# 10 Gallon Chum Bucket (Pic Intensive)



## chumblaka (Jan 4, 2010)

Hello all I finally got time to start this thread on my ten gallon!
To begin with here are the "specs"

*Lighting:*
2 x 13 watt CFL bulbs _(6500k each)_

*Substrate:*
One bag of Eco-Complete
A layer of Aquasoil on top
*
Plants:*
Dwarf Hairgrass
Dwarf Hygro
HC
MM
Java Moss _(wall has been removed due to lack of mainetnance)_
Flame Moss _(driftwood)_
Dwarf Sag
Micro Sword
Banana Plant (died due to lack of maintenance, will get another one soon)
*
Occupants:*
Betta
Cherry Shrimps
Crystal Red Shrimp
Crystal Black Shrimp
Yellow Shrimp
One Ghost Shrimp _(disappeared 0.o)_
One Otocinclus (deceased)

This tank started off rocky. Plants were not surviving with the old 15 watt tube light so I retrofitted my lighting to have CFL bulbs and plants started hanging on. Growth was slow so I started dosing excel and DIY CO2 and tank came to life! Mosses have taken off within a week of doing all the "upgrades" as well as speedier growth of the other plants. Things are about to get pic intensive so bear with me!


























*Side view so you can see the progress of my moss wall. Three weeks and counting.*








*Banana plant, I think these plants look awesome.*








*Some weird green stuff on the micro sword there. Don't know what it is. Ideas?*

































*Flame Moss looks hot...*








*BERRIED SHRIMP! What are the chances of the babies surviving? How can I make them better?*


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## guerdonian (Jan 14, 2010)

Sweet moss wall! i tried to do one of those and created a fish trap of death.


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## chumblaka (Jan 4, 2010)

Thanks! Wow, I've seen a couple online but I never trusted the way they setup theirs since they always left a dangerous looking gap. I made mines as secure as I could. I put it flush with the back glass and burrowed two-three inches of the mess into the substrate to hold it in place and cut the mesh in a shape that fit snug with all four corners of the tank. So far no gaps and none of my shrimps have gone back there.


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## JennaH (Sep 28, 2009)

this is looking great! im hoping your moss wall fills in it will add alot to the tank. i think your betta may have a nice lunch if the shrimp babies hatch... but you can cover the filter intake with a prefilter or sponge


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## chumblaka (Jan 4, 2010)

Thanks JennaH, also for all the help before. Yeah I hope so too CO2 and excel dosing should have this wall up in no time. 

That's what I think about my Betta. He seems really nice though for a Betta. He never chases the shrimp, sometimes provokes the otto but never nips so maybe a few survive? Anyways I think it might be a way better idea to just transfer the berried cherries to my finnex once it is done cycling.


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## Lindo (Apr 12, 2009)

I put a banana plant in my tank and it went off  so far its put two leaves up to the surface and another is on its way. First one went up within a week. Was totally amazed.

Tank looks lovely.


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## killacross (Oct 15, 2009)

2 things...

1) EXCELLENT quality on the meshing for your moss wall...never thought of using a strong, firm material, thus eliminating the fish trap of death aspect...and

2) I have a shrimp tank w/ 12 RCS shrimp...only about 2wks old and Ive always wondered what a berried shrimp looks like...GREAT CLEAR picture! now I know what to look for (even if it does look absolutely disgusting)

**Edit** 

from what I understand, you might want to remove that Ghost shrimp...they eat baby RCS


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## Green024 (Sep 19, 2009)

The tank is lookin good, and a tip of the hat on the outcome of your moss wall construction. Cant wait to see the moss go nuts!


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## EdTheEdge (Jan 25, 2007)

Very nice! Thanks for sharing and keep this updated! roud:


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## AlexXx (Dec 1, 2009)

WOW great tanks. I plan on doing almost the exact same things soon. 

for the RCS babies i would suggest booting the betta (even though hes adorable) he might eat the babies, and also put some sponge over the filter. Oh and also i would get rid of the Ghost shrimp, they tend to eat RCS babies because they are scavangers and eat whatever they can get their hands on! 

good luck! now i cant wait to start my 10 gal up like yours. I have sub par lighting, lie you had and I currently have 5 female bettas and mad ghost shrimp in there, i want to turn it into a moss type tank with lots of rcs. 

heres a funny picture that you dont want to see ever (at least its just a ghost shrimp lol and yes it is in thier mouths, and they do this all the time, ghost shrimp are like snacks for these ladies)



















Bettas are ruthless hunters! haha. I wouldnt risk it on the cherrys, especially the momma! Cant wait to see more of this tank


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## brasseagle6 (Jan 25, 2009)

what did you use for the mesh of the moss wall and how did you get the moss to start on it?

i had a banna plant and i thought it died and this weekend i gave some plants to my aunt and realized i gave her a small one. oh well it was cluttered anyway.


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## chumblaka (Jan 4, 2010)

brasseagle6 said:


> what did you use for the mesh of the moss wall and how did you get the moss to start on it?
> 
> i had a banna plant and i thought it died and this weekend i gave some plants to my aunt and realized i gave her a small one. oh well it was cluttered anyway.



I got some mesh from the arts and crafts section at wal-mart. I got two pieces and I sandwiched moss evenly throughout. I then got fishing line and tied all four sides so moss couldn't escaped and to have a tight sandwich so moss wouldn't slip to bottom and be forced to grow outward.

One thing to remember when making a moss wall background is to make sure you have the mesh cut to size because if you don't fishies and shrimps can get caught behind the wall. I was lucky and on my first try I got a really really snug fit on the back of the tank I might have gotten away without having to burrow an inch of the mesh to keep in place but I did it anyways to be sure.

Banana plants in my experience seem to be very resilient! I had a dying one and withing a week It had all new leaves!


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## itrack4u (Nov 16, 2009)

chumblaka said:


> I got some mesh from the arts and crafts section at wal-mart.


It's called plastic canvas. It's also available in clear.


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## chumblaka (Jan 4, 2010)

Just a small update. One of my cherry's eggs hatched! I found a little guy and took a picture. (I want a better macro lens!)


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## AlexXx (Dec 1, 2009)

omg that shrimp is so adorable! i cant wait to get some cherries!


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## chumblaka (Jan 4, 2010)

Hello everyone, I am about to post a video of my tank.
It's been a long while since I have updated and since then I had my tank crash since I stopped CO2 and was sort of negligent, a lot of plants died and had to do a complete re-scape. It has been up now for about three weeks, and plants are growing fast now that I do regular maintenance! It is a great to see how a little maintenance every so often goes a long way.
My plants are already spreading and the shrimp are happier. Three berried in these two weeks since they have cleaner and better monitored water. 
Fixed my algae issues also by leaving the lights on a few hours less than before.
Video is still uploading on YouTube so I will post a link to it here in a couple of minutes.

I will also post some stuff on my Finnex 4 Gallon in its thread tomorrow.


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## chumlee (Nov 4, 2010)

Dang, my tank is called "29g...the Chum bucket" THIS BETTER BE A NICE TANK!!!!!  lol

EDIT: DIdnt see the pics on the first page.....It is a very nice tank lol . It does the name "chum bucket" some good!


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## chumblaka (Jan 4, 2010)

First Video

Hey guys, here is one of the videos, watch it in HD for best picture. Let me know what you guys think. I am really proud of one of my purple-ish looking cherries I think he looks great.


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## SkyGrl (Jan 7, 2010)

that purpleish one look great! awesome color!!!!

Amy


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## whizzle (May 12, 2010)

Nice tank and vid. I like the cherry hitching the ride on the mystery snail lol. If I'm not mistaken tho the yellows and cherries will breed together.


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## chumblaka (Jan 4, 2010)

whizzle said:


> Nice tank and vid. I like the cherry hitching the ride on the mystery snail lol. If I'm not mistaken tho the yellows and cherries will breed together.


Really? I did not know that, I just got the yellows a couple of days ago. What would the babies look like?


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## chumblaka (Jan 4, 2010)

Should I separate the yellows? I am curious and any insight would be appreciated, thank you.


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## chumblaka (Jan 4, 2010)

*Update 2/3/11*

Hello everyone, took some pictures today and just updating on my ten gallon tank.

Like I said the tank kind of took a bad turn when it got neglected. Since I moved it from one corner of the room to the other I didn't bother to setup the CO2 again and from there things went bad, but now I have meticulously been doing my water changes and maintenance and things are looking a lot better, I didn't take pictures of the tank when it was dying/covered in algae.

Also the shrimp have been moved back in here recently, they used to be in my Finnex 4 Gallon where I would pull out the shrimp that looked the most red and had them breed so I got some nice red ones now compared to last year. The CRS/CBS/Yellow shrimp just came in about last week so they are new to the tank. As for my finnex something has happened I will post on it's thread the water no mater how many water changes has a white tinge to it. Fish and shrimp seem fine but I think it might be from the yeast from the CO2 because a white sticky film produces on the surface of the water and it worries me.

Plants in here have been kind of rearranged and the rocks have also been glued together because they kept falling and were previously scattered.

Let me know what you think, and as far as the yellow shrimp being in there should I move them away from the cherries?







































































There is a shrimp in the pics that is a Cherry Shrimp with a purple color to it. It is one of the ones that I had bred, the rest of its sisters/brothers came out fire red with red feet, but this one came out a darker red with purple, the only one. It was berried at one point when it was smaller but it was its first time and it dropped the few eggs it had (too many for its size at the time). I am waiting for my Finnex to get better to separate it with a fire red one to see if they breed. Any ideas on why it is this color?


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