# My first planted aquarium Petco 6.6 Bookshelf Iwagumi (Full Tank Shot 09/27/2012)



## SaltyNC

Current State of Aquarium (September 27, 2012)









Full Tank Shot (September 10, 2012)









State of Aquarium (August 25, 2012)








Boraras brigittae feeding on Instant Baby Brine Shrimp product

I'm new here, and I've really enjoyed looking at all of your beautiful tanks, and trying to absorb all of the great information.

My tank is the seemingly popular Petco 6.6 gallon bookshelf. It looks like several of us are starting with this tank, and others have used it as their starter tanks in the past. I really look forward to following the progress of others' tanks. I picked mine up about a year ago on sale, and I put in the substrate and some locally collected rocks, but then I let it sit until I could acquire some of the plants I wanted to use. When I went into Petsmart and saw they now carried DHG and other quality plants, I picked up a couple of packs and got started on my tank.










My initial layout is using Flourite and some quartzite rocks. There are kyanite crystals in the quartzite, but these are all sealed completely with no kyanite exposed, and these same rocks have caused no issues in my son's aquarium, so I think they should be safe.

Here is the tank after my initial planting after one week of growth.









Specifications:

Tank
Petco 6.6 Gallon Bookshelf Aquarium 
Material: "Acrylic" (actually another type of plastic)
Dimensions: 8.13" D X 24" W X 9.25" H

Lighting
Single 18" Hagen Life-Glo T8, 15W, 6700K, 960 Lumen
Distance above substrate: 8 inches
Estimated Par Value using Hoppy's PAR chart: 75 (medium light) -- I hope my interpretation is correct

Substrate
Flourite
Osmocote inserted 2 beads per square inch beneath substrate

Dosing
NPK (very limited N and K now -- N from fish waste and food and K from GH boost)
Flourish
[STRIKE]Flourish Excel (once plants move to submerged state)[/STRIKE]
Stopped Excel dosing after pressurized CO2 added

Flora
Eleocharis Parvula (dwarf hairgrass) -- primary carpet
Lilaeopsis brasiliensis (microsword) -- texture change for base of rocks
Pogostemon Helferi (downoi -- little star) *To be ordered (maybe)
[STRIKE]Anubias Nana "Petite"[/STRIKE] -- accents near rocks -- Removed due to scale
Background behind the rocks
- cryptocoryne wendtii 'green' (will remove if it gets too big)
- Hemianthus glomeratus -- like fine leaf structure of these stems -- these will take awhile to fill in behind the rocks.

Fauna
Nerite (Zebra) snails (added 08/13/2012)
Amano shrimp (added 08/13/2012)
Otocinclus algae eater (added 08/12/2012)
[STRIKE]cardinal or ember tetras or tiny rasboras to be determined -- most likely Boraras brigittae (to be added)[/STRIKE]
Boraras brigittae (added 08/21/2012)

Added Pressurized CO2 end of July, 2012, 1 BPS
Increased to 2 BPS Aug, 2012
CO2 Tank: Kegco 5 lb aluminum tank
Regulator: Aquatek
Glass check valve and in-line bubble counter: AquaticMagic on e Bay
Backup Check Valve: Cheap plastic LFS check valve

[STRIKE]I'm assuming I'll need to upgrade my lighting very soon as I move to the submersed state and for some of the plants on my wish list.[/STRIKE]
Lighting has remained the same. Due to very shallow tank depth, standard T8 lighting is sufficient. I would like a longer bulb to prevent low lighting near the ends of the tank.

I'm open to any and all suggestions as I'm a complete newbie at this, especially on plant suggestions and light upgrade suggestions.

[STRIKE]If this goes well, I would love to do an ADA MINI style aquarium or perhaps a 12G Long.
[/STRIKE] I have decided to now do a larger ADA tank such as the 60-P.


Thanks so much for all who take the time to share your knowledge.

Salty


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## FisheriesOmen

I don't think you NEED better lighting, 6700k normally covers all your non-picky plant needs, otherwise you will need to upgrade. I LOVE these 6g tanks so I look forward to the progress.


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## Quentin

Off to a good start. I wish my Petsmart carried quality plants.


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## CatB

that's an amazing first planted tank!
i wouldn't upgrade your light unless you're going to be injecting CO2.


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## SaltyNC

Quentin said:


> Off to a good start. I wish my Petsmart carried quality plants.


Thanks, Quentin. There are several PetSmarts near me, and they vary quite a bit. Some have the more desirable plants in the small sealed bags like I used, and most of these plants have been in excellent health. The way they grow their dwarf hairgrass makes it very easy to cut and propagate. But there are others near me that have aquatic plant tanks, and most of those plants look terrible. I went to lift a plant out of one, and it was covered in a heavy mat of algae.

Salty


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## SaltyNC

CatB said:


> that's an amazing first planted tank!
> i wouldn't upgrade your light unless you're going to be injecting CO2.


Thanks for the kind words, CatB.

Salty


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## SaltyNC

Does anyone have suggestions for plants to go behind the rocks. I would like to hide the HOB filter, but do you feel like stem plants could detract from the iwagumi-style layout in my tank?


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## trenton

SaltyNC said:


> Does anyone have suggestions for plants to go behind the rocks. I would like to hide the HOB filter, but do you feel like stem plants could detract from the iwagumi-style layout in my tank?


For a first tank, I would say that is one of the best layouts I have seen. It has amazing proportions and focal points. Kudos to you.

I have not worked with it (any plant for that matter haha), but I believe a lot of iwagumis use Vallisneria Nana. You could plant that on each side of your tank behind the rocks.

Subscribed!


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## SaltyNC

trenton said:


> For a first tank, I would say that is one of the best layouts I have seen. It has amazing proportions and focal points. Kudos to you.
> 
> I have not worked with it (any plant for that matter haha), but I believe a lot of iwagumis use Vallisneria Nana. You could plant that on each side of your tank behind the rocks.
> 
> Subscribed!


You are much too kind, Trenton. Thank you so much. I'm subscribed to your scape, as well. I know it will be amazing.

Salty


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## SaltyNC

*Week 2 Update*

I'm trying to update my progress once a week, at least here in the initial stages. I have some anubias nana 'Petite' arriving after the heat wave passes, and I have added some cryptocoryne wendtii 'green' behind the rocks, so that their leaves will provide a backdrop. I'm not sure if the crypts will stay. I'm really thinking I want some stems with fine leaf structure for behind the rocks. I'm experimenting.

Below are several angles of the aquarium. As always, all suggestions are welcome. Thanks!


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## SaltyNC

I thought it would be neat to see one more picture that gives away the layout's true scale. Nano Nano.  The Money Pit. :icon_wink

Salty


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## SaltyNC

*Week 3 Update*

It's week 3 of my dry start, and I'm starting to see some nice root growth where the dwarf hairgrass is touching the glass (plastic :icon_smil). Here is an iphone pic of the root growth.









I went out of town for a few days, and even though I kept the humidity high in the tank while gone, the plants seemed to miss the twice daily misting. My crypts suffered the worst. I will be trimming up the crypts and giving some of the longer dwarf hairgrass a haircut next week. As soon as some anubias petite arrive next week, I plan to clear up one scratch and flood the aquarium. 

Below is week 3 on the dry start.


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## DishyFishy

Looking really good!


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## SaltyNC

Thanks DishyFishy! I'm really looking forward to flooding the tank next week. Dry start is a great method, but it requires patience, and I'm getting an itchy trigger finger. :icon_wink


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## DishyFishy

Lol I know, patience is hard! I can't wait to see it with fishies in there.


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## SaltyNC

*Week 3 Flooded*

I started trimming the dwarf hairgrass (e. parvula) this afternoon. That is so hard to do. You wait for weeks for it to grow and fill in, and when it is finally beginning to look good, you have to give it all a flat-top haircut. Well, you don't have to, but it causes it to send out new runners and new growth comes on more quickly that way. So, I picked up a cheap pair of hair trimming scissors for $4 from Target and did the deed.

I managed to capture in my fingers most cuts, and tweezered out some loose bits, but it quickly became apparent that it was going to be tough to collect all of the tiny loose hairgrass clippings, despite my best efforts to retain them. So, I decided to go ahead and flood the tank and just dip out the floating debris. I'll begin doing daily water changes and dosing Excel and will begin the EI method soon. Right now, Osmocote in the substrate is taking care of the nutrient needs.

So, here is Week 3 updated with the tank flooded.


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## microw

Looks nice. : )


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## SaltyNC

microw said:


> Looks nice. : )


Thanks so much, Microw. Now the hard part begins (well, not really hard, but lots of water changes, etc) to keep the algae down until the tank cycles and balances out. I also need to get some CO2 on this fairly quickly. Right now I'm only using Excel. That's what I get for jumping the gun. :icon_wink


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## SaltyNC

*Week 4 Update*

It's week 4 of my planted aquarium. This week is my first full week of being submerged with daily water changes. With only 6.6 gallons, it doesn't take long.

I also added some beautiful anubias nana 'petite' from KingPlakat. I'm on the fence about keeping them in this aquascape, though. What do you guys think? Even though they are 'petites', are they too large for my scape and throw off the sense of scale? I'd appreciate your opinions. If I do keep them, the one on the left needs to be repositioned. It looks cramped and unnatural to me.

I want to add some regular baby tears, hemianthus micranthemoides (HM), behind my rocks. Right now I have a couple of crypts back there, but I think the HM is going to be the ticket. I need to get those ordered.

So far, so good on algae. I do have what I think is a little bit of cyanobacteria in the lowest point of my substrate along the glass. Due to the low spot, this area was often underwater during my dry start. I've been dosing Excel all along, and today I started injecting it directly onto this spot with a syringe. We'll see if that will take care of it. I will also cover that area with a piece of black tape for the next few days.

The latest pics are below. One is a FTS and the other is from slightly above. If anyone has suggestions, please let me know. Thanks!


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## Williak

Incredible! If you wouldn't have put that dollar bill in the tank, I would have never guessed the tank was that size. It looks huge! Plants are looking healthy as well.

Something about the brown substrate, the darker rocks, and the black background has a reminiscence of a creek bottom. Well done, look forward to seeing more!


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## ThatGuyWithTheFish

I would not put cardinals in there. Maybe neons, but cardinals would be too big.


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## SaltyNC

Williak said:


> Incredible! If you wouldn't have put that dollar bill in the tank, I would have never guessed the tank was that size. It looks huge! Plants are looking healthy as well.
> 
> Something about the brown substrate, the darker rocks, and the black background has a reminiscence of a creek bottom. Well done, look forward to seeing more!


Thank you so much, Williak. There is something about the dimensions of these Petco bookshelf tanks that makes them appear much bigger than they really are. I think the fish will appreciate the length as well. I hope this one will turn out OK. I've had a few very minor issues, but overall it's going very well for my first planted tank. Fingers crossed it will stay that way.



ThatGuyWithTheFish said:


> I would not put cardinals in there. Maybe neons, but cardinals would be too big.


I'm leaning more and more toward ember tetras. I think I need something tiny to maintain the scale. I wish the embers were a different color, but I think the size needs to overrule the color. 

As a fly fisherman, I also love the Celestial Pearl Danio's. They look so similar to a brook trout. Do you think they would work? I understand their natural habitat is flooded grasslands, so they may like the DHG carpet.


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## invert1

Having kept planted tanks for a while (and generally enjoyed what looks to be a jungle since I am bad at trims / maintenance) I am astounded at how beautiful your FIRST planted tank looks and as someone mentioned earlier, had I not seen the dollar bill I would not have realized how small the tank was. Absolutely beautiful.

I might consider CPDs/Galaxy Rasboras (whatever they're being called at the LFS now...) just given the size of the tank and I think they're beautiful little fish. I just saw you mentioned them as well and I think they'd be great in that tank.

Also, I used to keep Espei's Rasboras and they are beautiful fish when they settle in, with an electric but asymmetric orange band on them that's captivating. Underused fish IMO. I'd consider those as well.


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## fishoutawater

Bro your setup is awesome. Love those local rocks. As far as fish go, are you stuck on a schooled? How about some male endlers? They are very social and tiny to boot!


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## maxwellag

Nice tank! I was just wondering... Does the tank come with the 15w T8 light, or does it come with something else?


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## SaltyNC

invert1 said:


> I might consider CPDs/Galaxy Rasboras (whatever they're being called at the LFS now...) just given the size of the tank and I think they're beautiful little fish. I just saw you mentioned them as well and I think they'd be great in that tank.
> 
> Also, I used to keep Espei's Rasboras and they are beautiful fish when they settle in, with an electric but asymmetric orange band on them that's captivating. Underused fish IMO. I'd consider those as well.


Invert1, thank you so much for your kind words. I've really gotten the bug bad, and now I want to get a larger ADA tech, full high tech setup, and do a really nice aquascape. I think they are amazingly beautiful. Since I initially wrote up the section on fish, I've been going round and round, and now I'm leaning toward something in the very tiny rasboras line. There are quite a few that are incredibly tiny and will work with the scale of the tank. CPD's are still on my list, but definitely considering others, now. I originally thought I only wanted fish with color, but white fish actually pop against the dark blackground, so even some of the less spectacular fish can look good, I think.




fishoutawater said:


> Bro your setup is awesome. Love those local rocks. As far as fish go, are you stuck on a schooled? How about some male endlers? They are very social and tiny to boot!


Thanks fishoutawater. I'm learning a lot this time around, so hopefully I can improve when I drop the big bucks on my next aquarium. I like the local rock, because I feel I have a connection to them. In fact, they come from near Crowders Mountain, a popular mountain for rock climbing, hiking, and I've thought about trying to reproduce that mountain in a larger aquascape. It will be challenging.

I really would like a schooling fish if possible. I've looked at the make endlers, and they are beautiful, but not quite what I'm after. I do appreciate your suggestion.



maxwellag said:


> Nice tank! I was just wondering... Does the tank come with the 15w T8 light, or does it come with something else?


Maxwellag, thanks. The aquarium does come standard with the 15W T8 fixture. There are two downsides. The stock bulb tends to be on the red side and not very bright (at least visibly), and two, it is only 18" long while the tank is at 24" long. That creates some low light on the sides. In fact, the reason I typically have the image on the dark side is because the light range from high in the center to low on the sides is pretty hard to photograph.

Are you considering one? I think they are a great size, and a fun starter aquarium.


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## SaltyNC

*Week 5 - The calm before the storm*

This marks this fifth week for my aquarium, and the second week of having the tank flooded. Since flooding, growth has slowed significantly. I'm dosing Excel, but I think the plants would really like more CO2. All of the CO2 items have been ordered, and I found a place directly across from my office that will do CO2 tank fills for very cheap. Cool!  I looked at the jaggedfury thread and was just about to go that route, but then decided for just a little more, I could get the Aquatek regulator with a solenoid and maybe be a tad safer. I thought about building a regulator for this tank, but I am getting an ADA tank in the future, and I will have CO2 on it, so I will need another CO2 system (different floor), and I'll spend the money for a kickbutt dual stage regulator with an Ideal needle valve on that tank. To spend $200-$250 on a regulator seems hard to justify on a Petco plastic tank. 

I had originally placed Osmocote under the substrate for nutrients, and those are still there doing their job, but I am now dosing NPK on even days and Excel Flourish on odd days. Before my fertilizer came in, I crushed some Osmocote and placed it into a solution that I dosed. This would cause an ammonia spike, but by the next day, the bacteria had taken care of it. Even though the evidence is iffy, I decided to add beneficial bacteria to my tank after major water changes. At least it can't hurt. 

TPT member Trenton is a spreadsheet master, and seeing his dosing spreadsheet made me want to create one of my own, so I copied much of his layout and added a few more items I wanted to track. It is proving to be very helpful to track everything and to remind me where I'm at in my rotation.

It may have been a mistake now that I look at it, but this week I decided to try removing my light hood and shooting with the tank lit only by an incandescent bulb. To the natural eye, it made the tank look rich and warm, but on film, well, not so much. I also have few shots showing the aquarium, so I included one for this week with the included hood back in place and the much whiter light.

Next week, CO2 should be up and running and the week after that, I'll have reached the point where I'm only doing a 50% water change once per week, and I'll add some wildlife to the tank at that time.

Below are the tank shots and a screenshot of the spreadsheet I made based on Trenton's awesome work. I have the water level lower than normal to create some surface agitation.


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## SaltyNC

I'm getting in some regular baby tears, and in researching the plant, I realized that I have been mistakenly referring to it as HM (hemianthus micranthemoides). Evidently, HM is thought to be extinct, and what we are using in the aquarium industry is HG (hemianthus glomeratus). So, I updated my specs with the new name. Darn, I had finally memorized how to pronounce and spell micranthemoides. :wink:


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## SaltyNC

*Week 6 - Algae, Spiking Nitrites, CO2 Arrives (sort of)*

I've been slowly tapering off water changes. At the end of next week, I'll be down to only one water change per week. Without the frequent water changes, algae began to grow on the rocks and along the glass near the substrate line. I've been dosing Excel fairly heavily, and that has done an excellent job knocking back what little algae I've seen.

Here you can see some algae growing on the glass along the substrate, but check out the roots on the DHG! It continues to send out runners, and my substrate has visibly lifted nearly an inch in some places. The blades of grass are finally starting to break through. I keep expecting it to explode with growth soon as all those blades finally break through and fill in the gaps.









I planted my hemianthus glomeratus this week behind my rocks. Most of it is hidden from view on a front shot of the tank, but it will quickly grow and fill in, and I'll keep trimming it back until it forms a nice, thick bush effect. You can see just the tops of HG peaking from behind the rocks here:









I cleaned off the algae, and took a tooth brush to my rocks, today, and my water looked like a dust storm in Kansas. I was scheduled to perform a 50% water change, tomorrow, but I decided to go ahead and clean up the debris and did two 50% water changes to clear things up.

I was able to get my 5 lb CO2 tank filled this week. I also received the Aquatek regulator for this tank. I received my high end regulator and needle valve that I'll use for my future ADA tank, as well. I didn't pay attention when I placed an order for some parts such as my glass nano diffuser on Ebay that the seller is overseas, so some parts won't be here until mid-August. I couldn't wait that long, so I hit up the LFSs for a temporary fix with a Fluval CO2 ceramic diffuser. Either they didn't carry it or they were out, so I remembered hearing about the bamboo diffusers. My son happened to have some bamboo that he had dried for a project, so I borrowed a tiny piece and shaped it into a makeshift diffuser. It actually works amazingly well and creates a fine mist of CO2 that floats around the tank. I couldn't get a great picture of it, but here is a shot where you can see the CO2 micro-bubbles being swept to the right.









I've been testing my water parameters, and I was somewhat surprised to see my nitrites spike this week. I thought the tank might have cycled during the dry start, but I rushed it by a week or two when I flooded it, and so it looks like I'm cycling, now. So, no fauna for me for awhile longer.

Finally, here is the tank shot for this week. The hairgrass is really filling in, and I'm looking forward to seeing the HG behind the rocks fill in. With the CO2, I should have a good jump in growth for next week's shot. Here's hoping!


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## PinkRasbora

ooo look at those healthy root systems!!! Come to a conclusion on fish yet?


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## SaltyNC

PinkRasbora said:


> ooo look at those healthy root systems!!! Come to a conclusion on fish yet?


They are coming along nicely. Thanks. I believe so, PinkRasbora. Unless I discover something that changes my mind in the next couple of weeks, I'm going to go with Boraras brigittae (Chili Rasbora). I think their tiny size will work with my nano tank, and once the HG grows in, it should give them some nice hiding places that they should enjoy. Before I order them, I'm going to make sure I have on hand some of the Instant Baby Brine Shrimp product and a high quality food that I'll grind into small pieces.


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## SaltyNC

*Week 7 - A bad week*

I was out of town for a few days, so my son helped out and fertilized my tank while I was away. Since I have no fish or other animals in the tank there wasn't anything else to do. My lights and CO2 are on automatic timers.

The day before I left, my nano diffuser and drop checker finally arrived from Singapore. I replaced my temporary bamboo diffuser, and a fine mist of CO2 streamed out of the new diffuser. The plants were looking great with the addition of CO2, and I was looking forward to seeing how much the plants would grow while I was away.

When I returned, I was shocked by what I found. A large area of hairgrass in the center of my tank was dead and brown. Large areas of bare substrate were visible. A few clusters of hairgrass along the side were dead or dying as well. I couldn't believe it. I immediately trimmed the hairgrass back in those area to remove all of the dead blades of grass, and I did a 50% water change and dosed some fertilizer.

Here is the tank after the trimming of the dead hairgrass. It looks worse in person, as you can more clearly see the areas of bare substrate.









I don't know what caused the die-off, but I suspect it may be related to low-flow. Before I left town, I did a water change and turned down the flow to minimum on my HOB filter. I forgot to turn it back to full flow, so there was practically no water movement in the tank. When the tank was dosed, it's possible the fertz burned the grass or that simply the lack of movement caused the issue.

I am also experiencing some algae this week, and you can see some of that on the rocks in the image, above.

It's disappointing to lose so much of the hairgrass carpet, but hopefully it will recover quickly and send out new shoots. The other plants seem to be doing very well. The hemianthus glomeratus is loving the CO2, and the tops are twice as big as the bottoms. It will soon be time to trim and replant some of those stems to develop the thick bush effect behind the rocks.


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## SaltyNC

*Week 8 - Recovery and Equipment Update*

Last week I discovered my hairgrass was dying after being away a few short days. I do believe most of this was a result of low flow from the filter and the transition from Seachem Excel carbon to gaseous CO2 at the same time. I'm also going to up my GH a little per Somewhatshocked's suggestion to see if that will make my plants more healthy.

I've been taking water parameters daily, sometimes twice daily, to see how my bacteria are doing. Over the last week, I've added excess ammonia and watched as ammonia rose, then nitrites rose, and then by the next morning, everything was back to zero ppm. My tank is fully cycled. Everything except nitrates always zeros out. I am noticing that after dosing fertz, my nitrates are rising too high, so I'm going to be cutting my dosage in half going forward, and I'll be closely monitoring that for the next week or so.

Because of my tinkering with the CO2, I've caused some fluctuations, and that caused some algae. I cleaned up some of it manually, and I added two otos to help things along. After purchasing the otos, I began a 1 drip per second acclimation process, and after about 5 hours, I transferred them to my tank. When I purchased them, they were pale grey, almost translucent. Now, they are dark brown with deep black banding. They began feeding almost immediately. Both of these otos won't remain in my tank. It's just too small. One will likely remain and the other transferred to my son's tank or to a future tank after the heavy cleanup has occurred. They do seem to like to stay together, at least in this early stage of being transferred to new surroundings. You can see one on the right hand corner of my tank, below.

The hairgrass is recovering somewhat, but still experience some die-off in other sections. Now that everything is stabilizing in the tank, especially the CO2, I'm hoping for a full recovery and lush carpeting from here out. I trimmed some of the new growth on the hemianthus glomeratus and planted it more heavily behind the rocks for what I hope will become a very thick bush effect. Most of that planting is hidden from view at the moment, but will soon rise above the rock. I removed one crypt behind the right main rock.

In week 6, I showed the homemade bamboo diffuser I constructed. It worked amazingly well. Just before leaving town, I constructed a homemade bubble counter. I thought it did a great job, as well. This bubble counter is made from a Paul Prudhomme's Blackened Redfish Seasoning bottle. I drilled two small holes in the lid and stretched some airline into the holes. No sealant was required.









Since returning, I setup all of the glassware I had ordered from e Bay. I installed some mini airline tubing to my nano diffuser and made a curved hook out of rigid airline tubing by heating the rigid tubing with a hair dryer and shaping it around a dowel. This prevents kinking of the airline as it wraps over the top edge of the aquarium.

Here is the new glass check valve and bubble counter. It barely fits on the side of my shallow tank. I had just performed a water change, so the water is a little cloudy.









My CO2 tank is a 5 LB tank from Amazon. When it arrived, it was labeled as a Kegco tank. I might polish my tank and remove that lettering. I'm using an Aquatek CO2 regulator with this, and have found it to be very reliable and the needle valve easily adjustable and it stays in the position I set. I am currently running CO2 at 1 BPS.

Here is the most recent shot of the tank. You can see the nano diffuser on the left and if you look closely, you can see my glass drop checker on the right. I have the glass globe above the water line to reduce its presence in my tank, since my tank is so small. Only the mouth of the drop checker rests below the water line. One oto is eating algae in the bottom right corner of the tank.









After some additional growth from the HG and the GH adjustment, I will order some Boraras brigittae.


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## SaltyNC

*Week 9 - Clean-up Crew Added, Algae Gone*

This has been a busy week for my aquarium. I began raising my GH a few degrees over time and KH slightly, and I feel like I have my CO2 dialed in to the correct setting. To accomplish this, I purchased a Sera GH and KH kit to measure my current GH and KH, and I also purchased this TDS (total dissolved solids) meter. These things are amazing and cost next to nothing. I paid a little over $8 with free shipping included.









I also created some 4dKH water for my CO2 drop checker using a very accurate sub-gram scale and baking soda. I had gotten pretty close with a Taylor scale that I use for ultralight camping, but this scale is much more sensitive for small amounts in the tenths of grams. I purchased a calibration 100g weight, and it was 99.98 percent accurate without calibration. I'll also be using this scale when making up GH booster solution going forward.









So, that was the new equipment this week. The tank had some elevated nitrate levels from dosing heavily, so I did a number of water changes and brought the nitrates down to the 10 PPM range. I then added a clean-up crew to deal with algae. This population will be reduced soon and they will be divided up with my son's tank.

I added two zebra nerite snails. One hardly moves and sits in the hairgrass all day. The other has covered every rock and every bit of "glass" in my tank two times. You can also see in the background the next two members of my clean-up crew.









I added two Amano shrimp. The next morning, I checked on them, and one was lying dead in the dwarf hairgrass. :icon_frow I tweezered his lifeless pale body out. I was worried when I purchased him, because he seemed less active than the other Amano and looked paler in color. That evening, I looked on top of a rock, and there were two shrimp. What the heck! I looked in the trash, and then I realized what had happened. My pale Amano didn't die...it molted! :icon_bigg Now, both Amanos have molted. They have been enjoying the algae, some flake fish food, and blanched zucchini.









The last members of the clean-up crew appeared to be starving when I purchased them, but they are fat and happy, now. They love rooting around in the hairgrass and cleaning the rocks and "glass". They are very active and love swimming the length of the tank at blinding-fast speeds. Here are my two otos camped out beside my nano diffuser.









Last but not least, here is the updated tank shot. The dwarf hairgrass continues to recover, and the hemianthus glomeratus continues to grow at a nice fast pace, and is being trimmed and replanted for a thick bush effect behind the rocks. You may notice the anubias are gone. I donated the remainder of my anubias nana 'petite' to my son's tank. The scale just didn't work for what I was trying to achieve. Next week, I have Boraras brigittae coming in. Woohoo! Can't wait.


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## xenxes

This is beautiful! Very natural and serene!


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## SaltyNC

Thanks Xenxes. I'm a fan of your many tanks, as well. I hope to soon add to my collection with an ADA tank. This Petco has been a very rewarding and fun experiment. I've gotten the bug. In one of Frank's posts, he talks about how he comes to enjoy the experience of changing water, looking forward to it, looking forward to the maintenance. I am in that zone.


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## xenxes

I'm always a fan of long horizontal scapes, like the 6.6 Petco / 12L / 20L, large foot print though.

Lol I don't like changing water! I rarely do, root tabs seem sufficient for macro and fish food for micro. But I'm not doing CO2/high growth. Maybe some day!

Where did you get a TDS meter for $8 shipped? Is it accurate / accounts for temperature?


----------



## moosenart

Awesome! That looks great!


----------



## SaltyNC

xenxes said:


> Where did you get a TDS meter for $8 shipped? Is it accurate / accounts for temperature?


It is very accurate and does account for temperature. It has a thermometer, too, but it only reads in Celsius (may be able to set for F, but I haven't found a way).

If you go to E Bay and search for this ID (290742302278), they have them with free shipping. It was actually $8.99 instead of $8, but what's 99 cents among friends. 



moosenart said:


> Awesome! That looks great!


Thanks Moosenart!


----------



## ccbeauch

I purchased some DHG for my 72 gallon fish tank about 2 weeks ago now and it turned yellow on me and many patches died. Did any of yours turn yellow or die on you when you planted them or added the water? Not sure if it is the lighting or what. Haven't had any algee growth either which either means I'm great at setting up tanks or I screwed something up and even it can't grow. Thanks. And your tank looks great! Hoping to have bountiful DHG carpet like yours one day.


----------



## T3Knical5urg3

SaltyNC said:


> I also created some 4dKH water for my CO2 drop checker using a very accurate sub-gram scale and baking soda. I had gotten pretty close with a Taylor scale that I use for ultralight camping, but this scale is much more sensitive for small amounts in the tenths of grams. I purchased a calibration 100g weight, and it was 99.98 percent accurate without calibration. I'll also be using this scale when making up GH booster solution going forward.


I am pretty excited to hear there is another aquarium hobbyist that is into ultralight backpacking/camping! Ultralight backpacking is my first passion with aquariums being my second. I find that both tend to cost more than ever originally planned.


----------



## xenxes

SaltyNC said:


> It is very accurate and does account for temperature. It has a thermometer, too, but it only reads in Celsius (may be able to set for F, but I haven't found a way).
> 
> If you go to E Bay and search for this ID (290742302278), they have them with free shipping. It was actually $8.99 instead of $8, but what's 99 cents among friends.
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks Moosenart!


Awesome thanks! I got mine on Amazon for ~$25. Just picked up a spare lol.


----------



## SaltyNC

ccbeauch said:


> I purchased some DHG for my 72 gallon fish tank about 2 weeks ago now and it turned yellow on me and many patches died. Did any of yours turn yellow or die on you when you planted them or added the water? Not sure if it is the lighting or what. Haven't had any algee growth either which either means I'm great at setting up tanks or I screwed something up and even it can't grow. Thanks. And your tank looks great! Hoping to have bountiful DHG carpet like yours one day.


CC, when I flooded the tank, it did seem to stunt the hairgrass for a little while. I dosed Seachem's Excel pretty heavily, and I think that helped. I also purposely trimmed back my hairgrass after it began to take root to force even more runners. 

I just recently added CO2, and I had some unpleasant die-off, but it seems to be recovering now, and it is almost back to 100%. When I was growing DHG emerged, I found it very easy to grow and didn't experience any issues with it. But, I read where plenty of people do have issues with it dying. I'm not sure what the secret is. 

Thank you for your kind words.


----------



## SaltyNC

T3Knical5urg3 said:


> I am pretty excited to hear there is another aquarium hobbyist that is into ultralight backpacking/camping! Ultralight backpacking is my first passion with aquariums being my second. I find that both tend to cost more than ever originally planned.


TS, I know that's right!  We pay for every ounce shaved. It's amazing how quickly ultralight has evolved. Do you hammock camp? If not, you've got to search up YouTube for "Shug" and check it out. It's how I mostly camp these days. Shug lives in Minnesota, now, I think, but he is from NC. He's hilarious--does all these Sling Blade impressions. Good info in his entertaining videos on everything from hammock camping to stoves, etc. He introduced me to The BushBuddy--amazing ultralight stove handmade by a guy in the backcountry of Canada using a solar-powered spot welder.

Oops, I better start talking about fish! :hihi: What kind of aquarium are you setting up? Are you aquascaping or only interested in keeping a planted tank? Any fish?


----------



## SaltyNC

xenxes said:


> Awesome thanks! I got mine on Amazon for ~$25. Just picked up a spare lol.


Good deal. They used the same picture in their ad when I purchased one, but it actually looks like the one pictured in my blog with the deeper blue and has the temp button and came with the beautifully handcrafted "leatherette" pouch. :icon_lol:


----------



## FisheriesOmen

When you put Inverts like Shrimp into a new tank they will almost always molt soon after in order to adjust to the change in parameters (Fresh and Slat Water included).


----------



## T3Knical5urg3

SaltyNC said:


> TS, I know that's right!  We pay for every ounce shaved. It's amazing how quickly ultralight has evolved. Do you hammock camp? If not, you've got to search up YouTube for "Shug" and check it out. It's how I mostly camp these days. Shug lives in Minnesota, now, I think, but he is from NC. He's hilarious--does all these Sling Blade impressions. Good info in his entertaining videos on everything from hammock camping to stoves, etc. He introduced me to The BushBuddy--amazing ultralight stove handmade by a guy in the backcountry of Canada using a solar-powered spot welder.
> 
> Oops, I better start talking about fish! :hihi: What kind of aquarium are you setting up? Are you aquascaping or only interested in keeping a planted tank? Any fish?


I actually moved on from hammock camping to bring my weight down further. I've actually been making a lot of my gear lately as I just picked up a sowing machine for the first time.

I am pretty new to the who aquascaping thing but I finally have a tank that doesn't essentially suck. I haven't posted on it yet but will start soon.


----------



## Williak

Still loving watching your tank! Such an incredible scape for such a small volume aquarium. You've really created something special :biggrin:

My most recent nature/iwagumi-ish aquarium was a failure... about to restart a new one in a smaller 24" rimless 18 gal. aquarium. Going to be reviewing your journal, and watching your continued success, as a guide for my own! Planning on some DHG, hope it will come out as your's has :tongue:


----------



## SaltyNC

FisheriesOmen said:


> When you put Inverts like Shrimp into a new tank they will almost always molt soon after in order to adjust to the change in parameters (Fresh and Slat Water included).


I'm new to shrimp and didn't know that. Thanks for the info. Since they molted, they have been hiding out under a rock ledge in the back of the tank mostly. I understand that's common, since they feel vulnerable.



T3Knical5urg3 said:


> I actually moved on from hammock camping to bring my weight down further. I've actually been making a lot of my gear lately as I just picked up a sowing machine for the first time.
> 
> I am pretty new to the who aquascaping thing but I finally have a tank that doesn't essentially suck. I haven't posted on it yet but will start soon.


It seems like a lot people are now using Cuben fiber these days. I think sewing is a great skill to know. My son has been making a sail for a kayak, and it would be great to be able to help him sew it. I can't sew worth a lick. 

I'm looking forward to seeing your tank. I like the way you put that. 




Williak said:


> Still loving watching your tank! Such an incredible scape for such a small volume aquarium. You've really created something special :biggrin:
> 
> My most recent nature/iwagumi-ish aquarium was a failure... about to restart a new one in a smaller 24" rimless 18 gal. aquarium. Going to be reviewing your journal, and watching your continued success, as a guide for my own! Planning on some DHG, hope it will come out as your's has :tongue:


Williak, I really appreciate your kind comments. It has been a very fun and rewarding adventure so far. It's always fun learning a new hobby. This one happens to fit well into existing hobbies, and luckily, I can draw on some of the knowledge from existing hobbies. Still, I'm very green and learning. 

I'm sorry to hear about your iwagumi-ish tank. It's great you are giving it another go. You probably know the saying, "If you're not failing, you're not trying hard enough." I think it's great to push boundaries and learn from our mistakes. I'll look forward to seeing your new aquarium. Good luck with your hairgrass, and remember, mine died back and is still recovering. Success hasn't come without some trials. Best of luck!

I have added some Boraras brigittae this morning. Pics coming, tonight!


----------



## SaltyNC

*Boraras brigittae added!*

Today was an exciting day. With my tank fully cycled, water hardness adjusted, and the plants nearly fully recovered, it was time to add my long-awaited fish. After some back and forth on my part, I finally settled on Boraras brigittae, commonly known as the Chili Rasbora. It is a micro-fish in every sense of the word. They are about the length of a long grain rice and not a whole lot wider. I could easily have 30 in my 6.6 gallon aquarium and if I spooked them, they could all disappear at will. I ordered 12 for my tank, and it's hard to count them moving all over the place, but I'm pretty sure I counted 15.

I could not source Boraras brigittae locally, and after asking around, Rachel (user msjinkzd here on TPT msjinkzd.com) came highly recommended. She was a pleasure to deal with, and I highly recommend her to anyone needing to order fish or aquatic fauna! Don't let her hairdo fool you, she's a real sweetie! 

Over the last week-plus, I've been slowly increasing the hardness of my water a few degrees. Everything seems to be doing better, now. I had asked Rachel about her water parameters where the B.bs were being kept, and my water parameters were getting closer to hers, though still a bit softer and slightly more acidic. 

When the package arrived this morning, packed in insulating foam, I removed the bag and began a slow drip acclimation. After a few hours, I began adding the fish to my tank. To my surprise, they instantly took to their new home, and instead of hiding, they were very curious.

Here they are just being added to the tank:









These fish are perfect for the scale of my aquarium. Here you can see a chili next to a zebra nerite snail on top of the rock. The snail is about the size of my thumbnail and the rock slightly bigger than the size of my fist.









Since they were doing well, I decided to offer them a little food to see if they would take it. I used a product called Instant Baby Brine Shrimp. This product is awesome. It suspends in the water column and doesn't cloud the water. The fish go crazy over it. Even though the B.bs were just added to my tank, they immediately got busy devouring this product. Here is a video of the product so you can get an idea of how it suspends in the water column.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hl4YVcKdZs
I plan to feed a mix of this product, ground flake, and ground New Life Spectrum pellets.

Here I am adding some of the Instant Baby Brine Shrimp product with a pipette.









How awesome is this, instant starry sky effect!









All of my pictures so far have been taken with a Canon S95, but it looks like if I want to get some shots of these fish, I'm going to have to use the DSLR to get some much needed DOF and faster focus control. They never stop moving! 

'Till next time ...


----------



## windfish

I love the new fish. Glad to hear you had a good experience with msjinkzd-- I will most likely be ordering some B. briggitae from her in the near future.


----------



## SaltyNC

windfish said:


> I love the new fish. Glad to hear you had a good experience with msjinkzd-- I will most likely be ordering some B. briggitae from her in the near future.


Thanks! I highly recommend her. I checked out your journal. Your tank is looking good. I see we both have some Amanos. I like the pygmy cories, too. I almost went with some cory hastatus, but finally decided on the B.bs. 

When you place your order, don't worry about ordering too many. They are tiny. I think I could have doubled my order with no problem in my 6.6 gallon.


----------



## windfish

Thanks for checking it out. I think I'm going to get 15 of the brigittae or so. 



SaltyNC said:


> Thanks! I highly recommend her. I checked out your journal. Your tank is looking good. I see we both have some Amanos. I like the pygmy cories, too. I almost went with some cory hastatus, but finally decided on the B.bs.
> 
> When you place your order, don't worry about ordering too many. They are tiny. I think I could have doubled my order with no problem in my 6.6 gallon.


----------



## SaltyNC

windfish said:


> Thanks for checking it out. I think I'm going to get 15 of the brigittae or so.


Cool deal!


----------



## SaltyNC

*Week 10 - Short video of fish feeding*

For this week's update, I've uploaded a very small video of the boraras brigittae eating the Instant Baby Brine Shrimp product. I really like how this product suspends in the water column and creates the effect of stars against my black backdrop. It even looks like the faint glow of the Milky Way with the hazy mirroring of the rocks against the background.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MghkYoRO5CI

I was hoping to capture my Amano shrimp going crazy, but they didn't show up this time. Usually when I inject the baby brine shrimp (it's mostly the fat and not live shrimp) into the water, the Amanos come out and run all over the tank, picking up the tiny balls of fat from all over the tank. I thought Amanos were herbivores, but they seem to like the fat content in the shrimp product. My battery ran out on my camera, so I had to cut the video short, but I'll try to get a short clip of the Amanos motor-boating around the tank next time.

For those of you with nano tanks and pressurized CO2, do you find it works better to leave it on 24/7 or turn it off after lights out? I have fairly high surface agitation, and I'm noticing that my CO2 is dropping quite a bit at night and not maintaining a constant level. Since my biomass is fairly light, and my water volume is so small, I'm thinking it might be better to just run CO2 24/7 to prevent fluctuations that can cause algae issues.

Here is this week's update shot:









I'll probably do two or three more weekly updates, and then only post if something drastic changes after that.


----------



## freph

This tank looks....really good, wow. I may have to invest in that brine shrimp product sometime. Great job with the scape, plant and fish selection.


----------



## jeremyTR

Amazing tank!

I actually picked up some live brine shrimp from my LFS today for my tetra and Betta. My Betta loved the heck out of them.

Sent from my HTC Evo 4G


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## SaltyNC

freph said:


> This tank looks....really good, wow. I may have to invest in that brine shrimp product sometime. Great job with the scape, plant and fish selection.


Thanks, Freph. It was an experiment and learning experience, and I've enjoyed it. So far, no major disasters. Yea, that shrimp product comes in a tiny glass baby food jar. It will probably expire before I can feed it all with these little guys. I was glad to hear your riccia is starting to take off. I see you are from Fayetteville. I used to live in the Eastern part of NC when I was a kid, and we would drive down to Fayetteville to see the air show. Are there any good fish stores in town, or do you have to mail order or come to Charlotte/Raleigh? It's great that we have some many from NC/SC on the forum.



jeremyTR said:


> Amazing tank!
> I actually picked up some live brine shrimp from my LFS today for my tetra and Betta. My Betta loved the heck out of them.


Thanks so much, Jeremy. Fish do seem to go crazy over any live product. There is another product similar to Instant Baby Brine Shrimp called Cyclop-Eeze that is supposed to be really good. Both of those products are not truly live, but contain all the benefit of live food. At one time, I contemplated setting up a green water tank and raising my own daphnie to feed these guys, but after I discovered the instant product, and it lasts a long time with these tiny guys, I decided against it. I may try raising daphnia some time in the future. The cultures are available locally to me.


----------



## callisto9

I'm new and think I've finally settled on this tank! Thanks for all the great pics and updates! I can't wait to get it.


----------



## freph

SaltyNC said:


> Thanks, Freph. It was an experiment and learning experience, and I've enjoyed it. So far, no major disasters. Yea, that shrimp product comes in a tiny glass baby food jar. It will probably expire before I can feed it all with these little guys. I was glad to hear your riccia is starting to take off. I see you are from Fayetteville. I used to live in the Eastern part of NC when I was a kid, and we would drive down to Fayetteville to see the air show. Are there any good fish stores in town, or do you have to mail order or come to Charlotte/Raleigh? It's great that we have some many from NC/SC on the forum.


Yeah, the riccia has been giving me trouble for the longest time so I just scrapped them and got some fresh stuff. We've got a couple of shoddy non-chain fish stores on and around Bragg Blvd, but other than that there's a 2 PetsMarts and a Pet Supermarket that I know of. All of them are lacking in exotic fish and plants in general, so I order from Rachel for fish and plants from forum members or aquariumplants.com. I rather pay for shipping than gas and more mileage on my car.


----------



## SaltyNC

callisto9 said:


> I'm new and think I've finally settled on this tank! Thanks for all the great pics and updates! I can't wait to get it.


Callisto, that's great. I think you'll really like the tank. The dimensions are great, and I think it is a great starter tank. You probably already know this, but they do scratch easily. I would recommend being very careful when you add your substrate if it is hard/sharp. I'm pretty happy with this scape came out, but the one thing I would do different if I could rewind the clock would be to use a soil substrate like Fluval Shrimp Stratum or ADA soil. The Flourite is fine, but I imagine if I had used a soil-based substrate, the hairgrass would have filled in much quicker, and I think it looks better, too, though the Flourite blends OK with the rocks I have.

Good luck with your new tank. I hope you'll post your progress. I'll definitely follow along.


----------



## SaltyNC

freph said:


> Yeah, the riccia has been giving me trouble for the longest time so I just scrapped them and got some fresh stuff. We've got a couple of shoddy non-chain fish stores on and around Bragg Blvd, but other than that there's a 2 PetsMarts and a Pet Supermarket that I know of. All of them are lacking in exotic fish and plants in general, so I order from Rachel for fish and plants from forum members or aquariumplants.com. I rather pay for shipping than gas and more mileage on my car.


We really need a LFS that specializes in planted tanks. I think if more people were aware of them, they would be much more popular. I stumbled across them one day and instantly was hooked. I love nature and the outdoors, and it's amazing that we can recreate a small world on our desktops or in a corner of our home. I enjoy large format landscape photography, but it's hard for a photo to compete with a living miniature landscape complete with wildlife.

This was my first experience ordering from Rachel, and it was perfect. The fish were excellent. The only mistake I made was not ordering more fish!


----------



## SaltyNC

*New Feeding Video with Quarter in Tank for Scale*

New Video!

I uploaded a new video of the boraras brigittae feeding. At about the 30 second mark, you'll see me lowering a quarter into the tank to show the scale of this small tank and just how tiny boraras brigittae truly are. You should at the 30 second mark also get the idea behind the music, which is really horrible! What was I thinking?! :icon_lol:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-OwSWMA9_w


----------



## SomeCanuck

I'm so jealous! Your little boraras brigittae are gorgeous and the tank too! I picked up what was supposed to be b. brigittae from my LFS 2 weeks ago and just thought they were undercoloured from stress and the lack of a proper planted environment, but the more time passes, the more I'm starting to think I ended up with b. merah instead.  Still awesome little fishes, but definitely not the same POW and OOMF I was looking for... Or maybe I lucked out and got a batch of only female b. brigittae haha


----------



## freph

So tiny! I'm picking up some Boraras urophthalmoides for the Mini M and about 35 Boraras briggitae for the 20L first week of September. Very excited. I definitely agree that we need more and better stores in NC. Fintastic in Charlotte is about the best I've seen. They've got a few very nice display tanks. I'm not sure if they were CO2 injected (I wasn't looking at the time) but they were nice tanks all in all. Nice equipment and stock of livestock, too


----------



## SaltyNC

SomeCanuck said:


> I'm so jealous! Your little boraras brigittae are gorgeous and the tank too! I picked up what was supposed to be b. brigittae from my LFS 2 weeks ago and just thought they were undercoloured from stress and the lack of a proper planted environment, but the more time passes, the more I'm starting to think I ended up with b. merah instead.  Still awesome little fishes, but definitely not the same POW and OOMF I was looking for... Or maybe I lucked out and got a batch of only female b. brigittae haha


Thanks so much. I've read it is common to get similar fish in this family. Mine still haven't fully developed that deep red color that the males produce, but they seem to be darkening. I read that live or frozen fresh food helps. They also really like to be in a group with at least 5-6. One thing about my shots is that because of the lighting and dark background, I am slightly underexposing the image and this tends to saturate my colors. I am also shooting in Vivid mode. I have shot Velvia film for years and Vivid is similar to the saturation it produces. I love it for landscapes. 

I hope you get the fish you want.


----------



## SaltyNC

freph said:


> So tiny! I'm picking up some Boraras urophthalmoides for the Mini M and about 35 Boraras briggitae for the 20L first week of September. Very excited. I definitely agree that we need more and better stores in NC. Fintastic in Charlotte is about the best I've seen. They've got a few very nice display tanks. I'm not sure if they were CO2 injected (I wasn't looking at the time) but they were nice tanks all in all. Nice equipment and stock of livestock, too


The exclamation points are nice. It'll be interesting to see the differences side by side. I wonder if they will behave any differently than brigittae. I look forward to seeing those. 

Fintastic does run CO2 on the planted tank in the back, but it seems on the low side. They get in some nice fish. I bought my Amanos and nerite snails from them, but they didn't have boraras brigittae. They did have a tank full of CPD but they sold quickly. I pass their store on my way to the office. I would like to see them get more into the planted tank and possibly ADA world. 

I get so many packages mail order at the office, it's embarrassing, and I own the business. :wink:


----------



## callisto9

SaltyNC said:


> Callisto, that's great. I think you'll really like the tank. The dimensions are great, and I think it is a great starter tank. You probably already know this, but they do scratch easily. I would recommend being very careful when you add your substrate if it is hard/sharp. I'm pretty happy with this scape came out, but the one thing I would do different if I could rewind the clock would be to use a soil substrate like Fluval Shrimp Stratum or ADA soil. The Flourite is fine, but I imagine if I had used a soil-based substrate, the hairgrass would have filled in much quicker, and I think it looks better, too, though the Flourite blends OK with the rocks I have.
> 
> Good luck with your new tank. I hope you'll post your progress. I'll definitely follow along.


Went to the local Petco today, they don't carry it anymore, so I ordered it from Amazon.com.

Is it possible to do this tank without the soil? I'm wanting low-tech here, so I don't want to spend money just to spend it. I am patient and if plants grow slower, I'm OK with that. What are the downsides if you don't use it? Is your tank just flourite on the bottom?

Off to start a thread... :icon_wink


----------



## SaltyNC

Callisto, the Flourite is fine, but it is expensive, too. The only downside for me really is the size of the grains and the color (I wasn't crazy about the brownish-red). You can get Eco-complete or Flourite in a sand version that I think would be better for hairgrass, if you're leaning that way, and they come in black. 

My substrate consists of a tiny (and I really mean tiny) amount of peat on the bottom...a sprinkling. I then added regular Flourite that I rinsed well before adding to the tank. Finally, I placed about 1-2 pellets of Osmocote every sq inch of the tank under the Flourite. I poked holes with a wooden art brush handle and dropped in the Osmocote before I flooded the tank.

You can definitely do it without a soil-based substrate. The only other thing I did was change out my bulb to a Hagen 6500K bulb. The one that came with my unit had a very pink cast and to the human eye appeared to not produce as much light.

Good luck on your new tank! I'll check out your thread.


----------



## callisto9

Thank you for all the tips. I see flourite is about $25 on amazon.com; wonder if anyone has it locally. Do the big box chains carry it? I'm guessing no. My LFS might. I can't wait to make a trip back there. 

How do you change out/add plants once your substrate is in?


----------



## plantednano

Love your tank. The scale is very impressive, i have looked at your thread many a time without fully reading the 6.6 gallon part and always though wow this looks so nice. I wish i could set up a tank that large. :icon_eek: Then it hit me its only 6.6 gallons lol, not much bigger dimensionally than my 5 gallon i plan to plant once the frogs go into their vivarium. Trying to gain inspiration on a scape from all the great tanks on here roud:

The music on your video was entertaining lol, i feel my tank sucking the money out of my wallet already and its no where even near ready to set up as an aquarium


----------



## SaltyNC

callisto9 said:


> Thank you for all the tips. I see flourite is about $25 on amazon.com; wonder if anyone has it locally. Do the big box chains carry it? I'm guessing no. My LFS might. I can't wait to make a trip back there.
> 
> How do you change out/add plants once your substrate is in?


Petsmart did carry it. I guess they still do. I think Petco and Petsmart carry Eco Complete.

I just pull things out slowly with long tweezers and push them in the same way. I originally used mechanic tweezers I found at a dollar store. They worked just fine. I then bought a set of long pincettes from E Bay. They come to a sharper point and do work a little better. With something like Flourite, it's coarse, so it is a little harder to plant single, delicate plants, but it can still be done. I gently squeeze the plant and wiggle the pincettes down into the Flourite and then very gently wiggle the pincettes out so the Flourite collapses around the root and holds the plant. With something like Amazonia, you can just push the plant down into the soil with the pincettes.


----------



## SaltyNC

plantednano said:


> Love your tank. The scale is very impressive, i have looked at your thread many a time without fully reading the 6.6 gallon part and always though wow this looks so nice. I wish i could set up a tank that large. :icon_eek: Then it hit me its only 6.6 gallons lol, not much bigger dimensionally than my 5 gallon i plan to plant once the frogs go into their vivarium. Trying to gain inspiration on a scape from all the great tanks on here roud:
> 
> The music on your video was entertaining lol, i feel my tank sucking the money out of my wallet already and its no where even near ready to set up as an aquarium


Thanks, PlantedNano. Seeing the video of the quarter in the tank even surprises me, and I see the tank every day. :icon_wink It really is a very small aquascape. When I do a 50% water change, I use a 1 gallon Sterilite pitcher. It only takes me 3 trips to the sink. I have to quickly run the siphon tube over the grass and plants to vacuum any settled debris, because it only takes a minute or two to drain out 50% of my water.

It was late at night when I chose that music. :icon_redf It reminds me of a song in the new Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Don't all hobbies suck money out of our wallets? :icon_bigg


----------



## plantednano

SaltyNC said:


> Don't all hobbies suck money out of our wallets? :icon_bigg


OH YES, problem is i am gaining to many hobbies :angryfire

Cars/autocross, scale models, photography, frogs, now planted tanks (planted tanks are my cheaper solution to a reef tank, which i have to keep fighting the urge to even consider). Its getting difficult to budget lol


----------



## callisto9

SaltyNC said:


> Petsmart did carry it. I guess they still do. I think Petco and Petsmart carry Eco Complete.
> 
> I just pull things out slowly with long tweezers and push them in the same way. I originally used mechanic tweezers I found at a dollar store. They worked just fine. I then bought a set of long pincettes from E Bay. They come to a sharper point and do work a little better. With something like Flourite, it's coarse, so it is a little harder to plant single, delicate plants, but it can still be done. I gently squeeze the plant and wiggle the pincettes down into the Flourite and then very gently wiggle the pincettes out so the Flourite collapses around the root and holds the plant. With something like Amazonia, you can just push the plant down into the soil with the pincettes.


Ah, that helps immensely! Better than my method of using two large wooden cooking spoons! :icon_lol:


----------



## SaltyNC

*Week 12 - Fighting Algae and A different angle*

I think I finally determined what caused my dwarf hairgrass die-off several weeks ago. It was a combination of two things. One, I was developing rhizoclonium algae in my DHG as I began injecting pressurized CO2 into the tank. During this time, I was experimenting with the CO2 flow rate, the on/off cycle of the CO2 in correlation to the light cycle, and if that weren't enough, I also adjusted my light cycle during this time. This induced rhizoclonium algae in the DHG, and while I was away, it was not removed and quickly formed a mat over the DHG. The second piece of the puzzle was that I had forgotten to turn the flow of the filter back up to full after cleaning the tank, so for several days, the water flow was very low. I believe that these two conditions combined to simply smother out the dwarf hairgrass.

I have since dialed in my CO2, and my rhizo algae problem is slowly but surely being eliminated. I am leaving my CO2 on for much longer, even with lights out, and this is keeping my CO2 rate very constant. With such a low volume of water in my tank, and with high surface agitation, and with a relatively low plant mass, having the CO2 on nearly all the time is providing much greater consistency than when I was turning it off and on close to the on/off of the light cycle. Since the CO2 level is not rising during the night, there is no threat to the fauna in the tank.

I also have been absolutely overrun with ramshorn snails. Their eggs arrived on some of my plants, and I did not notice them until it was too late. I was removing them several times a day, but finally I decided to just let the population explode and hopefully eat some of the algae in the hairgrass, and then the population should crash. Well, that's the hope, anyway.

The hemianthus glomeratus was trimmed back heavily this week, and after two more trimmings, it should reach the full thickness I intend for behind the rocks. I'll post up a picture of that after it grows back in, and that will likely be the final shot for this journal.

I took this shot before the trim. I have rarely posted pictures of the full tank, since the Petco Bookshelf lacks the minimalist beauty of ADA tanks, but I think it is time to show the tank as it truly appears on top of my bookcase. Please excuse the glare on the tank. I didn't notice it when I took the shot, and I needed the shot in daylight to have enough light in the room to show the full tank without losing the surrounding detail. You may notice the water level is a little low. I keep the tank at this level most of the time to produce higher surface agitation. The design of the included filter produces no surface agitation if the water is any higher, and I found this causes problems with surface scum and the plants suffer.









And here is a closer shot like I have been posting most of the time. 









As always, I welcome your comments and suggestions, and many thanks to those who have offered me helpful advice along the way.


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## callisto9

I think it looks great! Thanks for sharing the pics.


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## KatJack

Just read almost this whole thread! Finally convinced to go to Petco to buy the bookshelf aquarium- I've been considering it forever but something has been holding me back (probably the fact that I have 3 tanks going already in my college apartment... moving is going to be quite the ordeal lol). My first planted tank looked a lot like that sad lonely bonsai picture- I'm totally blown away by your sense of scale and eye for detail. You'd never guess your tank is as small as it is by looking at pictures. Amazing!


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## SaltyNC

callisto9 said:


> I think it looks great! Thanks for sharing the pics.


Thanks, Callisto! How are things going with your new tank?



KatJack said:


> Just read almost this whole thread! Finally convinced to go to Petco to buy the bookshelf aquarium- I've been considering it forever but something has been holding me back (probably the fact that I have 3 tanks going already in my college apartment... moving is going to be quite the ordeal lol). My first planted tank looked a lot like that sad lonely bonsai picture- I'm totally blown away by your sense of scale and eye for detail. You'd never guess your tank is as small as it is by looking at pictures. Amazing!


Thank you for the kind compliments, KatJack. I think it is neat how scale can fool the human eye. Good luck with your bookshelf aquarium. It's a neat little tank. I wish more companies made these dimensions in affordable all-in-one units. If I could change one thing on the dimensions, I wish it were just a tad deeper from front to back (not height). But, with micro fish like boraras, it's like a football field to them.


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## ipkiss

Salty, I got brought over from your link in your sig. Very nice and small tank. As KatJack said, 6.6? I can't believe it.


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## callisto9

SaltyNC said:


> Thanks, Callisto! How are things going with your new tank?


Not well. I've had five guppies of out eight die. Water params are fine. I can't figure out what the problem is...


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## Silmarwen

I, too, have been considering one of these 'bookshelf' tanks, and seeing the beautiful setup you've made with it, I'd love to try one myself. Thanks for the inspiration!


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## SaltyNC

ipkiss said:


> Salty, I got brought over from your link in your sig. Very nice and small tank. As KatJack said, 6.6? I can't believe it.


Thank you ipkiss. With the rocks and substrate, it's probably closer to 6.  The tiny boraras really help fool the eye.



callisto9 said:


> Not well. I've had five guppies of out eight die. Water params are fine. I can't figure out what the problem is...


Oh no, I'm sorry to hear that. I've never tried guppies, but my son did, and he didn't have any luck with his, either. I wish I could be of help, but I know nothing about them. 



Silmarwen said:


> I, too, have been considering one of these 'bookshelf' tanks, and seeing the beautiful setup you've made with it, I'd love to try one myself. Thanks for the inspiration!


Silmarwen, thank you for the kind compliment. Please post a tank journal if you decide to try one. I like the 12 gal long tanks, too. After the water flow issue is out of the way, those make very nice compact tanks that look much, much larger than they are in reality. I wish you the best with your tank.


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## Silmarwen

SaltyNC said:


> Silmarwen, thank you for the kind compliment. Please post a tank journal if you decide to try one. I like the 12 gal long tanks, too. After the water flow issue is out of the way, those make very nice compact tanks that look much, much larger than they are in reality. I wish you the best with your tank.


You're very welcome, and I most certainly will post a journal if I get to do one. I looked a bit at the 12 gal longs and perhaps, if I can get a hold of one, that might be the tank for me. Thanks again!


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## SaltyNC

*Week 14 Update - Almost complete*

Week 14 has come and gone, and I will wrap up this journal in a week or two with a final image of the tank.

Against popular recommendations, I moved my CO2 diffuser next to my HOB filter's outflow. Contrary to the reduction in CO2 as I have seen reported, in my case this increased the amount of CO2 in the water. When the diffuser was against the side, there was a slow, easy flow of water past it, such that many of the CO2 bubbles simply rose to the surface and most were lost to the atmosphere before they could be absorbed. This also leads me to question why Amano's diffuser with the curved glass tubing is so high on the side of the tank. Wouldn't it be better positioned at the absolute lowest position in the tank to give the CO2 bubbles the greatest amount of time in the water as they rise? If anyone can explain that, I would appreciate it.

After moving the diffuser next to my HOB filter, the bubbles begin to rise, but the bubbles are then pushed down into the water column where they swirl around the tank for much longer and many appear to completely dissolve. All of the plants began to respond positively. The greens are now the most intense I have seen thus far, and the algae has been practically eliminated. I will likely alternate the location of the diffuser back to the corner every few weeks to try to evenly distribute the CO2.

The microsword (Lilaeopsis brasiliensis) is spreading into the dwarf hairgrass and is producing an interesting look. Right now, I like the look, but eventually it may push out the DHG.

The boraras brigittae continue to color up, but then inexplicably seem to lose color at times, creating a cycle of intensity. Perhaps it is the stress of the weekly water change. I keep the parameters (hardness) and water temp consistent when I change the water, but perhaps it is just the stress of a lowering water level and then the replacement of that water that stresses them into their pale alter-egos.

I am overrun with ramshorn snails, but they eat algae, so they remain for now. My nerite travels the tank daily, making his slow rounds, his mouth part always scraping away. If I didn't know I had Amano shrimp, I sure couldn't tell from looking into the tank. They rarely come out when the lights are on.

The prominent rock in the center of my scape is lighter than the rest. It didn't appear so when I collected it, but with the close proximity to the light, it makes it appear even lighter. That is clearly a mistake. I should have also added a little more slope to my substrate and probably should have used some substrate supports to maintain that slope. I'm sure there are many other mistakes, but I like to point out what I consider mistakes in the hopes that it will help others just starting their journey.

No pics this time, but stay tuned in a week or so for those with any interest in my feeble attempt at aquascaping. :smile:


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## mattschaefer92

It looks really good. Keep up the good work.


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## SaltyNC

mattschaefer92 said:


> It looks really good. Keep up the good work.


Thank you, Matt.


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## GMYukonon24s

That's a beautiful tank.


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## SaltyNC

GMYukonon24s said:


> That's a beautiful tank.


Thank so much, GM.


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## SaltyNC

*Week 14 Picture*

I wasn't planning on posting any more pics until my hemianthus glomeratus filled in completely and grew to the top of the tank, so I could trim it into a curving outline behind the rocks, but...

L8nite posted a generous RAOK that required a tank pic with a notecard to enter, so here's the Week 14 shot. As you can see, I have a little algae on my rock, but I don't mind that. This shot also shows where I moved my diffuser next to the HOB filter. The blurs are my boraras brigittae darting all over the place. For the final shot, I'll remove all hardware, throw some flash on those fish, and get a hi-res shot. See you in a few weeks.


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## sayurasem

Definately one of the best bookshelf tank!


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## onekraz3

Wow gorgeous.. Everytime i go to petco i stop and look at these tanks.. Nice to see whats possible with them.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk 2


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## SaltyNC

sayurasem said:


> Definately one of the best bookshelf tank!


Thank you so much.



onekraz3 said:


> Wow gorgeous.. Everytime i go to petco i stop and look at these tanks.. Nice to see whats possible with them.


Really appreciate the kind words. Its a fun tank to play around with.


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## SaltyNC

I had my first fish loss last night. I discovered an oto in the back corner lifeless. It looked healthy and happy just the day before with great coloration, so I'm really not sure what happened. The coloration and condition of the fish even looked good when I removed it from the tank. My thought is that perhaps it decided to clean the intake tube and made its way down to the bottom of the tube where it encountered the water suction and suffered some internal damage. Water parameters remained unchanged.


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## Silmarwen

SaltyNC said:


> I had my first fish loss last night. I discovered an oto in the back corner lifeless. It looked healthy and happy just the day before with great coloration, so I'm really not sure what happened. The coloration and condition of the fish even looked good when I removed it from the tank. My thought is that perhaps it decided to clean the intake tube and made its way down to the bottom of the tube where it encountered the water suction and suffered some internal damage. Water parameters remained unchanged.


I'm sorry to hear that  If it's just physical damage, though, at least the others won't be affected, right?


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## SaltyNC

Thanks, Silmarwen. So far, all my other fish are doing fine, and the other oto isn't showing any signs of a problem, so I think it was just a freak accident or a natural death.


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## jpalimpsest

I'm eyeing this little tank too.
Any updates?


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## Williak

Salty, whatever happened to this tank? I was gone from the forums for about 3 months, and this was the first I checked when I came back  Would love to see some updates.


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