Introducing myself and my 7.5 gallon bow front planted tank

[Spaceframe]

Once again, hello everyone

First post for me here, so I'll give a little introduction.

I first got into the Aquarium hobby when I was active duty military. It started out with Puffer fish for me. Unfortunately I had to give away my first setup when I was deployed. When I got out and started going to college I picked up the hobby again, buying a 55 gallon show tank where I set up a driftwood brackish water theme with..you guessed it. A pufferfish. I shopped around and managed to find a 3" GSP puffer at Walmart of all places. Today this puffer is 4.5" (I think he has reached the limit of growth for the tank he's in) and very healthy. It was while I was browsing the internet for information on keeping my brackish water setup that I was exposed to the Reef keeping side of the hobby, and shortly thereafter I started building on it. I thought I could do it low-tech..

I was in for quite a few suprises. I made a gazillion and one mistakes but about a year later I had a 29 tall main tank, a 5 gallon refugium (elevated over the tank so overflow would drain into the main display preserving pods/critters from having to be sent through an impeller to reach the display) a 10 gallon sump containing a 7" DSB with 10lbs LR (my DIY baffles ended up giving out though) --- stocked with corals, my best piece was a Duncan that I had purchased with 4 heads and was up to about 15-20. I saw "was" because while I was away from my house for a week my roomate somehow managed to unplug the entire system (early in that week of course) and I returned to a tank well into a decomposition cycle. Nothing had survived. So for about a year I was out of the hobby, I didn't have the cash to restart that whole system at the time.

September 15'th 2010 I moved to San Diego. I had to leave my 55gallon brackish setup behind me, and after a two weeks I was already playing with the idea of starting up another tank. My new roomates girlfriend is an avid FW planted tank keeper and asked us if we wanted to go with her to a LFS. I walked out of that store with an entire setup consisting of:


Aquarium - 7.5gallon Mr.Aqua bowfront (seamless,glass) http://mraqua.net/products/frameless...lass-aquarium/

Lights - Current 18" Nova Extreme T-5 2x20W 10K/460NM http://www.aquacave.com/detail.aspx?ID=2368#Reviews

Filter - Aquaclear HOB filter (20 gallon rating) http://www.animalworldnetwork.com/aqmpofi110v.html

CO2 - Disposable Cartridge http://www.tzong-yang.com.tw/en/prod...hp?item_id=239

substrate/heater/diffuser/et al.


On the first of this October I put the substrate, rock, wood, ro-di (ro-di for WC's and topoff) Microbe-Lift "Special Blend", started up the filter and dropped a small raw shrimp from the grocery store into the tank. Dosed the Microbe-Lift as per its instructions, and the cycle seemed to go through with barely a tick for each of the spikes. I think it was cycled after 2 weeks and gave it an extra week of every other day testing to make sure I hadn't missed anything then pulled the nasto shrimp carrion out and started stocking.
Parameters:

pH - 7
Alk - 80
TH(hardness) - 120
NO2 - 0
NO3 - <20
Ammonia - 0

Living stuff in there:
---
7 x Neon Tetra
2 x Killifish
5 x CRS
5x Amano
---
Hydra Tripartita
HC
Amazonian Sword (something like that, it was overpriced but I wanted it)
Unknown-plant on far right behind rock in corner
Unknown-plant in front right netted onto a rock (gift from roomates gf's setup)
---

I gave the driftwood a quick boil (well simmered just under a boil) for 30 minutes and dropped it into the tank. I didn't really cure the wood beyond that because I dont mind the tannin's that come into the water. I like the slightly tea look in the water that comes from it.

I also have actinic blue for one of my bulbs, I'm not a big fan of the red spectrum tanks I see alot of people using for their FW planted tanks. I think i remember reading/hearing somewhere that the red spectrum benefits the plants in some fashion but I'm going for asthetics, and dont think the actinic bulb will inhibit my plant growth enough to matter.

Stole the rock from a local starbuck's landscaping

I just inserted a 3-way junction in the airline tubing for the CO2 unit to put a diffuser on each side of the aquarium

If you've read everything up to here thanks for the attention, looking forward to sharing in all of your own tank progression threads and of course sharing my own tanks progression!

Most current FTS (will be updating this first post pic as time goes by)


http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/my...paceframe.html

[Spaceframe]

Oh and some pics!

[Spaceframe]

and a few more

[Baadboy11]

Very cool setup so far! And welcome to TPT...yur gonna like it here!

[Spaceframe]

thanks Baadboy, some nice diy stuff with your 20long. Excellent stand too, i'd varnish it a dark color myself =)

How long have you had the Oto's in your tank? I picked up 2 Oto's myself in my first stocking purchase and one died before I went to bed that very night, the other lasted 3 or 4 days. One of my LFS employees who I consider a reliable source of experience says he's had tanks that they wont work in, and others that they flourish in for no reason that he has been able to figure out.

[Spaceframe]

Looking at these pics; the background is making it look weird. Some water got between it and the glass so it has bright and dark green splotches.. I think tomorrow i'm going to get a plain black background and see how that works. Maybe look for alternatives in my aquascape for that rock too while I'm at it.

[isu712]

Originally Posted by Spaceframe

I also have actinic blue for one of my bulbs, I'm not a big fan of the red spectrum tanks I see alot of people using for their FW planted tanks. I think i remember reading/hearing somewhere that the red spectrum benefits the plants in some fashion but I'm going for asthetics, and dont think the actinic bulb will inhibit my plant growth enough to matter.

The actinic bulb isn't going to do much of anything for plant growth, but it sounds like you know that so just keep in mind that you're essentially running on 20W of light rather than 40.

Originally Posted by Spaceframe

How long have you had the Oto's in your tank? I picked up 2 Oto's myself in my first stocking purchase and one died before I went to bed that very night, the other lasted 3 or 4 days. One of my LFS employees who I consider a reliable source of experience says he's had tanks that they wont work in, and others that they flourish in for no reason that he has been able to figure out.

Otos can be sensitive when they are introduced to a new tank. Be sure to take your time acclimating them and they will stand a better chance. Some people will buy 1 or 2 more than they think they need because they are planning on 1 or 2 dying.

Originally Posted by Spaceframe

Looking at these pics; the background is making it look weird. Some water got between it and the glass so it has bright and dark green splotches.. I think tomorrow i'm going to get a plain black background and see how that works. Maybe look for alternatives in my aquascape for that rock too while I'm at it.

Most people paint the back of their tanks here, but I use a background like you do. I go with just the straight black ones myself. If you want to use a background and not get those blotches you can pick up some stuff called SeaView from Petco (they may have it other places but that's where I've seen it). I've used it on two tanks and it works really well to stick the background to the tank and make the color look even all over.

Although on my most recent tank I had run out of the SeaView stuff and didn't want to buy more. I noticed that the SeaView had seemed like it was some kind of oil (like mineral or baby oil) and that's what made it stick to the back of the tank so well. Because of this I just used regular old cooking oil (it's what I had around the house). It's been on the tank for a week and it is working just fine. This may not work well if you have other pets though because I would imagine some dogs and cats might try to lick it up.

[matthew.shelly]

Originally Posted by Spaceframe

Aquarium - 7.5gallon wish I could edit the title for this post, not sure why I put 4.7

click edit on your first post, then click "Go Advanced"

you can edit to title on that screen

[Spaceframe]

thanks Matthew, fixed =)

[Spaceframe]

Originally Posted by isu712

The actinic bulb isn't going to do much of anything for plant growth, but it sounds like you know that so just keep in mind that you're essentially running on 20W of light rather than 40.



Otos can be sensitive when they are introduced to a new tank. Be sure to take your time acclimating them and they will stand a better chance. Some people will buy 1 or 2 more than they think they need because they are planning on 1 or 2 dying.

I wouldn't go so far as to say the plants don't benefit at all, I guesstimated that it would be about half the value of a 6k bulb.. I'm hardly the final authority on that though i'll have to look into it. If what you surmise is true then I might swap it out for another 6k and get some LED supplemental lighting for the aesthetic's i want.

Good call on the acclimatization, when I got those oto's I didn't do a very good job with that. I have a good system in place for acclimating new stock though so hopefully next time will be more successful =)

[MARIMOBALL]

Im really linking your tank you started things right by getting good lighting and CO2 from the start. If you can get the current pink bulb to replace the actinic and a 10K to replace the 65k then your tank will look even better. my only suggestion is that you burry the large stone at an angle so it doesent stick straight out. It will look more natural. Oh and those tetras are not regular neons, they are green neons Paracheirodon simulans http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/Spec...y.php?id=12394
which IMHO are nicer than neons and cardinals. Did you get the at aquatic Warehouse?

[Spaceframe]

In 6 months when I replace the bulbs I'll give that 10k/pink setup a try and see how it looks. Algae is beginning to rear its ugly head, so I'm doing 40% WC's twice a week right now. I have my lights to run 8 hours a day.

So as far as ferts go I'm following reccomended dosing of Flourish - Comprehensive. I noticed it does have very small traces of copper in its ingredients but after investigating the matter (and Seachem representatives on their boards swear) that following reccomended doses will not cause shrimp problems as far as those heavy metals go. However when I was looking at using some additional ferts I noticed those have copper as well, would this additional input of heavy metals be problematic for my inverts? do i even need more ferts than the Flourish Comprehensive for this setup? Thanks in advance!

Yes I did get those green neon's from Aquatic Warehouse. So far I have have been able to get everything I have (minus the DIY moonlight) from there. During my 2 hour drip acclimation I noticed one of them had small white cysts on it. So i left it in the acclimation cup and it didn't make it the 2 day interim for my next fish store run. It was looking quite sickly even on that first day so..

I'm also growing very fond of my killifish, and looking info up on them on the internet has yielded up some interesting stuff. Apparently killifish were the first vertibrate animals to reproduce in outer space O.o

And while easy to breed, they aren't easy to rear in large numbers so they are not very prolific in the mainstream fish market, but there is a large underground network of hobbyists who keep stock of different kinds of killifish. I'm considering building up another tank to give this a try. So if anyone in the San Diego area knows of someone who has some nice killifish drop me a line =)

The rock pictured above is removed, got a nice lace rock thats going to take up much less space and looks better all around. I'll post pics of the new aquascape soon.

I grew tired of waiting for my LFS to order some moon lights so I decided to make my own. I purchased a small UV-Flourescent lamp and got a small driver/power/switch/housing and soldered it together and i'm quite pleased with the end result. I just rest it on top of the glass that shields the daytime lights, when i throw the switch it makes the two daylight bulbs glow with a deep blue light giving a nice view of the tank with the naked eye, but too dark for any type of photography.

UV-Flourescent Lamp - 4.99
Driver - 9.99
switch - 3.99
housing - 4.99

Total - $23.96
(had soldering iron, solder, wires, wire insulation; not included in project cost)

I can also include a second lamp on that drivers circuit

some pics

Driver/switch housing
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/pH...10-20_022c.jpg

Lamp
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/pH...10-20_019c.jpg

Driver
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/pH...10-20_016c.jpg

Lamp "Installed"
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/pH...10-20_055c.jpg

included a snail by the way
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/pH...10-22_001c.jpg

[isu712]

It's my understanding that the best way to deal with algae in a high-tech setup like yours is EI dosing (I think EI stands for Estimative Index, but I'm not sure). I've never done it before, but you can look it up here:

Dosing Regimes

I'm sure more people will be able to give you better input, but this should get you started.