So here is my first attempt at a planted tank journal. Should have taken more pictures from the beginning but here we go...

Tank- Basic 5.5 gallon derimmed
Top- Acrylic taken out of picture frame and cut to shape
Light- Clip desk light with a 15 watt CFL 6500K bulb
Filter- Tom mini internal filter
Heater- Tetra 15 watt heater
Stand- Espresso storage cabinet from Bed Bath and Beyond
Substrate- Bottom layer of black eco-complete mixed with active-flora, topped with black eco
Flora- java moss, subwassertang, echinadorus vesuvius, crypt wendtii, crypt parva, anubias nana petite, anubias nana golden, java fern, java fern narrow leaf
Fauna- 7 unsexed juvie red endlers
Inverts- About 30 cherry red shrimp


This is what it looked like after I took the Rim off before I set it up









Will get some more pictures when I get back in town. Originally had a 20 watt light but started getting algae so nixed that fast. Tank is finally all cycled after a good month of running. Plants are taking and growing well and the shrimp are getting redder and berried.

Update time! You can see the plants have grown out a little since last time, the shrimp are turning more of a fire red after settling in, new Endler fry, and how the light is mounted.

Beautiful.

New tigers from Mordalphus!

Well done

Sadly all 6 tigers have died . Clearly something was wrong with the water parameters. Thinking it might have been too warm. Heater kept it at 78 +-2, since then I keep it at 75 with new heater

Adam could you have just gone without a heater? How cold is the home?

At the time it was dropping into the low 60s at night. Currently I could probably go without the heater but its just cherries and endlers now

Oh. None of my tanks besides discus have heaters but I keep it warm in here. Just a though. Food for thought.

Think I'm going to setup a tank like this in the kid's room. Excellent tank Adam. Thanks for the inspiration.

Nice tank, and too bad about those shrimp. They looked amazing. were those the regular tigers or super?

besides the temperature, what's your pH? cherries aren't very picky, but i know tigers like softer water with a lower pH.

tank sux not cool.

They were regular tigers from mordalphus, looked awesome for a week while they survived.

To be honest, I haven't checked in a while. This is my no maintenance tank other than a partial water change every couple of weeks. If i remember right it was around 7.4 or 7.6 last I checked

Time for a quick update. The endlers are maturing quite nicely. Have one really pretty red male and added a tiger endler I bought. The female is odd and has some reddish/yellow coloration in her tail. She also had her first two babies a few days ago! Need to get some updated plant and whole tank pics. Might try tigers again after I move here in a few weeks.
Here is the male red one, tiger male, male and female, and a crappy pic of the two males together