[Chizpa305]

Older Picture - 10/13/2013​

↓↓↓Updated Picture and Data: 7/29/2017↓↓↓​

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Lightning: Finnex FugeRay Aquarium LED. 4 blue LEDs/32 white LEDs. 4 watts. 7000Ks. 10 inches long
Filter: Eheim 2211. with Purigen bag added to media
Inflow/Outflow CalAquaLabs Efflux F1 and Influx X1, both 13mm in diameter
No CO2 system
Substrate: Aquasoil Amazonia I.

Flora:
Utricularia graminifolia (grass-leaved bladderworth) (Front carpet)
Staurogyne repens (back right and front left carpet)
Fissidens fontanus (on top of the ornamental rock)
Alternanthera reineckii 'mini' (right middle (red plant))
Lysimachia nummularia 'aurea' (Golden Lloydiella) (Middle left)
Ludwigia repens 'red' (Left background (red))
Rotala sp. green? (background left) - Not actually sure since I got it from a local lake
Ammania sp. 'bonsai' (background right)

Fauna:
2 Rummy nose tetras (Hemigrammus rhodostomus)
20 to 30 Red Cherry Shrimps (Neocaridina davidi)
some small snails

This tank has been rescaped. Click link below to go to the new thread​

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/1...5-gallons-vertical-iwagumi-dutch-mixture.html​

 

[Chizpa305]

Hi all, this is a journal of my tank. it has been about two months since I set it up. I want to hear your opinions and ideas about it.

At the time the water has a yellowish tint. I have made water changes but the tint does not go away. I use very little ferts to prevent excess organic matter and algae. If anyone knows how to solve this problem please let me know.

I keem the water level like that because when I had it to the top a few of my fish jumped out and died. I am thinking of making a little glass cover or something so that I can fill the water without loosing more fish.

About the flora I want to add some more plants, but I am having a difficult time finding the ones I want, like Pogostemon helferi. But once I get it I will plant them to the left side next to the ornamental rock.

 

[Chizpa305]

Thanks. I am working on the plexiglass lid. I need to make the perforations for the filter's intake and outtake tubes to go through. Also I am planning on changing those horrible green tubes for something more subtle, but that would be more into the future (not a big concern right now).

The Amazonia that I used was bought some time ago but was stored until I used it recently for this tank, so maybe it is what is causing the yellow tint. I hope it will go away sometime.

I will put some more pics soon after I add some Micro Swords at the far right side.

 

[Chizpa305]

Thanks aweeby. the round pebbles are going to be removed. They were only placed for two reasons.

1- To anchor recently planted HC Cuba to the bottom until they rooted a little.

2- The ones at the left side were placed to prevent vegetation from growing on that area because I want to plant something else there and I dont know how soon I will be able to get it.

I think I will leave the cave ornament. It gives shelter for the shrimps and it just looks cool in my opinion. the black base.. well I left it there on purpose too. It serves as some kind of boundary to the marsilea crenata which btw grows uncontrollably fast in all directions and I did't want to have them colonize every inch of soil. In proper time It will sure blend with the vegetation and become unnoticeable.

 

[Chizpa305]

Update: I planted the Micro Sword Narrow Leaf (Liliaeopsis Mauritius) at the back. I will let it grow a little before posting any pictures. Still working on the lid. I want to fill the water all the way up, but need that lid first. Apart from that everything else is the same. Fish looking nice with very strong colors and plants doing good too.

I want to use this opportunity to talk about something that happened some weeks ago. When I first installed the 26 watts lights (before I had any fish or shrimps in the tank) I noticed that the plants started to pearl quite a lot. I was excited about that because I don't have any CO2 and it was the first time my plants were pearling bubbles. But that just lasted 2 days. They have not pearled any more. I have the lights turned on about 8 ~ 10 hrs a day and the plants look very healthy whatsoever. Does anyone knows why might this had happened?

 

[Chizpa305]

Wow, is that too much light for the tank, 26W? Pearls may be just from a water change, and oxygen getting trapped down below.

Anyway, nice to see a local Miamian. Love the tank, good thing you removed that annoying center piece / stock light

I agree with aweeby that you should change the hardscape, remove the rocks and decor and get a piece of driftwood and tie some moss on it, for a more natural look. For hiding spots for shrimp, get some cholla wood or bamboo charcoal, easily hidden beneath plants. After your plants grow out more you really won't need a hiding place for the shrimp, as dense plants foliage is enough.

Yeah the stock light/filter piece was not good for plants. I struggled deciding whether or not to take it out because after all that is what makes that tank cost what it costs. I mean I could find a plain glass tank (bigger than mine) for less than $5 up in Hialeah :biggrin:. But well, I already had this tank and finally after unsuccessful attempts of growing plants under the crappy stock light, I decided to take it out and replace it with the current light.

Well thanks for the ideas and tips. But for the time being the cave is staying:icon_lol: Let's just see how it turns out and latter I will see.

 

[Chizpa305]

whats the stand? looks good.

Hi, I got the stand in a Bed Bath & Beyond. It has roughly the same base area as the tank and it fits perfectly. The only downside is that it has no doors. the filter and the rest of the aquarium tools are in the bottom and can be seen. I will probably get another stand or make one myself. One that has a little door where I can hide those equipments.

 

[Chizpa305]

There is not much going on in the tank. I bought some Flourish Iron to see if the Didiplis Diandra gets the reddish coloration. I am dozing daily along with the Flourish Excel. We will all see if this products does what it is supposed to.

I will post some pictures of the tank from when I was first trying to set it up (I have made some changes since then) Maybe I should have had started this journal from there, but anyways I dance to my own drummers and I do it backwards.

 

[Chizpa305]

This is the ADA Power Sand that goes under the substrate.

I left one inch on each side so that it would not be visible after adding the substrate.

I was going to try growing the Marsilea crenata (here in the emersed state) with the not powerful stock light which is also a filter and a fountain. It is a cool piece except for the fact that the light sucks.

and here I finally planted the Marsilea which was not doing so good

As you can see I first had the substrate flat. Now I have chanched that as well. I added the extra substrate I had left to the back side to give it a sense of depth. burrowing some of the Marsilea crenata in the process.

You can see here the first layer of substrate along with the buried Marsilea which by the way is still alive after a month of being under the substrate (that is one hardy plant)

Well that is all for now, thank you all for watching and posting comments.

 

[Chizpa305]

very pretty tank. thats a beautiful guppy too

Yeah, those goopies are very pretty. The red tail makes a nice contrast with the green vegetation in the aquarium. I which I had a better camera to take nice pictures of them so I could show them to you with more detail. I love goopies because they can exist in an enormous variety of shapes and colors.

Here is a link of a video I took.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYIBPSvboGo

It is not good quality either, but you can catch a glimpse of them.
Oh and sorry for the tilted video. That was my mistake!!

 

[Chizpa305]

Lol WHAT? Please tell me where you can find a glass tank for $5 in Hialeah. Probably won't hold water w/o some work?

As for the light, that's considered pretty high for a tank this size (5.2 watt / g). But if you're dosing Excel daily you might not encounter a big algae problem, and if you do, add Nerites until you achieve balance. I only use it as an algaecide, not sure if it helps that much with growth when you have fauna producing natural CO2. I haven't gassed any of my tanks and plan to keep them natural, they're all still growing fine.

Lol I bet they are horrible quality but yeah in some places you can find them pretty cheap. I remember I went to a little store where they had simple tanks at very low prices but I don't quite remember the address. That was some time ago... Anyways, they also have some tanks for sale at decent prices at the Neighborhood Fish Farm.

About the light, I have two types of bulbs. The other one is only 10 watts. For now I just have a little bit of algae but nothing out of control. In case of emergency I'll just exchange the light for the smaller one temporarily.

 

[Chizpa305]

Update: I spotted a shrimp today with a bunch of eggs in its belly. I guess the fish will have some nice shrimp special dinner soon. Let the stronger and smarter ones survive.

Also, for those who might be interested, here is the blueprint of the lid I am planning on doing. I think I could have it finished in about a week.

 

[Chizpa305]

Yeah well, I suppose a lid would be uncomfortable in many ways, but my fish are very suicidal and without one I'd be left with none. I don't like to have the water level too low either because it gives an unappealing look to the tank so I thought the only solution to this problem was to make one.

 

[Chizpa305]

Have you tried using floating plants?

Mhhh I don't know. That could be another solution. I like the floating plants in your Marina tank. The leaves look sexy from up top, though not a big fan of how the roots look from under the water surface. Well not a bad idea. Thanks for that

I bought the Diandra (back middle plant) to create some color contrast as it is supposed to turn reddish or at least pinkish. But it is completely green. I am giving it some iron supplement, but no luck with the red color yet. Is there something else that can enhance the red coloration apart from the iron?

 

[Chizpa305]

ccc

 

[Chizpa305]

Thanks for the feedback JMex. It is nice to know that we both have the same tank. We can learn from each other a thing or two through our own experiences.

Update:
- Bad News!!! I've been having some unfortunate problems in the tank. Ammonia levels have riced killing two fish so far. Apparently I introduced too many fish in a short period of time. I am trying to handle the situation by doing daily 30% WC, and reducing the feeding significantly. Hopefully the fish can hang on until the bacteria colony catches up with waste breakdown.

- I ordered a water test kit to help me detect problems in the tank before it is too late.

- On other bad news,... Algae... Green dust algae to be specific, is spreading through the glass walls and making the tank look like a public toilet. I was reading an article online about how to handle this type of algae. It is very simple actually. I just have to... well... do nothing. Yes!! The article said that it is best not to disturb the algae for a period of three weeks. after that, I read, it starts to die out by itself and disappear for good. But if I try to scrape it before this period of time, it will repeat its life cycle and I would have to wait again. I'll try to be patient and wait.

 

[Chizpa305]

Update:

- Ok so I finally finished the lid. Here are some pictures for you to see. The end result exactly looks just as I planned it.
This is the rough piece of plexiglass that I bought.

This is the finished work.

Don't forget share your opinion. Thank you.

 

[Chizpa305]

I trimmed some of the plants today and took these pictures after. The HC Cuba is spreading nicely through the substrate and in a few more weeks it will hopefully cover the entire right slope.
As you can see I'm getting some algae on the glass but I will try to get some Nerite Snails to help clean it up. Also, I'll add some carbon to the filter because no mater how many WC I do, the water keeps coming out a little yellow.
I saw some tiny baby shrimps this morning, they are very hard to see. Let's see if some survive to adulthood.

In the near future, I'm going to paint the background in black. I know I should have done it before setting the tank, but that phase is already over by now.

Let me know what do you think. Thanks.

 

[Chizpa305]

That HC is looking very good! I wish mine would grow in that well. If you want the shrimps to survive you should put a prefilter sponge on your intake or they will just get sucked up and eaten by your filter.

JMex: I followed your advice and placed a little piece of sponge inside the tip of the outflow tube. It's not like I want every single one to survive, but just to keep the shrimp generations flowing.

Tank is looking good! I really like it so far. Can't wait to see what it looks like when it gets all grown in.

Thanks Red, I appreciate the positive feedback :biggrin: keep it up. I'm glad you like it!

A bit off-topic, but would you be willing to sell me some of your aureas?

Philemon: I would be glad to, but unfortunately the cutting I made yesterday were discarded right after, But if you want, once the plant grows back again I'll let you know. If you can, send me a PM with the plants you have. Maybe we can exchange.