My medium-light, low-tech 5 gallon

[Church]

I've mentioned this tank before in other posts, so I figure it's only fair to give it its own thread. This tank started life as a quarantine tank, but before I knew it, it was just another planted tank! In honor of a recent rescape, I even went out and puchased one of those home depot lamps everyone's been harping about. This puts my tank into medium light territory now, instead of low light, so what better time to make a thread for it than now?

Here we go:














Another one from a distance, because it looks cool:



From slightly above:



A few more random ones:












That's all. I hope you enjoyed it. As always I look forward to any comments or constructive criticisms, just leave my photography out of it please. Stop rubbing it in that you have a nice camera and I don't.

[SeaSerpant]

Looks very nice. are you thinking of getting a ground covering plant?

[Church]

Yes, I am hoping people can give me some suggestions... I was thinking maybe some marsilea spp. or something. And I plan on, actually in the next couple of days, attaching some java moss to the petrified wood.

[Church]

Bump?

[@marko@]

what i would do is instead of moss on the petrified wood (it is a shame to cover it up), make a moss carpet in front as a foreground.

[SeaSerpant]

That sounds great. i think youd get your carpet and the moss in one.

[Church]

That's a pretty good idea, actually... what moss should I use for this? Willow? Java? Taiwan?

[@marko@]

i have java, but most people say it works best with willow. some like taiwan also, but any moss would work.
also, you dont have to use mess with moss inside, it works very well just attaching it to flat peices of slate.

[Church]

So I've been slowly adding to this tank, and trying to keep everything in balance, since I upgraded the light and never bothered with any CO2 of any kind. So far it's doing pretty well. There has been more algae growth, but I can keep it at bay with regular acrylic scrapings. Also, the filter was removed so I could quickly cycle my new 2.5 gallon nano tank, and in its place was put the Whisper filter that came with the 2.5 gallon. Please ignore this ugly honking filter, as it is temporary. I was going to just buy another red sea filter, but I think I've decided instead to go with a Zoomed 501. I just have to wait til next paycheck.

At any rate, ON WITH THE PICS!!!!











Here's one of the lonely oto who survived. I originally had 3, but 2 didn't make it. I plan on getting him some buddies soon:



And lastly, this is my favorite angle to view the tank from:




I am still wondering what I should do for the groundcover, and would appreciate any more suggestions. I'm still considering the moss idea as mentioned above, but lately I've been thinking about maybe trying to use that small crypt, I think it's called Parva? I know it stays small and makes a good groundcover, but I don't know how available it is.

As always, thanks for looking, and if you have any criticisms or compliments, please post away!!

[lekyiscool]

i think it looks great
some dwarf hairgrass at the back would be nice and some shorter carpet at the front. THis would great great depth, i think

btw is that bowfront

[fishboy87]

I'd recommend to try glosso

[lauraleellbp]

I think C. parva would be a good choice, and in keeping with the rest of the tank.

Or you might try E. tenellus 'narrow' - though I think Marsilea minuta would probably be the best foreground in scale with the crypts.

I really like this tank- it's just lovely!

[thejoie]

Can i just say that I LOVE that light, I can't wait to get it for my tank!! Are you happy with it?!!?

[Church]

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone. Lekyiscool, I agree with your suggestion. I've already pretty much decided to do something along those lines. I don't know if I'll go with dwarf hairgrass specifically, or something similar. But I like the idea of kind of "filling in the gap" in the back with something like that. Maybe even dwarf sag. Then the foreground would be something different.

Laura, thanks for picking up on my whole reason for thinking c. parva: it's already a mostly crypt tank so why not try to keep it that way?! As far as the E. tenellus... do you know if it grows well in our hard water? Thanks for your compliments on my tank!

Thejoie, I absolutely DO love this light! It's easily one of the best $20 I've spent on planted tank supplies. Highly recommend it!

Thanks again everyone!

[Ozymandias]

Church what are the fish in there thay have to be pretty small for a 5 gal?