10 Gallon Planted Journal "START OF THE REBIRTH" .Updated 9/2/07.

[yoink]

You've done a great job with the small amount of space. Very beautiful.

[D.gilly]

i want your tank

[styxx]

Wood,
Dane and I agree totally. Pure genius! keep up the good work (can any of you imagine having this in your room at night? How could you ever go to sleep seeing this beauty!? I can hardly believe its only a 10g!) You did really well with the layout in anticipating how the growth would affect the dimensions...I really like how you've arranged the plants front to back and this really exhibits an excellent design...and the DSLR camera pics are much better! I bet you love it!

[wood]

Wow. Thanks a lot guys! I really appreciate the praise. This was my very first tank, I bought it back in 2003 for my office. Looking back I realize now how clueless I truly was when it came to planted tanks. I didn't even know about CO2 and couldn't figure out why my plants kept withering away. These forums changed all of that completely.

Anyhow, I am going to shape the tank some more tonight, do some trimming and replanting. I want to get a nice layout for a final photo to submit to the Intl Aquatic Plants Layout Contest. I am sure there are a lot of other superb 10g tanks out there that will be in the contest that will look much better than mine, but I have always wanted to enter an online contest so this is my chance.

I wanted to get my 55 gallon up and running, but I have decided to divert my funds to getting an invert rack up and running. I just love these freshwater shrimp and want to start breeding a bunch of different varieties. The 55g will be setup sooner than later though. This empty 55 stand and canopy has been sitting in the living room for a long time.

-Ryan

[James From Cali]

Magnifique. The plants are growing greatly and the colors are so amazing. The Shrimp are simply beatiful and fit into this tank very well!

[pweifan]

What are you feeding your shrimp?

[Casty]

I demand an update! This tank is an inspiration for my current 10g project.

[wood]

Originally Posted by Casty

I demand an update! This tank is an inspiration for my current 10g project.

Wow. It has been a long time since I even looked at this thread. I have been so focused on freshwater shrimp that I have completely let this tank go... It is so over grown it is pitiful. But........ this is a blessing in disguise........

I have now regained the inspiration to clean her up and get her back in shape. I will take a pic soon of how nasty it has gotten, and I suppose start a "reborn" journal inside of this journal

Updates will come very soon.... I suppose I can show what your tank will look like when you let it go, how to trim, etc. The quality of the photos will be better too...

-Ryan

[wood]

OK. Today I finally decided to start rebuilding. As you can see the tank was very out of shape. I had not done anything to it for at least 3 months. No CO2, No Trim, Nothing.

The HM has pretty much died off, however it will grow back. The Rotala walichii is gone, but that will grow back too. The Ammannia gracilis however stayed great and even showed better colors. The other rotalas seems to be fine as well. That weed you see all over the place was a pain in the ass to get rid of.

I restarted the DIY CO2, cleaned out the filter and all other mess. Trimmed, etc. I am not going to touch the tank at all. I feel confident that with the CO2 regoing and the tank clean, all of the plants will grow back on their own. It may look all dead but I will give it a shot. It will be interesting to see how things grow back, if they even do. I may end up having to get new plants, but I don't think I will.....

Enjoy the pictures...


Front Shot before cleaning



Side Shot Before:



Overhead shot. Look at that mess of overgrowth and weeds



After front



After left front



After right front



Refilling after cleaning

[garuf]

now that's an algae breakout and a half!
looking promising now its cleaned up though

[runwithit]

i was reading along and was saying to myself what a great looking tank... looks so cool... and then BAM! out comes these last few pics...lol. that's one mess you have there. gl.

[Homer_Simpson]

What the heck happened?

Originally Posted by Wood

...I had not done anything to it for at least 3 months. No CO2, No Trim, Nothing.

Why, but why?? Just to see what would happen?


That tank was my inspiration and I was just about to order some ADA soil and brightsand and redo one of my ten gallons to try and replicate your success, when I saw those horrific pictures you posted.