# Kayen's Boredom (2.5G Iwagumi)



## Kayen (Oct 14, 2007)

2.5g
Ottlite 13w x 2 
HC, DHG, Glosso
Fluval Stratum


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## chad320 (Mar 7, 2010)

Looks good so far. I take it your dry starting for awhile?


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## Kayen (Oct 14, 2007)

If you look at my journals, i dry started my last tank too... which i'm selling tomorrow. 
Can be found in a page or two back. Or three or four.


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## rwong2k (Dec 24, 2004)

greaet looking tank!
can't wait to see it filled out!

love the Fluval Stratum have it in both of my tanks for now


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## .Mko. (Sep 23, 2010)

id say move the right rock to he middle and get a smaller rock to replace the far left one looks kinda big to me.. LOL jk. =P


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## Kayen (Oct 14, 2007)

Come over and do it for me. Also do all the planting for me too.

Also the planned fill up date is within a month.


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## .Mko. (Sep 23, 2010)

haha no thanks...


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## chad320 (Mar 7, 2010)

Hows it growing?


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## gBOYsc2 (Dec 4, 2010)

.Mko. said:


> id say move the right rock to he middle and get a smaller rock to replace the far left one looks kinda big to me.. LOL jk. =P


I told him the same thing on our local forum.


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## boringname (Nov 11, 2010)

Kayen said:


> 2.5g
> Ottlite 13w x 2
> HC, DHG, Glosso
> Fluval Stratum


I like it.


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## familyman03 (Jun 16, 2010)

What is dry start? Sorry I have never heard of this before.


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## theDeanorama (Nov 6, 2010)

If its any consolation, I actually like the scale of the rocks in this setup  One person's boredom is another's entertainment, looking forward to future updates.


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## .Mko. (Sep 23, 2010)

Hey man,
Time to Fill up =)


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## Cmeister (Jul 5, 2009)

gBOYsc2 said:


> I told him the same thing on our local forum.











I'll have check it out on the locals.


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## gBOYsc2 (Dec 4, 2010)

Hahah this thread is a big hit with us Edmontonians!


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## .Mko. (Sep 23, 2010)

hahaha go edmontonians! lolol


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## Kayen (Oct 14, 2007)

.Mko. said:


> Hey man,
> Time to Fill up =)


No man, reading week! Force me too! Also our paintball CO2 regulators are now in  , meaning this will be receiving pressurized CO2 in the near future, once it gets water.
Also need a filter for this thing still ... gboy got that filter still ? :tongue:

As for live stock, nothing probably, likely RCS.


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## gBOYsc2 (Dec 4, 2010)

Let us know how the paintball regulators go. Where did you get them from?

Are you still interested in my ZooMed 501?


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## Kayen (Oct 14, 2007)

gBOYsc2 said:


> Let us know how the paintball regulators go. Where did you get them from?
> 
> Are you still interested in my ZooMed 501?


Of course i am, as well i attained them off JaggedFury in the Classifieds here, we obtained 4 of them (one for myself, two for our buddy Tom, and one for Mko)


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## Kayen (Oct 14, 2007)

Can someone explain to me why my HC is growing up?


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## Kayen (Oct 14, 2007)

I guess noone can explain it........

Update:









Will fill sometime this week.


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## gBOYsc2 (Dec 4, 2010)

Hmm not sure why. Possibly your light is not strong enough? What kind of lights are you using?


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

are you sure its HC and not baby tears? (HC=dwarf baby tears)


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## Kayen (Oct 14, 2007)

It's HC. They came from my 7.2g.
Basically the HC has came from a stock of HC i've been growing for almost 4 years now.
Albeit it's in fluval stratum now as opposed to the ADA AS II it was in before.

I'm using 2x13w Ottlites.


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## ddtran46 (Jul 8, 2008)

How old are the bulbs? I read you are suppose to replace them every year or something.


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## boon (Mar 29, 2006)

you might not have much light spread throughout the tank. Plus a closer shot at the plants might help. I know glosso grows upward if there is not a enough light spread throughout the tank.


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## gBOYsc2 (Dec 4, 2010)

Possibly some persistent trimming will encourage it to grow sideways instead of upwards?


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## goddessjen (Mar 9, 2008)

I would just keep poking the "up" parts back into the substrate.


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

goddessjen said:


> I would just keep poking the "up" parts back into the substrate.


this, and it looks like light is the culprit, see how they stretch the stems between every leaf?


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## Kayen (Oct 14, 2007)

Changed hte lights, it's not getting CO2, and i put my focus on my primary display 33g tank.


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## Kayen (Oct 14, 2007)

Filled as of 2 hours ago. Going to get the HC under proper control. Fauna added in 3 weeks.


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## JimmyYahoo (Aug 14, 2005)

Good luck keeping it like that once the water is in. Hate to say it but ive never seen much success starting like this. Might be best keeping the water out?


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## Kayen (Oct 14, 2007)

Pressurized CO2 is now dialed into the tank via the filter too... NPK dosing once per week. I'm confident in this tank.


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## Francis Xavier (Oct 8, 2008)

It's only taken what, 3 years?!


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## Kayen (Oct 14, 2007)

Francis Xavier said:


> It's only taken what, 3 years?!


Different tank. But yes took me 3.5 years to finally fill a tank. Could've used your input on this FX  .


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## Kayen (Oct 14, 2007)

So it seems alot of the HC i've been amassing in recent years really isn't HC.... there's a good bit of HM mixed in too. This is after a big big trim, the plants took to grow like wildfire in the last 2-3 weeks. Having some initial algae problems, but shall come to pass soon. Ignore the ugly filter. Will be doing a DIY sump behind this tank, which should increase water capacity to 3.5 gallons, and allow me to hide all the equipment, such as CO2 diffuser, and the like.


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## Kayen (Oct 14, 2007)

Added some more pictures, since those above sucked. 
Full tank shot. You can clearly see quite a bit of diatoms on the glass and on the rocks. I expect those to go away once the tank matures. Still alot of melting leaves. Going to wait until plants fully adapt and gain their submersed leaves. So far it's a wild mix of HM, HC, glosso, DHG all over the tank. I have no intention of separating any of the plants. 

















Here you can see the crap ton of pearling that i've been getting last few weeks...









Now i have 2 problems.
1: Fauna:
What do i want in this tank? 
I'm thinking shrimp, but i've had crappy luck with them in the past. 
Maybe a small tiny school of something?

2: Filtration: The HME is an eyesore. I have a glass diffuser coming in sooner or later (should be sooner, placed order almost 2 weeks ago...). Budget isn't skyhigh for this tank considering it was put together on spare stuff i had around. Red Sea Nano? DIY behind tank sump? Red Sea Nano sounds most practical?


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## gnod (Mar 24, 2011)

^are you planning on trimming down the plants a little? i have glosso in mine and just started to see some growth after 3 weeks.. they're growing vertically 
i heard that you have to trim it down to force it to begin sending its roots out..


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## Kayen (Oct 14, 2007)

gnod said:


> ^are you planning on trimming down the plants a little? i have glosso in mine and just started to see some growth after 3 weeks.. they're growing vertically
> i heard that you have to trim it down to force it to begin sending its roots out..


Something like that, due to my misfortune of my carpet being 70% HM, and 30% HC, i'm going to have to be trimming alot.


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## Kayen (Oct 14, 2007)

Added a 3rd light and notched up the CO2. I want the plants to stabilize faster so i can get some fauna in here. Decided on endlers and cherries.


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## Lil' Swimz$ (Jul 24, 2010)

Needs a haircut


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## Robert H (Apr 3, 2003)

Yes the rocks are getting buried


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## Kayen (Oct 14, 2007)

Got the water tested, got a bubble counter, still waiting on glass diffusor. Picked up another 2.5g, both will be side by side. 

Stocked this tank:
6x Boraras Briggitae
2x Sakura Red Shrimp (1m/1f) -> Looking to get more shrimp so i can breed, i don't care if i lose colour, at this point i just want to see baby shrimp heh! 

Also picked up a Dragon Plakat too, too much character, going in other 2.5g which will be bare bottom, with subwassertang and some moss.


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## gnod (Mar 24, 2011)

just curious but what's your tank temperature like? i'd imagine with all that light, it fairly high..

my tank is pushing close to 90 with my 13W light about 1 inch above the top of the water level.. my room is fairly warm but the light also makes the small tank hotter.


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## Kayen (Oct 14, 2007)

gnod said:


> just curious but what's your tank temperature like? i'd imagine with all that light, it fairly high..
> 
> my tank is pushing close to 90 with my 13W light about 1 inch above the top of the water level.. my room is fairly warm but the light also makes the small tank hotter.


Not sure, i need to check temps as i'm certain it's probably 80's. But it's fairly cool in the house so the only source of heating is the lights in the tank.


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## gnod (Mar 24, 2011)

^lucky.. im gonna have to wait till fall to move anything into mine.


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## Kayen (Oct 14, 2007)

gnod said:


> ^lucky.. im gonna have to wait till fall to move anything into mine.


I live in Canada... never gets too too hot here... Except this entire week will be pretty darn hot. Has been raining nonstop for the last while.


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## Kayen (Oct 14, 2007)

Getting lots of Diatoms, and GSA, what should i be dosing!


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## Kayen (Oct 14, 2007)

No dosing, no CO2, plants are growing wild. Fish are going bright red. Baby shrimplets everywhere, tank is doing well. Needs a trim, but algae is dissapearing at least.


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