# 6.6g Underwater Bonsai



## poppyseed (Feb 23, 2010)

FTS:










Let me start off by saying that I started perusing these forums probably over a year ago. The inspiration was unbelievable, and I tossed around ideas for what kind of tank I wanted. I settled on a bonsai-like theme and have been ever-so-slowly accumulating materials while juggling college life and work.

I'm working with a 6.6 bookshelf aquarium
coralife light fixture, 2x14 watts (I'm hoping the close proximity to the substrate will be enough light for the carpet plants I want)
I'll be using DIY CO2 after the tank is filled, but I am going to try a dry start

This is my first serious planted tank  before this I only ever had an anubias/crypt in a low-light tank.

I put together the hardscape today and am expecting plants probably in a couple days.










This second picture I tried to label but you can't really see as well as I thought.










the purple is blyxa japonica
the small green strokes next to the purple is dwarf hairgrass
the yellow lumps are anubias nana "petite"
the strange green ovals are dwarf baby tears
pink on the tree I made is fissidens
and the purple blotched on the rock is where I may embellish with some moss or riccia


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## DvsDev (Dec 7, 2010)

I think it'll look real good, I really like the wood that you have and can see it turning out real nice once it fills in.


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## NeuRon (Feb 6, 2011)

:thumbsup: That is a nice pice of wood to work with! Fissidens should look great... ...but I bet anything would (subwassertang would be a twist).

Nice plant choice and layout.


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## Tenzo (Mar 10, 2010)

All this talk about subwassertang trees... I'm going to make one lol.


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## ulysses (Dec 29, 2010)

I fear your stand may be inadequate. The pressure from the sides of the tank once filled may result in a leak or worse. Is this where the tank will rest once filled?


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## poppyseed (Feb 23, 2010)

ulysses said:


> I fear your stand may be inadequate. The pressure from the sides of the tank once filled may result in a leak or worse. Is this where the tank will rest once filled?


No worries! The tank is just temporarily there until I get my tv onto the wall. I realized after posting that it probably seemed like its final resting place haha.

And about the subwassertang, I had considered this too but I wasn't really sure if it would clump the way I want. In some photos it looked very seaweed-ish but in others not so much. Fissidens, from what I've seen, is that kind of dense tree look I wanted (or so I hope!).


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## NeuRon (Feb 6, 2011)

Can't blame you for going with a look you know you want. I agree, it should end up being very nice. Again, that's a very nice looking piece of wood for it.


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## .Mko. (Sep 23, 2010)

Always a fan of bonzai trees and moss tree set ups =) I will follow this thread with pleasure. great start btw can't wait to see those plants in.


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## TheNailman (Feb 3, 2011)

can't wait to see the progress


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## Betta Maniac (Dec 3, 2010)

If you haven't reinforced the edges with silicone (and you haven't filled the tank yet), I HIGHLY recommend it. I've got three of these tanks and one of them leaks. It's maddening. And if you look at the reviews online, I'm not the only one with a Bookshelf that developed this issue.


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## poppyseed (Feb 23, 2010)

NeuRon said:


> Can't blame you for going with a look you know you want. I agree, it should end up being very nice. Again, that's a very nice looking piece of wood for it.


Thanks! It's actually from some manzanita badcopnofishtank sold me a while ago. I took a piece I liked and used epoxy putty to put some smaller branches where I wanted them.




Betta Maniac said:


> If you haven't reinforced the edges with silicone (and you haven't filled the tank yet), I HIGHLY recommend it. I've got three of these tanks and one of them leaks. It's maddening. And if you look at the reviews online, I'm not the only one with a Bookshelf that developed this issue.


You know, I remember reading about this a while ago. I had the tank filled with water for quite a while to see if there were any leaks (and they're weren't at the time). How long did it take for this to happen to you? And do you know where the leak spot was?


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## Betta Maniac (Dec 3, 2010)

Never did find where it was leaking from. Leak developed about 6 weeks after I filled it. The second one has never leaked (knock on wood) and I prophylactically sealed the third one before filling it.

Love the tree, BTW.


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## WaterLogged (Feb 2, 2011)

Your tank is looking fantastic!!! I will be watching this develop for sure! I am excited to see where you go with this! Good luck with your tree, the wood you chose looks perfect!


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## poppyseed (Feb 23, 2010)

I got my plants in today!

The baby tears looked nice and green but the hairgrass was a little brown looking and arrived in some hard to distinguish lumps. I don't have any experience with either of these plants, so I'm hoping they are planted correctly.




























Please ignore how grimy the tank looks, I think it's a mixture of evaporation lines, sprayed water, plastic wrap and some unavoidable scratches on the acrylic.


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## gBOYsc2 (Dec 4, 2010)

Great start. I think this tank will look amazing once matured. If you break your HC into many many small peices and spread it out a lot it will fill in much much faster. If you have the patience and time I would even recommend planting 1 stem at a time. It will take a few hours but it will spread 100x faster. Just make sure each peice you plant has a little bit of root and it will take off in no time.


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## poppyseed (Feb 23, 2010)

A little update here, it's been two weeks since the initial plant and I've seen some growth. 

The hairgrass pretty much turned all brown after I planted, but since then new green blades have started poking out everywhere from the ashes. I tried trimming around some of the brown matter, but I'm not really sure how to go about removing it altogether without harming the new growth.

I'm also a little concerned about the baby tears as there is a little bit of yellowing scattered on some of the plants. Is this because the light is too close? Not enough nutrients? I don't know if I should mix some excel or fertz into the spray bottle of water I have or if this might just create an algae issue.

And one more thing. I'm debating on removing the branch on my "tree" that is on the end of it, the one that looks like it's almost touching the gravel. It will probably be behind grass anyway, but I might move it further up the tree or get rid of it altogether.

Any input would be lovely .


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## greenbox (Feb 20, 2011)

I would go ahead and remove that branch, I don't think its adding anything. I would also add a gentle slope to your substrate from back to front of tank for better viewing.


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## 04100824 (Aug 26, 2010)

greenbox said:


> I would go ahead and remove that branch, I don't think its adding anything. I would also add a gentle slope to your substrate from back to front of tank for better viewing.


I believe the branch is destined to become the point of the "bonsai" tank.


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## psalm18.2 (Oct 16, 2010)

I love the driftwood branch, it gives the tank character.


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## Betta Maniac (Dec 3, 2010)

poppyseed said:


> And one more thing. I'm debating on removing the branch on my "tree" that is on the end of it, the one that looks like it's almost touching the gravel. It will probably be behind grass anyway, but I might move it further up the tree or get rid of it altogether.
> 
> Any input would be lovely .


I'd remove it. Still love the setup. Can't wait to see it grow in.


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## poppyseed (Feb 23, 2010)

I removed the lower branch, but I think it'll bother me if the tree is completely branchless underneath. I think I'll move it closer to the trunk later so it won't be so close to the substrate. The little tub to the left has some riccia that wasn't doing too well in my lower light aquarium.










Here's a picture that shows the yellowing I mentioned. I added some Plantex CSM+B to the water bottle I use, so I hope that helps. Not sure how much growth there's been, but the picture I posted of the original planting had the rim on the tank and a lot of plants were out of view, so it's hard to tell.










And here's a random thing that I've found twice on some baby tears. It looks like one little bud swelled to 5x its size. Either that or I have some sort of weed going on .


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## poppyseed (Feb 23, 2010)

I ended up breaking up the HC into smaller pieces and picking all living HG out of the decaying material and replanting.

This is the initial replant:










And 3 weeks of growth:



















Sorry for the out of center shot, I was trying to avoid flash on the very dirty acrylic.

I was getting impatient with the emersed growth, but comparing the two photos is became pretty obvious that it had filled in quite a bit.

Meanwhile, I'm trying to figure out where I will put the excess riccia I have. I was going to put some anubias nana petite between the two rocks on the left, and blyxa beyond that but I need to find somewhere to put the riccia since it won't grow in my other aquarium. Also, I'm considering throwing in some vallisneria nana behind the blyxa, but I'm not sure if this will look strange flowing at the surface compared to the height of the tree.. but I really like that plant *pout*.

And one more note, I know I need to get a background for this. I'm not in a huge rush, but I'm not really sure I want a black one. Platinum used a window film in his scape http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=23242&d=1283195553 and I thought it looked pretty cool, so I might go with that. There is also a darker blue variety that I was looking at.

ANYWAY, long post but let me know whatcha thiiink.


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## Loop (Jan 8, 2011)

I think it looks good. I'd be a little concerned about the grass to the left filling in and getting too tall and covering your rocks completely though. I would put it behind them, but only because of that. I'm looking forward to seeing this one filled up.


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## poppyseed (Feb 23, 2010)

Loop said:


> I think it looks good. I'd be a little concerned about the grass to the left filling in and getting too tall and covering your rocks completely though. I would put it behind them, but only because of that. I'm looking forward to seeing this one filled up.


You're absolutely right, I think I just found a spot for the riccia .


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## Piphobbit (Dec 2, 2010)

Hey poppyseed, any updates? How's the emersed growth going?


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## poppyseed (Feb 23, 2010)

Piphobbit said:


> Hey poppyseed, any updates? How's the emersed growth going?


I ended up filling the tank with water in order to kill some tiny bugs I spotted. Right now the plants actually look healthier than when it was emersed (I have two DIY CO2 bottles going to prevent a melt) but I'm considering doing emersed again for a few reasons:

1. algae. I was a little unprepared for the algae bloom that has come over my tank. I was going to ask for a legit CO2 setup for my birthday (May 6th, so not too far away.. and my 21st in case anyone was wondering  ) in hopes that this would fend off the algae better. I may also need to find a way to raise my lights up a bit (the legs I ordered for it ended up not fitting).

2. I disturbed a lot of the HC on my little "hill" when I filled the tank, resulting in hours of frustratingly tweezing pieces back in place only to have more float away. I was thinking I would go emersed again in order to get the growth more rooted in that area.

3. My driftwood is also a part of the disturbance of HC on that hill. It is easily knocked around when I try to maneuver in the tank, and I'm thinking I should just rip it out, attach a big old rock to it, and rebury it.

I think that's all .

I'm thinking I need to redo the riccia rocks I put together as their growth was fast, but it doesn't seem quite full as it is long coming out of the mesh.. not sure how to fix that.


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## yellowsno (May 15, 2011)

updateS?


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## poppyseed (Feb 23, 2010)

Updates indeed..

The tank is now filled, pressurized CO2 is hooked up, and plants are being sent to me in the next few days via joraan .. I will post some pictures when the rest of the plants are in.


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## poppyseed (Feb 23, 2010)

Plants came in (thanks to joraan!) and everything's set up. I'm just gonna let everything grow out for now and green up before I trim. I'm hoping the fissidens will grow out nicely for me.

Here are some pictures, I'll take better ones later at some point.




























I have my light sitting on a couple blocks at the moment, I am planning to build some sort of frame for it with legs. I will probably make it rimless and get an eheim along with lily pipes too.

I know for fish I want a few CPDs, not sure about what else. I love the look of scarlet badis, but they seem really high maintenance. I'm also a sucker for bettas but I wanted to keep the fish rather small to keep the scale of the scape looking right.


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## kangared (Apr 7, 2011)

Looking nice. You made the tank look larger than it is, I thought it was a 20 long till I went back to the first post.


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## narhay (Feb 28, 2007)

Nice. Have you considered a hanging rod for your light fixture? Search DIY EMT conduit light hanger to give you some ideas. Will be nice to have your tank without the light touching it.


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## poppyseed (Feb 23, 2010)

Thanks! Scale was a big thing in creating this scape, I really wanted it to look like an underwater world .

I had not thought about a rod for the light. I originally bought these clear plastic legs that were supposed to fit all aqualight fixtures, but not mine apparently (it was a discontinued item, so I was taking my chances with them). I was planning on resting the light on a small wood frame and just screwing the legs into it as they have screw holes anyway, but the rod is definitely something to consider.


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## poppyseed (Feb 23, 2010)

So I've basically been ignoring this tank for a month. I went on vacation and recently came back, so I picked up a few CPDs today. I now have them acclimating in their bag and I noticed a couple things.

SNAILS firstly.. tiny baby snails all over.. I'm not sure how I feel about this or what I can even do..

and this freaking wormy thing inching around the bottom.. it's like 1.5 inches stretched out and like .5 cm wide.. dark and completely gross.. I tried to catch it with my tweezers but it kept worming away (pun intended).. I'll probably post somewhere else on the forum and get a picture or something for an ID


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## poppyseed (Feb 23, 2010)

Pitchas! I thought I'd try out my dad's nikon and see if the quality was any better.. still trying to figure out how to get the best photos.

Badly in need of a trim at the moment, but I'm feeling lazy about it. You can't even see the rocks anymore and there is riccia growing out of the baby tears haha.

I bought 3 CPDs the other day, my LFS was redoing all its shelving so the fish were kind of strewn everywhere. Apparently these are only 3 months old, so I'm hoping they grow and darken up a bit so they're actually visible.. see photo 5 for a blurry shot.

And yes, I still need to build a stand or something for my light. It'll happen eventually.





































2/3 of the tiny occupants by the "trunk", they're very timid at the moment and not very colorful









the worms in question.. and a snail


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## dubvstudent (Jan 10, 2009)

I love the way this tank turned out. The sense of scale is impressive. Once that moss gets a little more mass I think the tree will really become a focal point.

Can't really tell from the picture but if I had to guess I would say that is a ramshorn snail (just based on the color really)... If so they are not a huge problem but they will multiply. I have no clue on the worms. When i first saw them I thought they looked like common leaches!!! I doubt that though. Check the boards for the parasite sticky and that may shine some light on it for you.


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## talontsiawd (Oct 19, 2008)

I usually don't like the underwater tree deal. I think both your layout and the fact you used a piece of wood that really looks fitting to the scape makes all the difference in the world. I love the "windswept" look.

I would trim your HC (Dwarf Baby Tears) all the way down to the substrate. Don't worry about cutting to much, just go as low as you can go. It will clean the tank up, but the leaves tend to be much smaller at first as well.


This really looks huge for a 6 gallon. My only advice would be to get a bigger rock (I thought that before I saw the growth). The other thing is the left corner. It looks like you used blyxa. It doesn't look bad, I just think you should get something smaller right in front. Maybe just have the HC extend to the corner. Leave the rest intact, just behind a lower growing plant. It will give it a bit more depth.

Anyway, really great tank.


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## xjasminex (Jul 26, 2011)

The worms look like leeches, i just found one in my five gallon npt tank, they had to have come in on the plants thats they only way since i have no fish in there yet. I pulled the sucker out of my tank by hand and when i went to put him down he was stuck to my finger....ewww, and then i googled leaches and found the same kind.

I am planning on digging up my tank this weekend and adding new soil and treating my plants and rinsing everything....what a pain and i almost thought i was ready to add live stock!


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## poppyseed (Feb 23, 2010)

I figured I'd take some pictures while the tank was trimmed down . I moved the riccia more to the left because it was in the way of the rocks, but it was so overgrown that most of the growth just came right off! I retied a bunch of it to the rocks, but I'm sure it will be out of control again very soon.

excuse the crooked photo but it was one of the clearer ones










I think this one shows how small the tank is, compared to my wii










just some other angles.. 



















I'm going to be adding probably a couple neon tetras soon, I like the CPDs but they are very hard to see.. thinking about maybe changing the background or something

and if the tree looks like it's missing a limb, that's because it is  I knocked it off while trimming the foreground and did attempt to glue it back on, but I ended up gluing more to myself than the wood.. so I give up on that for now

I think it looks alright though, despite the missing branch.. any thoughts on that?


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## poppyseed (Feb 23, 2010)

forgot to mention that I haven't seen any of those worms/leeches in a while.. hoping I pulled them all out. I ended up with I think 5 or 6 in my collection .


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## gnod (Mar 24, 2011)

where'd you get this tank from.. i like the dimensions a lot

edit: nvm, realized this is the petco one. what substrate are you using?


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

This looks great. I have seen a few different attempts at this kind of layout but you did it really nice.


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## poppyseed (Feb 23, 2010)

gnod said:


> where'd you get this tank from.. i like the dimensions a lot
> 
> edit: nvm, realized this is the petco one. what substrate are you using?


it's the petco bookshelf one, and I'm using eco complete


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## poppyseed (Feb 23, 2010)

hydrophyte said:


> This looks great. I have seen a few different attempts at this kind of layout but you did it really nice.


thanks! I'm a big fan of your ripariums so the feedback is nice to hear


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## somewhatshocked (Aug 8, 2011)

Thought about Boraras brigittae/Chili Rasbora?

Those-- or even the Merah-- would look great in this cute tank. Great job.


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## wearsbunnyslippers (Dec 6, 2007)

Wow, in a year or two when that fissidens grows in it will be awesome!


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## 2in10 (Feb 8, 2011)

Beautiful tank


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## somewhatshocked (Aug 8, 2011)

How's this tank doing?


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## limz_777 (Jun 29, 2005)

nice curves on the wood


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## poppyseed (Feb 23, 2010)

somewhatshocked said:


> How's this tank doing?


Tank's doing well, I just added a betta a couple of days ago and trimmed it. I ended up taking out a chunk of hairgrass in a little bit of trimming frustration, but I'm sure it will grow back no problem.

I'll try and post some pictures ASAP, but school's killing me so it might take a few days.. or a week.. we'll see.


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## dtsuyuki (Nov 16, 2009)

that piece of manzanita looks great.. the tree should look great once it's done...


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## poppyseed (Feb 23, 2010)

Alright, so here's a couple pics of the tank (I just trimmed again so don't mind any floating debris).



















The betta's name is Geppetto 










And here is the best picture I could catch of one of the CPDs.. I only ever see two around the tank so I'm not sure if the 3rd even exists anymore.. I didn't realize they were so mysterious 










Aaaand a couple pictures of my other new betta, Sir Galahad who is destined to live in a metaframe I will hopefully get soon.. he's in an ugly fake plant tank atm:


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## Eldachleich (Jul 9, 2011)

Cool tank. I have the same one actually,, Still working on it before I post any pictures lol... Decided to go without CO2 and fertz so growth is slow.. steady.. but slow.
You've given it alot more depth than I have..
Arent the dimensions on this thing just great? 
If you ever get tired of the scratches Walmart sells plastic repair kits in the auto section that work like a charm. I got a few scratched from initial setup, and eventually got tired of them. Figured it was a useful thing to know.. Where do you get your betta's?


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## YellowDawg (Nov 1, 2011)

Is this the petco one? Are you still using the original filtration?


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## poppyseed (Feb 23, 2010)

Eldachleich said:


> Cool tank. I have the same one actually,, Still working on it before I post any pictures lol... Decided to go without CO2 and fertz so growth is slow.. steady.. but slow.
> You've given it alot more depth than I have..
> Arent the dimensions on this thing just great?
> If you ever get tired of the scratches Walmart sells plastic repair kits in the auto section that work like a charm. I got a few scratched from initial setup, and eventually got tired of them. Figured it was a useful thing to know.. Where do you get your betta's?


Yeah, I love the plants I can keep with CO2 but the upkeep with trimming is kind of a lot, especially because the tank is so small it's hard to maneuver scissors in. The tree's also driving me a little crazy because it refuses to stay upright.

I do love the tank though!



YellowDawg said:


> Is this the petco one? Are you still using the original filtration?


It is the petco one, but the filtration I replaced with an aquaclear I think.


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## rockwood (Jun 19, 2010)

I'm digging the underwater tree.


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## Realistik84 (Sep 12, 2011)

I would really like to see a close up of the tree with a few different angled shots. It is impressive looking.

I realize you are busy, so I dont expect this anytime soon...but it would be great.


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## bruinhd (Oct 10, 2011)

Subscribed! This is kind of what I'm trying to do with my 5 gallon bonsai. I will post a journal soon.


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## poppyseed (Feb 23, 2010)

Realistik84 said:


> I would really like to see a close up of the tree with a few different angled shots. It is impressive looking.
> 
> I realize you are busy, so I dont expect this anytime soon...but it would be great.


I had a little mishap with an overzealous betta who dug up half my carpet, and I pretty much am growing algae better than plants right now. I threw in a couple nerites and am hoping this tank will come back a bit, and if/when it does I will try to get those .


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## poppyseed (Feb 23, 2010)

I'm kind of disappointed with how this aquarium is turning out.. I ended up tearing it all down to thoroughly clean it and slap it back together in pretty much the same arrangement.

My HC is not really spreading as far as I can tell, though it's only been two weeks and it is growing submersed. My blyxa seems to be dying off for no reason as well, leaves melting here and there. Just a lot less plants overall.

I guess the plus is that I can see my fish very easily without the forest, and it is more low maintenance for now. Plus, my betta has no plants to tear up for a while .

I also got a pitbull oto, who is super cute but is currently hiding in the gravel because I was doing a water change earlier. And man does he poop a lot! Great on the algae though.


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## thebuddha (Jul 16, 2012)

Geppetto is pretty cool looking! 

And your tank looks beautiful, I hope everything gets back to growing in nicely


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## daveman45 (Mar 6, 2013)

*Other types of dead wood*

I recently got interested in underwater bonsai trees and I was wondering what other types of trees work well for the driftwood of the bonsai tree? Or is manzanita the best? This tank looks awesome!


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## Dien16 (Feb 22, 2013)

What kind of betta is that?

Sent from my HTC_Amaze_4G using Tapatalk 2


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## Virto (Dec 6, 2012)

Dien16 said:


> What kind of betta is that?
> 
> Sent from my HTC_Amaze_4G using Tapatalk 2


Which one?

The first looks like a halfmoon, the second is a plakat.


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## poppyseed (Feb 23, 2010)

daveman45 said:


> I recently got interested in underwater bonsai trees and I was wondering what other types of trees work well for the driftwood of the bonsai tree? Or is manzanita the best? This tank looks awesome!


It really depends on what you can get lucky and find, but manzanita is definitely the most curvy and branchy kind of wood I've seen. And thank you, I liked it too!



Dien16 said:


> What kind of betta is that?
> 
> Sent from my HTC_Amaze_4G using Tapatalk 2


The blue and pink one was a halfmoon. Unfortunately he managed to jump out of a COVERED aquarium and he's no longer with us. The blue and red one is a dragonscale plakat.


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## Stinkmonky (Apr 16, 2012)

Mini pellia tree >.> mp has grown to be one of my favorite plants


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD


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## poppyseed (Feb 23, 2010)

Stinkmonky said:


> Mini pellia tree >.> mp has grown to be one of my favorite plants
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD


Hm, well mine was actually made of fissidens fontanus, but I imagine mini pellia would look pretty cool!


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