# College planted tank



## Freemananana (Jan 2, 2015)

I'm doing something similar, but like 150g, so I can tell you what I've found. You can absolutely set it up with ease. I'd go with a soil substrate capped with sand. Get a small variety of plants. Something like anubias may be too slow since sunlight is like 2million par. If you put it in only indirect sunlight, you can probably grow plenty of plants. I read some threads of people with outside tanks (basically what this will be without the issue of winter) and they have them under patios and receive zero direct sunlight. If you want to leave it in some direct sunlight, go with some fast growers. I'd think dwarf sag may make a good background plant in that tank. Pearl weed would be neat too, since you could trim it to carpet. If you go with soil, you can get away with only topping off the water most likely and no need for supplementary ferts.


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## Oghorille (Jul 1, 2015)

In my experience you will have much better success growing things (especially water column feeders like stem plants) with water movement. There are plenty of small power filters you could purchase that run in complete silence. Turning the water over allows the plants to feed on the fertilizers found within the water column so its something youll definitely want. 

More importantly, if you dont want a TON of algae (its getting direct sunlight, and I have a tank that gets about 2 hours/day and is caked in algae) you need to have high water movement. 

I second the pearlweed (it's sweet) and I think you might have great success with a hairgrass carpet especially if you did dirt capped with sand. 

Subbed to this thread, good luck. I'm in college too and thinking about setting a tank up so I am interested to follow your progress.


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## ichthyogeek (Jul 9, 2014)

Freemananana (nanana?) Thanks for the tip! I'm thinking that I'll probably just use a single fertilizer tablet or two for the tank rather than go through the hassle of dirting the tank. I do have to keep in mind that I'm bringing my materials (substrate, fertilizer, aquarium, possibly pump, possibly plants) with me from home. Additionally, I still need to find a site that explains what exactly I can bring from home, and what I can't. I also need to check if I can bring things like fertilizer, dirt, substrate, etc. on planes. I'm pretty positive that plants will probably be banned because almost everything's invasive in California.

Oghorille, since California's in a drought, I was planning on using a glass cover on the tank, maybe stirring the tank twice a day, to reduce the amount of water that evaporated from the tank. Also, I don't need people pouring stuff in my tank...

Would water from a Brita filter work? It's definitely not RO/DI, but chlorine/chloramine wise, am I good?


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## spacebeez (Mar 16, 2015)

ichthyogeek said:


> Would water from a Brita filter work? It's definitely not RO/DI, but chlorine/chloramine wise, am I good?



No, it would likely take some of it out but not all, it's just a carbon filter. Since this is a nano tank you could just fill up a pitcher of water, minus the Brita, and let it sit overnight the day before you change/add water .


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## miogpsrocks (Sep 3, 2015)

I love the idea of Aquariums and such however college is not really the place to have such a thing. Too many factors out of your control. You might have some Ahole guy screw with your tank for giggles.

One guy on youtube said his fraternity would throw hot dogs in his aquarium when he was not around. 

Even if everyone is cool with it, what do you do at spring break, Christmas break, Thanksgiving break, Summer break,etc.. 

Are you close driving distance to your house?


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## garrettsr71awesome (Sep 23, 2014)

Bro I kept a tank throughout 4 years of college in my apartment and it worked out. It's chill dawg.

Sunlight == inconsistent == Bad
No water circulation is bad too. The aqua clear and azoo mignon filters are pretty quiet

Chicks dig planted tanks if they're not ugly


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## garrettsr71awesome (Sep 23, 2014)

Also, assuming you're some kind of computer science related major, you're probably inherently patient. Patience is the most important and valuable trait of a successful planted tanker so that means you can grow a sick Emersed hc carpet which takes forever to grow but looks dope in the end. And it's low maintenance while Emersed.

Check out my college tank holmes


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## ichthyogeek (Jul 9, 2014)

I got the go ahead to have an aquarium, residence administration only asked for a minimal amount of water, and no animals. Right now, I'm coding, but when I have the time, I'm going to research into dirted tanks. Helpful links would be appreciated! I haven't kept HC before, so this will definitely be an adventure. I'm thinking I need a spray bottle, a small bottle of Prime, and my tiny bottle of Flourish. 

What I'll think I'll do, is I'll emerse grow some sort of small carpet plant with some sick anubias on rocks/a piece of old driftwood for a feature. If I like it enough, I'll add water, etc, but since I'm so busy next quarter, I'm just growing out an HC carpet with a potential Anubias nana tree. Anybody know where to find emersed HC in California near Palo Alto/Oak Grove/ Redwood City? I'm pretty sure there's a petsmart nearby for anubias.

According to the Barr report article, I'm good to go with emersed growth since it's low maintenance, only a few spritzes of fertilized water a day. Sunlight's free, and if I get odd growth, I'll turn the tank around! During breaks, I'll either stay, or probably ship the plants home and either pack everything else back up, or store it for the next year, I haven't planned that far yet.


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## garrettsr71awesome (Sep 23, 2014)

You're better off buying plants from someone on the forums. I've been to about 5 hundred thousand million (+/- 5) fish stores west of the Mississippi and have yet to encounter healthy algae free plants.


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## ichthyogeek (Jul 9, 2014)

Well, I'm back home, and man I missed my tanks! I'm looking into mineralized soils now, but I may just end up using miracle grow that I've treated for fertilizers. I'll need to make a trip to Petsmart to get a nice Anubias plant. Expect pictures maybe soon if I can swing this by my parents.


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

how about a wabi kusa setup like this guy? 

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/100-low-tech-forum/167698-my-wabi-kusa-paladurium.html

or these
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/12-tank-journals/256330-scotts-wabi-kusa-collection.html

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/1...ccess-kirans-do-aqua-20cm-wabi-kusa-cube.html

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/8...sion/522265-wabi-kusa-party-what-we-grew.html

here's a green machine tutorial 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIdNqcj8Rio


It's somewhat close to what you want to do but with a different sense of organization.


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## prototyp3 (Dec 5, 2007)

miogpsrocks said:


> One guy on youtube said his fraternity would throw hot dogs in his aquarium when he was not around.


That's actually a pretty funny image. (and way nicer than I'd expect from college kids) 
I'd love to see a scape of hot dogs entered into AGA contest!


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## ichthyogeek (Jul 9, 2014)

Sooo...due to lack of space in my luggage, no planted tank...maybe next fall? I got the dirt mineralized, but I don't have space in my luggage to bring the actual tank back, and no way am I buying another tank. On the plus side, I'll be able to restart that emersed tub setup that I had going awhile back with the soil!


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## dpod (Sep 16, 2014)

Both my brother and I had tanks in college, but we lived close enough that we could drive to and from school. Moving a tank back and forth is definitely possible, but only if you can drive or have a friend who lives close that can care for it over long breaks. If you have to fly, you should wait until you're out of school. Do you really want 5-10 lbs of rocks and substrate in your luggage?


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## The Big Buddha (Jul 30, 2012)

garrettsr71awesome said:


> Also, assuming you're some kind of computer science related major, you're probably inherently patient. Patience is the most important and valuable trait of a successful planted tanker so that means you can grow a sick Emersed hc carpet which takes forever to grow but looks dope in the end. And it's low maintenance while Emersed.
> 
> Check out my college tank holmes


Do you run a filter? Where is it?


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## ichthyogeek (Jul 9, 2014)

So this happened:
After unpacking it







After laying down the soil/sand







This just came in today!!!


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## stingrayness (Feb 14, 2016)

Nice! I've had tanks since my first year of college in Chicago andI'm from California! The first two years I lugged my 2.1g rimless nano cube through with the substrate and plants still in it lol I never had a problem. Then this year I sold it to get something bigger since I just moved out of the dorms. I had mostly everything shipped here since I got a 12g long. It's great to be able to do something that reminds you of home and gives you comfort when you're so far away. 

I can't wait to see what you create!


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## GrampsGrunge (Jun 18, 2012)

If you're in the SF area, you're right in the middle of planted tank hobbyist-ville. Should be no problem to contact folks with home-grown, quality plants.

You might want to see if you can get a printed breakdown of the water chemistry from whatever water district serves Palo Alto, assuming your on the Hetch Hetchy reservoir, you'll probably need to do macro ferts.

JIMO I think a 2.5 gallon is an awfully small planted tank to be working with, 5g or 10g would be better and more stable.


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## ichthyogeek (Jul 9, 2014)

I planted these guys last week! 







You can clearly see where I lost my motivation for planting them one sprig at a time  . I'm looking into Vallisneria nana for a background plant progressing to this large hedge like thing on the right side to hide some bubbles input by a pump.







Took this picture today! Large amounts of humidity, I love California sun.


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## ichthyogeek (Jul 9, 2014)

@GrampsGrunge, the reason I'm only using a 2.5 gallon tank (I honestly would prefer a 10 gallon), is that the 2.5 gallon tank has a small footprint. My desk has a limited amount of space that I can work with. Additionally, Residence asked that I not have a large tank in case it broke for unspecified reasons. Finally, my desk lamp fits perfectly on top of the 2.5, so I don't need to worry about light. Seeing that it's only plants, the only things I'll need to worry about are algae later on if/when I fill the tank.Do you know how to go about contacting SF hobbyists? I posted in the California subforum...but nobody answered.


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## Jamo33 (Feb 18, 2014)

ichthyogeek said:


> @*GrampsGrunge*, the reason I'm only using a 2.5 gallon tank (I honestly would prefer a 10 gallon), is that the 2.5 gallon tank has a small footprint. My desk has a limited amount of space that I can work with. Additionally, Residence asked that I not have a large tank in case it broke for unspecified reasons. Finally, my desk lamp fits perfectly on top of the 2.5, so I don't need to worry about light. Seeing that it's only plants, the only things I'll need to worry about are algae later on if/when I fill the tank.Do you know how to go about contacting SF hobbyists? I posted in the California subforum...but nobody answered.


You guys are so lucky. My university in Australia said anything relatively close to keeping a pet (tank included) would result in immediate eviction. I would have loved to have something like this in my dorm!!!!
Keep it up mate!
Also, what are you using to light it? CFL?


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## ichthyogeek (Jul 9, 2014)

Jamo, did you ask and explain that it was a container for tropical plants? I basically told my university that I would follow rules and not keep animals like shrimp or fish, but asked if I could keep aquatic plants, which would imply a tank.

I'm using a Verilux smartlight desk lamp that my parents bought me a year ago. I think it's CFL, since it doesn't look like normal fluorescent or incandescent bulbs. It's 27 watts, and the website for it says that it's "full daylight spectrum", which I also assume to mean good for plants....


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## Jamo33 (Feb 18, 2014)

ichthyogeek said:


> Jamo, did you ask and explain that it was a container for tropical plants? I basically told my university that I would follow rules and not keep animals like shrimp or fish, but asked if I could keep aquatic plants, which would imply a tank.
> 
> I'm using a Verilux smartlight desk lamp that my parents bought me a year ago. I think it's CFL, since it doesn't look like normal fluorescent or incandescent bulbs. It's 27 watts, and the website for it says that it's "full daylight spectrum", which I also assume to mean good for plants....



The problem they had was the potential for a standing volume of water to miraculously make its way on to the floor and dorm room. Which at my uni would more than likely have happened, my mates could be seriously idiots! 

Sounds the goods mate, 27watts is a lot but im sure itll work wonders, especially for the DSM!


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## ichthyogeek (Jul 9, 2014)

Wait...but I have a dry tank. Not a wet tank (though it might be sooner or later). Is tank necessarily synonymous with water? I thought people could keep things like...idk, spiders or lizards or some other thing that people typically consider as creepy or crawly.

I'm not really sure about the whole 27 watts thing. It just seems like a ton of light, even though there should be no limiting factors. I realize that I don't know anything about plant biology, in terms of what to provide, and not to provide. I know with animals, you provide water, oxygen, and food. But what do I do with a plant? There's no way for me to measure what the plant needs and doesn't...


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## Jamo33 (Feb 18, 2014)

I believe my uni was just extremely uptight, regardless I would have loved a tank in my dorm and you are very lucky!


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## ichthyogeek (Jul 9, 2014)

I often see emersed displays that skip from planting to 6 weeks later. So it'll be interesting uploading photos I take every week from a college perspective. Here's this week's photo!








And...I think I found some sort of pest? It crawls on the glass and is weird and slug-like. But it doesn't move like a slug. It only appears when the tank is humid.
















Finally, a note on the soil composition: I took some soil from the back of my house in Arkansas, and mineralized it over a course of three weeks back during winter. Then I left it in an emersed tub setup I had for 10 weeks, and took it back to my room during spring break. I sifted a large amount of pebbles from it, then added a half palmful of epsom salt (MgSO4) to it to account for any magnesium deficiencies, as well as some calcium carbonate "fiji pink" sand I had lying around from a saltwater tank. I hope this is enough to keep the plants happy... Oh, and the cover bits are pure black sand-leftover from an old 10 gallon setup I had last year.


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## ichthyogeek (Jul 9, 2014)

Two week update, nothing looks like it's spreading, so I'll save the pictures.

So far, there doesn't seem to be much growth. I pulled out a stalk for observation, and it definitely penetrated the sand layer into the soil layer. So hopefully with the much larger increase in nutrients available to the plants there will be a large uptick in growth!

I seem to be having some dieback. I'm concerned that there might be some sort of burn to the plants due to nutrients, light, or something else, but I don't think this will happen. I'm comparing my growth to that of a Singaporean blogger (look up urban aquaria). Dieback doesn't seem to be due to burns, since browning occurs at the edges. 

I'm having a hard time with keeping up moisture within the tank. I'm still not certain what those little slug/planarian/bug things are, hopefully they'll die out soon enough. I'm getting lots of humidity within the tank, but I'm concerned that it all escapes when I crack open the glass top to let gas exchange in.

I'm thinking of making a tiny CO2 reactor with the container that I got with the HC. This might help boost growth, since that would be the only limiting reagent in my tank. Thoughts?

Some of the bigger chunks are also getting a bit too tall. I'm going to trim them, and see what happens.


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## ichthyogeek (Jul 9, 2014)

Alright, I'm back on campus, but won't be able to get my tank back until then. Dissealguem reached out to me, turns out we both go to Stanford! (Subtle hint to any other Stanford/bay area students who wanna meet up and geek out over fish/shrimp.) Stopped by the AFA at SF today to pick up some pai-hai and other tiny stones for the aquascape. I'm also currently looking into shrimp and fish stocking. I know I said that I wouldn't, but I'm suuuuuper psyched about mini stocking now.


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## iter (Apr 24, 2012)

The pests seem to look like some planaria (flatworm). Should be rather harmless unless you see them directly on your plants, as they might be eating them...


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## ichthyogeek (Jul 9, 2014)

Gahhhh....I had a friend store the tank over the summer...and it is not pretty. The HC seems to be pretty happy about everything...but half of the population died over the summer...shudder*. I guess I'll need to start all over again this year :'( . There goes all that time that I spent mineralizing soil. I've ordered Fluval Stratum for plants and shrimp, so that should be an adequate replacement for everything. But I'll definitely need to clean out the tank, since there's so much algae and everything. Miraculously, dirt that I'm pretty sure was on the inside of the tank...got on the outside hood. Guess it's time to start over. I also was able to head to an AFA in San Francisco, so not everything's horrible (except for prices there). Oh, and my friend lost my water spritzer, so there's that too. Yayyy new year...


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## ichthyogeek (Jul 9, 2014)

Cleaned out the tank yesterday, and let it air dry. I hope things go smoothly! I also added the fluval stratum, as well as some stones from the AFA in San Francisco (Not sure how I feel about $10 on three rocks though...). Let's hope that things do better this year! Also...I had no idea how to replant the roots of the HC, so I just made a depression and padded the fluval substrate in...is that ok? I don't think I should have any more pest problems though, which is a relief! My window in my dorm room this year comes with a screen on it to keep bugs out!


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## IntotheWRX (May 13, 2016)

good luck in college. get all your credits done and get out of there as soon as you can otherwise tuition is gonna bone you. remember Cs get degrees. and most people i know don't use their degrees in their careers so dont sweat it. enjoy yourself.

i would break up the HC into smaller sizes and use a tweezer to shove them half way under the dirt. spread the planting around the tank and time will fill in the gaps.


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## ichthyogeek (Jul 9, 2014)

hmm...C's get degrees, but A's are bae. I'm going to take my time and graduate in 4 years though. 

The HC has already started sending out roots, so I don't think it would be good at the moment to uproot them and cut them in half. I actually have a longer growing season this year, so things should go pretty well in regards to the plants rooting and growing though!


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## IntotheWRX (May 13, 2016)

ichthyogeek said:


> hmm...C's get degrees, but A's are bae. I'm going to take my time and graduate in 4 years though.
> 
> The HC has already started sending out roots, so I don't think it would be good at the moment to uproot them and cut them in half. I actually have a longer growing season this year, so things should go pretty well in regards to the plants rooting and growing though!


wait till you take upper division classes and those nightmares of walking into a test and knowing nothing comes. your life will change rapidly within 4 years. good luck.


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## ichthyogeek (Jul 9, 2014)

IntotheWRX said:


> wait till you take upper division classes and those nightmares of walking into a test and knowing nothing comes. your life will change rapidly within 4 years. good luck.


And this is why I study. So I can walk into tests knowing the material and not freak out and have a nightmare about it.


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## ichthyogeek (Jul 9, 2014)

Biiiiiiiiiig shoutout to my friend who travelled to aqua forest aquariums yesterday! She picked me up some much needed stuff for the tank like Prime and shrimp food! AND she got me some Ammania sp. sulawesi (or Rotala, or whatever it's called). I can't wait to see what it looks like once it's all grown in! Unfortunately, my fingers are too big, and the rocks got in the way, so the corner I was super excited about planting in got super neglected because of my fingers. On the HC side of things, it's been about two weeks since I replanted, and the HC's root structures are growing beautifully! I really like how they look right now, with differing levels and heights, but who knows how high they'll all grow. I only hope that the Ammania/Rotala will be slightly heliocentric and grow to the light and get rid of all the kinks.


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## IntotheWRX (May 13, 2016)

ichthyogeek said:


> Biiiiiiiiiig shoutout to my friend who travelled to aqua forest aquariums yesterday! She picked me up some much needed stuff for the tank like Prime and shrimp food! AND she got me some Ammania sp. sulawesi (or Rotala, or whatever it's called). I can't wait to see what it looks like once it's all grown in! Unfortunately, my fingers are too big, and the rocks got in the way, so the corner I was super excited about planting in got super neglected because of my fingers. On the HC side of things, it's been about two weeks since I replanted, and the HC's root structures are growing beautifully! I really like how they look right now, with differing levels and heights, but who knows how high they'll all grow. I only hope that the Ammania/Rotala will be slightly heliocentric and grow to the light and get rid of all the kinks.
> 
> View attachment 677369
> 
> ...


good looking out with your lady friend. good to see the roots growing in. keep it going blast that light on those babies, they got all the co2 they can ever breath.

mixing any liquid fertz in your spray water? I would do that to max even more growth.


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## ichthyogeek (Jul 9, 2014)

I actually don't have any liquid ferts, or ferts of any kind yet. I may get some once I fill the tank, but FSS is supposed to have lots of in-substrate nutrients, similar to ADA Amazonia and other aquarium soils like eco-complete. I think I might get root tabs if I need to supplement at all. I'm also relying on my dorm's tap water, so I'm a bit scared to dose so much without knowing my base parameters.


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## IntotheWRX (May 13, 2016)

ichthyogeek said:


> I actually don't have any liquid ferts, or ferts of any kind yet. I may get some once I fill the tank, but FSS is supposed to have lots of in-substrate nutrients, similar to ADA Amazonia and other aquarium soils like eco-complete. I think I might get root tabs if I need to supplement at all. I'm also relying on my dorm's tap water, so I'm a bit scared to dose so much without knowing my base parameters.


The substrate is enough and just fine. but if you want to take it to the next level, you can add some fertz. people would req dry fertz you stick in the soil over liquid fertz. easier to do dry fertz early in so you can shove it into the dirt. liquid fertz does the job just fine too.


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## ichthyogeek (Jul 9, 2014)

FINALS ARE OVER!!!!!! (*screams, runs around, all the other crazy college student stuff that I don't do anyways*)

Sorry for the lack of updates, y'all. This quarter's been hell to be honest. If I had actually had time, I would've updated sooner, but dance practice, actual work, and life tend to delay pictures. Expect pictures tomorrow perhaps? Then I fly back home to take care of the giant tanks I have!

Y'all missed it, but here's what's been going through my tank and mind for the past two months: mold growing on the plants; almost losing many portions of my larger stem plants due to light issues; and stocking!! Bigger update tomorrow, but I'm basically going to fill after break, and am so. excited. for. this. to . happen.


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## ichthyogeek (Jul 9, 2014)

This is what is was like 4 days ago right before my flight out of college. I think everything's doing pretty well...but I plan to fill right after break! Stocking wise...the water's pretty hard and high pH here. i'm thinking that I might be able to get a small pack of frozen food (most likely bloodworms), so might go with something like a dwarf pea puffer. Otherwise, I'll probably try and see if there's somebody out there who is willing to part with an old endler. OOh, and shrimp...shrimp are a must, as is at least one nerite


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## ichthyogeek (Jul 9, 2014)

Well, I've been back for a week, the plants are doing just fine, aaaand I just filled today! I'll let the tank sit overnight just so that the nitrates that have built up over time have a chance to percolate through the water column, then I'll drain the tank down again. I'm also going to SF tomorrow (today?) to pick up some fish and shrimp. I don't know if I want to get a puffer or endler's...or maybe even a badis/dario. But I'm definitely buying cherry shrimp and snails. You can also see pearling in the pictures from the HC, which is acutally really really pretty. One other thing, is that I am not sure if I should buy an air pump for the tank or not. Just as an extra form of aeration and water movement, even though there should be enough oxygen produced with so little a bioload.


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## ichthyogeek (Jul 9, 2014)

I cracked...I bought a trio of CPD's. X( . BUT THEY WERE SO CHEAP. Well, cheap-ish, and strangely cheaper than the $9 ones I find in Arkansas (usually, I expect anything in California to be more expensive than that in Arkansas as a general rule). No filter, yet, but that might change depending on if I feel a need to. Oh! And I bought some Val spiralis, which looks super cool in the background of the tank bc it's so much thicker than Val tiger or nana.


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## Kyrayne (Jun 24, 2013)

Are you running Co2 in this tank? I would love to have a carpet but I don't want to go the Co2 route. It looks much bigger than 2.5g in your pix.


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## Say Car Ramrod (Oct 9, 2011)

I had three tanks in college and there was a no "animal policy." I simply covered the tanks whenever I left the room. I was able to find storage containers that fit right over the tanks and left plenty of room. I had an iwagumi setup, pico reef, and a low tech. When I would leave corals and fish would get packed up in ziplock containers for the 2 hour ride home then set right back up. Completely doable without leaving the tanks there when you're on break. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro


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## ichthyogeek (Jul 9, 2014)

Kyrayne said:


> Are you running Co2 in this tank? I would love to have a carpet but I don't want to go the Co2 route. It looks much bigger than 2.5g in your pix.


Haha, nope! I barely have the room for the tank, so don't have time for CO2...although I did debate trying a DIY for a little bit. The reason for the tank looking bigger...is because I put my phone really close to the tank, so it makes the tank look bigger lol.


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## ichthyogeek (Jul 9, 2014)

So interesting observation: My HC is pearling. It's not lots, but I can definitely see that there's tons of O2 being produced. I also gave it a small trim today...about how far do I need to trim it? I was trying to "fluff" the plants today, and noticed that there's a dead layer underneath the nice looking green layer. If I trim now, will that keep the bottom part from rotting? Additionally, pearling increases after a water change...perhaps there's something different in the water that's being quickly exhausted??

Fish wise, I'm having this weird inner debate about whether or not to increase the CPD population, or add a dither endler's to increase activity. So far, they hide way too much in the back, only coming out to eat (luckily they've been conditioned to eat flake!). One of the CPD's is super pale, and I'm not sure if it's sick, or if it's a submissive male, or what...probably the latter, since I see it getting chased the most throughout the day. I know that if I add around 3 more CPD's, then I'll need to add at least a sponge filter to keep up with bioload, but at the moment, the tank seems very very sparse in terms of movement.

I'm also debating getting a shrimp or three. There's been an increase in soft algal growth all over the tank, mostly along the walls, but also on my seiryuu and Ammania sp. I dare not get a snail in case of being overrun by snaillets. And shrimp will also serve as good scavengers as well...Hmmm....

BIIIIIG shoutout to fellow college aquarist @dissealguem for offering to let me use her water testing kit at any time!


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## FishRFriendz (Dec 21, 2016)

Get more CPDs. They're more comfortable in a shoal. 6+, else they'll stress till they die. They do however seem to get comfy among other similar fish in sufficient numbers. I recall seeing ppl say their CPDs mix right in with some other rasboras which yielded uncommon CPD behavior.

I'm still monitoring my stores for when CPDs will be available. Petco had 4, not enough for a shoal, so I didn't pick em up. I dunno if they died or what, but 1 didn't look too good last I saw and then they suddenly all disappeared.


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## ichthyogeek (Jul 9, 2014)

Pictures maybe tomorrow, but basically:

My plants pearl whenever I do a water change, which makes absolutely no sense, unless the water in my dorm is super oxygenated? It's peculiar though...

The vallisneria sent out a little runner plant that perfectly sits in the back part of the tank! 

I'm thinking that I need to just mow the entire carpet of HC down...gulp*. And I don't have curved scissors...

The ammania/rotala species I have growing in the tank is not doing well...depending on how it goes, I may end up pulling it all up if it doesn't grow well. Perhaps I'll terrarium grow it for a bit, it still seems pretty cool.

I'm fairly certain my CPD's are sexually active, and am thinking that one of them is deserving of the name "Casanova" because all he does is shimmy in front of the female. 

I may decide to go to the city this weekend to pick up three more CPD's and some shrimp to handle hard to reach soft algae.

I cracked and bought some IBBS as well as an azoo mignon 60, because it just doesn't sit with me to not filter a tank, and the scum on the top of the tank is...disturbing.

Oh! and my roommate moved out! Lol. So I get a room to myself for the next 5 weeks!


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## ichthyogeek (Jul 9, 2014)

So it turns out that adult sized scissors are not very effective at trimming up plants...but I managed to get the job done! The bottoms aren't as bad as I thought they would be (there' s a giant brown spot of deadness in there, and I thought all of the undergrowth was like that) but Here's hoping that the plants get a little bit more green under the light! And I also cracked to buy an azoo mignon...and I think I'm going to add some cherry shrimp (probably like 4 at the moment) and 3 more CPD's to get the school really going! Hopefully I can get 3 more females, because right now, I have 2 males and 1 female, which is really, really not good for the lady. I've also gotten the CPD's to try to eat flakes now as well, and I think I've seen them eat for certain! Given that the water is supposed to be something like 7.5 in pH, it's no wonder that the CPD's are enjoying themselves in there! 

The before shot, please take notice of the shaggy carpet of HC. 







Right side shot! This is what faces the fridge and the bookshelf; I might decide to uproot all the ammania there since it doesn't seem to be doing so well...maybe i can grow it emersed, then hand it off to somebody in the area that can give this plant the loving it deserves.







Left side shot! My bed's super close to the desk, so sometimes when I'm working on the bed, I see this. It's amazing watching the male CPD try to woo the female one near the giant flat rock!







eeee!! Baby vallisneria! I used to try and keep the stuff as a kid, but Arkansas apparently is less hospitable than California to Val. I'm excited, but hope it doesn't overgrow the HC...







Holy shoot this filter is so small. Like...I was so surprised to get this thing in an envelope, I at least thought it would fit in a box or something. They weren't kidding when they said it was a a palm filter. 







Tank shot after cleaning today! I'm hoping I can get a shrimp or 4 in there ASAP to help deal with the algae. I may also have to get rid of some of those vallisneria leaves because they wobble so much in the current. It's less ripply, and more bouncy in a jagged way.







Again: this filter is tiiiiiny. I'm so amazed at how small it is. Seriously!!


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## Nordic (Nov 11, 2003)

That filter is going to be a lot of work.
I have a small powerhead for circulation in my 55, it totally cruds up in about 6 days.

For my hobs I add the foam bit from a corner foam filter to the intake. Yes, it is fine and will prevent large pieces going into the filter.
Fish will nibble on it and bacteria digest it while it all gets sucked into the filter over time, just in smaller bits, and unless you see diminished flow the filter can run for weeks. I don't even touch the stuff inside the hob (just a big ball of filter floss). I actually just cleaned a sponge like that.... almost nothing came out. It is a heavily populated fry tank, so nitrates are not wanted.

I think a bristle (bushy) nose pleco will keep the glass a bit cleaner, and a black background will make the tank pop a bit more. I sometimes cheap out and just hang black rubbish bags on the back.


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## ichthyogeek (Jul 9, 2014)

Wow it's been a month since my last post...nothing much has changed. My friend came over to test the results and...it's surprising. We used an API test kit for pH, as well as nitrates, GH, and KH. Here's the odd thing: I use a Brita filter to filter my water for things like copper before I add it into the tank with dechlorinator. Nothing too fancy, but just as a safeguard for when I start keeping shrimp. Here's where it gets crazy: the pH for water straight from the tap is 8.2; from the brita filter, it drops to 6.4; after staying in the tank for a night, it's 7.4. That's so wild. What's weirder? the tank's GH is 4 degrees, KH is 3 degrees, but from the brita, it's 2 and 1.5 degrees respectively. I think I can attribute the rise in all the xH values to the stones I have in the tank (I think they're seiryuu?). But wow! 














Oh, I also had a hair algae problem, which was just roasting my vallisneria alive. It got so bad, and spread to my ammania...which is not good either. So I pulled out all of the back plants. I think I'm going to try and stick with the carpet I have now, and hope for the two remaining algae free plantlets I have of Val to grow and produce more, so I can try to get a jungle going along the back and sides of the tank. Maybe I'll try to get a hedge of Rotala rotundifolia growing on the right side, just to keep the space nice, but who knows...







Oh, and I'm experimenting with a black background...I need to get the construction paper to do it, but when I put a binder to the background, it really made my CPD's colors pop out, and I love it!!


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## ibebian (Jan 11, 2016)

def get_aquarium(first_tank):
next_tank = first_tank + 1
get_aquarium(next_tank)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## ichthyogeek (Jul 9, 2014)

ibebian said:


> def get_aquarium(first_tank):
> next_tank = first_tank + 1
> get_aquarium(next_tank)
> 
> ...


mmmm....I think ya forgot some semi-colons there  but yes.


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## ibebian (Jan 11, 2016)

ichthyogeek said:


> mmmm....I think ya forgot some semi-colons there  but yes.


Hm strangely the space indents don't show up on the post even though they're there on edit mode.

And no I didn't, it's python -- nice and clean


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## FishRFriendz (Dec 21, 2016)

Where's the CPDs? I don't see any in that pic. 

Also... It would be nice if you cleaned the water spots on the outside. I think the CPDs are hiding behind them


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## ichthyogeek (Jul 9, 2014)

ibebian said:


> Hm strangely the space indents don't show up on the post even though they're there on edit mode.
> 
> And no I didn't, it's python -- nice and clean


ugh...I need to get on learning that. Do you have any online sources I could use? I hear it's useful for coding interviews, but only if I can get past the resume stage  ... 

also, what?! My classes have been using C, Java, and C++ so now I'm...well now I'm confused...

The CPD's like to hide during water changes...I'm trying to get some construction paper so I can make a simple background that lets them stand out more.


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## ibebian (Jan 11, 2016)

ichthyogeek said:


> ugh...I need to get on learning that. Do you have any online sources I could use? I hear it's useful for coding interviews, but only if I can get past the resume stage  ...
> 
> also, what?! My classes have been using C, Java, and C++ so now I'm...well now I'm confused...


The language is very accessible so I think any source will do just to get you started on working on something. I picked it up through the Learning Python the Hard Way book years ago which also has a free web version. I subscribe to the Talk Python to Me podcast whose creator has a paid course that seems to teach python in an idiomatic, practical way, so that might be an option too.

As for coding interviews, I would definitely second that. Less boilerplate means more time to focus on the problem and less surface area to get dinged on syntax errors. Feel free to PM me to chat more on the interview process and resume stuff.

It's really great to learn lower level langs like C and C++ (and Java is canonical enterprise language), but python is like a heavy duty swiss army knife and can seriously hold its own (for example YouTube's backend was and probably still is at least partly python).


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## ichthyogeek (Jul 9, 2014)

Pictures soon to come, but in the mean time, does anybody know how to necromance HC? I've been battling algae for the past few weeks, and decided to do a 100% blackout on the tank because I was leaving for spring break. I came back last night, and it's just a big mess. I've siphoned off all the loose bits, and am doing 2 95% water changes as I type right now to reset the parameters, but I'm not really sure how to proceed now, especially if the HC melts all the way and dies off. I'm pretty sure that when it went "wild" it was consuming enough nutrients to outcompete even the algae, but now it's really struggling.


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## BettaBettas (Aug 21, 2016)

haha, earlier what you said about the vallisneria in Arkansas, is it native? didn't know! just moved here so would be neat to see some. I have a local (think its the biggest in the u.s.) trout breeder/release place and in one of its huge rivers there's this giant plant growing (about 8 ft plus) in there. wondered if it was val after you stated that.


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## ichthyogeek (Jul 9, 2014)

BettaBettas said:


> haha, earlier what you said about the vallisneria in Arkansas, is it native? didn't know! just moved here so would be neat to see some. I have a local (think its the biggest in the u.s.) trout breeder/release place and in one of its huge rivers there's this giant plant growing (about 8 ft plus) in there. wondered if it was val after you stated that.


I know that there is a Vallisneria species native to the SE USA, but I'm not sure if that's spiral val...I was talking about when I would go to Petsmart and buy bunches of Val, and it would die on me...


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