[shift]

So about a month ago i decided to get a tank again. I started with a 6G fluval edge. After about 3 weeks I decided to upgrade the tank to the 12G
version.

Revision1. - 6g Edge

The new tank - 12g edge (same base but twice the height)

It defiantly needs more work and tall plants but its a start (and yes i need to move the themonitor.. i kinda forgot about it when i was filling the tank)

The current stocking list:
3x zebra danios
4x neon teras
1x crystal shrimp
1x red fire shrimp?
1x apple snail

I'm hoping to get 10-12 CPD's and 10-12 yellow shrimp in the near future

I would also like to add in some kind of grass/moss carpet and some taller plants to fill in the back

 

[shift]

A bit of an update on the aquarium world:

3 Danios and 2 shrimp were moved to the work tank.
I now have 4 Neons, 12 CPDs, an apple snail and a fry (who hitched a ride) living in the 12G Edge. I have added a bunch more plants and will be adding 12x yellow shrimp in the near future.

Current tank - 11/1/13

1/12 CDP's

Fry who hitched a ride... i'm guessing its a guppy.

The new 5.5G (prob 5 after my excessively deep substrate) Fluval chi curtacy of the GF.. I'm going to use this as a breeder tank and attempt to make baby CDP's one the tank cycles itself

 

[clau74]

Hi ,
Beautiful tank, Microrasbora Galaxy are my favorites.

 

[shift]

Thank you! They are awesome little fish. I'm going to attempt to breed them once the new 5gallon gets established.

 

[clau74]

Yes, it's worth trying breeding.

 

[shift]

So my plan is to let the new 5G run on its own for a few weeks and let the CPD's get used to their new home. I plan on feeding the CPDs a mix of crushed flakes and frozen food. Once the new tanks is stable I'm thinking of taking 2 of the bigger CPD's and letting them do the mating dance in the planted 5G for a day or two then moving them back to the big tank. The 5g will become the new home for the frys until they are big enough to move into the 12G with the others. Has anyone on the forum tried breeding CPD's before? Is there anything special to do or just let nature take its course..

Thanks!

 

[clau74]

Galaxy Microrasbora breeding the tank easily, I have a friend who speaks it.

 

[shift]

A few updated pics - 1/21/2013

 

[tex627]

This is going to be great once it all fills in!

 

[shift]

Should i leave the tree in there or take it out and do just plants?

 

[FlyingHellFish]

Hi Shift, great work done on the labour intensive Edge. What do I know about tanks? Right? But hear me out if you will, remove a few things in the tank. I find that having more room to clean and easy access helps out a lot.

Try larger leafs plants?

The light for the 12 gallon is mostly in the middle and back with a bit at the side. I try to put my plants at the middle and side, you can't have tall plants in the middle because they will get hit with the current of the AC.

Oh and maybe a substrate for plants? Flourite Black or Sand, that white gravel doesn't look that great. It going to be such a pain to keep that gravel white in an Edge tank. Flourite Black is great at holding on to nutrients, you can dose Seachem excel. Oh and if you ever want to know a place in Canada that sells dry fertilizers (you might have problems with customs with online orders) I know a great place in Toronto.

EDIT - You end up with a life time supply of Dry fertilizers, maybe even two life times.

 

[shift]

I just worry about the mess it would make to swap out the substrate.. do-able just a big loss of beneficial bacteria... But i have grown a love for black substrate (white was just free at the time!)


I was thinking of using blasting media as it seems to be a nice cheap option.. is it worth doing dirt?

 

[FlyingHellFish]

Dirt? Naw man, I can't imagine a Fluval Edge 12 gallon with dirt. Ooh the work needed for that, shudders!

Plus, you got to wait for the dirt to age... blah blah ... not worth it. Sure there be some guy coming in this thread and telling us that DIRT is the greatest thing ever! Maybe in the 70s or something, we got options now. Just buy ADA Aquasoil or any of those substrates, they're all baked dirt-based balls. There is even talk of people using plain old Bonsai soil, but I'm lazy and I just went with the best looking substrate ever to bless the hobby - Seachem Flourite Black. Some people like the look of brown balls in their tanks, I don't.

Anyways, you can totally change the gravel. You got Prime, Plants and a mature Aquaclear sponge, I'm sure you will bounce back in no time. Just do water changes if you find your readings are going too high. Your plants will have a feast!

EDIT: I hope there someone from Seachem or ADA who reads this and say, yo send this kid a bag of our dirt.

 

[shift]

I have seen the fluval "balls" locally but not the ADA.. hmmm i may! i may swap the tree for some drift wood! even though i love the tree.. its a pain to clean around. I have a few breeder tanks cycling that i could use to hold the fish and migrate the tree

 

[shift]

fluval stratum/aqua soil or blasting media...

 

[FlyingHellFish]

Hey, don't take out the tree! I got a tree growing in mine too, not sure if you seen this pic but you can do great stuff with taiwan moss - OLDER PIC

I'm trying to recreate that but with .... a bigger tree. Anyways, if you dose dry fertilizers then you won't really need those substrate. They come load with the stuff, you still will need to dose trace.

I say, pick the substrate that looks best in your opinion. To hell to the nay sayer (except for me) as they will not be the one looking at your tank. It's you who would be looking at your tank the most.

I had blue and green gravel and fake plants once... it was horrible. It looked like a drunk rainbow came over to my tank and puke all in it.

 

[shift]

What exactly do you mean by dry ferts? is that like root tabs? I have only ever used a minimal does of liquid ferts.

I do like the tree, its just a pain to vacuum around!


So i'm thinking either eco-complete or fluval stratum.

 

[shift]

Second question. If I was to do a plant wall for a background. Cambodia or corkscrew Val's!

 

[tex627]

I wouldn't commit to a full "background" of plants as it tends to make aquascapes look very unnatural. For a plant in the background, I would prefer "Cabomba" over the Vals.

 

[shift]

Well i swapped to dirt and eco-complete. that was one messy venture! I went a little overboard with excessively thick substrate (coulnd't really see throughout the muddy lake!) I will post some pics once the mud puddle clears up