Upgrade to 40b

[Robotguy]

I had a 10g for about a year and a half, and I kept promising myself I'd eventually upgrade because the alcove it was in was way too big for it. Well, a couple weeks ago I was at Petco picking up some new frozen fish food and realized that they were having their 1$/gallon sale so I picked up a 40b.

Fast forward 2 weeks and I now realized that the glass box isn't the expensive part.



Lighting: 2 double bulb T8 shop lights (2X6700k and 2x18000k) in a DIY hood.
Substrate: 16lb Flourite Black Sand
Flora: (from left to right) Anubias, Golden Creeping Jenny, Marimo Ball, Hornwort, Anacharis, Marsilea Minuta, Amazon Sword.
Fauna: 5x Neon Tetra, 1x Black Tetra, 4x Otocinclus, 3X spotted Nerite Snails, 3X Zebra Nerite Snails.
Equipment: Odyssea CFS 500 canister filter with CWO4GUNNERs circumference mod, DIY CO2.
Fertilizers: EI with dry ferts from Rex Grigg.



And I really like the way these bulbs bring out the colors in the neons:


I picked up an Airco dual stage regulator on eBay, now I just need a tank, needle valve and bubble counter.

[Hyzer]

Originally Posted by Robotguy

Fast forward 2 weeks and I now realized that the glass box isn't the expensive part.

Ain't that the truth. Congrats on the upgrade, it looks like you are off to a good start.

[dp12man]

Perfect spot for the tank. I have one and love the depth of the tank.

[jhunt]

Sword plants put out a ton of roots so you might consider some more substrate to add some depth. 2-3" is what you should normally aim for.

[Robotguy]

Originally Posted by Hyzer

Ain't that the truth. Congrats on the upgrade, it looks like you are off to a good start.

Thanks!

Originally Posted by dp12man

Perfect spot for the tank. I have one and love the depth of the tank.

Thanks. I definitely needed something bigger than a 10G there.

Originally Posted by jhunt

Sword plants put out a ton of roots so you might consider some more substrate to add some depth. 2-3" is what you should normally aim for.

I've been abusing those poor sword for over a year now, if they actually start to get any bigger, I'll probably just give them away.

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I was playing around with the camera, and thought I'd post a few of the photos.

Another shot of the Neon Tetras in front of the Golden Creeping Jenny:
http://robotguy.net/aquarium/neon-jenny.jpg


A few of the Nerites:
http://robotguy.net/aquarium/spotted_nerite_1.jpg


http://robotguy.net/aquarium/spotted_nerite_2.jpg


A triple-play with a Nerite, an Otocinclus and the Black Tetra:
http://robotguy.net/aquarium/oto-neon-nerite.jpg


A pair of the new Otocinclus:
http://robotguy.net/aquarium/otos_1.jpg


My Marimo Ball:
http://robotguy.net/aquarium/marimo_1.jpg


And finally a few questions.

Here's my Marsilea Minuta:
http://robotguy.net/aquarium/marsilea_1.jpg

All of the stuff I planted had a single leaf. Now I see a bunch with 2, 3 and 4 leaves. Is that normal for new growth, or did I accidentally plant something else without realizing it? Also, is the new growth yellowish or is there something wrong with the plants?

There's something on my driftwood:
http://robotguy.net/aquarium/spots.jpg

Any ideas? Maybe Nerite eggs?

[audioaficionado]

Originally Posted by Robotguy

There's something on my driftwood:
http://robotguy.net/aquarium/spots.jpg

Any ideas? Maybe Nerite eggs?

Yep. that what those are. My ten Nerites are really salting my driftwood. Looks better than a hair algae outbreak.

[dj2005]

The split leaves on the MM usually indicates that the plant is wanting more lighting. It doesn't seem to affect the growth rate of the plant, though. IME, new growth is a bright green, not yellow like what is shown. I have a feeling the yellowing is a cause of nutrient deficiency.

[nemosreef]

Only 16lbs of substrate in a 40B? The yellowing is usually lack of iron and or light.

[Robotguy]

Originally Posted by nemosreef

Only 16lbs of substrate in a 40B? The yellowing is usually lack of iron and or light.

Yeah, I was trying to save a bit on the substrate. Hope it doesn't come back to bite me. It looks OK and all the plants are staying down.

I have been dosing KNO3, KH2PO4, K2SO4 and Plantex CSM+B, so I hope it's getting enough nutrients. I was under the impression that MM would grow in most light, just faster in higher light.

I did a bit more searching and found this article that suggests MM is OK in low light:
http://www.aquaticplantnews.com/apn/...rsilea-minuta/

And this thread that suggests the multi-leaf growth occurs in higher light conditions:
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/f...tml#post598960

Of course this thread says the multi-leaf form is from low light:
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/pl...ml#post1427065

Anyway, every place I can find says it will grow under low light, so the yellow is probably something else.

[idex]

MM is okay in low light... it just doesn't grow much

[dj2005]

My 3 cup nano bowl grew MM using sunlight only (and then I even grew it in indirect sunlight) and the plant grew quite well considering the conditions. No yellow nodes but most/all leaves were split. In my Mini M, areas that received less light grew split leaves while areas that did not have things blocking the light grew non-split leaves.

I've frequently used split-leaf MM for replanting my MM and the offspring were always non-split.

Just my observations.

[Robotguy]

The frogbit is growing like crazy; everything else is doing OK. I still need to get a CO2 tank to go with the regulator.

The water gets a brownish tint between water changes, despite the addition of 100ml of Purigen. I think it might be from the wood?

[jreich]

i like the tank so far.
yes the brown water is most definatley from the wood, it will stop eventually.

[Robotguy]

http://robotguy.net/aquarium/11-14-2011-a.JPG

[galabar]

Very cool. Is that a dual gauge or deal stage regulator? It looks too thin to be dual stage, but I have to admit that I don't know too much about regulators.