[FrostyNYC]

Specs:
Tank: 10 Gallon All-Glass
Lighting: 40 Watt USA Satellite 6500k/10000k
Substrate: Eco-Complete
Hardscape: Zebra rock
Ferts/Dosing: EI w/dry ferts plus Flourish and Excel, but while emersed just misting with diluted Miracle-Gro and Flourish Excel
Filtration: Toms Mini-Canister (later changed over to an Aquaclear HOB)

Flora: HC & HM
Fauna: None so far

Set up this tank on February 25, 2008, so it's been a little under a month since I put it together. I planted an HC lawn in the front, and purchased some HM to use as sort of a "backup" if the HC failed, which I suspected it might. I planted HM to the front right and also in the background. I intend to plant heavily with stem plants in the two back corners once I fill this thing up with water, with HM acting as a midground and HC as a foreground. I planned to grow these two emersed for about 8 weeks, at which point I hoped to fill the tank.

Here's some pics. I'm running into a little problem, which I'll discuss in my next post.

Pic 1: Tank as of 3.9.08 (2 Weeks after startup)

Pic 2: Overhead shot as of 3.9.08 (2 Weeks after startup) (Added a little more HM to front-right and middle)

Pic 3: Overhead shot as of 2.25.08 (Date of Startup)

 

[FrostyNYC]

FrostyNYC -

Thats going to be a sweet little tank! The only change I would make is adding a background so that you don't see the receptacle and cords behind the tank.

I actually tried using a black plastic garbage bag, cut to fit, but the bag I selected was of flimsy plastic and it just didnt look right. I'm going to have to find a heavy-duty black bag... or bite the bullet and paint it.


All - Thanks for the comments. I actually ended up moving the rocks slightly because I felt there was too much of a horizontal line going on, especially on the right side of the tank. Annnnnnd I ended up filling the tank, for a couple reasons. The HC was starting to die, somehow. After spreading out very well for weeks, something bad was happening and it started to turn brown and melt. I filled the tank, started dosing EI, Excel, and DIY CO2 and the dying-off seems to have abated, but I lost a lot of HC. Who knew that emersed plants could just melt? I also ripped out a bunch of HM from the rear of the tank to make room for background plants, and I added a handful of young red ramshorn snails to eat up the dead HC and start pumping out ammonia for my cycle. (Tho I did seed my filter with floss from another tank) I'll post pics soon.

 

[FrostyNYC]

Well, I filled this guy up with water and added plants about a week or two ago. I'm dosing EI with Rex's dry ferts and all is well so far. I had to break down my 5 gallon because the sig other won't let me have two tanks in the apartment Oh well. I transferred the plants from the 5 gallon over, with the exception of my TON of java moss in that tank... which is still sitting in there until I figure out what to do with it.

At the rear left is stargrass, then tons of vals that I pulled from my 5 gallon (over 30 plants/plantlets), some ludwigia repens, blyxa japonica at the front left by the rocks, a tiny bit of java moss and HM at the left by the rocks, HC spread throughout the foreground, HM at the right in a bushy mound, and a little HM in the middle rear, and finally my rubin sword centerpiece.

Not at ALL what I expected or planned for the tank to look like. I had wanted a background of stargrass, myaca, hornwort, and a foreground of equally small leaved plants. But, then I found out I had to break down my 5 gallon and do something with my vals, and then I fell in love with that sword... and now this is what I have.

Some vals that got transplanted into the 10 gal:

I want the ludwigia to grow into more of a pink mass. I may replace it with a rotala if it doesn't fill in the way I want it to. Hopefully the star grass takes off and fills in the left... Once my stems root, I'd like to get rid of a lot of the vallisneria, as there's a lot of it. The tank just looks too messy to me. Also, I'm VERY unhappy with the HC. It just didn't work out, unfortunately. The last week before I filled the tank, half the HC melted while emersed. What's curious is that when it was melting, it was sending out little what appeared to be seed-pods. And now, I have this growing in the most unsightly piles of dead HC:

If you look in the middle of the brown dead HC, you'll see tiny plantlets growing. Is it baby HC from seeds? It's definitely a vascular plant of some form. Sorry for the blurriness but they're TINY and there's about 30 of them. Hopefully they grow and nothing eats them. PS - As you can see, that section of HC is done-for. Anything that started melting before I filled the tank just got worse after I filled it. Fortunately, there are other sections doing well and the HM is doing great, so if I end up with an HM carpet instead of HC, its not the end of the world.

 

[FrostyNYC]

The zebra rocks are still there, just covered by plants now. Do you think I crammed enough plants in this tank? :icon_cool I'm making up for the 6 months I spent with only java moss and vallisneria.

Speaking of which... check out my java moss' sexual reproduction! Is this sexual reproduction? If you look closely, you can see little spores on stems emerging from the moss. They're brownish.

 

[FrostyNYC]

It's been one week, and there is absolutely noticeable growth. To me at least. The Ludwigia repens, which I thought hadnt grown a single leaf, apparently grew an inch this week. At least. I only noticed when looking at last week's photos. The stargrass has obvious growth, which looks amazing. Stargrass has the habit of turning black and hideous when it's transplanted and/or damaged. Every little bruise turned to necropic black when I planted it, which really sucks for such a delicate plant (it's nearly as soft as guppy grass). Anyway, the new stargrass growth is a very soft bright green. Plus it's branching in everything direction. I'm so happy with this plant!

The blyxa is also surprising me. I thought I would love this plant after seeing it in so many tanks on this forum. In my own tank, I didnt love it so much, to tell you the truth. But it's grown about 5 new leaves each this week, and it looks much, much better than before. The last tank it was grown in had higher light, I believe, so it was very red/brown. In my tank, the new leaves are green with a pink overtone.

The HC has changed to submersed growth and the leaves are really oblong and neon green. The HM is looking pale, and some new growth is completely white. It's got to be a symptom of missing ferts, but I'm dosing EI plus supplemental Excel, and I have a 2 litre DIY CO2 bottle running. I dose 2 ml of Flourish comprehensive three times a week. You would think that would be enough iron. Why are the new leaves white and decaying?

Oh, and I found clado growing in my HM. And I'm getting quite a bit of hair algae on my vals. Gotta cut back my lighting. I've been leaving it on 10 hours a day sometimes.

So here's a tank update pic, and some photos of my ramshorns. Current tank occupants are 2 amano shrimp, 2 otos, 2 juvenile platies, 6 small red ramshorns, and about 20 baby ramshorns that were born this week. Oh, and I have limpets. Interesting things.

 

[FrostyNYC]

Tank is looking great. lol you sure you got that many rams and not 1000000?? lol they are worse than rabbits. Are those the ones you got from the guy i directed you to??

Yep. Props to you for the ramshorns I was looking for. I'm really happy with them, and they've doubled in size in the last two weeks. I dont think I have 1000000 yet... but soon. They do breed exponentially. I'm battling some pond snails right now tho, and just crushing them with my long-handled tweezers whenever I see one.

 

[FrostyNYC]

Cheryl,
Thanks! And hey, shouldn't you be updating your signature with the 75 gallon? :icon_roll

 

[FrostyNYC]

Well, its been a couple weeks. I pulled out all the HM in my tank because it was mysteriously turning white and developing holes in its leaves, with lots of dead leaves under the new growth. I had trimmed it several times, but eventually got tired of it and pulled it out. I stuck my stargrass trimmings in the center midground and hopefully that will grow in somewhat bushy.

Then, I had a little battle with hair algae, which I've described in another recent post. I pulled out a lot of corkscrew val (this stuff grows like crazy) and had to pull my ludwigia repens and bleach dip it.

I made a trip to a LFS that has $2.99 bunch plants (Buy 3 get one free), and got ludwigia natans, wisteria, red necaea, and rotala rotifundia. I figured the necaea would die, but it that was my free pick. Surprisingly, the necaea is growing, but not surprisingly, the new growth is green/pink and not the shocking red that it was when I bought it. I just stuck it on the side of the tank anyhow, and it's blocking my stargrass. Not sure I'm keeping it.

Also, I want to give props to Charpark, who RAOKed me 20+- endler fry. I'm really excited for these guys to grow up and color up. I'm feeding them hikari guppy food, hikari flake food, and frozen brine shrimp right now. I should really get some brine shrimp eggs and a microworm culture or something.

Below are a pic of the tank, of the new green necaea growth, and my rubin sword's growth. It's incredible how magenta the new leaves are on that plant.

 

[FrostyNYC]

Frosty's 10 Gallon Setup (Updated 5.14.08)

Well its been almost two weeks. I'm really struggling with the stargrass -- it keeps turning black. It does GREAT as long as I dont touch it. But if I trim it, prune it, replant it, whatever... it gets grey/black sploches on it that don't go away. It does grow fast, and I love how much it branches, but does anyone know of a similar plant that won't discolor when its unhappy?

Anywho, my rotala rotifundiola is really taking off, and I love it. I also won my war on hair algae, I think thanks to Excel overdosing and my new HUGE japonica shrimp. I'll post more pics soon, and I'll try to get some endlers shots (one male has color already, the rest of the fry are too small). Here's shot with some rotala, ludwigia, and vals.

 

[FrostyNYC]

Wow Frosty you sure know how to make those reds pop out.
I love it

Thanks, Orlando, but I can only take credit for the rubin sword and the rotala. The red Nesaea is turning green under my light. I'm actually supposed to mail that red plant out to someone who's been looking for it. 40 watts even under a 10 gallon just isnt enough for Nesaea.

That pink rotala though, is turning out to be one of my favorite plants.

 

[FrostyNYC]

Charpark - Thank you again for the ROAK fry. I tried to catch the big male to put him in a tic-tac box to take a picture of him. I learned that trick on endlersr.us ... unfortunately, the little guy took to cover in the plants and there's no way getting any tiny fish out of that plant cover... I'll post of a pic of him once he's fully grown but he looks P class endler to me... but I'm no expert by any means. We'll see when they're grown -- I'll post a pic for the endler experts to look at.

NstyN8 - Good eye! It's actually what's left of my Ludwigia repens. I went through a terrible hair algae attack and I bleach-dipped the repens and cut off the entire bottom half. Whatever was left, I stuck into the front right, which is where I originally had a large bush of HM (it was turning pale and getting holes in it, so I tossed it). When the repens grows out, I'll either move it to replace the stargrass that I'm tiring of, or I'll give it away. But yea, I was wondering if anyone would notice that I used a background plant as a foreground plant :thumbsup:

 

[FrostyNYC]

Mini update:

My red ramshorn snails have developed a taste for blyxa. They're meticulously stripping every new young leaf from the plants. Its so frustrating having to choose between a plant you really like and an animal you really like!

This is a perfect opportunity to start a new tank! I've been wanting to start a 5 gallon shrimp tank. But should I move the blyxa to a new tank, or all my ramshorns to a new tank? (There are about 30 snails at this point, most are really TINY but they are baby red rams) Probably going to have to move the snails, since I wouldnt be dosing the shrimp tank or going high light. Now to convince my significant other that I need a second tank... this is the hard part.

 

[FrostyNYC]

I'm doing something right! My biggest amano is berried! I wish I could set up more tanks and try to breed them. It kills me that all the babies are going to die. First pic is with flash, second pic without flash.

 

[FrostyNYC]

Wow! That's awesome! The second pic doesn't look like it was taken with flash. My amano would never do that...

It was the first pic that was taken with flash.

That female amano is fearless. She takes food right out of my hand. I've had her climb all over my hand when I've put it in to do tank maintenance. My endlers peck my hand all over too when I'm trying to move plants around. Its impossible to get anything done.

 

[FrostyNYC]

Well, all my blyxa is dead. I thought the ramshorns were eating it cause they were starving, but they were apparently eating it cause it was dying.

I trimmed my rotala rotifundiola. I love this beautiful pink plant. But, its getting quite a number of holes in it. I've seen this happen to someone else, and it was apparently a CO2 issue. I badly want pressurized CO2. Oy.

The amano lost all her eggs. She carried them for over a week. They all turned yellow, as shown in the pics below. The endlers are feisty and learned that they could pec the eggs off her. One male endler followed the amano relentlessly, and would turn upside down to swim underneath her and pick an egg off, or at least attempt to. It was a constant chase. Occasionally, he'd peck her back, and she wouldnt even move. Of course, she's bigger than this endler will EVER grow. She knows who's boss.

On a completely different note, Seasons 1 through 3 of Lost is amazing, and Season 4 sucks. Im very disappointed.

 

[FrostyNYC]

And a pic of the baby ramshorns during feeding time. I keep pieces of pre-sliced zucchini frozen so I can just pop up out, click it, and drop it in the tank. The otos, shrimp, snails, and endlers all love it. The couple pond snails I have in the tank arent as attracted to it, though, for anyone looking for a way to get rid of pond snails. But if its ramshorns you're looking to collect, zucchini is the way to go.

 

[FrostyNYC]

Here's an updated full tank shot. Looking back since I first got the rotala rotifundiola, I'm shocked at how it tripled in size over the last 2 months. More than tripled in size! I just trimmed back the wisteria down to almost nothing. Also, I took this picture a few days ago, and this morning I pulled out what HC I had growing, and spread out the new E. tennellus I purchased. There's two new runners since I put it in the tank last weekend. I also pulled out the struggling/dying stargrass in the back left. I'll let the vals fill in that corner.

I should mention, I switched to pressurized paintball CO2, and I have constant pearling now. I lovvvvvve it. I'm using the red sea paintball system. Not the cheapest, but definitely the easiest. My endlers have started reproducing. I'll probably have a population explosion within a month. Oh, and if anyone local wants some free baby red ramshorn snails, please let me know. I have too many.

 

[FrostyNYC]

Nice to see an update. Your tank is doing well. I bet you love that CO2. I'm getting my pressurized system soon, and I cant wait!

Whatever you do, make sure you get a drop checker. That alone, is a worthwhile investment, even for people using DIY CO2, in my opinion.

 

[FrostyNYC]

Awesome looking tank. I really like how your rotala rotifundiola is turning out. Can you take clipping of those? If you have spare let me know. Also, can I achieve the same outcome without using CO2 diffuser? I already dropped $200 on my 10gal set up and don't want to waste anymore money. I'm using 38W CF light with Marineland 100 filter rated for 20 gal with occasional Flourish dousing. Is this too much water flow for planted tank?

Thanks for the compliment. It's a work in progress. No CO2 diffuser? Are you running pressurized or DIY? What are you using to get the CO2 into your tank? I was using a nano glass diffuser while using DIY CO2, and now I'm using a reactor that came with the Red Sea kit.

I think water flow is a good thing, especially considering how much all the leaves and plants are going to cut down the current in the tank. Just keep delicate plants away from the outflow of the filter. To keep surface movement down, I always keep my tank topped off to the max, and I usually run my filter on its lowest setting. I'm using an Aquaclear HOB rated for tanks up to 20 gallons (or was it 30?). I do use a sponge over the filter intake which somewhat reduces flow, but more importantly, keeps endler fry, shrimp, and tiny snails out of the filter. Big filters are great when it comes to media choices. I love having lots of room to personalize.

The first four inches or so of my rotala is a mess of holes and looks terrible, because my plants suffered for several weeks when I didnt realize that my DIY CO2 bottles werent producing as much CO2 as I thought. I thought it was a nutrient deficiency, but it was actually carbon that they were lacking. So I really need to cut them down and replant the tops and throw out the ugly bottoms. When I do have some nice cuttings, I'll let you know. I only paid $3 for the bunch that I got at a LFS, though... of course, they were much smaller back then.

 

[FrostyNYC]

I attempted a DIY CO2, but I don't think I'm getting much out of it. I run the line to the intake of my filter and let the impeller break the CO2 into tiny bubbles for me. I think I will remove the DIY CO2 soon and look for another way of getting CO2 into my tank. Seeing from your post, CO2 really make a big difference. Well, that and skills . I see if I can budget for CO2 system. For now I'm dousing with Flourish and Excel, should I be using anything else? Also, how do you get rid of black spots on plants (anubius for mine)? I think they might be green spot algae but not sure on how to get rid of them. Can't seem to rub them off.

You can absolutely have a beautiful tank with a DIY CO2 setup. Just make sure to change the yeast/sugar solution every couple weeks, even if its still bubbling. The solution really only lasts 2 to 3 weeks, unless you're using a jello recipe varient. I've made the mistake of leaving the same yeast solution for over a month, because it was still bubbling, but I didnt realize that the bubbles were far fewer than a full-strength solution since the change was so gradual. I'd definitely go with DIY CO2 rather than no CO2.

Depending on your lighting, Flourish and Excel may or may not be all you need to dose. Those two dose micro-nutrients and carbon, respectively, but don't dose macro-nutrients. If you have high lighting, you may need to dose NPK (Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium).

You may be stuck with the green spot aglae. Try a rubbing with some paper towels or a very soft toothbrush or algae pad. You don't want to hurt your anubias of course. I've heard that nerite snails can eat green spot algae, but that algae is really stubborn and I doubt you'll be able to get it off the leaves. I've never grown anubias (I like fast growth), so Im not the best person to be handing out advice on them.