up on the right side.
The rocks are starting to get that nice grown in patina now. A few more weeks and it will look much more mature.

[bbeddes]

That tank soooo needs a pair of Apistos! That cave would be perfect for them. I've got a pair of A. cacatuoides breeding in a 16 gal, and they have been hands down the most interesting and enjoyable fish I've ever kept. GET SOME!

I really like that whole scape too, BTW.

[ZooTycoonMaster]

Is UG normally this slow of a grower?

[MrJG]

Thanks for the comments B! I haven't even given the first thought to fauna for this tank since I was thinking it would only be a temporary scape.

ZTM: In the beginning yea. Once it settles in it goes like gangbusters. Thats my experience with it.

[MrJG]

Time for the monthly update...

Took a few images this afternoon while trying to catch the blue tigers out for some pictures. Things are progressing well with the tank. I've removed the Utricularia between the rocks all together. The growth just wasn't uniform enough. This will be replaced with Fissidens Fontanus moss. This should contrast well to the bright green of the foreground carpet as well.
The fern/anubias have been removed from the background and replaced with plain rotala sp 'green'. Just got its first mowing on thursday.

Otherwise just chugging along. The odd colored rocks in there are temporary cultures of mini-pellia that are going in the 40 re-scape tomorrow.

Can't wait to get a few assassin snails to help get the pond snails back in check... including manual removal of course.