# Pics of my 2.5g



## radioman (Oct 29, 2007)

So I stopped planted tanks for my first two years of college and decided to get back into the hobby. Here is a 2.5g I have been working on for a little over a month.
specs- 2.5g, 13watt cf, amazonia powder, red sea nano filter, diy co2
plants- water wysteria, riccia tied to rocks, java moss, blyxa japonica (from darkoon), moss ball
inverts- some ghost shrimp

The java moss was bought online and came in brown but is coming back. I really wanted cherry shrimp in this tank but my LFS didnt have any good looking ones.









About 19 days later....


----------



## Snowflake311 (Apr 20, 2011)

Can't wait to see it when the riccia comes in that will look nice. Who did you buy the moss from.


----------



## gnod (Mar 24, 2011)

very nice, i love how it doesn't look small, but it kind of does. lol.. 

was your DIY co2 difficult to make?


----------



## Bree (Dec 17, 2010)

Oh wow, you have a lot going on for a 2.5, it looks really good!


----------



## shrimpnmoss (Apr 8, 2011)

that does not look like a 2.5g....great job.


----------



## Quentin (Mar 16, 2011)

Got a lot going on in there, but it works.


----------



## radioman (Oct 29, 2007)

Thanks everyone. 

Snowflake311- I believe i bought it from aquariumplants.com. They gave me a ton of it, just not good quality stuff. I have two jars full of it.

gnod- The co2 is simple. I had a Nutrafin co2 canister left over from an old ladder setup, which isnt very good in my opinion, and used an online mixture and get about 1 bps. I used DIY on a old 36g bowfront and it always worked amazingly and I have never had problems with it.


----------



## Ben. (Mar 29, 2011)

Nice tank, almost looks like a 10 gal!


----------



## radioman (Oct 29, 2007)

Here is an updated photo of my tank. I trimmed the water wisteria way back because it was going crazy. I also pulled out some of the java moss that was not regrowing since it was dead when I received it. Still waiting for the riccia to fill in.








ghost shrimp chilling on the riccia


----------



## FIT BMX (Jun 5, 2010)

It looks huge, love it!
The shrimp looks very happy.


----------



## radioman (Oct 29, 2007)

added a black background










riccia pearling


----------



## radioman (Oct 29, 2007)

Another update!! The riccia has really started to grow out of the netting since the last 5 days and is pearling beautifully. The Blyxa japonica has taken a while to get settled but has also started to grow and I am expecting it to start growing like crazy soon.


----------



## radioman (Oct 29, 2007)

bump


----------



## 19ginger90 (Jan 7, 2011)

Your tank is quite nice looking  Good job!


----------



## radioman (Oct 29, 2007)

Update: 7/18/2011
I added some RCS a while ago and just added an otto to clean some algae off my rocks but he seems kind of lazy.
About to trim it all for the second time.


----------



## orchidman (Dec 15, 2010)

wow that looks really nice! hope my riccia will looks like that sometime!


----------



## radioman (Oct 29, 2007)

I wish I had added a hill somewhere though instead of it being so flat.


----------



## orchidman (Dec 15, 2010)

i think it looks good the way it is. the hill wouldnt be noticed much


----------



## radioman (Oct 29, 2007)

So after moving back to college all my plants were rooting and finally getting settled and filling the tank back in when my tank sprung a leak. So I just had to replant them all....again.


----------



## jerkosaurus (Jul 17, 2011)

Oh, that sucks. Awesome excuse to do a little upgrading, though!


----------



## radioman (Oct 29, 2007)

I recently cleared some blyxa out and spread out my java moss to make room for more RCS. The tank looks like it is just thrown together but I like it that way.


----------



## orchidman (Dec 15, 2010)

like it alot better!


----------



## smellslikefish (Oct 8, 2011)

what brand of light do u use,because your tank looks incredibly bright despite it's only 13w, an how much is the lumen?


----------



## radioman (Oct 29, 2007)

Thought I responded to this. The bulb is made by Tensor, never heard of the company. It is 6400k. It actually just went out tonight so I have to go find one like it tomorrow.


----------



## h2oaggie (Feb 28, 2011)

Nice looking nano, wish I had a place to put one.


----------



## radioman (Oct 29, 2007)

Grow out update. This is right before a trim. Still battling some staghorn but it is a mild case so it isn't to bad.


----------



## h2oaggie (Feb 28, 2011)

What floater is that?


----------



## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

salvinia

awesome 2.5gal!


----------



## radioman (Oct 29, 2007)

Newman is correct. It hates water movement. I have some in a .9 and it is dying form the current. When I first got it they were larger but I have never been able to grow them that large. Maybe they get to much light in my tank.


----------



## h2oaggie (Feb 28, 2011)

Must be minima, I have some cuculatta in my 29 and it doesn't mind the water movement at all. I'd be happy to share some with you, it grows crazy fast.


----------



## radioman (Oct 29, 2007)

Maybe some time we could meet up. I have a ton of riccia too.


----------



## radioman (Oct 29, 2007)

I was home for Thanksgiving and my Blyxa Japonica bloomed while I was gone. The flower has wilted since yesterday which makes me think that they only last a day or it bloomed right below the water line and I pulled it above the water line during a water change and it dried out.


----------



## rikardob (Aug 13, 2011)

That's awesome!


----------



## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

Just found this thread of yours. Is this tank where you moved the ricca tied to the rocks from your .9 gallon tank? I like the thrown together look though. Kinda how my shrimp tank was "designed" as well.


----------



## radioman (Oct 29, 2007)

diwu13 said:


> Just found this thread of yours. Is this tank where you moved the ricca tied to the rocks from your .9 gallon tank? I like the thrown together look though. Kinda how my shrimp tank was "designed" as well.


The riccia in this tank has been there before the .9 gallon. I got rid of the riccia and rocks in my .9 gallon though I'm sure they would have done very well in this tank.


----------



## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

Just out of curiosity do you gravel vac this tank?


----------



## radioman (Oct 29, 2007)

diwu13 said:


> Just out of curiosity do you gravel vac this tank?


I use a gravel vac to drain the water and only skim the surface if there is a lot of accumulation of debris but never actually get into the substrate with a gravel vac.


----------



## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

Hm... do you use RO water for water changes?


----------



## radioman (Oct 29, 2007)

diwu13 said:


> Hm... do you use RO water for water changes?


Nope. I use hard water when I am at home and soft water when I'm here at college. What are you trying to figure out?


----------



## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

Some of my shrimp got bacterial infection lately and I thought it might be due to poop accumulation, not gravel vaccuming the actual gravel, and then doing water changes with hard tap water. So I was just checking what other people have been doing in hopes of shedding some light on my problem.


----------



## radioman (Oct 29, 2007)

I thought I would update this tank even though nothing has really changed that much other than having to move the tank back and forth from college. I have had to replant the blyxa numerous times from moving which I think may have caused the soil to be clogged with roots which is kind of delaying the growth right now.


----------



## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

How did you go about moving that tank back and forth? Did you drain it halfway or...?

Looks like you need to mow that lawn now


----------



## radioman (Oct 29, 2007)

Haha yeah that riccia needs to be cut way down. I try to make it so everything in the tank is easily movable. I have riccia tied to two rocks, java moss just sitting in the tank for my shrimp, anubias nana attached to a rock. Those all come out and are put in ziplock bags. The only hard thing is the Blyxa japonica which I pull up a little and slice the roots since uprooting the whole thing would pull my substrate out. I empty the tank to about an inch of water left so the baby shrimp don't die since it is to hard to try and get them all out. I have done this 3 times so far without any problems.


----------



## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

Yea that sounds pretty simple. Good planning on that tank haha. If I ever have to move my tanks there will be a lot of problems ._.! I might just leave the tank like halfway filled with water, and cover the top really well so it won't spill all over. Most of my things in my tank can't come out easily :\. Ugh


----------



## radioman (Oct 29, 2007)

Thought I would just post a pic of this berried shrimp. The only one of two in my tank that actually ever produces babies. Ignore the staghorn. It is my nemesis and thankfully only occurs on the plants that get to close to the light.


----------



## @[email protected] (Oct 24, 2007)

thats a nice pic. i always have trouble with the focus.

try spotdosing excel on the algae.


----------



## radioman (Oct 29, 2007)

After being setup since last May, this tank has been decommissioned and the plants moved to my mini-m that was recently setup. I didn't realize how big the anubias nana had gotten in this tank. It really loved the light and high nutrients in this tank since it was throwing out a new leaf every two weeks.


----------

