[AquaAurora]

ok less sad stuff up here, starting to show newer tanks (coming soon)

A MEMORIAL TO PAST AQUASCAPES (coming soon)

[12/19/19]6g bookshelf tank

flora: anaubais nana petite and micro, crypt: wendtii red and green, crypt green geko, some unidentified crypts, duckweed, peacock moss scraps
fauna: red neos, ramshorns, and pond snails
filter: tetra whisper 10 air pump+sponge filter
heater: hydro theo 25 watt adjustable heater + azoo micro temperture controller
light: x2 finnex stingray clip on lights + indirect filtred light from sw facing window
substrate: black diamond 'sand' + organic soil



[4/19/19]6g bookshelf tank

[2/28/19]6g bookshelf tank
set up!

[11/16/16]
some photos are a few months old but here are all the current tanks (most recent photos first):
2g lantern vase with Antaeus

2.5g vase with new unnamed dragon scale male pk

2.5g standard with Midas

less than 1g marimo tank no fauna

2g cookie jar with Kudu (formerly Crius)

10g standard 1.2 full with Ajax

(several months old photos)
~3g bubble bowl with D.O.D ([censor] of the deep.. hint first word rhymed wirh rick)

2.5g standard with Sheeduski

[12/1/15]
2g Lantern Vase "Grassy Vase"
Flora:Micro sword (Lilaeopsis mauritiana)
Mini micro sword (Lilaeopsis nova "mini")
unknown micro sword (Lilaeopsis ???)
Laropard vals
Anubias petite
Anubias micro
Salvinia minima



2-3g bubble bowl "Woody Bowl"
Submerged flora: none
Riparium flora: Philodendron "silver"



2.5g standard tank "Bamboo Box"
Submerged flora: none
Riparium flora: Pothos (varigated)
Lucky bamboo



[8/3/15]
2g Cookie Jar "Fissidens Forest

Flora: Fissidens fontanus (phoenix moss)
Salvinia minima

2g Lantern Vase "Crypt Cornicopia"

Flora: Crypt parva,
Crypts wedtii green
Crypts wendtii red
Crypts undulata
Crypt balansae
Crypt retrospiralis
Salvinia minima

2-3g Bubble Bowl "Grass Fields"

Flora: Narrow leaf pygmy chain sword (Echinodorus tenellus)
Micro sword (Lilaeopsis mauritiana)
Mini micro sword (Lilaeopsis nova "mini")
Salvinia minima

10g "Stumped"

Flora:Nymphaea taiwan
Hydro sp. japan
Downoi (Pogostemon helferi)
Echinodorus angustifolia 'Vesuvius'
Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides)
Micro sword (Lilaeopsis brasiliensis)
Ludwigia sp. red
Alternanthera reineckii
Bacopa Carolina
2 unknown stem species


[7/3/15]





[5/17/15]





[4/9/15]



[3/6/15]


[2/18/15]


[1/21/15]


[12/27/14]


[12/20/14]


[12/5/14]


[10/27/14]


[9/25/14]



Set these two picos up last week and started letting them 'age'/grow in while the filter sponges cycle in my fish active 20g long.


$20 2-3g Bubble Bowl from Michel's
Equipments: mini sponge filter
Light: x1 6500k 13 wall mini cfl in desk lamp reflector
Substrate: Miricale Gro Organic Potting Mix capped with Black Diamond Blasting "Sand"
HardScape: none
Flora: Blyxa japonica
Lilaeopsis Mauritiana (micro sword narrow leaf)
Echinodorus Tenellus (pigmy chain sword narrow leaf)
Hemianthus Callitrichoides (dwarf baby tears)
Fauna: Cherry, Rili, and wild type Neocaridina Shrimp + ramshorns and MTS


$10 2g Anchor Cookie Jar from Walmart
Equipments: mini sponge filter
Lights for both: x2 6500k 13 wall mini cfl with aluminum foil reflector in lamp
Substrate: Black Diamond Blasting "Sand"
HardScape: Manzanita branches x4
Flora: Taxiphyllum sp. (peacock moss)
Taxiphyllum Montagnei (christmas moss)
Fauna: Cherry, Rili, and wild type Neocaridina Shrimp + ramshorns and pond/bladder snails



I will probably consolidate updates on my no-tech vase into this thread too since its on the windowsill just above these two.

Setup and extra photos will be in the next post ^^


UPDATE PHOTOS
[7/6/14]

 

[AquaAurora]

photo spam!

Bubble Bowl Setup:











Cookie Jar Setup:








Both after some water changes to remove cloudyness:

 

[cjstl]

Looks great. Good luck! My last couple of experiments with MGOCPM have turned into tea-colored disasters and endless sources of annoyance to my wife...

 

[AquaAurora]

Looks great. Good luck! My last couple of experiments with MGOCPM have turned into tea-colored disasters and endless sources of annoyance to my wife...

Thank you ^^
So far no yellow/brown/tea tinting in the bubble bowl, its only slightly cloudy from the "sand". I did an ammonia test the day after to see if it was leaching up bad stuff, got "0ppm" Will test again this week when its been going for 7 days just to make sure.
My less than .5g vase with a argentinaint sowrd (and some floasters) has done well with the MGOPM and a gravel cap. The sword has bounced back nicely it really likes the soil ^^ I only have snails in that tank but haven't noticed tinting in the water yet either (been set up since Feb) I never test that ones water since its just 'pest' snails that can pretty much take a tank nuke.

 

[cjstl]

I have salvaged most of the good plants from my 2G bowl. They sure grew well in that brown water under very high light! Now it is just pest snails and thousands of seed shrimp/daphnia. I haven't drained the bowl because I hate to waste the little critters. I tossed an assassin snail in there the other day, and it seems happy. I might drop a few Endler fry in and let them have a buffet for a week or so before I completely tear it down

I just cleaned out my cubus last weekend and am in process of setting it back up with just sand. I might start a journal for that one.

 

[Nolan]

The grass field looks great! looks like a taller version of some of the high-tech scapes ive seen lately.

The moss forest is nice too. I think it would look great with a red tiger lotus in the middle though, or some other singular centerpiece plant.

 

[AquaAurora]

I have salvaged most of the good plants from my 2G bowl. They sure grew well in that brown water under very high light! Now it is just pest snails and thousands of seed shrimp/daphnia. I haven't drained the bowl because I hate to waste the little critters. I tossed an assassin snail in there the other day, and it seems happy. I might drop a few Endler fry in and let them have a buffet for a week or so before I completely tear it down

I just cleaned out my cubus last weekend and am in process of setting it back up with just sand. I might start a journal for that one.

Look forward to seeing a journal ^^
I have a small cubus too, right now i reserve it as the "drip acclimate tank" for new fauna arrivals (my bucket is too wide so transit water is too shallow in it). I want to try setting it up with a riparium plant (don't know what yet) and some semi submergsed/emersed mosses since i have leftover from this setup.
I'm actually trying to kick off a few live food cultures, I bought blackworms but got "giant" daphnia, and "wild type" Neos thrown in by surprise. I also have mts, pond, and ramshorn snails I'm working to bring up #s of all for future dwarf puffer food.. might share the dalphina and black worms with the other fish if the cultures grows big enough.

The grass field looks great! looks like a taller version of some of the high-tech scapes ive seen lately.

The moss forest is nice too. I think it would look great with a red tiger lotus in the middle though, or some other singular centerpiece plant.

Thank you ^^I look forward to seeing both grow in. I'm hoping the moss one will just become a dense mess eventually (many many months down the road) so there won't be a lot of room for a centerpiece plant. I do actually have a dwarf tiger lotus that if I added it to the jar I'd want to stuff soil under it... buuut I don't want to rip out and redo the tank for that (I'm lazy XP) I was trying to aim towards the jar looking like a cut out from a dense forest canopy where the branches are all covered in moss.

 

[Nolan]

Thank you ^^I look forward to seeing both grow in. I'm hoping the moss one will just become a dense mess eventually (many many months down the road) so there won't be a lot of room for a centerpiece plant. I do actually have a dwarf tiger lotus that if I added it to the jar I'd want to stuff soil under it... buuut I don't want to rip out and redo the tank for that (I'm lazy XP) I was trying to aim towards the jar looking like a cut out from a dense forest canopy where the branches are all covered in moss.

Sounds good.

I have pulled up a lotus from a dirted tank before, and never will again unless planning to rescape. The root system rivals that of my amazon swords!

I subscribed to this thread. Hope you keep it updated

 

[AquaAurora]

Sounds good.

I have pulled up a lotus from a dirted tank before, and never will again unless planning to rescape. The root system rivals that of my amazon swords!

I subscribed to this thread. Hope you keep it updated

Barring any unforeseen catastrophes, I hope to update this (and my other tanks) at least once every 7-10 days. Speak of which I need to update my bigger tanks ^^

 

[AGUILAR3]

The grass jungle bowl is going to be shrimp heaven once it fills in. I like the semi open space up font.

 

[AquaAurora]

The grass jungle bowl is going to be shrimp heaven once it fills in. I like the semi open space up font.

Thank you ^^
I didn't want it too look too 'man made' so i mixed heights of stuff around the mid/front instead of all hc front and center. Curious to see how it will grow in/mix together (want a kinda of wild/mixed plant field look).

 

[AquaAurora]

So not a tank update, but a quick blurry photo.. I stuck my hand in the 10g hold tank to turn up a pot of hc, and a male or rili mix shrimp decided to land on my fingers and explore a bit. It was so cute I tried to take a photo (very awkward with 1 hand btw). I'm sure shrimp people see this all the time but its my first time so it was a cute moment, makes me look at them more as pets to bond with than just tiny shrimp (my husband sees them as tiny snacks)... I need to get a feeding dish..
Sorry I couldn't get it to focus on the shrimp.

 

[AquaAurora]

Update

Well unfortunately I managed to mess up the MGOPM as the bubble bowl now has ammonia:0.5, nitrite:0.25, nitrate:40. I'll have to gut and remove the soil and change over to osmocote + root tabs. I don't want to wait for this to cycle as I wanted a safe bowl I could slap shrimp and a cycled sponge filter in whenever I was ready without worried of high nitrates from leeched ammonia.
The bubble bowl also sadly has melting of blyxa j. and micro sword, chain sword is still light colored but otherwise seems healthy, the tears.. I don't really care so didn't look at, I put them in on a lark since i was given an extra pot.
I also got a new light for the Bowl as I thought it wasn't getting enough from the original light.
Moss jar is doing fine, and unless I messed up the nitrate test, ate up all the nitrates (seriously never seen yellow on nitrate test of tank water before (tap comes in with nitrates that make it automatically read at "10 ppm" from test though water report says no higher than 2 here))

 

[Varmint]

Too bad about the grass bowl. It's so pretty.

 

[AquaAurora]

Drip drip drip

I decided to leave the bowl be and see what happens, hoping it stops leeching eventually, for now I'll just move all shrimp to the Jar when I need their holding tank again. I am actually moving the wild type Noes right now and dripping them in, I tested the water in their tupperware... damn those buggers are durable for living through my water change neglect! Definitely want them breeding with the cherry/rilli mix with the hopes of durable offspring. I added sponge filters to the picos today so now they can't be called no-techs. I hope they got enough BB build up from the 20g long, if not I'll grab out some foam and stuff it in the jar and bowl against the sponge filters.

Drip acclimation


Sorry for the second photo being blurry, camera doesn't want to focus on transparent shrimpies

 

[philipraposo1982]

how did you attach all the moss in the jar? i like the jar a lot

 

[AquaAurora]

how did you attach all the moss in the jar? i like the jar a lot

Thank you ^^ I used low poundage clear fishing line, its really thin and flexible.. tieing knots suck though gotta triple knot it or more to keep it form coming undone. Anyways fishing line tied on, slap on moss, twist line around, tie it off, repeat in a different spot. I think I might had tied some on too tightly as I notice a few white patches (most turned white not algae or fungus growing over it).

Shrimp are in, one looks like it passed but the others are still alive and well. I'd noticed one molted shell in the tupperware when they were all wrangled out. I put in a tiny piece of shrimp food but they've not shown interest in it yet (protein>shrimp veggie stick... cannibalism mmm). Going to remove the dead shrimp and uneaten food in about an hour.
Will post photos tomorrow (if they hold still long enough and my camera can manage to focus on them).

 

[AquaAurora]

A few photos of some of the wild types in the Jar (the camera makes their shells look more clouded then they are.. though one is roe milk white than the others and was not being photogenic either..)




And some of the cherry/rilli mutts in the 10g (will be moving in 1-2 weeks after verifying there's no bacteria infection in the jar shrimp).

 

[AquaAurora]

Sadly it got very warm here, but not hot enough to turn on the AC yet... however I think the warmer house temp (and subsequent water temp) of the picos caused a bacteria infection in the shrimp. I see one dead white/cream one.. and two empty shells in the jar but no sign of active shirmp.. any survivors may be hiding. I am going to try treating the tank but most likely won't have any shrimp left after.. SO will wait until its hot enough for AC to be put on and then move the cherry/rilis up to the tank.
For now here's a photo of 10 of them (there are more but I can't find them all amongst the plants) in the 10g out for meal time.

 

[AquaAurora]

I hadn't seen any shrimp in days in the jar so I went to do a water change with the expectation of siphoning out corpses, and one went swimming by me as I started removing water! I had to stop the water change since the new water was not up to room temp and I didn't want to kill this ninja shrimp with the drastic temp change it would have gotten.
I've since found him hanging out on one of the driftwood pieces. He's very sluggish and is opaque rather than transparent :/ I've gotten some shirmp safe meds but at this point even if I treat I'd expect any remainders would die off.. But I might still do the treatment after the water change just to 'disinfect' the tank to to speak so when I move the cherry/rilis in they won't get infections from possible leftover bacteria in the jar.