[Gplus]

Just last week I found a deal on a 12x12x12 7.5 rimless cube with a finnex 12" fugeray planted + fixture. I couldn't resist starting a shrimp tank any longer so I bought it.

I saw a post about an "altitude aquascape" at this link.
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?p=5217105

I decided that was what I wanted to do. I had never worked with rock scape before. It was quite a challenge and my LFS had only a small supply of Lace rock. My Gf and I spent about an hour positioning and repositioning and......repositioning the rocks. We were about to give in and use driftwood, but we found a layout we were decently happy with.

The tank specs are as follows:
Finnex 12x12x12 7.5gal
Finnex fugeray planted + 12"
Aquaclear 30 (biofoam,purigen, mature eheim substrat from aquatop filter)
No heater as of now, water 75*F
eco complete gravel/florish tabs
Lace rock from LFS

Flora:
Glossostigma elatinoides (if it doesn't carpet I'll try baby tears or something more low tech)
crypt parva
Random grass at the LFS (looks like tall hair grass)
Small java fern from one of my other tanks.

Fauna:
7 Ember tetras

The tank is cycling right now. Shouldn't take long since I stuffed plenty of 1 year old eheim substrat into the bag the aquaclear came with for bio media. The tank is still cloudy from the eco-complete I think although I've never had it happen this bad before.
Fish are doing very well. Its been about 3 days since I set the tank up and I've done 2 water changes. Water parameters are all zero thanks to the purigen and the seeded bio media!

I will update this thread as the glosso fills in the tank (hopefully :icon_roll )
If it doesn't I'd like it if anyone with a similar established setup could point me in the right direction regarding a low growing carpet plant. I am and will continue to dose very small amounts of excel daily to help the glosso!

Thanks for reading and peeping the tank! That's all for now...


PS: I'm ashamed of the cloudiness, hopefully it subsides soon! More daily WC's will hopefully do the trick

 

[tenzero1]

Really excited to see how this turns out. I feel like the scape has a good feeling of depth to it!

 

[lauraleellbp]

No CO2?

 

[Gplus]

Really excited to see how this turns out. I feel like the scape has a good feeling of depth to it!

Thanks! I'll be sure to keep posting updated pictures throughout the next few weeks!

 

[Gplus]

No CO2?

No co2, correct. I am dosing Excel daily. I've read once the glosso carpets out it doesn't necessarily require co2. I just need to beat the chance of an initial algae bloom.

 

[Gplus]

The tank has cleared up, not as clear as it should be. It seems the glosso is rooting in and hopefully it will slowly spread out! I think I got a bad bag of eco complete. It smelt horrible and it seems no matter what I do I cant get the water to clear up! I've dealt with eco complete many times before and never had these issues...

Until things grow out, thanks for looking!

 

[fish_fasinated]

Looks great thus far, interested to see how this one grows in.

 

[Agent69]

Man that scape is sweet!

Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk

 

[Gplus]

Thanks! We got lucky ! I was in Portland Maine for the weekend and hoped to come home to some growth but there isn't much! I'll post a new picture in about a week.

 

[Gplus]

Just a quick update before I go to work.. The glosso hasn't grown out much at all and I had to cut back the hairgrass because it all died off. It has come back a bit. I am fighting hair algae its stringing off the glosso pretty much everywhere and I am also fighting some type of brown algae on the glass. I've never had huge algae issues in a planted tank before so this is all new to me.

Should I cut my light hours down? Maybe fold and buy a small co2 setup, if so suggestions? I do have a 20lb co2 tank I used when I had my 55g. I've been reluctant to use it. I wanted a non co2 tank but with the light I'm using I'm starting to think I'll be screwed without it!

Thanks a lot for the support!


Sorry for the crap picture I wanted to get this update done quickly, I should have been in the shower 10 minutes ago! haha