# Fluval Flora



## wrangler (Oct 14, 2007)

Well I gave up on my 5.5 g long book shelf tank. The final straw was my cat ramming around and knocking the light into the tank! I had a heck of a time with algae too.

Today I was down in Columbus and in aquarium adventure and they had the fluval flora in stock.....and I have been eyeballing it for awhile.....so here goes.

I am using all stock items that came with the tank for now. I really want to try crs again...but I need steadier ph for them. My tap water is like liquid rock. The substrate that the tank came with is suppose to lower the ph to an acceptable level. 

I salvaged what I could from the 5.5g tank and replanted into this new tank.

So far
Anubis nana petite
Subwassertang
R. Colorata
Fissidens
Moss (peacock I think)
Micro sword

I am using the co2 kit that came with the tank...altho I do not believe that it is practical for long term use. I want to use co2 now to get past the algae bloom......but I eventually think that I will have to run with no co2 to have my shrimps. If I do run co2 later I am gonna switch to my paint ball set up with a glass diffuser.

Anyway here she is.....I hope this time I get it right! 








The box........









Rinsed and waiting on the counter









Substrate, wood and plants









Top view of tank sans water









The tank filled......

Wish me luck!!!


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## tbarabash (May 18, 2011)

Looks good, I like the scape. May be annoying trying to fish out corpses and catch shrimps hiding behind the wood, I made a moss tree in mine and boy do I have a hard time organizing and retrieving stuff back there. 

Question: what is the small green grassy stuff stuck to the driftwood on the right side in the last picture? Looks cool, can't tell what it is and how its not floating away


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## wrangler (Oct 14, 2007)

Well a long time ago....like 4 years ago when I was first getting in to planted tanks I got a few "moss" balls because I thought they were neat and was naive to the fact that they we were really clado algae balls..........so ever since then I have had it in my tanks. I have scrubbed and exceled the devil out of my wood....and like a cockroach it comes back!! Because this tank should technically be balanced I am hoping to eradicate it from my tank for good....but we shall see!!

Thanks for looking!!


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## wrangler (Oct 14, 2007)

Well the tanks been set up for 24 hrs now. I have tested the waters for the first time. Here are the parameters

pH 7.0
NH3 1.5mg/L
NO2 <.3 mg/L
gH 12
kH 5

I'm excited to see the pH at 7........ As out of the tap it's off the charts!

I added some dwarf hair grass in the front left corner as well as a bronze crypt and some nodes of 4 leaf clover on the right side. The water is still a little hazy so I am anxious to see it cleared up and cycled!!

Here's today's picture


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## newsops (Jul 24, 2011)

Tank looks great, however I bought the same tank and removed the artifical foam jungle thing in the back, looked very artificial to me and took from the display. I've changed up the CO2 system and instead for about $125 bought the ADA pollen glass CO2 diffuser and bubble counter which looks a lot better and doesn't overpower the interior, plus glass always looks better than plastic. This tank is a tight tank and still small, so maintaining as much space inside is going to be important once things get kicking and your plants start filling in the space.


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## wrangler (Oct 14, 2007)

I decided to add the paint ball co2 tank and glass diffuser to this tank. I really didn't like how the co2 was to be disbursed using the setup that came with the tank. Last week I cleaned out my canister filter running on my 70 gal and added in some mulm from it to this tank to help it cycle faster.

I tested my water parameters tonite and here's what they are:

pH 6.6
Nitrate 5
Nitrite 0
Ammonia 0
GH 6
KH 0-1

Nitrate needs to be zero for the cycle to be complete correct?

I will be ordering some shrimp from a fellow PT member at the end of August/ first week of September.....if I can stand to wait that long. 

I haven't seen any algae or diatoms yet....and I am gonna assume that I need that to occur before the cycle is complete correct?


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## The Dude (Feb 8, 2011)

Ammonia and Nitrite need to be at zero. Nitrate is what the plants use. Mine is usually around 30. Tank looks nice. What kind of shrimp are you thinking?


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## wrangler (Oct 14, 2007)

I am going to house PFR/Sakuras crs/cbs and blue bees. Hoping my tank will have cycled my the end of the month


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## ganjero (Aug 4, 2005)

is the stock light enought to matain plants alive? what kind of plants?


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## wrangler (Oct 14, 2007)

It says that it will support low to mid light plants. I have some 
moss, 
Fissidens,
Anubias nanas,
subwassertang,
4 leaf clover,
Dwarf hair grass 
R.colorata

So far I have seen growth in most of the plants.....either new shoots or stalks or the plant has grown taller.


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## wrangler (Oct 14, 2007)

Thought I would give an update and post more pictures. I have been monitoring my water and I do believe that the tank has cycled. My most recent pH test puts it at 6.5/6.4. My plants are settling in and starting to grow out. My R. Colorata has sent off many off shoots/stems and grown taller. My mosses are growing on my driftwood and the 4 leaf clover has sent up new leaves. I moved my glass diffuser over to this tank....yes I know that it is HUGE....but it's the only one I have....and I don't intend on running co2 on this tank once I put my shrimp in.
Here is a full tank shot









Anyone know what this plant is? I can't remember what it is....but I known that I bought it from a member on here a few years ago.....









Random shots

























On a side note I am thinking of purchasing RO water to do water changes.......will that lower my pH further? I'm really trying to this the right way this time to keep crs......as I did not have much luck last time. Anyone have any pointers?


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## sampster5000 (Oct 30, 2010)

That fluval CO2 diffuser is awful! The glass one you replaced it with will do 3 billion times better  Tank is looking good, too. The driftwood is really nice. Love the petite as well!


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## wrangler (Oct 14, 2007)

I completely agree about that co2 diffuser! But I do need something to get my plants jumpstarted. Thought I would share before and after of that nana......









Before









Now. 

It's grown ALOT!!


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## Geniusdudekiran (Dec 6, 2010)

Did you ever find out what that plant is? I really like it.


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## wrangler (Oct 14, 2007)

no I havent id'd it yet. I did another post in the plant sub forum asking for an id...... No takers yet.........


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## wrangler (Oct 14, 2007)

Unknown plant in tue back right corner is eichhornia diversifolia. It has really been growing for me. 

I also have yet to experience diatoms or algae with this tank. Is it possible to cycle and not experience either of those issues? I've never been that lucky!! I am counting down the days before I can order my shrimp!!


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## wrangler (Oct 14, 2007)

Well I FINALLY have shrimp in the tank. I was able to score 12 ss crs/cbs with snow white genetics.......basically starting with F1's!! I am so excited to get my hands on these shrimp....thanks PT member Wheezo!!

I got the shrimp yesterday and after acclimating them for 3 hours they were happily zooming around there new home. I have already found 2 molts in the tank..yay!! 
I have given them a delicious mulberry leaf to snack on....altho I don't think they really know what to do with it...lol!!

I have decided not to mess around with my tap water anymore and am using RO water for water changes/topoffs from now on. I do not want a repeat of the disaster I had with my 5.4 g bookshelf tank...shrimp grave...!!

So without further ado.....here they are!! What do you think?!

























































I am so excited!! Can't wait to see what my first babies look like!!


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## tbarabash (May 18, 2011)

Correct me if I'm wrong someone but doesn't CO2 vastly inhibit shrimp breeding? Decreasing the amount of effective viable offspring is something I have read many places. I have a shrimp tank with a ph that hovers around 8.0, I'd love to be able to drop it to about 7.0 to throw some crystal reds in there (I put them in there and acclimated them properly but they all started dying slowly after about a week or two in there while the other RCS thrived normally) but without using CO2 to do it I unfortunately can't... don't really have the ability to spend money on an RO unit right now  (just got married.. gotta keep the wife happy and not spend too much on fish right now haha)


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## wrangler (Oct 14, 2007)

Yes co2 does cause issues with the viability of shrimps. I no longer have co2 running on the tank as I have added shrimp....I am however exploring re adding co2 and introducing o2 via aeration.....but still need to do some research. I understand a lot of overseas breeders use this method.

As far as RO water goes...I buy my water....it's like .35 a gallon...totally worth 3.00 for peace of mind when I have 20x that in shrimp!


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## wrangler (Oct 14, 2007)

Thought I would post an update to my tank. Things are growing in slowly. I added 10 cherries to my tank 2 weeks ago. One of my crystals is berried, altho I lost a lot. There was an interesting debate going on on another thread about how to cycle a tank. I think that altho I had this tank up and running for almost 60 days prior to adding shrimp, I don't think that it actually cycled until I added shrimp.....and unfortunately lost most of the shrimp in the process. Live and learn I guess.

Here's my view from the sofa










Close ups


























Fissidens growing in nicely








Moss growing down the log








Side view








Other side view








Looking down
























One of my crystals









Is this a cherry or something else? It's by far the most red...and does have a stripe down its back.....


















My berried cbrowns


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

dominant female cherry.


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## wrangler (Oct 14, 2007)

Time for an update....with photos!

I lost all of my crs/cbrs shrimp just as I was worried about. I just don't think that I am suppose to have them.....which is a shame as I love them, and really want them but they don't love me! I instead am going back to rcs. I also purchased some red rilis.....LOVE them. Everyone is healthy, saddled and ACTIVE! That is one thing my crs were NOT..they spent all there time hiding.

Everything is growing slowly, but overgrown! First a full tank shot prior to the trim








Close up of moss log








What is this plant?
















Shrimp!








Moss and Fissidens
















What plant is this?








Rili....whatcha think...red or blue?








Well what do you all think?


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## Petrie (Dec 30, 2011)

niiiiiice ^-^ fun to see your tank progress, I might have to start a thread on my flora even though it doesn't look very good, would be nice to chronicle it's progression.

Looks good, can't wait to see mine overgrown lol


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## Deano37 (Jul 17, 2011)

i am ordering one of these tanks been researching them and asking questions for a while i will get a heater and have tropical fish but i must say thats a beautiful tank hope mine will look so good, cannot b elive plant growth, i was going to get 2 lights but 1 seems to be amazing

Dean


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## wrangler (Oct 14, 2007)

Thanks so much for the compliments! I have been really pleased with the tank so far. I have had very little algae running the tank with one light. Plant growth is slow but for the most part very healthy. I do dose the ferts that came with the tank, but only sporadically. I don't think you will be disappointed!


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## Deano37 (Jul 17, 2011)

thanks wrangler keep us posted i also just started off my spec and am determined to get it cycled lol


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## biogenetic40379 (Jan 19, 2012)

you make me want to buy a flora kit


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## xenxes (Dec 22, 2011)

Beautiful tank & shrimps  any snails in there?


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## wrangler (Oct 14, 2007)

Oh yes!! This was right before I took out this whole lot! I didn't have 'shrimpballs' I had 'snailballs' !! Lol!!









I just wait til I get a ton and then toss some food in, wait alittle bit, then collect them all up!


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## xenxes (Dec 22, 2011)

Wow, what are those, ramshorn?


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## wrangler (Oct 14, 2007)

Yep! I kinda like them, although I would like to get my hands on blue or pink or purple ones..... I'm mean if I'm gonna have snails they should be worth looking at! ;-)


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