# 5 gallon hex (Baby's first tank! 10/11/11)



## frogmanjared (Feb 21, 2008)

Specs:
Standard hood (10w 6500k daylight compact, 9hr photoperiod w/1 hr siesta) & filter

Dosing: <1/64 t. KH2PO4 <1/16 t. KNO3 <1/64 t. CSM+B 3x/week
(on hold for the moment) mixed in solution, 13.9 ml/dose

Flora:
Anubias barteri 'Nana'
Cryptocoryne parva
Cryptocoryne retrospiralis
Echinodorus tenellus
Egeria densa
Lilaeopsis brasiliensis
Ludwigia repens x arcuata
Süßwassertang (a few pieces here and there, not expecting a comeback)


Fauna:
Super Delta tail betta

Scroll to last page to see new stuff!

I think within the next week I'm going to add an inch of leftover flourite to the bottom of the gravel to help the plant growth, since the crypts seem to do nothing, even in front of the tank. 








Not the best pic, but it's a boring tank right now.


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## Squawkbert (Aug 21, 2008)

Is there room for the 20W version of the colormax bulb in there?

Java moss has pretty low light requirements.

In my experience, Crypts can take quite a while to get going, then they just take off, packing your tank.

You're right about the BNTs - they get too large for a 6g Hex. If you could grow some HM, or after the moss gets going, I'd suggest pulling the BNTs, adding one or two more Pristellas (or pulling all fish, replacing w/ 6 micro rasbora), then add some cherry shrimp.


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## MarioMaster (Jul 31, 2008)

i think it would be better if you lost the pink gravel =P


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## frogmanjared (Feb 21, 2008)

Squawkbert: nope, the 20w is 8 inches... about an inch and a half too long. I've had crypts do better in a 3 gal kritter keeper, with blue sand, and an african clawed frog constantly uprooting it! Hopefully with flourite it will root better and take off. Eventually when most of the tetras die of old age, I can put the rest in my 10 gal and turn it into a shrimp tank... if I can get enough plants in there.

MarioMaster: lol, it's not pink gravel, the light has a pink hue so the light gravel looks pink... maybe i'll get some small black gravel to put on top of the flourite.

What would be the best type of moss...look the best?


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## aquaphish (Dec 20, 2002)

I would lose the rocks and replace with some real plant substrate. Then have only vals in the middle of the hex. the plant would be visible from all sides and the fish will be seen swimming around the plants.

Another nice plant that will be more manageable than vals would be some type of Rotala, but I don't think the light would be enough to grow them to well.


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## customdrumfinishes (Apr 4, 2008)

ive been using 10 or 15 watt sprial flor. 6700k daylight bulbs in my 5 hex's grows about anything with problems. even grew aromtaica in 1 and grew slow but good, didnt die!

heres a pic of a 7g hex with 2 10w spiral bulbs in it. they plants grew fine although it was very packed, no ferts, just eco complete.


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## Kolkri (Dec 9, 2006)

I like the pink rocks. Makes it different.


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## aquaphish (Dec 20, 2002)

Kolkri said:


> I like the pink rocks. Makes it different.


You can use them as long as you place some form of fertilizer into the pink rocks.


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## frogmanjared (Feb 21, 2008)

Refer to post #4... they're not pink, it's the light it's not really that pink in real life.


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## FrostyNYC (Nov 5, 2007)

Frogman, you're not fooling anyone with your claims of pink-hued lighting. Nothing wrong with pink rocks. 

PS - I hate hex tanks. I had one, and it drove me crazy. So hard to aquascape! Lighting is difficult to upgrade. Tank acrylic scratches easily and loses transparency compared to glass. Filter is powerful but lacks space for personalized media. So, if you can make it work, props.  

Here's a link to my journal when I had mine. May give you some ideas.

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/planted-nano-tanks/56177-another-5-gal-hex.html


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## frogmanjared (Feb 21, 2008)

*A week after the rescape*

Last week during the water change, I moved some of the plants around... and adding the flourite made the pennywort take off like even more of a weed 









So as you can see... it's not pink gravel! :flick: The flourite is regular colored, just looks pink cause of the light. I'm looking for some mini pellia, and RCS to turn it into a shrimp tank with a wall of the stuff in the back, and on the filter tube. So if anyone wants to sell me either, just pm or look at my post in the swap n shop.


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## nanojimbo (Jul 2, 2008)

rcs are so hard to spot up against flourite regular, i had flourite regular in my 20g l and i seriously found a thousand shrimp that i never new existed once i tore the tank down. in your case i would go for some crs to make the shrimp stand out a little more


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## frogmanjared (Feb 21, 2008)

I really need to get a new light!!! It's looking a lot better, but as you can see it doesn't look good in pictures









But I actually managed to get a close up of one of the RCS! I also need a new light because it drowns out the red of the shrimp because everything else looks red...:icon_cry:


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## frogmanjared (Feb 21, 2008)

*New Light!!!*

The wife was at the store and picked up a 10w 6500k compact! Now I can see the red on the shrimp! It will take a while for my eyes to adjust to how green it is now.









One of the smaller ones...









It's hard to see, but I think I saw a saddle on this one... the reddest out of the bunch so far!


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

That looks a lot a lot better


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## aquaphish (Dec 20, 2002)

Great improvement with the light change. The plants you have in there right now look great but will quickly outgrow the tank. But still a great start.


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## Chrisinator (Jun 5, 2008)

Looks great.


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## fish_fasinated (Mar 30, 2006)

looks great now, wish my girlfriend supported my hobby like this! lol


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## frogmanjared (Feb 21, 2008)

I don't think the java fern is getting any bigger (6 months) and I have to trim the pennywort every once in a while, but no big deal... I'm getting rid of the crypt because it isn't doing anything, and I'm getting some subwassertang, and c. parva (i think the parva will go in my 10 gal). I plan to move the java fern to the back, and put the subwassertang where the ferns are currently and maybe tie a little to the filter tube.

Thanks for a the complements... yay, my first compliments from the forum on a tank!


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## frogmanjared (Feb 21, 2008)

My plants came today! Süßwassertang and C. parva. I removed the Crypt wendtii, and E. canadensis and did a trim on the pennywort (needed some as it succumbed to fuzz algae in my 10 gal, which turned into turtle food, it's a complicated cycle, i know!)









Here's a pic of a saddled RCS from the tank taken a few days ago. That's the best macro pic I could get of her...


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

Thats subwassertang is gonna make some cool little bushes


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## Mangala (Jul 23, 2006)

Your pennywart makes me want to get some, and just plant a bunch of it in a 10 gallon and see how it does by itself after a year. sometimes you can get some pretty intense single plant jungles going in a tank after a year of letting it expand on its own.

I think I'll see if I can find some pennywart at any of the fish stores near me after I get paid next...


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## frogmanjared (Feb 21, 2008)

It's been 2 months, so its time for an update. The subwassertang is growing like mad, I've trimmed quite a bit and planted in my shrimp 10 gal. Most of the pennywort has succumbed to green spot algae, so I've removed all the infected leaves. If only the pennywort would look like it did 2 months ago, I would have my perfect little nano. Oh yea, the RCS population is around 50 or so, they love hiding in the subwassertang.









I also picked up some Didiplis diandra from my brother in law. It's growing crooked, but grown an inch since thanksgiving, maybe it's still producing roots?









And here's a shot on how the intake tube has filled in.


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## Dollface (Sep 30, 2008)

CL was right, that subwassertang did make some cool little bushes. did you tie it to rocks or is it growing right from the substrate?


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## pandapr (Nov 10, 2008)

I'm interested in some subwassertang !!

who have some for sale ??


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## frogmanjared (Feb 21, 2008)

Dollface said:


> CL was right, that subwassertang did make some cool little bushes. did you tie it to rocks or is it growing right from the substrate?


I tied it to rocks using fishing line, and buried the rocks into the substrate.


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## danakin (Jun 8, 2007)

The subwassertang looks amazing! Wish I could find some around here. 

Gave my wife one of these tanks and haven't had much luck with it (trying to make it a grassy field, just as a farm to reduce costs for planting our future tank  ), but yours is looking pretty darn good. 

One advantage to a hex tank, you can double your fish count when looking at it on the right angle!


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## frogmanjared (Feb 21, 2008)

I did a trim on the Subwassertang a couple weeks ago, it has yet to fill in. The D. diandra is dividing again, but growing slow. All the algae growth has come to a screeching halt since dosing excel daily! The only problem I see is that the pennywort is disintegrating from the lower leaves, not at a faster rate than it's growing though. What type of deficiency is it? This has never happened to them before and it's starting in one of my other tanks with java fern.









D. diandra... sorry for the yellowishness of this photo! You can see the pennywort to the right of it, the rate has seemed to slow a bit, but still happening.


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## frogmanjared (Feb 21, 2008)

*Awesome!*

I wish all my tanks looked this good! The subwassertang has filled in, and some more in just one month! I'll have to sell some off soon when it encroaches too much on my little plants in the open, so keep an eye out on the S&S boards. The D. diandra hasn't got much height to it, but it keeps dividing, looks like a tree. This pic was taken after feeding time, so they're still cleaning up the scraps.


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## Phoenix-cry (Dec 25, 2008)

Wow! That is looking amazing!!!!


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## mithrius (Apr 28, 2009)

that bushy sub stuff looks so good!  it filled in nicely.
its hard to see your shrimps, which is too bad, but im sure they are easier to spot in real life.
very cute tank.. i like that u can see from almost all the sides.


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## frogmanjared (Feb 21, 2008)

*Let it overgrow... time to start over!*

Ugh...I got frustrated with this tank because the acrylic has been scratched and there's algae that is impossible to remove, so it has been a while since I'd done anything with it. I was just shoving the subwassertang into corners until I realized I had way to much... I took nearly all of it out, and had 2 gallons worth!!! The RCS colony has hit a bottleneck, and there are no remaining males :icon_sad: so I think it'll be used for my best looking "breeders" of whatever type of live-bearer I get, or used as a fry grow out tank.

The C. parva has done great, from the 3 plants I started with I now have 7-8! I need a taller plant to put in the back, maybe some java fern if I can get the plantlets in my 1.5 to grow nicely they'll be an option, or just let the E. tenellus spread.

The plants now are:

Cryptocoryne parva
Echinodorus tenellus
Süßwassertang


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## frogmanjared (Feb 21, 2008)

I added a string of L. brasiliensis and a stem of Egeria densa to see if they'll do well. Also added a few java fern plantlets of the ones remaining from the 10 gal.


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## frogmanjared (Feb 21, 2008)

Figured I would take a picture of the tank with my new camera! Couldn't get the color right though... its raining outside, usually photograph this one when its sunny out. I've added 2 stems of R. rotundifolia, and if they do well, I might alternate it with E. densa for a background plant.










I've also got some real annoying algae that clumps the substrate and it loves my C. parva! I believe its cladophora... anyone give me a positive ID?


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## frogmanjared (Feb 21, 2008)

*'The Birthing Suite'*

I've come to realize that this tank will never see its former glory again... so I've decided to take a totally different approach. Since java fern, rotala, and subwassertang refuse to grow in this tank anymore its going to look quite different. My plan is to use the tank as a fry raising tank for my platies. I added a C. retrospiralis, a few Ludwigia repens x arcuata and an Anubias barteri 'nana'. There are still a few pieces of subwassertang stuck in the substrate, so I'm secretly hoping they will magically decide to grow once again someday.


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## frogmanjared (Feb 21, 2008)

*Baby C's first fish tank!*

My wife said she wanted a fish tank for the baby's room... can you believe it... SHE said another fish tank! While I was excited at first, I decided to move the 5 gal. I wasn't sure I'd be able to keep up with 3 tanks with an infant. We went to look at Bettas, and found a healthy delta tail, which I think looks more like a super delta tail, (because petco always correctly labels their livestock, right!). I've got my fruit fly culture going, the platys in the 10 also love them. 

This is the best pic I could take, I know the outside glass is dirty.









Here is Triton... he's blue with a turquoise metallic sheen. When he first got into the tank he would brush up against a plant and flare, I guess he was showing those plants whose boss!









This is the best shot I could get while he was flaring... never stopped moving!









Now all were waiting for is the baby... tomorrow is the due date!


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