# 3 Gallon planted HOB setup



## Neatfish (Jun 22, 2012)

What's the plants in hob?


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## hryder77 (May 24, 2012)

Penny Wort (grows well immersed) some clippings off a Wandering Jew plant (i.e. Zebrina pendula) and some other house plant clipping.


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## hryder77 (May 24, 2012)

*Weekend update: Pico planted tank*

Good Morning everyone!

I'm so glad to have woken up to rain! California sure does need it, plus rainy days are my favorite :thumbsup:

The pictures from my 1st post were when I just set up the tank. That was probably 2 months ago. Now I have current pics and the tank has really grown!


The tank now sits on my desk. Makes for a nice little distraction. 








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As you can see the plants in the filter have really taken off! :icon_eek:

I'll try to list what I have in the filter:

-Hydrocotyle leucocephala
-Tradescantia zebrina
-Euphorbia tirrucalli
-some other house plant I have no name for...








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Snails and my lonely CPD are the current residents of this tank. The Betta was moved back to the pond now that its been all setup after the move.








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The plants have exploded since I took these pictures a week ago, and I'll be adding a few more plants by tomorrow. Stay tuned for more updates! :flick:


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## Chizpa305 (Feb 13, 2011)

Wow! I love this tank. It is very fun to look at and the plants in the filter add a lot of grace to it. The plant colors are also very good. Bright greens and red tones. Love it.


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## hryder77 (May 24, 2012)

*Tank video*

I almost forgot, but I did a video for this tank.


check it out here ==>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0J4psTROXw


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Lovely setup, happy to see more people planting HOBs, ripariums ftw!!!
If it's not gotten there yet be mindful of the wondering jew (Tradescantia zebrina) as it grow its stem is not strong enough to stabilize it and it will sag, may end up under water if you don't trim it and the leaves can't be submerged (melt real fast). My wondering jew grew faster than my pothos and all other house plants converted for riparium growth.


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## 2-Skinny (Feb 27, 2011)

What light/CO2 setup are you running?


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## Gametheory (Apr 25, 2014)

Beautiful setup, love the plants in the filter as well.

p.s. snail's shell looks like it has a lot of erosion, should prob take him out before he dies and pollutes the water!


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## hryder77 (May 24, 2012)

Gametheory said:


> Beautiful setup, love the plants in the filter as well.
> 
> p.s. snail's shell looks like it has a lot of erosion, should prob take him out before he dies and pollutes the water!


I was actually thinking the same thing too 6 months ago but he's actually gaining back calcium growth. he just kinda looks a mess compared to the others


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## hryder77 (May 24, 2012)

2-Skinny said:


> What light/CO2 setup are you running?


Light: Finnex Fugeray II

CO2: AQUATEK CO2 Regulator Mini with a Spyder paint 20oz ball tank


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## sharko (Apr 20, 2014)

question for you, that looks like a Marineland Contour, why did you put in a HOB filter instead of using the built in overflow/sump? Just curious


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## hryder77 (May 24, 2012)

*took out back chamber, hated it*



sharko said:


> question for you, that looks like a Marineland Contour, why did you put in a HOB filter instead of using the built in overflow/sump? Just curious


Hi sharko,

yes this is the Marineland Contour. I pulled the back wall out due to coraline growth because I had this set up as a reef before. I really didn't like the chamber design for this tank so I was glad to be rid of itroud:. Now there's so much more room for growth! Plus the HOB filter is soooo much easier to clean than the previous back chamber set up.

I hope this hope this helps


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## Chyrol (Jan 18, 2012)

Nice looking hydrocotyle. Are you going to keep it trimmed back or let it take over the whole front?


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## touchofgreen (Nov 3, 2014)

I love the plants in the filter...want to do that myself but I have a rather destructive cat who would probably eat the plants. He already tries to play with the water when I tried to leave it uncovered. I just know I would come home and find the plants on the floor half chewed and a puddle around the tank because he played in the waterfall.

I love your betta pond btw. I need to get my hands on some indian almond leaves now that I have a betta again.


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## iadubber (Jan 23, 2012)

This is very cool!!!!!


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## hryder77 (May 24, 2012)

*Long time no Update!*

Howdy all!

Been awhile since I've updated. I wanted to share how much this tank has grown! Its out of control haha. 



As you can see the tank has really exploded with growth! 



The Hydro. Japan. has really taken over the tank.
I've been using the Finnex Fuge ray II on this tank, probably too much light really. 




The HOB plants have really grown out. this shot was taken AFTER I trimmed them down. The "wandering jew" was hitting the floor. I've changed the foam in the filter to something much coarser. The plants seem to root to t\it much easier. I'll upload pics of that later.


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## Kehy (Feb 5, 2012)

Seeing how well it did for you, I tried some hydrocotyle in a riparium planter. I now have an unwillingly planted HOB.


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## rodahl (Dec 1, 2014)

I look forward to your next project–admire your skill with ground covers.


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## hryder77 (May 24, 2012)

rodahl said:


> I look forward to your next project–admire your skill with ground covers.


Thank you very much! [emoji1] I appreciate the support. This hobby has the best people. 

I'll have an update soon. The tank looks completely different.


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## hryder77 (May 24, 2012)

Kehy said:


> Seeing how well it did for you, I tried some hydrocotyle in a riparium planter. I now have an unwillingly planted HOB.


Do you have a post with pictures[emoji57] [emoji12]


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## hryder77 (May 24, 2012)

*whole new look/setup!*

*Update time!*

It's been about 2 months since I decided to do something different with this setup. 

It's currently housing my spunky male betta and some poor bullied snails. 








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I decided to go full (almost fully) blackwater with this setup. its actually more fusion Amazon/Asian biotope. most of the plants are S. American, but the emersed plants are from all over the place. 


Its not really a proper biotope by any means although my Betta loves the low PH, and he's been building new bubble nests every week. 







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*Daytime: the emersed plants taking in their fill of the afternoon sun. *







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There's no CO2 being used and very sparse amount of fertilizer is utilized after water changes once a week. I run an Ikea led lamp over the top and the plants in the filter get allot of sun from my bedroom window. I guess its now a low tech setup. First low tech that's has actually managed to be low maintenance roud:! 


*Nighttime: the Ikea light has an amazing shimmer effect that mimics natural sunlight effects in a densely planted forest. I only keep the Ikea light on for 3 hours after the sun goes down to avoid an algae outbreak. *








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*detail shots: Emersed view*








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*
Detail shots: Submersed view*








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*Well that's it for this update!*








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## unicmob (Jan 30, 2015)

Love both your setups very much.
Makes me wanna start a nano of my own.


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## hryder77 (May 24, 2012)

Small update: 

I had to take out the blue betta (Benny) from this tank. He's probably the most aggressive betta I've owned. I found two torn up, mutilated, destroyed snails. He'd ripped them out of there shell. 

I put him back in the pond. I think the 3 gallon space was just too small a kingdom for him. I've noticed he's not very aggressive in the 20 gallon pond. 

Anyway the this setup has a new little guy. A very shy half moon betta named parrot. I've had him in my community tank with smaller fish and snails for a month without incident. Figured he deserves his own place[emoji1] .


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