6.5 gallon planted journal (56k) New Pics 11/17/09

[kyle3]

I've had this tank up for ages but i have been wanting to replace the gravel and add CO2 for a while. so here is the before picture:



(I didn't pick the blue gravel ) the new substrate is flourite black. This will be my first time using flourite so I'm interested to see how it compares to eco-complete that I've used in the past.

so here are the specs:

6.5 gallon acrylic "petsmart bookshelf tank"
original hob (to be replaced- need more flow)
25 watt stealth heater
DIY CO2, glass diffuser in the mail from Hong Kong,
(mixture to be changed once a week)
flourite black
will be dosing seachem ferts until i use them up and get dry ferts
water changes 30-50% once a week.

fauna:
3 neon tetras
4 dwarf chained loaches
also will be ordering cherry shrimp for this tank very soon

floura:
anubias nana
lace java fern
java moss
rotala indica
thinking of pulling some dwarf sag. from the 20 L too, opinions?

I think it needs a little aqua-scaping help so please let me know what suggestions you have.


empty with flourite.

here's were everyone weathered the transition:



all filled up and planted. sorry i skipped a few steps. . .didn't end up with any good shots of the between time

left side:


center:


right side:


I got a new anubias nana for the tank (the ones we got in on friday were flowering, so i couldn't resist) still haven't determined where i should plant it thats why it's still in it's pot. any suggestions? here's a close up:


I got 4 new fish to put in the tank, they're dwarf chained laoches (B. sidthimunki, i believe) here they are, little blurry, sorry:


they have already had their first mishap. . .when i came home today i was looking at the tank to check on them and found one had gotten into the filter! the intake has no openings that he could have fit thru- not even close; so he must have swum up into the out flow and then shimmied down next to the media. here's a shot of him after i pulled all the filter media out:

so i'll have to keep an eye on it until i get a better filter- hopefully with a stronger flow he won't be able to swim "upstream" so easily.

here's a shot of the tank from a distance on it's stand (bottom):


hope you enjoyed seeing the tank!
thanks for looking!
cheers-K

[kyle3]

i know i need to hang the power strip and such,

[CL]

Nice tanks! That fish is too funny. I've had that happen to me once before

[Kayen]

Gotta love those fish.
My friend had a few, he'd find them trying to swim up his AC110.

[CL]

Yeah, dwarf chain loaches love lots of flow

[kyle3]

yeah the new filter as at the top of my list to get taken care of. any suggestions on a good filter for this tank?

[RamsRme]

That's one funny loach. Looks nice!

[Kayen]

Originally Posted by kyle3

yeah the new filter as at the top of my list to get taken care of. any suggestions on a good filter for this tank?

Aquaclear 20 / 30, or an eheim 2213 or 2232 if you go the canister route.

But definitely the Aquaclears i'd say isnce they're way cheaper.

[kyle3]

I think I'll do the aquaclear- i have one on the larger tank and i like how i can choose my media and fit 3-4 filter bags in there if i want to. thanks for the input!

anyone have a suggestion for the anubias?

cheers-K

[kyle3]

tested the water again today. no ammonia or nitrite. so no mini cycle with new inhabitants and a gravel change all at once! i got away with it :biggrin

the loaches love brine shrimp, but they don't seem to know what to think of dry food. so brine shrimp it is i haven't offered them blood worms yet we'll see if they like those.

cheers-K

[kyle3]

got 20 cherry shrimp from epicfish for this tank this week - they're awesome!

[Kayen]

nice!
Cherries are very easy to keep and raise.
Once they're happy expect wabbits.
Anubias for that tank size - Nana Petite, or Nana, but nana may be a biiit large.

[kyle3]

thanks kayen the anubias that are in there are barteri nana- the suggestion i was looking for was where to place the one that is still in the pot and i do expet to be able to populate a couple other tanks with cherries in the long run

mini update:
i remembered to buy the new filter today while i was at work so there is now an aquaclear 20 on the tank and i brought home a lone neon that was adult size all by himself with a bunch of rasboras so my mini school now has 4 fish.

cherries seem totally settled in now and have a good red color to them.

cheers-K

[kyle3]

got my nano diffuser in the mail today- gotta go to bed so I'll set it up tomorrow afternoon, yeah!

everything arrived intact, all the way from Hong Kong in just 16 days!

cheers-K

[GotMC]

Sweet another Minnesotan haha gosh i was at world of fish today in minneapolis wow have they raised prices DANG... but great looking tank!!!