When I got back into the hobby early last year, it didn't take long for M.T.S. to kick in. After my 12G Edge and my first 10G, the next tank I set up was one of those funky-sorta-triangular-but-with-five-sides acrylic AquaView tanks. I had two of them in my garage from years ago. One had a spot for a light in the hood and one didn't, so I set up the one with the light. I immediately replaced the stock incandescent bulb with a 5W 5000K LED. I had to rig it a little to fit it in the hood, but it worked. Well, my first attempt was a complete failure. The 5W bulb in that small of a tank put out a ridiculous amount of light and there was hair algae everywhere. Then the bulb stopped working (maybe from moisture), so I replaced it with a 3W bulb. Since then, it has been on my nightstand housing a variety of invertebrates. I dose with a few drops of Excel when I remember and feed sparingly. The little TOM mini filter gets cleaned out every few months. I was using tiny cuts of carbon pads in that ridiculously tiny little media basket, but with the most recent cleaning I switched to a few little pieces of Matrix. The tank stays very clean, but I have had no luck breeding any of the shrimp I've housed in there and they usually disappear. From what I've seen, I think they eventually develop problems molting and the snails get them.
So I just brought the tank downstairs and decided it was time to do an overhaul. I thought there were two BV's in there, but I only recovered one, so the other may have died recently. I also removed a lot of ramshorn snails and left only a few smaller ones. The shells on the older ramshorns look terrible and pitted, so I believe the water in this tank is too soft. I'll probably drop some crushed coral in with the sand when I rescape to boost the PH.
Planned fauna will be a few ramshorns and some Thai micro crabs. While I like the current jungle look, I'm afraid I won't be able to see the crabs.
Flora includes the following:
-Jungle Val that has been there since the beginning and will probably be moved to one of my big tanks
-Dwarf sag that has sent out runners like crazy and spread all over
-A little DHG
-Even less HC
-Crypt wendtii red
-Duckweed
The duckweed grew too thick and blocked out too much light for too long. My crypts melted (but not a lost cause) and I lost some of what little HC was in there. I cleaned out most of the duckweed and may replace with a few RRF.
I have a number of plants I could work with, but I don't want to add too much. I have a few ridiculously large stems of p. helferi that look out of place in my 29G, so I may move a couple of them into this tank. Beyond that, maybe remove the vals and reduce the dwarf sag or cut it down shorter.
I'll be uploading pics from Tapatalk shortly.
