Hi,

after some study, I finally put together my first planted tank intented to sit on my office desk, potentially with some shrimps and/or betta. Reading threads in this forum helped me a lot!

Specs:
Tank: 20l / 5 gallon Dennerle nano cube
Filter: internal Dennerle Eckfilter 150l/h
Light: Chihiros C2 - 15W / 1600 lm, currently set at 40%, 6 hours / day (I wanted to go stronger, to be ready for potential CO2 injection and to be honest, i like this minimalistic design)
Soil: Locally available japanese Aquasoil similar to ADA Amazonia, but not that nutrient packed
Wood: Red moor wood
Rock: Black lava rock (the white one on the photo is just to weigh down the red moor wood - its already getting waterlogged, so i will remove the rock in the following days)

Plants:
Rotala rotundifolia
Cryptocorne wendtii
Sagitaria subulata
Staurogyne repens
Monte carlo
Anubias nana mini
Anubias nana bonsai

The tank has been setup at 29. 12. Since then, I performed two 50% water changes, dosed Seachem Stability per instructions and after last water change I have addded underdosed Seachem Flourish. To the water for waterchanges I always added Seachem Prime.

The plan is to have a nice planted tank maybe with some cherry shrimp and a single betta (I know that they may not get that well along, but I want to try - I will add them only after the cycle is finished as first live critters so I hope that the plants will provide them a nice cover by then), potentially a neritina snail.

As this is really my first tank, on this forum I am looking for some advice or honest opinions, if this may work as planned/set up? Especially with the lighting intensity / nutrients and livestock (im looking for a fine balance - therefore i want to add shrimps / snail as algae eaters). Im also looking in a way to boost the tank growth - Im currently looking in either Excel or CO2 dosing via NEO CO2 kit (yeast based, should run for est. 50 days - for 20€ it is a nice way to test its effects).

Looking forward to joining the community!
Thanks a lot!

https://app.photobucket.com/u/uctovn...b-96fb8e876b56
https://app.photobucket.com/u/uctovn...a-3e7b2c297945
https://app.photobucket.com/u/uctovn...4-54525d31872b

Welcome to TPT!!

Your links are set to private so can't be viewed.

Thanks a lot, it should be visible by now. 🙂

Nice looking tank setup! Thanks for fixing the links.

I’m new here, too. What you’ve done sounds industrious. Is your nitrogen cycle complete? I did not have good luck with Seachem Stability, although I like everything else Seachem I’ve used in the past. Just curious as to whether it has worked for you.

Good Luck. Happy New Year! May it improve to be better than 2020.

Good setup

Hi,

thanks a lot!

I dont have ammonia tests at the moment, but from the first test I made about 2 days ago (10 day old tank), I measured zero NO2 and approx 10 NO3. Therefore it seems that it should be cycled... I also have lots of biofilm and lots of thread algae appeared, so there is something definitely going.

I hope that the nerite snail and possibly shrimps later will help with the green algae, or will it just fade? Im considering lowering the light intensity, which is currently at 50% - Chihiros C2, 1600 lm (therefore it is at about 800lm). The photoperiod is currently 6 hours, I will probably prolong it to 6,5 hours (as there is a 30 min sunrise / sunset period at the beginning and end of the photoperiod, therefore its technically about 5,5 hours at moderate lighting levels), but lower the intensity. Or is it a bad idea?

A small update: As for now, rotala starts to grow, although at the back of the tank it has melted almost completely - could please somebody help about the reasons? This only happens at the back of the tank, not at the side, where its really thriving. What could be the reasons? Water flow? Light? Nutrients? Or is it really just adapting to immersed state? I dont think so, as it wont be growing well at the side of the tank then - it comes from the same in vitro batch...

Also saggitaria subulata grew a lot, monte carlo melted older leaves but is growing little new ones. Staurogyne grew a little too. Cryptocorne wendtii doesnt seem to melt a lot. I dont have CO2 injection at the moment, therefore the grow rate is pretty slow, but I definitely plan to supplement CO2.

Photos:

https://app.photobucket.com/u/uctovn...d-b96e7461ed3f
https://app.photobucket.com/u/uctovn...7-3d798772920f
https://app.photobucket.com/u/uctovn...1-6964ee34426c