# JG's 2.5G



## MrJG (Feb 21, 2007)

I originally purchased this tank to use as a small quarantine tank but found dwarf puffers and had to set up a tank for one. 

Tank specs:
2.5G Marineland
8W Florescent with no reflector
Aquaclear 20 (turned all the way down)
Cheapo heater @78D F
ADA Amazonia
Sand
Rocks
little seachem ferts/excel here and there

1 - Dwarf puffer
A revolving door of overnight guest ghost shrimp and snails

Dwarf Sag
Eriocaulon Type 2 
couple sprigs of ludwiga palustris


Its only been planted a few days now so it looks a little sparse in there.  For bonus points find the hunting dwarf puffer:


















Help identify the hitchhiker (creeping jenny?):









Thanks for looking. I was going to house updates for this tank with the 20G journal but figured it would be easier to keep up with if it had its own place.


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## rodney (Apr 10, 2007)

Looks nice, the stones don't look too natural bunched together in the middle though. It'll look alot better when the plants grow in.


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## TigerLilly (Oct 11, 2004)

I have the same heater as you.


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## mrbman7 (Mar 22, 2007)

Sweet! Where is the little guy?


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## rodney (Apr 10, 2007)

Tigerlily: I have that same heater too:tongue:


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## MrJG (Feb 21, 2007)

haha no disrespect meant with the "cheapo" heater comment. It came with my 10G hex so I just assumed that it wasn't the greatest.  Many apologies.


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## Halibass (Jan 29, 2007)

The little guy is at the bottom left corner in the first pic I think. How large a snail will the dwarf puffers try to eat? I have some snails that are puffer size.


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## MrJG (Feb 21, 2007)

Good eye Halibass.

I've only had him for 3 weeks or so now and there has been a ramshorn in there about 3 times his size since day one. Everything else thats went in there though he's taken care of quite easily. He can only crunch the shells of ones that are about the size of his eye but the larger ones he just pokes his head down in the shell or grabs them by the foot and shakes them like a dog. I've been removing the shells at waterchanges. I only give him 1-2 every few days. He likes freeze dried bloodworms too, doesn't go for thawed tubifex worms tho. 
I haven't been able to catch him hunting down a shrimp yet.


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## Color Me Blue (Nov 10, 2005)

I think the rocks look great that way!  Pretty darn good for round rocks too! They aren't the easiest things to scape with. Good job! Lucky DP!  Don't worry...he'll even eat that big ramshorn snail. The DP will just wait til the snail sticks his head out so he grab onto him and then eat him. LOL I had 3 DPs and they decimated my snail population. Good idea to have a snail factory on the side to keep up with your DP's demand for meaty flesh. hehehe 

Ps....once my DPs ate all my snails (only the MTS seemed safe-they hid well), they started to go after my shrimp....the adult ones!!!  That's when I gave them away to a fellow DP enthusiasts. I didn't mind them taking a few babies (I have tons of them), but when they started to take down the large shrimp, it was time for them to go.


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## MrJG (Feb 21, 2007)

Thanks for the feedback folks! 

rodney: Yea the rocks are grouped more towards the middle but eventually I hope to have the rotala on each side grow in from the side of the tank to each rock's side. We'll see what happens though. 

Color Me Blue: Thats the main reason I set up this little nano as a species only tank. Pretty much anything that goes in with him is to be considered a food source. It would be nice to get him a little buddy that he wouldn't consider dinner but I think the only good mates are Otos or Gobies (assuming there are true freshwater gobies, I still haven't been able to find that one out).

On the layout for the scape, I was aiming more for creating something visually challenging for the DP as opposed to a scene. Hopefully the dwarf sag does well and grows rampant in the middle, only time will tell.


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## Color Me Blue (Nov 10, 2005)

Have you seen these gobies: Schooling Bumblebee Goby - Brachygobius aggregatus? Frank usually sells them, but it looks as though he is out for now. http://www.franksaquarium.com/nanofish.htm


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## Agrippa (Jul 25, 2006)

Yeah, Dwarf Puffers are a terror to any invertibrate, lol. Mine are really fat off of bloodworms and the constant supply of snails that I provide them, but when they get bored, they hunt my shrimp. It was kindof shocking at first, but, hey, at least they keep the population in check. 

A 2.5g is rather small to add any other fish- especially a Goby. I have several Bumblebees myself, but they are exceptionally agressive, despite their small size, so you'd be in for constant territory disputes, and, likely, a dead fish. Oh, and despite what the site says, they actually prefer brackish water, but I've kept mine in fresh without issue. 

As for the layout, the more interesting things that your fish can explore, the more mentally stimulated he will remain, and, consequently, the more his overall health will improve. Keep us posted!


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## MrJG (Feb 21, 2007)

Agrippa: Exactly what you just stated were my thoughts. Its a tiny tank even given the DP's small size, I'm really more concerned at this point with making sure the environment has enough little nooks to keep the guy busy. Because if it turns out that he gets bored and starts pacing... I guess I'll have to set up a 10G for him.  Thankfully I haven't seen anything like this yet so maybe this might work out.


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## actioncia (Jun 9, 2005)

I think it looks great. I had a DP before absolutely love it. Regards, jC.


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## MrJG (Feb 21, 2007)

*little update*

Things are going well with this tank, much unlike the 20g  with only a little green algae on the glass probably due to too great of a light period. This tank has no timer so either me or the wife (whichever one wakes up latest) turns it on in the morning and then we turn it off before bedtime. 
Everything seems to be growing well given the hood only has an 8w bulb. I even chucked an Erio type2 top in there for giggles last week and its growing. I'm already seeing runners from the Dwarf sag and its time to trim all of the rotala and re-plant the tops to get the bushy look going. The mystery plant is growing like mad and has tripled in size, I still need to find out what it is!!! Still leaning toward it being creeping jenny. I put a few leaves of salvina natans in the tank that came as a hitcher with some snails and its multiplying well also. I know its a pest once it gets going but its such a neat little plant. 

So here's some pics that I snapped this weekend...

This one from a distance a bit to show its location on the nightstand:









And one a little closer in:









Thinking of maybe moving the mystery plant to the front left of the tank to get it out of the middle section. I had no idea it would grow so fast. And maybe moving both the ludwiga sprigs to the far right front since I kinda just plugged them in there to begin with. I would pull them out completely but I've seen 'pickle' (the DP) sleeping under the low lying leaves on several occasions.


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## FelixAvery (Jan 11, 2007)

thats looking really nice, thought it was quite big until i realized the heater lol


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## MrJG (Feb 21, 2007)

Thanks Felix. I'm going to try to find a smaller stealth type heater soon for it if there is such a thing. 

A little bit to update on the tank progress. I topped all of the rotala green and colorata and replanted the tops. Left the bottoms there too, with no CO2 its taking a little while for the bottoms to fill back in. I think I'm going to have to trim the tops back again before I bother the rooted originals. Guess its going to take quite a while to get everything to look bushy with the low tech approach. 
The dwarf sag is doing really well and I see at least 7-8 new planlets since the initial planting. 
My only issue at this point is some GDA or diatoms. Can't really tell, I just clean it off the glass when it gets unsightly. Hopefully I can dial in what kind of excesses are causing the issue sooner or later. I'm only dosing a touch (less than a half mL) of macros/micros at this point every 2-3 days. I think its time to buy a timer for the lights because I'm suspecting that's causing the problem. 

I'm going to have to trim the Erio type2 in the 20 soon and I'm thinking of replacing the colorata on the left side with some. The single top that I stuck in a few weeks ago is doing well and its already sprouting another stem at the base so I think there is enough light to support it. Eh? 

A few pics:


















Aside from the plants "pickle" is doing well. Still no problems with pacing... other than when we visit the tank he begs for food. 

I think thats all for now. Thanks to everyone so far for the help and comments.


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## tropicalfish (Mar 29, 2007)

MrJG said:


> haha no disrespect meant with the "cheapo" heater comment. It came with my 10G hex so I just assumed that it wasn't the greatest.  Many apologies.


My 10G hex came with a Visi-Therm Deluxe 50W 

Is that heater a 50W or 25W?
That tank looks really nice. roud:


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## MrJG (Feb 21, 2007)

*baby update*

Its been a while since I've been able to post anything about this tank update wise and I had a few moments this evening to snap a few pics... only one turned out decent though. 










I've replaced the rotala with some Erio Type 2 clippings from my 20g and they seem to be doing well. I hadn't noticed how much the sand had settled since I first set up the tank until I started this update. Guess its time to add some fresh on top. 

Not much has changed with the tank other than that. I'd like to try something else plant wise later in the fall once the temps get lower. I like the dwarf sag in there and its done well but I want to replace the erio with something... 
no CO2 in there and only an 8w bulb.


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## tropicalfish (Mar 29, 2007)

Looks real nice.

What kind of rocks are those?
Have you considered moving your heater to the bottom, so it is hidden?
Are you using the 12" straight-tube bulb that came with the fixture?


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## MrJG (Feb 21, 2007)

tropical fish: Thanks! 

The rocks came from a local landscaping yard... the guy called them river rocks but who knows. They are came from the same batch of rocks that I got for the 20 Gallon. 

Not much room to do anything with the heater. If I move it too low it will be on top of the Dwarf Sag and there isn't quite enough room to fit it behind the rock anyway. What the heck to folks do with small tanks as far as heating? I'm sure the plants would do good without but from what I read puffers like it a little warmer (78-79 F). 

Aye, thats the plain old 8 watt straight bulb that came with the tank combo when originally purchased. 

This tank too is due for some heavy maintenance and re-planting.


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## MrJG (Feb 21, 2007)

I finally got around to replanting... pulled out all of the Eriocaulon Type 2 and replanted several of the nicest tops to be grown out again. On the right side I transplanted a good amount of Ludwiga Palustris tops that were trimmings from the 10 gallon. Added a fresh layer of sand back to the top...

Its really hard to get a decent pic of this tank for some reason.


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## majolo (Sep 19, 2007)

I think this is a great tank! Although the heater is a bit, um, noticeable. :icon_smil 
Did you ever identify the mystery plant? Is it still in there?


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## MrJG (Feb 21, 2007)

Yea I hear ya on the heater. I'm trying to find something smaller or less obtrusive. 
I ended up taking out the mystery plant... I'm pretty sure it was creeping jenny though.


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## Justintoxicated (Oct 18, 2006)

I use a 10 watt steal, but its the same size as the 50 watt! 

But I have found I only need it in Dec-Jan the light seems to heat my tank enough. Puffers like it warm though, although 2.5 gallons is a bit too small for an adult puffer. I ended up moving Puff Daddy fro 3 gal to 10 gallon, and added a couple friends. He is super happy now I can tell. And he is the only one out of the 3 that swims up to me if i wiggle my finger near the tank.

Those Dp's are pretty smart for fish.

I was just going to add some of that mystery plant to my tank as well. I have a wall of it in my 24 gallon and it looks nice. I don't know what it is either lol.


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## MrJG (Feb 21, 2007)

So after looking at the heater for a bit and not really being able to find anything smaller thats adjustable temp wise... I just stood it up in the back behind the Ludwiga. I'm going to have to keep a close eye on the water level now because the little line on the heater is only submerged 1/4 of an inch or so. It looks a good bit better having the heater somewhat hidden. I also ended up pushing the filter far left behind the Eriocaulon also.

Everything continues to grow well under the 8w florescent lighting. Erio is getting thick again and the Ludwiga will all be touching the waterline soon. I added a stick that I found around the house... I've had it for quite a while and really just stuck it in there for giggles. It'll probably come out sooner or later. 

I learned a huge time saver this week, I think I read it somewhere here re:doing water changes with a standard airline tube. But with the fact that I primarily feed the puffer live snails I figured it wouldn't work out well... I had been manually using planting tweezers to remove the spent shells. After the insides are gone they are surprisingly light and sometimes even float to the top. Well using the standard airline I could pretty much just suck them out of the tank while slowly changing the water. It gave me a ton more time to really get down in there and clean out detritus.

Not much else going on. The puffer is a little piggy and begs for snails every time I approach the tank. And yes justintoxicated 2.5 gallons is just on the fringe of being big enough but I do my best to keep him busy/happy. He seems to be enjoying the tank so far. 

Any comments on the tank/layout?


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## joetaff (Jun 9, 2007)

i like it alot more! you can barley see the heater and the wood looks great


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## Fugu (Nov 10, 2007)

WoW! Great setup! Looks really good!


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## dekstr (Oct 23, 2007)

I really like the look of it!

If you pretend there's no water in the tank, the floating plants kind of look like clouds, and the giant heater looks like a giant spaceship or zepellin balloon! And at ground level it looks like a park! Oh wait, you changed the heater position, now it looks like a rocketship.

Two thumbs up!


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## MrJG (Feb 21, 2007)

Thanks for the comments guys! 

dekstr: haha I haven't quite looked at it like that but I see where you're coming from.


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## psybock (Jan 12, 2007)

*wood*

Is there any way you can postion the wood differently? It looks as though it is just sitting in front...could you stagger one end from the back so it creates more depth?

Otherwise it's looking good, especially once the plants fill in more to conceal the heater...


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## MrJG (Feb 21, 2007)

Yea I could do a bit better with the position for sure. I really just stuck it in there as an afterthought to see if it looked like it should stay. Its really a bit too big for the tank, I had to jam one of the branches underneath the filter outlet. I'll have to kinda think through what might look best and cut it to fit. 

Thanks for the reply!


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## MrJG (Feb 21, 2007)

I took a few new pics of this tank while I was taking pics of the 20G. I still suck at pictures.



























I moved the stick a little to try to give some depth.


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## ikuzo (Jul 11, 2006)

i'm a fan of sagittaria subulata and your sags is the darkest green i've seen. how do you keep it that way?


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## MrJG (Feb 21, 2007)

I have no idea. 

Tank has aquasoil and sits at ~78 deg. I chuck a little excel and a dash of mircos in there every once in a while. Maybe I just got some really good starter plants?


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## Justintoxicated (Oct 18, 2006)

BB Gobies can be fresh or brackish, I heard there is one species that prefer fresh, but more commonly found are the ones that prefer brackish. I had two and they both died. I think I transfered them to brackish too late.

My DP's must be strange, My Cherry shrimps are multiplying and I even have a large female guppy in there and they seem to be friends with it lol. They don't bother my Otto's either. Of course generaly DP's do not get along with Otto's shrimp and guppies. I guess mine are just freaks!


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## druxboyz (Aug 3, 2004)

wow, impressive. THis is just normal playsand? or do you have something underneath it?


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## TigerLilly (Oct 11, 2004)

This tank is really evolving! I love the look. This past summer I had a 2.5 planted set up in my garage. I know, werid place for a fish tank, but I loved it. Made me hang out in the garage more often just to stare at it. I had a branch in the tank that looked a lot like yours.


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## MrJG (Feb 21, 2007)

ji: thanks for the puffer info. I'm fairly sure this little man is the freshwater variety. 

druxboyz: thanks for the comment! 98% of the substrate is Aquasoil Amazonia with a small layer of home depot play sand over that small portion of the front. 

TigerLilly: Thanks! Yea the tank is evolving a little, I'll probably leave it as is until after winter but I'm aching to either re-scape it or scrap the tank entirely to set up something a little bigger (6 gal range maybe). Its just really hard to work with the 2.5 doing pruning/planting.


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## wakemenow (Aug 3, 2007)

Very cool concept! Glad I stumbled across this thread.


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## jread (Jan 2, 2004)

Justintoxicated said:


> BB Gobies can be fresh or brackish, I heard there is one species that prefer fresh, but more commonly found are the ones that prefer brackish. I had two and they both died. I think I transfered them to brackish too late.
> 
> My DP's must be strange, My Cherry shrimps are multiplying and I even have a large female guppy in there and they seem to be friends with it lol. They don't bother my Otto's either. Of course generaly DP's do not get along with Otto's shrimp and guppies. I guess mine are just freaks!


In my experience and in the experiences of those at my forum, DPs do very well with Otos (but not usually shrimp).


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## MrJG (Feb 21, 2007)

*little update*

Nothing much has changed plant wise with the tank except all of the Ludwiga has been removed. I topped some of the best Eriocaulon 'type 2' growth and replanted those more toward the back corners to try to keep the front 1/3 of the tank more open. 
I still move the 'twig' around during water changes... I still think it really doesn't fit in with the tank. During the last water change I noticed that the bark was peeling off so I went ahead and took it all off. When the weather gets a bit warmer I'm going on a search to find some root type structures like messy_da_legend had in the 3 gallon killie tank. 
It'll take a few weeks for the Erio to grow back in, I'll post some update pics when it happens. 

This is by far my most maintenance free tank. I only do a 40% WC once a week and try to only leave the lights on for 9 hours or so (no timer). No CO2, very little ferts randomly. The most I have to do is suck out the spent snail shells during water changes. 

A far away shot to show its spot on my night-stand... wish the wife would let me run the LED night light. :-/ 









Little closer, I stuck the remote from the ceiling fan there to show the scale... as if the giant heater doesn't do a good enough job of that:









Even more close...









Best fts I could get:


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## MrJG (Feb 21, 2007)

...

did tank maintenance on all my tanks today and figured I'd update the pics on this one. Its a slow grower lol. 
I'm seeing if the whopping 8W I have over this tank can support some Ricca tied to the twig. Seems to be doing ok so far. Added some peacock moss to the branches as well and tied some baby narrow leaf java fern that badcopnofishtank gave away as a RAOK to a rock on the left . I'm so close to taking this down and starting over... I like the low maintenance but its time for a change.


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## mtp10 (Apr 19, 2007)

*Really nice*

Really nice tank setup, Im trying to make mine look some thing like that


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## SeaSerpant (Feb 20, 2008)

MrJG said:


> Nothing much has changed plant wise with the tank except all of the Ludwiga has been removed. I topped some of the best Eriocaulon 'type 2' growth and replanted those more toward the back corners to try to keep the front 1/3 of the tank more open.
> I still move the 'twig' around during water changes... I still think it really doesn't fit in with the tank. During the last water change I noticed that the bark was peeling off so I went ahead and took it all off. When the weather gets a bit warmer I'm going on a search to find some root type structures like messy_da_legend had in the 3 gallon killie tank.
> It'll take a few weeks for the Erio to grow back in, I'll post some update pics when it happens.
> 
> ...


didn't see the puffer till the last picture lol. looks awesome.


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## MrJG (Feb 21, 2007)

*"Dover Meadow" re-scape*

So this tank has grown in well, was nice and stable only requiring water changes. What better time to rip it apart for a new scape? I lost the puffer a bit back. Not quite sure why, he just stopped eating so no worries about fauna right now. So no ugly heater/thermometer. House tends to stay ~70 in the summer and the light warms up the water a bit too.

I had always planned that once I got the hardscape materials in for the 40G that I would set aside some of it to re-scape this nano. I got some nice Zebra stone from CML that I planned on breaking up. It had a good portion of white attached to one of the stones that would have been buried in the substrate if I had used it in the large tank so I chose to try something a little different than I've seen before and use white stone in the nano. It has always been my intent to try to make each of the tanks in the house as different as possible. So...



















Its low light (only 8W fluorescent) but I had been growing some sprigs of dwarf hairgrass in there before the tear down and it was spreading amongst the thicket of Dwarf Sag. I decided to use mostly HG with a couple of twigs of Sag in the back right with a baby Narrow leaf Java fern.
Its going to take a good while for the HG to adjust and start spreading, I topped it during planting and a good amount of it had been in my high light CO2 tank. Once it fills in though and I can trim it all at once I think the green against the white stone is going to create a cool look. Hopefully I can get a little algae growing on the stones too.

Main stone:









Far shot:









3/4:









and finally a fts:


Its a little rough looking right now. I did a bunch of AS munching when I was working on the scape so no doubt the plant life got a good blast of stuff from stirred up AS. I've even had more tannins being released into the water since the re-scape even though the soil is pretty mature. 

Now that I look at it while taking these pictures I think a small stone to the right of the largest one is needed to bring everything together. Kind of an odd empty spot there. Happy to hear any thoughts criticisms.

ps. Doh forgot to put my piece of black poster board between the filter and glass. Pardon the bio-balls.


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## NeonShrimp (Mar 9, 2006)

Very nice MrJG, who needs the remote when you can watch that tank:thumbsup:


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## MrJG (Feb 21, 2007)

Thanks NeonShrimp! 

Its a slow grower for sure too so its going to take a long time to fill out before the effect I'm looking for starts to form... at the same time its low maintenance too.


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## roybot73 (Dec 15, 2007)

Can't wait to see this one fill in! Gonna be sweet dude


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## aquaphish (Dec 20, 2002)

I really like the concept of taking a real landscape and attempting to replicate it into an aquascape. This is something that I would like to do also.

IMO I would place the stones with the flattest sides up and have the three largest stones right up against each other, trying to replicate a plateau effect. Then have the smaller stones spread out on the valley floor.


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## MrJG (Feb 21, 2007)

Have to admit that wasn't the plan initially... I knew I wanted to re-scape. After I broke up the zebra stone and had the white remnants I started looking for inspiration. 
Thanks for the comments on the placement. If I can do something without disturbing too much soil I will. Might wait until the plants can adjust a bit.


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## roybot73 (Dec 15, 2007)

Update, dammit.


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## trace_lynn (Apr 15, 2003)

Yeah would love to see an update on this. Really like everything you've done so far with this tank.


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## MrJG (Feb 21, 2007)

Haha! I'll try to snap a quick pic this week... its still a looooong way from filling in. The HG is starting to slowly spread. I also got my wish on getting some algae growing on the rocks lol.


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## MrJG (Feb 21, 2007)

Finally got around to doing some tank stuff today and I snapped a few pics... its going to take about 6 more months to get it nice and full lol. Keep in mind this only has 8W of florescent light. Its hard to tell by the pics but the hairgrass is actually spreading... albeit very slowly. Also added the 'zepplin' heater back in to keep the temp a little more consistent overnight when the light isn't on. 

I added a few sprigs of limnophila 'mini' to help control some of the algae growth since all I really have done to this is water topoffs. No dosing. 
Still no life in there other than a few pesky hitchhiker trumpet snails... I'll catch them sooner or later.


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## mizu-chan (May 13, 2008)

Looking good so far!
Can't wait for you HG carpet to fill in.


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## MrJG (Feb 21, 2007)

*And another 3 months pass...*

So I figured an update was in order. The tank is still alive although things do happen very slowly hence the lack of updates. 
The HG lives but hasn't gotten anywhere near what I wanted it to look like yet. :icon_frow
Seeing everyones new high light scapes with glosso got me wanting to add some into the tank especially since the HG is still being slack. Special thanks to Tex Gal for some really clean starters. If it takes off and doesn't grow straight up maybe it'll give the illusion that its filled in more. I added a few baby Crypt sp. but I know they eventually get too big and throw the scale off. 

I only top off the tank and add 5ml of excel every couple of days. It stays fairly algae free so I just let it do its thing.

Shiny new pics from this morning after adding the glossostigma.

fts:



Little 3/4 action:









View from beside the bed:









I'm strongly considering putting some Orange-Eyed Blue tigers in this tank from chiahead. I'd like to order some but this is my only established AS tank without dwarf cichlids so I'd fear for their safety in the others. I gotta work on stabilizing the temperature so its only +- a degree or so over a 24 hour period. Otherwise I think I'm good to go with them until I can set another larger tank up for breeding. 

Please feel free to ad any critiques or feedback on the tank or scape.


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## big54bob (Nov 15, 2008)

Neat but it needs fish


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## FrostyNYC (Nov 5, 2007)

Great tank. And I think it'd be a perfect little shrimp tank.


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## MrJG (Feb 21, 2007)

Thanks for the replies. I was beginning to think the thread was in invisible mode... or maybe the tank really does look that bad. 

big54bob: Its a 2.5 gallon... there aren't really many choices of fish for the small size which is why its empty. Honestly if I do get the blue tigers its only going to be a temporary home for them until I get another tank set up. I do have a few boraras merah though that *might* be ok to put in there.

FrostyNYC: For the moment it should be ok for new shrimp then I may use it as a grow out tank to separate any nice blues that I get from a clutch.


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## fish_fasinated (Mar 30, 2006)

the tank looks great, i just think its moved away from the original meadow feel you were looking for.


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## VincentK (Dec 16, 2009)

Hey, what type of plant do you have floating?


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## MrJG (Feb 21, 2007)

Wow holy thread resurrection batman! 

The floating plant that was in there is Salvinia Minima. Same idea as duckweed just tons bigger, you can see the size difference in the second picture on that page. 

I guess since this thing found its way back to the top I should snap a pic of its current state. The "Dover Meadow" idea was a complete wash, I didn't have enough light over it to manage a decent ground cover. Its now a tank for snowball shrimp and a bizzilion snails. It gets water top offs and maybe a 20-30% water change every month or so... other than that its pretty hands off. 

Snapped some pics... this is a hard one to capture especially when the sun is shining through the windows.


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## MrJG (Feb 21, 2007)

I snapped a few pics of the current state of this tank the last time I took pics in the fishroom but forgot to post them. Not much has changed but a few of them turned out pretty good so I figured I'd post them up. 
I've considered tearing down and restarting the tank with better stone but with the 8W lighting my plant choices are pretty limited and I'd rather keep this tank pretty low tech since the shrimp are doing well with it. Might just crank up another 2.5 to actually try a real scape.


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