[Chizpa305]

Your tank looks fantastic! It's really grown in now. The Fissidens fontanus has really filled out. Mine also collects particles. I use a turkey baster to gently blow water across them from time to time, and that seems to take care of it.

Yeah, it is more lush now, although the background stems still need some growth and there are some foreground patches yet to
get covered. But for the most part (the front and middle areas at least) growth is at a good level.

I do something similar to the Fissidens fontanus. I use a syringe to shoot a jet of water against the leaves to blow the dust away, and it helps, but I need to be doing it frequently if I want to maintain it . I might have to trim it back a bit because it is covering the rock too much

 

[jordie416]

Nice tank boyo. Good job working with such small space!

 

[Chizpa305]

Nice tank boyo. Good job working with such small space!

Thanks, yeah 5 gallons is not a lot. Sometimes I wish I could have a bigger tank, but there are many restrictions where I live and they don't allow large tanks. Plus, a bigger tank would also mean more maintenance and money so this is not too bad after all.

 

[Chizpa305]

Week 30

Did some trimming on the Fissidens fontanus and some other minor adjustments. Still waiting for background stems to grow more to cut and replant. Carpet is expanding.

Right side shot. A different angle.

The fish look funny aligned diagonally like that. They get shy after I do some maintenance. I am thinking about adding some more fish and shrimps. For fish I was thinking another school of 5, different from the tetras I have, but similar in size, to add some variety of fauna and also because that might help them become less shy. And shrimps, maybe get a few more RCS; I currently have only 2.

Front shot of the creeping HC. Hanging gardens of Dutch Iwagumi... That name fits well with this scape.​

 

[Chizpa305]

Week 32

Tank is looking pretty lush as a low tech (no Co2). Still some growth needed in the right background stems, but they're getting there slowly. Not much else to add. I want to add some more fish and shrimps and I will do so pretty soon.

Another shot from further back.​

 

[Chizpa305]

Week 33

I bought a few more fish and shrimps. Now I have 8 ember tetras and 14 neons, and also around 10 crystal red shrimps, to add a bit more fauna life to the tank. The shrimps are still very shy and are hard to spot because they hide behind all the foliage, but hopefully they can start breeding and create a nice population and be seen around the tank more often. I've noticed that the previously shy ember tetras now seem to be swimming more around the tank, alongside the newcomer neons. Apparently they feel more comfortable with the added number of community fish. The scape is coming along well, as I had envisioned it initially. Still some more development in the background needed, but it's getting there quickly. I will do a big trim today and replant some tops to create more plant density in the background. For some mysterious reason all my Utricularia graminifolia has died out. It used to do great in my previous setup... Maybe something in the water parameters, but everything else seems to be doing great, considering I don't have any CO2 system installed. I also won the fight against the black beard algae. There is not a single spot in the rocks where I can see any. The green algae is still present, but it is fine because it adds some beauty and sense of maturity to the tank. After this big trim, the tank should start growing into its ideal look​

 

[Chizpa305]

Week 38

Not a lot going on. Plants keep growing. Looking a bit too overgrown and unorganized right now. The HC has grown a lot, covering the rock outline and I don't like that because it hides the tones and the iwagumi element here.. I will trim it back soon to give shape to the "flow" of the HC that is cascading down. Also, the HC on the foreground needs some trimming too. I am currently waiting on some new scissors I purchased that will hopefully make maintenance more easy.

I made this gif image to show some of the progress so far. This is what I mean about the rock outline, it is almost covered completely​

 

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A good way to clean the dust off of fissidens and other plants is to stick a piece or airline tubing into your output pipe and you can clean a long as you like . Tank looks awesome .

 

[ipkiss]

What amazing work for no CO2. kudos! Gives me some hope for my next tank! Subscribed for my future inspirations!

 

[Chizpa305]

A good way to clean the dust off of fissidens and other plants is to stick a piece or airline tubing into your output pipe and you can clean a long as you like . Tank looks awesome .

Thanks for the tip. I found that the Fissidens only gets dusty when it is not growing very healthily. Once it established itself and started to grow full speed the dust wasn't there any longer. A good water flow seems to make them a lot happier.

What amazing work for no CO2. kudos! Gives me some hope for my next tank! Subscribed for my future inspirations!

Thank you! I am glad to inspire other people with my work. It still needs some adjustments before it's final stage, so keep an eye for updates.

 

[TitaniumOrchid]

How is your tank doing? Particularly the fauna. I was surprised you were able to get so many in a 5gal.

 

[Rnasty]

How is your tank doing? Particularly the fauna. I was surprised you were able to get so many in a 5gal.

Same, how do you manage that bioload ?

 

[zmartin]

Great thread - well done on the tank. It was nice to see a few different plants that can be grown without CO2.


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[Chizpa305]

How is your tank doing? Particularly the fauna. I was surprised you were able to get so many in a 5gal.

The fauna is doing good. They look happy. I think what helps the most is the high plant volume. Plants help filter out the water and maintain the parameters stable. Also, this tank is now about 2/3 of a year old so it has had time to create a strong colony of good microorganisms and stuff that keep the recycling of organic matter moving. I don't really do much else than try to keep the plants healthy through fertilizers and such, allow all plants to get good light. Water flow I would say is key too, so the nutrients circulate well all around and are available equally for all plants. I do the 25% water changes every week or every other week.

Great thread - well done on the tank. It was nice to see a few different plants that can be grown without CO2.

Thanks, yeah I don't have a pressurized CO2 system installed in this tank, but I do add fertilizers that can compensate for the lack of it. Seachem Excel provides some bio-available carbon to the water. If interested, I can provide the exact dosage of fertilizers that I apply to the tank.

Bump:

 

[Chizpa305]

Week 39

I did some light trimming on the HC Cuba on top of the rock. I cut it down so that the outline of the rocks are better visible because it was being covered too much by the plant. I also trimmed some of the background plants. I should be getting a very good density of new shoots soon, so let's see how it turns out.

Got me these scissors to help with trimming, but it is still kind of difficult to trim the foreground HC Cuba... Very little space and due to the rocks I have to put my arm in awkward angles... But it gets the job done.

Top view of the background plants. Good density but the new shoots are still to young so the colors are not popping out well enough yet.

The other face of the tank. Looks ok I think​

 

[Rnasty]

whats your aggression like with that many tetras? i always seem to have one male kill everyone in that small of a tank no matter the school size

 

[Chizpa305]

whats your aggression like with that many tetras? i always seem to have one male kill everyone in that small of a tank no matter the school size

These tetras that I have stay pretty calm. They swim around but I've never seen them attacking each other or even chasing down one another. I used to have neons in the past that would chase around each other from time to time, but these are not like that... So I guess the element of luck has a little bit to do with the behavior of the schooling fish that you have, that and also the species. Some tetras are much more aggressive than others. Other than that, I think that having good water current makes them have to be constantly swimming and therefore they'll have less energy to be fighting all the time. Not a super strong current either, but something that keeps them swimming, even if it is only to stay in place.

Cheers

 

[Chizpa305]

Week 40

I didn't have much to add in terms of updates, so I am just putting some pictures here. Enjoy.​

 

[Chizpa305]

Week 41

This little plants reproduce so quickly. They double in numbers in a matter of two or three days. I try to keep the numbers low so that the light can penetrate to the bottom of the tank. Their roots are not very long. Probably around an inch so they don't look bad just floating there.

 

[Grobbins48]

Beautiful tank! Enjoy seeing these smaller tanks looking so full and lush. Makes me want to try something smaller!