[General Tso]

I just thought that I would do an update on my 16 gallon because I had a little time last night to take a pic. Its not fancy, but it's mine and I love fiddling with it. I try to keep it low maintance, because I am in nursing school, and I have a pretty busy schedule. I have a cheapo camera, but I did the best I could.

Any and all comments are welcome. This tank would not be possible without without all the great people and information on this site. Thank you!

Does anyone see the evil monkey face in the bottom left corner of the driftwood?

Closeup of my petite "tree"

16 gallon All Glass bow front
lighting is 2 15 watts lights of America sunlight bulbs
substrate is plain black gravel
75 watt stealth heater
150 penguin run with with Aquaclear sponges and bio-max
Pressurized CO2 2 bubbles per sec (I'm getting a new glass diffuser. The one I have is too distracting)
moon light 6 blue LEDs bought from digikits on ebay

Fauna
14 gold cloud minnows
1 bristlenose pleco
1 Apistogramma cacatuoides

I use 1.5 ml of excel a day and 1.5 ml of flourish twice weekly
50% water change every 2 weeks

Flora
-Java fern ( I think it the red version, because the new growth is always red and then later turns green, but it might be undulata because it is a monster)
-Narrow Leaf java fern (Thanks Momotaro!)
- 'Windelov' java fern
-Bolbitis heudelotii
-Anubias nana 'Petite'
-java moss

Here's what it looked like in August
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/photo-album/33917-my-16-gallon-56-k-pic.html

Thanks for looking!

 

[will5]

Hi

It looks great and i love it. Great work. roud:

 

[plasko]

Dammit, I want evil monkeys in my tank . That anubias (petite nana?) is looking great! Actually, everything in there is looking awesome, kudos!

 

[General Tso]

Thanks for the compliments everyone. It is petite nana, I made a typo. It is actually growing very well. It puts out about 2-3 new leaves a week, which I consider pretty fast growth for an anubias. I actually think the driftwood is too big for the tank, but the evil monkey face makes me keep it, plus I think the love the shape. After I graduate from RN school I'm going to upgrade to a larger tank. I'm really saving it for that. It is African Rootwood which I think is called mopani.

The reason why I don't have a foreground is my low lighting. The only foreground plant I can really use is java moss because of plain gravel substrate, and low lighting. After a while the java moss just looks messy, so I leave the foreground empty. I actually like the low lighting, and I don't really want to upgrade. I get good slow growth and no algae. I really don't want to trim all the time and that is why I avoid stem plants. I'm lazy (or too busy) and I like my tank to stay looking the same.

I also forgot to add that I have a bamboo shrimp who usually hangs out on top the petite tree. He was pissed off after I added the narrow leaf last night and hid while I was getting pics. I'll see if I can get a pic of him tonight after it gets dark. He is a beautiful red, and freaks people out when they see him. I think he scares people who are afraid of insects. My water turned crystal clear after I added him. He must be eating good because he is constantly pooping. The little black power head on the right side of the tank is placed there to give good flow to that area, so he can filter well. The power head also pushes my CO2 bubbles around.

Here's a link to the new diffuser I will be replacing the spiral one with. I think it has a more simplistic, but artistic design. I think it will also be easier to clean.

eBay: New Pollen Glass C02 for Live Aquarium Plants (item 250072346477 end time Mar-12-07 09:12:09 PDT)

 

[nellis]

Joanna,

Your tank looks great. There's very little I would do to it. The strongest part of the scape I feel is the triangular incline from the lower right to upper left. The reason that it looks particularly nice is because you also have a proportional increase in leaf sizes with the java fern as you move right to left. If you could manage to get your hands on some "needle leaf" I think it would increase that effect a lot. Or maybe Cryptocorene balansae, which is also very narrow and has a great leaf texture that fits well with the java fern. When I was at the fish place we had the balansae in consistently, but it was a little on the expensive side.

Since you asked, This is what I would do... but take it only as a grain of salt. I think the java moss/heudelotti clump in the lower right is kind of distracting, as it breaks up the triangular effect you have going on. Maybe it only seems that way in the photo, and in person the textures look more appealing. With that one picture though, that's the area that I feel creates the biggest discord. Maybe even more nana petite to continue the slope to the lower right would look cool?

Overall very nice! Looking much better than in August. Keep the photos coming and tell Jake & crew I said hi.

-Nate