[PeterN1986]

Hey all, this is my 5.5g desk tank. It's going to be low-tech. I am going to dry-start HC and Glosso that I got from Pirayaman.

Equipment is:

Lighting: Finnex FugeRay 16"
Filter: Aquaclear 20 w./ Purigen
Substrate: MGOPS mixed with Greensand capped w./ Ecocomplete
Ferts: Will dose with Excel and dry ferts
Heater: 25 watt Hydor 7" heater

This is the tank empty, and my bamboo plant.

Great piece of driftwood found at Giant Aquarium in Philly, with great help from a guy there named Troy.

Fugeray with moonlight and regular LED's on.

With just the moonlights on.

ADA logo with wood background. Thought it looked cool.

MGOPS put in.

Eco cap put in.

Placing the driftwood.

Angle shot.

Driftwood in place with lights on.

Tank shot.

 

[xiaoxiy]

Jeeze, those rimless tanks look gorgeous. I should have gotten one (oh well, in the future...)

 

[Couesfanatic]

nice, keep us updated. Im curious to see how this goes.

 

[PeterN1986]

Got around to plating the HC and glosso I got earlier this week. I made the mistake of leaving them in the sandwich bag they were in with their water this whole past week. When I opened the bag, it reeked like crap. I hope the plants are okay.

I am spraying them with a 750 mL bottle of water from my 20H and a couple of drops of Excel and very tiny amount of KH2PO4 and KN03 mixed in. I'm keeping the lights on for 12 hours, with the moonlights on at all times. Is that an okay on-time for dry-starting?

Shot from above - HC in foreground, glosso behind it.

Tank planted.

Left side shot.

Right side shot.

Front shot after spraying and wrapping up the top.

 

[GMYukonon24s]

I like how the wood fits in there so nice.

 

[Green_Flash]

yeah it looks good, nice start

 

[pirayaman]

looks real good man setup is clean

 

[HybridHerp]

very clean man, nice

that glosso will do fine as well, and I bet you it will carpet like mad. one thing though, is how are you going to keep the glosso out of the baby tears as it all grows?
glosso gets kinda invasive and will grow all over the place....I had mine grow across my driftwood and it started carpeting even that

what fauna do you plan for in here?

 

[hisxlency]

gorgeous. Watching this one

btw where can you get ADA tanks?

 

[PeterN1986]

@Hybrid: not sure how I will keep the glosso out of the HC. Honestly, this is the first time I'm growing glosso. I'll keep in mind how invasive it gets. Pretty crazy how it grew on your driftwood too. For fauna, I'm going to have RCS's (from my 20h) and still deliberating between neons/cardinals or rasboras or rummynoses. Also not sure if I want a betta with those fish either.

@hisxlency: I got my ADA tank from...ADA

 

[HybridHerp]

Peter's 5.5g ADA Mini-M Desk Tank

I'd skip the Betta with shrimp tbh.

I say try the smallest fish you can find, and go invert crazy.

Shrimp are addicting, and its funny cause I'm a big fish kinda guy too

 

[PeterN1986]

I was away from the office the past two days, so the tank had been completely wrapped up for 4 straight days with no air exchange or spraying. The plants looked good after all that, and I even noticed some new small growth for the glosso. Some patches of HC still looks kinda sad, but some of them look okay.

I also cut out clumps of java moss from my 20H and put them on the driftwood.

Java moss added to the wood.

View from above.

Tiny new glosso growth!

After misting and sealing.

 

[Couesfanatic]

Do you have any idea what your fert schedule will be like?

 

[PeterN1986]

No idea yet. I have the Excel, Flourish, KH2PO4 and KNO3 for EI dosing. I'll do some math and make a liquid mix that I would inject into the tank with a syringe like every other day maybe. But that's well down the line after I flood the tank, of course. I'm sure the plants will need the Excel after flooding since their CO2 source would be abruptly gone and since I am keeping it low tech.

 

[Bennyboy]

Def gonna watch this. You planted yours a couple days before me. Wanna see the growth rate between the two.

 

[fusiongt]

Looks nice. I like when the drift wood (or parts of it) are actually in the substrate and not just atop of it but you won't be able to tell once the plants grow in.

 

[PeterN1986]

Small update after planting a week ago:

New root growth for that glosso!

More new glosso growth.

View from above.

I definitely see new glosso growth as some of them start to die off. Also, as you can see in the 3rd pic, some of the HC bunches look rotted and dead, while the rest look green and lively. There is definitely HC starting to runner out and new small leaves popping up. Should I leave the rotted looking parts there so that they can break down for the bacteria, or remove it so that they don't rot up the rest of the root system of the other HC bunches?

I have not submerged the substrate in water at all; in fact, all I have been doing is spraying (Excel + tank water from my 20H + dry ferts in 750mL bottle) a good amount twice a day (when I get to work and before I leave work). I know the DSM method calls for submerging the substrate no more than 1" over it, but I think the heavy spraying I'm doing is working quite well.

 

[Couesfanatic]

Iv'e never read to go one inch over the substrate before. I try to keep mine with enough water that most of those air spaces in the substrate is gone. I'd add more water personally, but it looks good so far.

 

[tommypham]

You will get HC growth full carpet about 1 month . don't miss excel with water . It will kill your plants . Very nice start .

 

[PeterN1986]

Just after I first planted:

After one week:

Update after two weeks:

I should probably break up some of the bigger HC clumps and replant them to fill up some of the empty spaces. Also, I am noticing HC growing more spread out than the glosso. The glosso has a good amount of new growth, but it seems to be a little bit upward instead of laterally. I'm also going to try and remove the dead looking clumps of HC. The java moss is doing its thing, sopping up the moisture.