g33tar's 12g Mr.Aqua -First planted tank - March 5th update

[shoteh]

Awesome tank and set up. I will definitely buy one in the future when I make more space.

[g33tar]

Welp I ordered the NPK and the CSMB stuff tonight from green leaf aquariums. Going to give this EI dosing stuff ive been reading about my best shot. Sounds pretty confusing.

Ive got a question though...Most of the plants in my tank are root feeders...echinodorus tenellus...(im not sure about blyxa, but they're doing terrible anyway). Is the added fertilizer to my water going to benefit the root feeders? Or are they only interested in the root tabs ive got in there?

[peter_l]

I am a big fan of el-cheapo clamp on shop lights with spiral CFs. Great lighting at a great price!

[boon]

Time for an update?

[knm<><]

Originally Posted by g33tar

Yea the red kind of takes away from the minimalistic look of it...I dont want to paint a background on the tank, and I dont want to paint one whole wall white, so Im gonna roll with the red!

Speaking of red, I received my first red cherry shrimp ever this afternoon from epicfish. Holey moley fast shipping. Looks like they'll be fun.

Personally, I like the red. It's different and adds some visual interest. I wouldn't worry about it. At least the wall isn't pink!

[xmas_one]

I think the red looks cool too.

[g33tar]

Haha, theres not really too much to update...Ive removed all of the pygmy chain sword and replaced it all with blyxa. The pygmy chain sword was just getting too tangly and un-neat looking. I had blyxa previously in the tank that died back to nothing it seemed....but I started doing fertilizers and they've slowly emerged from the substrate! Ill try to grab a few pictures

Also, the rocks seem to have some BBA growing all over them...Im trying to chip away at it every day with some excel. Slowly coming along





Looks a lot sparser, but cleaner I guess. I just snapped these after the lights have been off for 2 hours so all the fish were hanging low to the substrate. Has anyone ever turned a light on in the middle of the night with otto's in tank? Holey moley those thing do 36" hot laps from end to end non stop. Pretty quick little buggers.

I also added on my third hanging light and put 15w bulb's in all three and raised them up higher. Figure id see how the extra light at a higher level would change things up.

[rushr]

Looks good with the blyxa. I'm just like everyone else and drooling over the mr aqua tank. The red wall contrasts nicely with the green of the plants and the black sand.

[g33tar]

Welp today I was finally able to pick up some HC locally since it was just delivered. They had a few pots usually, but they were 1" tall and brown so I waited until shipment day and scooped some up. Ive never had a plant pearl yet, but these are pearling like a beast. More prone to pearling than blyxa im guessing?

Blyxa is growing quick too..I need to split up the plant in the back right corner...its like 4 plants now but I dont know where to put them! Figured id get a few shots of my oto's and skrimpz, too. You can see the BBA (?) in the oto picture that Im trying to fight off with Excel....and last nite I started trying hydrogen peroxide 1/2ml at a time

Also, how effective is hydrogen peroxide compared to excel for fighting algae? Im guessing the hydrogen peroxide is stronger?

[g33tar]

Well I figured I'd do another update. The plants are growing well, fish and shrimp are doing well, but ive gotten pretty lazy with changing the DIY CO2 and the BBA has come back strong. I see pressurized CO2 on the horizon. Its going to be a must for me since Im pretty lazy with the bottles.

Still trying to get the photo taking stuff down. Some come out blurry, others come out clear. Oh well.







I like these shots...they make it look like I have twice as many plants as I do





And the ugly...BBA loving life on a couple of plants. Ive been trying hydrogen peroxide on it.....It bubbles up and it makes me think...hey, that must be the BBA dying...but it never turns pink like it would if I hit it with Excel.





Take care guys!

[CL]

Things are looking really good! Those neons looks pretty healthy, as do the plants Things are coming along great.

[defiant]

yes i like what you have done with the tank. gotta love this mr.aqua tank size. keep the pictures coming.

[FastTimes]

loving the tank, that blyxa/hc combo is pretty popular, i want to do it also.

[usernamegl]

g33tar, the tank looks great. With those dimensions, I was wondering how the flow is on the side opposite the HOB filter?

[VadimShevchuk]

i want to get one of these tanks now. What to do about a stand though.