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3 tanks, one bedroom 5/10/20L 7/22/15

24K views 94 replies 25 participants last post by  dbf 
#1 · (Edited)

UPDATED 7/22/15

Room

20

10

5








Room

20

10

5
 
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8
#4 ·
I like the look so far, those must be some happy tetras. Much better than my first "attempts"

All those tanins might be coming from your dirt. I have a 20 gallon im working on now that turned to tea after water changes. Try adding a little purigen in a nylon bag to your filter. Clears it up beautifully.
 
#6 ·
Thanks!

Yep, our neons are happy little dudes. They school merrily all day long.

Yes, we had tanin problems when we added our dirt. We also had problems with the dirt and bark floating to the top. Next time, we plan on soaking our dirt longer, so hopefully that will help. To clear up the water we did partial water changes everyday for a few weeks. It was a hassle, but we've decided to steer clear of synthetic additives as much as possible ^_^.

Good luck with your 20 gallon! I hope to see pictures. We're making plans for a 20 gallon too!
 
#5 ·
Looks good! Looking forward to more progression pictures of growth.

I really like these tank journals - certainly makes me wish I took more photos along the way.
 
#8 ·
#9 ·
Nice looking aquarium. If your are like the rest of us, you are already thinking about your next (bigger) one.
 
#17 ·
We are using 2 Marineland 10W 5100K compact florescent bulbs, which run on a timer for 8 hours a day, 12pm-8pm. So far, this has been working well for our low to medium lights plants.

Goodluck with your Ebi tank. We contemplated the pantyhose idea, but decided to go with a baffled method utilizing a plastic soda bottle. Our filter intake is wrapped with excess media net from our filter bio bag. The media net catches dead plant matter that the shrimps enjoy eating. It tends to slow down the filter flow, so we do clean it about once a week.


Plastic Bottle Baffle


Media Net Intake Sleeve & Pregnant Amano Shrimp

Yes, these tank journals have been really helpful and fun.

Cheers to us newbies!

Also... Happy Birthday!


Its Baby Tears, or Pearl Weed, (not the same thing as Dwarf Baby Tears). It grows around 4 inches tall. Some shorter, and some longer, maybe up to 6 inches? It grew like a weed in my medium/high light, co2 injected tank. I recently converted the tank to low light, no co2. Its not doing well, but its still hanging in there. It may yet make the conversion. Or not.
Hopefully it just takes a bit to adapt to the new conditions and recovers well. I may go micro swords instead planted in a random pattern. Micro swords seem to grow pretty slowly(at least in our tank). I like the "leafy" effect in your picture but I kind of want a grassy effect also. So many decisions and options :O! Right now I'm just letting the java moss slowly find its way all over the tank.
 
#24 ·
Thanks :p I commented in your thread!

It looks really good! Enjoy the sword while it's little. You'll have an excuse to get a bigger tank soon. I'd warn you about the duckweed blocking light for the other plants but you seem to have a perfect balance going on. Everything looks great!
Thank you :). Yeah, it was fun to watch the swords change from wide leaf to narrow leaf(I believe they were grown out of water and changed to the submersed growth). They are really taking off now(seems like they are bigger everyday o_O). The duckweed got out of control for a bit but then I came to terms with myself and decided to remove some. I really didn't want to remove plant matter from the tank :p. The fish seem to enjoy the shaded cover and probably feel more safe from predators(although there are none :p)
 
#23 ·
It looks really good! Enjoy the sword while it's little. You'll have an excuse to get a bigger tank soon. I'd warn you about the duckweed blocking light for the other plants but you seem to have a perfect balance going on. Everything looks great!
 
#31 · (Edited)
Started a new project, 20L planted tank with aquasoil. May make a new post or update this one.


The room :)



20g Long

The 20
Older video

Specs:

-20gallon long
-Azoo Aqua soil
-Marineland 75w heater
-Finnex Ray 2 30''
-Eheim 2213
-Pressurized dual stage co2 regulator
-In line atomizer
[strike]-Aquaclear 30[/strike]
[strike]-t5NO 2x18w lighting fixture[/strike]

-Downoi
-Pogostemon Erectus
-Limnophila Aromatica
-Java Moss
-Java Fern
-Anubias(giant, nana, nana-petite, coffefolia)
-Dwarf Hairgrass Carpet
-Hydrocotyle Verticillata
-Lily
-Rotala Rotundifolia
-Blyxa Japonica
[strike]-Water Sprite[/strike]
[strike]-Rosefolia (died)[/strike]
[strike]-Some kind of Sagittaria[/strike]
[strike]-Rotala Vietnam[/strike]
[strike]-Amazon Swords (removed)[/strike]
[strike]-Ludwigia[/strike]

-Alpine Manzanita driftwood
-Various slate peices
-Ryuoh stone

The Journal(newest to oldest):


7/14/14
Lost the male ram a while ago, I think it was a constipation related issue. He looked pretty healthy then just died one day. Downoi is turning into a forest. Did a trim recently, aiming to fill out the back of the tank.






5/15/14
Added some downoi from petsmart which seemed to do pretty well. Great for the price of about 8$! Considering some people sell it for 5$ a crown. Took a couple visits to find a healthy plant though. Also added More cardinals to fill out the school. I believe I added 7 more. Just been messing around with the trimming lately.
4/5/14
Did a mini rescape. Moved blyxa behind the wood, removed slate. Moved around some anubias and some stone.
3/24/14
Added a piece of slate under the wood to add more depth. Moved some hairgrass to the right side to fill in the missing areas.
3/5/14
Got some plant trades for some trimmings. Now have blyxa japonica in the tank. Also got some alternanthera reineckii from petsmart that was grown emersed, going to attempt to fill the middle behind the anubias mound with this plant. The scape is starting to come together, did a major trim about 2 weeks ago so it will take some time to fill out the back area again.
12/29/13
20 is pretty full of plants at this point. Rotala Verticillaris growing like a weed. Hydrocotyle Verticillata having to be trimmed weekly.
11/4/13
Did a major trim yesterday and donated the plants to the lfs. Tank is coming along nicely and the fish seem to be enjoying the swimming space after the trim. Pogos are starting to really thrive in the tank and are coming out of the surface often. The lily I rescued from the store also has began to really take off.
10/15/13
Been a while since update, had a little bga outbreak and stopped that with anti-biotics, replanted all the stems. Tanks in need of a trim. Got some gold rams today! :D
6/29/13
The 20g is now co2 equipped. After some fiddling with the diffuser (in conjunction with the tank flow) and bubbles per second, the tank is growing astronomically well. The above photo was taken about 6 weeks after the addition of co2. Compare how far we have come below:
5/14/13
First day with co2.
4/21/13
This tank is doing great. Had a bit of a disease issue for a while and lost some embers and galaxies. Most likely it was costia or parasite infection. Treated with aqua cure pro and kanaplex. Removed and euthanized infected fish. The cherry shrimp population is up to around 40 or 50 now displaying a variety of colors, red, brown, pinkish, rili looking etc. Just letting it do its thing and letting nature take its course. The tank is also very heavily planted with a variety of stem plants. Added 2 siamese algae eaters about 2 days ago which seem to be liking their new home. I have been dosing liquid co2 now for about a week and the plants are responding well. (battling hair algae :O)
1/8/13
20 is doing well, trimmed the moss a bit. Looking for a cheap co2 setup :x
12/8/12
Cherry shrimp been breeding as they do, have about 25 now. Letting the tank get overgrown.
11/15/12
Shrimp breeding like crazy, tanks getting overgrown and pretty full. Moved the java fern to the front and the root system is nice looking. Tanks doing well, had to break up the large anubias into several peices.
9/14/12
Long time no update, this is how the 20 looks right now, pretty planted 10 ember tetra 7 galaxy rasbora 6 cherry red shrimp 3 oto cats. 21 different types of plants, assassin snails, filter baffle. Not dosing anything. Just light and substrate.
7/15/12
Got a lot more plants and rearanged everything. Added some moss to the wood via fishing line and moved a lot of the slate around. In between this time and the previous date I also leveled the tank(was getting on my nerves seeing the waterline off :O. Not sure if this is the final setup, kinda like it and don't so unsure.
7/6/12
Planted some more plants and weighed the driftwood down with some slate.
7/1/12
Our first plants went in and we began soaking the driftwood in the tank(didn't have anything larger to soak it in :I)
6/29/12
Filled the tank, it was a little cloudy but not too bad, poked around the soil to remove air bubbles.
6/28/12
Brought home the new tank and set everything up.


5g

Specs:
-5g craigslist tank
-[strike]13w 5700k cfl bulb[/strike]
-Finnex fugeray 16''
-Azoo aquasoil
-Aquaclear 20
-25w Heater
-Petrified wood
-Stainless steel mesh
-30~ Blue velvet
-MTS
-Pond snails
-1 horned nerite

-Riccia
-Mini xmas moss.
-Xmas moss
-Peacock moss
-Fissiden
-Flame moss
-Anubias micro
-Anubias nana petite

The Journal(newest to oldest):


12/29/13
Also been a long time since an update on this tank. It has changed a lot and I've added moss from the 20g and driftwood that was previously in the 10g. Really low maintenance tank and after about 6 months the blue velvets finally started breeding and I now have shrimplets.




4/21/13
A lot of the mosses died in this tank, had no cleanup crew for the glass and had huge brown algae blooms. Picked up some nerite snails(1 horned, 1 spotted with heart shaped spots :)). The Blue velvets had shrimplets and I'm assuming there is about 10 in there. Letting the tank do its thing til the shrimplets reach a larger size.
1/9/13
New contributions to the scape: anubias mirco and anubius nana petite. It's coming together.
1/9/13
Purchased some new moss off craiglist from a tpt member. (haven't got his name yet :p) Moss carpet is coming along now, just have to wait for things to grow.
1/8/13
This is our new project. Planning on xmas/other moss carpet with ss mesh. Stocking ideas are oebt or tiger shrimp. Possibly dario dario.


Here is our first attempt at a freshwater aquarium! Please, let us know what you think! ^_^

Our 10g!


Our tank video:

Specs:


-[strike]2 5100k cfl bulbs[/strike]
-[strike]MiracleGro Organic potting soil[/strike]
-[strike]Topfin 50w heater[/strike]
-10gallon
-Aquaclear 20
-Eheim 2211
-Finnex fugeray 20''


-[strike]amazon swords[/strike]
-[strike]ruffle swords[/strike]
-[strike]java moss[/strike]
-[strike]a variety of anubias[/strike]
-[strike]anacharis[/strike]
-java ferns
-duckweed
-ada driftwood
-ryouh stones
-azoo plant grower bed
-ludwigia
-rotala
-salvinia minima

-[strike]7 neon tetras[/strike]
-2 amano shrimps
-1 oto meowmeows
-50+ assassin snails
-50+Cherry shrimp

The Journal(newest to oldest):


12/29/13
Been more than 8 months since an update on this tank! Tank has been redone with aquasoil and is now a cherry shrimp/assassin tank. Its planted with trimmings from my 20g and has new driftwood and ryouh stones. The shrimp have been doing great, started with about 5 and now have 40+. Moved the assassins over after the tank redo and they have been doing fine also.




4/21/13
The 10 is still alive and kicking! Lost one neon to constipation/overfeeding issue. It was a female food hog. I am now feeding less and they seem to be responding well. Lots of floating plants in this tank taking over, so far I'm liking the look and the nitrates are noticeably reduced. Have about 70+ assassin snails in this tank which are being fed algae wafers and flakes and seem to be thriving. Possibly going to sell some of them to lessen the population. Dirted tank is really awesome but the gravel does get a bit icky, mts might solve that issue but with the amount of assassins they would be instantly consumed :x.
1/13/13
Changed the scape on the 10 to give the neons more room. Trimmed the plants and moved the driftwood back a bit.
1/8/13
Replaced the stock hood with a glass top and light fixture with two screw in cfl bulbs. Added a ton of plants I picked up from someone off craigslist. Neons ottos and amanos are still doing fine. The male amano went missing for a week but showed up out of the blue just when I thought he'd left for good. Having some issues with fungus on the wood and black beard algae. Not so much since I got the new fixture though, it cuts back the light a bit.
12/5/12
First tank is doing good still, assassin snails breeding like crazy, have at least 40 now and feeding them algae wafers. Neons got pretty big, swords growing, some algae issues but nothing major.
7/16/12
Update on the 10g. Moved one of the swords to the 20g tank, anacharis is growing like crazy and managing to keep the duckweed under control. Also have tons of baby assassin snails. Might sell them to my local fish store :D The anubias second on the right had some algae problems and one of the leaves is falling off. Ruffle sword not doing too well also. Other than that all is good and the fish are happy.
6/22/12
Added small branch driftwood around the tank to even things out a bit. Made a moss tree with one of the branches behind the large driftwood. Trimmed some of the sword leaves that were dying off. Ended up turning the driftwood around and moving some plants around to provide a better feel to the tank.
6/14/12
Added anubias coffeefolia to the front center of the tank. Moved the heater to a new location because it was causing the duckweed to gather inbetween it and the filter(made a mess :( ). Java ferns growing a ton!
6/8/12
Weekly water change. Moved the heater to a less visible position and moved the moss onto the driftwood. Moss tree! :)
6/2/12
Neons getting bigger and tank still growing well, Also added 2 oto which seem to be doing well.
5/26/12
Tank starting to become grown. Added 3 java ferns.
5/10/12
Added 3 Amano shrimp! 2 females with eggs and 1 male.
5/4/12
Clear Water after water change.
5/2/12
Water a bit brownish due to leached tannin from the driftwood.
4/24/12
Added 4 neon tetras around this time.
4/18/12
Removed faux drift wood/added moss/more anacharis.
4/2/12
Day 1 After filling the tank(water a bit murky due to the dirt still seeping though the gravel).
 
#32 ·
Our 20g has begun cycling after about 3 weeks. Nitrates, nitrites, and ammonia all present. We are doing a fish less cycling too without any use of Cycle or pure ammonia. Very excited that we are able to do it this way.

Currently the 20long is stocked with driftwood and slate, along with various plants: water sprite, amazon sword, roatalia, java ferns, and an anubias. Some from our 10g, which brought in some pond snails :). We are also using azoo substrate, which was very easy to work with as it did not cloud the water at all.

Will definitely post some pictures soon.

Stay tuned! ^_^
 
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