[Amazonfish]

New tank! This will be replacing my saltwater tank that I didn't enjoy as much as I had hoped. I guess I'm just a freshwater girl

Here's the plan

Tank
Mr. Aqua 12 long
35.4"x8.3"x9.4"

Lighting
Coralife T5NO fixture--42 watts

CO2
Pressurized CO2 with Hagen mini Elite as a diffuser

Fertilizer
EI dosing

Substrate
sand

Flora
???

Fauna
Apistograma trifasciata trio
???

I just decided on an eheim 2213 for the filter. I'm going to put the intake on one side of the tank and the spraybar (cut to fit) on the other side of the tank. I hope there won't be a lack of flow.

The tank will be arriving Tuesday, so I'll start taking pictures then. Stay tuned for that :icon_mrgr

My two important decisions to make are about a dither fish for the tank and the 'scape! For dither fish, i was thinking of dwarf cories and maybe some boraras. I know this is only 12 gallons though and I'm afraid that I'm maxed out stockwise with just the apistos.

For the 'scape...I just don't know what to do with this super long tank! It's an awesome tank, but I have no idea what I'm going to do with it. I'm considering UG as a carpet. I definitely need to create hiding places for the apistos though, so I don't want to do an Iwagumi-style tank.

I'm open to ideas and suggestions!

 

[VadimShevchuk]

Good thing you went with the eheim 2213 on this tank instead of an aquaclear 20. What type of sand are you gonna use? PFS?

 

[Amazonfish]

All-purpose sand. I use that same substrate in all my tanks :icon_mrgr Can't beat $2.50 for a 50 pound bag! I can't justify paying a fortune for those 'better' substrates when my plants grow beautifully already.

For a smaller tank, I think smaller grained substrates are best, because large grain substrates make the tank look as small as it really is :icon_neut

I'm pretty excited about the filter. Is it normal to be excited about a filter? I can't wait to start this project--It'll help me survive my final exams :icon_mrgr

 

[TLE041]

Definitely go with a small school of dwarf cories! I wouldn't worry about slightly overstocking. They're tiny and their bioload is pretty minimal. Between the plants, the 2213, and regular WC's it shouldn't be a problem.

As for the scaping, maybe you could go with long, branchy manzanita driftwoods with java fern and moss tied onto it?

 

[Amazonfish]

I do have a pretty sweet piece of manzanita that I was considering for this tank :bounce: If I have time, I'll take a picture of it later today.

I loooove dwarf cories. I have 10 of them in my 25 gallon, and they're really cute. I'll definitely think of getting more for this tank. in any case, I don't really know what else I'd keep in this tank other than the boraras

 

[TLE041]

I loooove dwarf cories.

Same here! They're not like my other cories at all. They have such strange personalities.

Here's one of my C. pygmaeus playing inside a drop checker:

My other favorite fishes are celestial pearl danios. You should consider them for the tank as well.

 

[Amazonfish]

Your cory is adorable! I love how they rest on leaves and how they look like bumblebees zooming around the tank.

Hehe.... I breed CPDs :icon_mrgr I have them in my 25 gallon 'Fugue', so i was thinking of having something different in here. I do agree that CPDs are really great though!

 

[Amazonfish]

Here are the two pieces of manzanita that I'm considering:

The only issue is that i always think that the wood looks so awesome, but I'm also always disappointed at my wood 'scapes. They're never what I hoped they would be :icon_frow

 

[TLE041]

That first piece would look awesome in the tank. You should attach some java moss and fern to it to give the apistos hiding places.

 

[Amazonfish]

Tank arrived today!! Except...it's chipped. I should have a new one by next Monday. In the meantime, I took some pictures of wood in the tank so I can figure out what kind of 'scape I'm going to have for this tank. I'm not 100% sure that it will have any wood, but we'll see. Maybe you can help me decide?

I'd love to hear opinions about the wood! Again, I feel like I can never make wood 'scapes look good. Your ideas will surely help!

 

[benon]

asdf

I think the width of the thicker branches is more suiting for the shape of this tank.

The branches pointing to the ground look as good as they do pointing up.

It seems like widescreen is all the rage these days.

Everything is widescreen. My TV, my laptop, my fishtank(s). Widescreen is the way to go!

I guess if our eyeballs were lined up vertically it'd be all about the Tallscreen... ha ha...

I'm rambling... I better get some fresh air...

 

[Amazonfish]

Haha! Wait a minute....our eyes ARE lined up horizontally...

 

[Flippy]

I think the first or last wood scape rocks!

 

[benon]

Ugh... I fixed it. I gotta go outside O_O

 

[demonbreedr16]

It seems like widescreen is all the rage these days.

Everything is widescreen. My TV, my laptop, my fishtank(s). Widescreen is the way to go!

Yep. 16:9 is alot better then 4:3! Tho I must admit my 2007 laptop[Acer Aspire 5610z] was utter awesomeness even though it wasn't widescreen. My 2009 lappy[Dell Vostro A860n] sucked even though it was "better". Waiting for my brand new 2010 laptop...

Back on topic:

Amazonfish, that's a really cool tank! The possibilities!

 

[tuonor]

I like the 2nd driftwood picture although I'm wondering if you can also trim the driftwood in the first picture and get both in there.

BTW, how are you mounting the fixture on the tank? It sits really low, which looks cool. I really like this tank...

 

[accordztech]

are you going to get another tank because of the chip?

 

[Amazonfish]

Yep, the new tank has already been shipped :icon_mrgr

 

[rushr]

I love the dimensions of your tank. Makes me want to go rimless...wait that sounded a little risqué...er you know what I mean.

I think it would look cool to use some of the thin and thicker driftwood layered on top of each other with the thicker branches stretching along the back and the thinner in the front. Regardless of positioning this is going to be a neat tank

 

[OiZO]

I like your driftwood so far. Cant wait to see what you do with this.