[billyk]

Hey!
So I a have been around for a while. Had some planted stuff going on quite a while back and put it away as life was busy. But as you can clearly see i am back at it again.
I have a 10 gal. Nano going. It is not a planted tank per say as i was trying for a bit of an un-specific biotope kind of thing. To do that would in my mind require plants, inverts, and fish along with the little micro critters. Hoping the environment would start to feed on itself and provide for the inhabitants to a certain extent. Indeed I think I have created a rather fecund environment as there are way too many babies about the place!
I have some java moss and fern, an Amazon sword and rosette sword, some staurogyne and two I do not know! Fish are CPD and some spawning like crazy corydoras aeneas, then there are two amano shrimp and a bunch of cherry reds, one turbo snail and two mystery snails and of course a dozen or so baby cories.
Parameters are good, if interested they are:
Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 20
pH 7.1
GH 110
KH 3 (trying to boost it a bit, aiming for 5 or so)

I have a Finnex 14/7 Planted + for lighting, filtration is a SunSun HW-602b with the black sponge removed and floss and a media bag with 2 Tbsp of Matrix carbon connected to that is a SunSun HW-603 filled with 1.6 L of Seachem Matrix. I will be adding a UV device a CUV-109a this weekend. That's it for the hardware. The hope is that changing out floss every two weeks and not using carbon will take care of filtration. Then it should be a weekly water change and some gardening for maintenance.
I use a variety of Seachem products for water quality. Acid and Alkaline buffer and prime go into my water change water. I supplement with wonder shells, Flourish Excel, and a bit of this and that for ferts as the plants look. Not used much of late as they are doing well for my purposes. I am trimming the anacharis every two weeks now.

I have made a video, please let me know your thought and most importantly criticisms.
https://youtu.be/d-BAxnPlzoU

 

[AWolf]

Hey!
So I a have been around for a while. Had some planted stuff going on quite a while back and put it away as life was busy. But as you can clearly see i am back at it again.

I have made a video, please let me know your thought and most importantly criticisms.
https://youtu.be/d-BAxnPlzoU

Very nice tank. I'm looking hard, but I can't find a thing to criticize! Nano's are so much fun. With all the tiny fish available these days, it can really fill up nicely. I really like the video too, because it is not jerky or moving around too fast so that I have to hit pause to really see the tank. I'm always jealous of shrimp keepers. My fish eat them. In place of shrimp, I'm stuck with otos and snails for cleaners. One day I'll start a tank for shrimp, and keep all shrimp insulters out!

 

[billyk]

Hey!
@AWolf Thanks man. I appreciate the comments. I purposely tried not have anything that would eat something else. Well shrimp babies perhaps, but I still manage a few that mature. Seems I have a berried female anytime I look.
Thanks for the video compliment. I made it for myself and put it on a screen at my office at work. Kind of a portable aquarium. So I wanted it to be relaxing. I guess it worked!
Peace

 

[proper.noun]

Very nice tank, thanks for sharing. What kind(s) of micro or feeder critter(s) are you hoping to establish in your tank as a food source?

 

[Doogy262]

Very nice,love the very busy cory cats.You can expect to change a few things later as those swords will outgrow that tank but for now enjoy.

 

[billyk]

Very nice tank, thanks for sharing. What kind(s) of micro or feeder critter(s) are you hoping to establish in your tank as a food source?

Water Bears!!
No really I meant algae, worms, nematode kind of wee critters. I am not looking to breed anything, just looking at things from that perspective and observing. I feed the tank twice daily and all the critters come out to eat. They usually clean it all up in 5-7 minutes and in 20 you would not know I fed. I use a good variety of high quality foods, heavy on the veg.

Thank you for the kind words!

Bump:

Very nice,love the very busy cory cats.You can expect to change a few things later as those swords will outgrow that tank but for now enjoy.

Thanks!
And don't I know it. The one plant in the left foreground was just a sprig and now it covers a third of the tank! I wish I knew what it was. They will be replaced in time as I learn what are good micro scale plants and where I can find them. It has caused me to fire up a larger tank to take the cuttings and babies, or maybe two tanks... Spousal approval factor is dropping quickly!!

I must say the inhabitants do love to crawl all oer and around them though. And I like the idea of having the larger high light types on top shading the lower area and lower light types. It is very cool and somewhat of a challange.