# 5.5G Rimless River Jungle



## OiZO (Feb 2, 2010)

cant wait to see more.


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## AkCrimson (Dec 17, 2009)

So I apologize for the quality, my boyfriend is borrowing the SLR at the moment! I took these with my phone. 

Tinkered around a bit at lunch. Mostly wanted to get pics of the hardscape to see what you guys thought of the layout. The rocks in the middle are a sandy mess due to me stirring things about with planting.



















lol, just realized that if you look reeeeally close, you can see my bird Penny in the reflection of the tank, watching me.


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## AkCrimson (Dec 17, 2009)

I promise I will get some good pics soon!! Okay so I planted most of everything else. I like it, but I am still not sure about the hardscape. I want to move the driftwood but it's precariously tied down and I don't want to start knocking plants out either. 

I've got some hairgrass and lilaeopsis that needs planting. Do you think I should put it in this tank? Or should I leave it "open" in the front?



















I also need to do some trimming on the filter tubes, they are much too long for this tank. Need to find the dremel!


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## isu712 (Jan 11, 2008)

Leave it open.


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## AkCrimson (Dec 17, 2009)

Having a bit of a hard time getting the stubborn crypts to stay in the sand! It's so fine that even the current from the filter is uprooting them. I could plant them deeper but you're not supposed to do that with crypts, are you?

Ideas?


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## oldpunk78 (Nov 1, 2008)

just plant them deep enough so that they don't uproot. they'll be fine.


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## TLE041 (Jan 16, 2010)

Looks like you're off to a good start. 

Personally, I'd remove some (or most) of the leafy plants in the background and plant hairgrass there instead. Right now it looks a little heavy.


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## Erin8D (Jul 24, 2010)

It looks stunning! I would leave everything how it is atm What are the other two tanks?


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## Erin8D (Jul 24, 2010)

That looks really nice so far. I've been searching around for some inspiration for my 6.6 gall bookshelf  FOUND IT!! Keep up the good work.


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## spunjin (Apr 7, 2009)

It looks good. I agree with TLE041. Use midground plants as background plants in that 10" high tank. Small crypts. or hair grass would be better than leafy plants like swords or aponos.


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## AkCrimson (Dec 17, 2009)

The sword and wendtii are fillers until I can find something I like better. They are extras from the other tank. 

Believe it or not, the hairgrass pot I found at Wal Mart, and I've never seen another one anywhere in town. I don't have enough hairgrass yet. I've been keeping an eye out for other plants. MOST of the pet stores here carry misc. crypts and anacharis. 

At any rate, I am more of a fan of the leafy jungle look for this tank. I don't want stems in it for sure. But I'm not quite happy with it yet. The stuff in the back is going to get too large, I need something smaller...I have some crypt. parva I could pull from my 29, do you think that would look okay???


Put my 6 CPDs in there this weekend, and they are already doin the booty dance =D Still debating on whether or not I'll put my badis in there...


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## Damian (Jun 17, 2009)

Hi this looks great. And from what I understand DHG tends to grow fast. I could be mistaken. A blyxa "bush" behind that driftwood in my opinion would look great. I have been on a blyxa high. I used it to make a "wall" in my 2.5. Good start.


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## beedee (Jul 1, 2010)

looks nice, however i think HG in the back would give it such a softer, and less cloustrophobic (sp?) feel.


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## AkCrimson (Dec 17, 2009)

WELL I just ordered some HG for the 29 from theblondskeleton so if I have leftovers I shall try it and see how it looks! 

Oh God it will be such a pain to plant...without upsetting my poor precariously balanced driftwood...and this stupid light substrate....oh....what am I getting myself into!!! *wimper*


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

Looks nice. The huge crypts make the tank look good. The sand is a little too bright and white, IMO, but it should darken a bit over time as things grow on it.


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## soundgy (Jul 8, 2010)

Looks Awesome! Looking forward to following this. Subscribed!


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## Michael in Texas (Jul 27, 2010)

I'm thinking of removing the rim from a 20H tank, but have been warned that the exposed glass is not polished and may be sharp enough to cut skin. Did you have any problems with this when you removed the rim on your tank, or anything else I should know about?

It looks great!

Thanks,
Michael


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## AkCrimson (Dec 17, 2009)

A 20 is pushing it for de-rimming. I wouldn't do it on anything larger than a 10G, personally. The rims act as supports and you can get away without that on a little tank, but not a big one. And yes the edges are sharp. I want to grind mine down but I can't find the dremel, and they aren't really that bad. 

The sand only looks that blazingly white because of the crappy cellphone pic. I keep forgetting to upload the SLR pics. 

I've been thinking about modding a lid out of plexiglass for this, anyone done that before? Think it'll look stupid?


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## Da Plant Man (Apr 7, 2010)

As far as the plexi-glass, you would cut it, have it on the tank for 2 weeks, then your kid will be using it in the bath because it bends so much.


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## AkCrimson (Dec 17, 2009)

I've been toying with the idea of removing the "riverbed" and leaving it all just open sand. What do you think? I might leave it in there if only for the CPD sake, the eggies might avoid being eaten in the rocks. 

What would be a good algae control critter for this tank?? I don't want anything that will eat/harass CPD eggs or fry, but I can't really go with something such as shrimp, who like to jump out of rimless tanks. Ideas? 

A couple pics;


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## VincentK (Dec 16, 2009)

I like the looks of open sand more, but leaving them in there also looks good, as for algae eating things, you could get the little ramhorn snails, they come mostly as hitchhikers but eat some algae as well.
Like this http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_flU4MGHqnRM/SSkE90NRB7I/AAAAAAAAA18/GslWZosghYw/s320/planorbis12.jpg


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## dj2005 (Apr 23, 2009)

RCS rarely jump out of rimless tanks unless they are being hunted.


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## AkCrimson (Dec 17, 2009)

Think RCS would eat eggies, though? Since my CPDs are scatters. Plus they are too expensive here. 

I've got about 8 trillion ramshorn in my 29....

theblondskeletons HG package got in today! Hopefully I will have some time next week to plant it...soooo busy in the summer! But I can't order plants in the winter...


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## AkCrimson (Dec 17, 2009)

A couple messy pics from this morning...










One of the happy residents. 


















I'm waiting to see if this tank will crash, due to the fact that it's mostly crypts and they tend to melt....i'm getting a little of it so far but not terrible. The sand gets filthy really fast, though...


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## dj2005 (Apr 23, 2009)

The scape has a very natural feel to it.

And yes, white sand can be a pain to keep it looking white. This is why I prefer dark substrates.


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