# Office Nano: 3 Gallon Iwagumi (coming to an end)



## Rehype (Jan 20, 2012)

Looks really good so far. Are you planning to cover the tank while the h grows in?


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

Rehype said:


> Looks really good so far. Are you planning to cover the tank while the h grows in?


Yeah, it has saran wrap on it now. I just took the pics before I put it on since saran wrapped tanks aren't real sexy and all. 

The plan is to open it up each day, do an air exchange and mist it, and then cover it back up. Except Saturday and Sunday since I'm not there. I hope it'll be okay missing 2 days each week.

It's also tilted back now to help even out the water in the soil for the slope.


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## Couesfanatic (Sep 28, 2009)

looks good. I just bought the same light. I'm curious to see what it will do.


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## Bluek24a4 (Mar 16, 2010)

That's a beautiful little office tank.


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

Thanks for the compliments!



Couesfanatic said:


> looks good. I just bought the same light. I'm curious to see what it will do.


I'm guessing that once I put water in it I'll have to raise the light. The top of the hill in the back left corner is 5" from light and the lowest in the front is 7" from the light. At these distances the back corner is probably in the neighbor hood of 60+ par and the front is probably 50ish. Without injecting CO2, I could end up with an algae farm at those light levels, but hard to know if I'm dosing excel.

The light would be very easy to hang since there is a cabinet over that part of my desk. As you know, Finnex has a great PAR chart, so it'll be pretty easy to adjust the light as needed and then watch the plants respond. Raising it 12" above the lowest substrate would probably give me 25-30 par all around. Proper light will be somewhere between the two.

I don't need to get fast growth once it's filled in — since I'm doing DSM it'll already be filled in. I just need enough light to keep it nice and healthy. I have no idea how much PAR that will be. It'll be a fun experiment though. It'd be great to find a balance where excel, some ferts, and the right light level will allow it to sustain a healthy life once it's well rooted and filled in.

All of the HC in the pic (3 pots worth) was only $18 from my LFS, so it'll be a cheap experiment either way.


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## AlexDrops (Jun 20, 2012)

Looks great!


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

So the Zoo Med filter came last week. I don't need it for another month, but I figured I'd play around with it. It's rated to 79 GPH, but everybody says that's not even close and that it's only good for < 5 gallon tanks. That's what I was hoping for because 79 GPH in this thing would be a whirlpool.

I ran a whole bunch of tests on it and discovered that mine will pump a "real world 32" gallons per hour when it filled with it's provided media and sponge, plus 1 additional cut to size AquaClear sponge, and using 40" worth of 5/16" hose on both the intake and output. That's plenty of flow for this little nano tank, and will turn over the water 10x per hour. I'm happy with the test results.

I tested further because I want to mount the canister filter under my desk. Lots of google searching speculated it won't work well, but in my real tests it didn't matter if it was at the same height as the tank, 18" lower, or even 3 feet lower. It still pumps water at the same 32 GPH rate at any height.

We'll see how it does as it gets gunked up, but preliminary tests are good for use on my little project here.


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## andrewss (Oct 17, 2012)

beautiful lil tank - cant wait to see it develop


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

Since it's in my office and I have a couple of computers in here (I'm an IT manager), I decided to hook up a webcam to it. It's taking a picture every 30 minutes. I plan on making a time lapse of the HC growing in over a month.

I have no idea if it'll pan out, but if it does it should be kind of cool. Hopefully it works out and I don't have to take the webcam down for some reason. Or, hopefully the HC doesn't die on me and make this an epic fail video.

In addition, there is a live webcam image in the first post now.


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## bitFUUL (May 14, 2010)

Hey, good luck with your new tank! 
I just broke down my same exact tank a few days ago, doing a 3 gal iwagumi of HC isn't easy. At least it required more attention than I was willing to give. Keep us posted, and here is my journal on it: http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=111058

Also, got more info on how you automated the webcam/shots?


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

bitFUUL said:


> Hey, good luck with your new tank!
> I just broke down my same exact tank a few days ago, doing a 3 gal iwagumi of HC isn't easy. At least it required more attention than I was willing to give. Keep us posted, and here is my journal on it: http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=111058
> 
> Also, got more info on how you automated the webcam/shots?


I'm not too worried about maintenance. It's at work with me, so I sit right next to it for almost 9 hours a day. I take about a 1 hour lunch break every day, so I have built-in time to mess with it. We'll see how it goes though.

As for the webcam, I'm using a free piece of software called ImageCaster on the Mac. It has a lot of control over size, overlay, format, multiple schedules, etc, and even handles doing a secure copy to my remote web server. One schedule keeps a single image updated every 30 seconds (the one in teh first post), and a different schedule takes a picture every 30 minutes and increments the file names so as to not overwrite previous shots. One month of growth over a time lapse should be about 15 seconds long at 30 fps. It's the only piece of software I'm using, and everything is built-in. The webcam is a Logitech QuickCam Pro.


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## chunkychun (Apr 6, 2012)

Nice! Hope u post the time lapse that would be cool


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## CPDzeke (Jan 4, 2013)

Bump, the HC looks smaller?


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

CPDzeke said:


> Bump, the HC looks smaller?


Yessir. That's new HC, and 1 pot less of it. 

If you want, I could put together a time lapse of HC starting to grow and then about 1.5-2 weeks in start to go brown and shrink. :icon_sad:

I went on vacation and didn't have any holes poked in the top. Mold grew in quickly, and by the time I got back to work there wasn't much I could do. I tired for a week or so to revive it, but then gave up and pulled it all. 

I was busy for a week at work so I just put 2 new pots of HC in on Tuesday. I poked holes in the top this time, so we'll see how it goes. 

My web cam isn't updating because I updated my web server. I should get that fixed this weekend.


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

Just an update here. It's been a slow process, but quite a learning experience. First off, as I mentioned, I killed all of my HC by letting it get too humid and then mold took over. If you want to see what HC looks like wilting away and dying, here is a time lapse video. This video covers a mere 2 week period.

Youtube: HC Dry Start Faulre

I took a couple of weeks off from the project after the monumental failure, mainly to make sure that all of the mold was killed, and so that the Fluval stratum could recover.

I replanted on February 26th (about a month ago), and I used roughly 1/3-1/2 as much HC this time. The plan was to take it slow, let the tank breath much better, and keep a very close eye on how the plants react to changes. I have found that at least in this small of a tank, you really need to leave it mostly open. I have the saran wrap loosely fitted with a 1" wide air gap, in addition to holes in it. I just wet it down every to every other day and keep the soil moist. It seems to be going quite well. It would be further along, except that I accidentally sprayed a little excel over all the HC, and then it just started shrinking hard and fast within a day. I forgot I had excel in the spray bottle from when I killed the mold. Within a few squirts I could smell it and I stopped right away, but it did NOT like that. I was able to recover it (that was about 2 weeks ago), and now it's growing like gangbusters.

Here is what it looked like on the webcam immediately after planting:










This is what it looks like right now (April 30th). It really started taking off just over a week ago, and it's doing really well! The HC is rooting all the way to the bottom of the soil (1" deep in the shallow areas).










Here is a better picture so you can see how it's filling in between the rocks.










I don't plan on filling with water until I have 100% coverage with the HC. It's definitely slow growing on the right side. I might spritz a tiny bit of ferts over there to see how it reacts. I've also seen almost no growth to the left of the big rock. That HC is in the shade. I've added a light (not pictured) to hit it from the side, so hopefully that helps. I can aways transplant some of the HC that's really thick if I need to. If I transplant, however, I'll have to wait at least 2 more weeks to let it root before I can add water. 

I'm not in any hurry though. This is just a fun little science project on my desk at work. It's fun to see how much people drop in now to check out the plant growth though. One guy is obsessed with me getting water in it. It's quite funny.


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## jbrady33 (Jun 7, 2012)

Cool little tank! I saw "3 gallon" and thought it would be a fellow Picotoper


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## Vepr (Jan 30, 2009)

I am jealous, very nice setup. I am tempted to add a tank to my office but I am afraid I would not get any work done and would just fiddle with my tank all day. :smile:


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## frrok (May 22, 2011)

*Office Nano: 3 Gallon Iwagumi*

I had a similar issue with my dry-start. Great little nano. I guess it doesn't need to be that humid.


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## jbrady33 (Jun 7, 2012)

Vepr said:


> I am jealous, very nice setup. I am tempted to add a tank to my office but I am afraid I would not get any work done and would just fiddle with my tank all day. :smile:


Wear a headset, fiddle your way through worthless conference calls - that's what I do!


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

frrok said:


> I had a similar issue with my dry-start. Great little nano. I guess it doesn't need to be that humid.


Yeah, I honestly don't think that HC needs to be humid at all. You just need to keep the soil wet. At least that's what I've found, but then again I'm working in a very small environment, so larger tanks may react differently.

One cool think about having a webcam take pics ever 15 minutes is that I can compare very easily what's happening. The most impressive thing is how much these plants grow over night in the dark. They grow a ton in the dark.


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## frrok (May 22, 2011)

*Office Nano: 3 Gallon Iwagumi*



AnotherHobby said:


> Yeah, I honestly don't think that HC needs to be humid at all. You just need to keep the soil wet. At least that's what I've found, but then again I'm working in a very small environment, so larger tanks may react differently.
> 
> One cool think about having a webcam take pics ever 15 minutes is that I can compare very easily what's happening. The most impressive thing is how much these plants grow over night in the dark. They grow a ton in the dark.


Wow. Cool. 

I'm starting a mini-m so it's not that big. I'm going to see if I can get away with taking the Saran Wrap half way off. Thanks!


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## Vepr (Jan 30, 2009)

jbrady33 said:


> Wear a headset, fiddle your way through worthless conference calls - that's what I do!


I will probably break down next month. I have wanted to set up a planted Betta tank for awhile. You tank has given me some inspiration.


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

Vepr said:


> I will probably break down next month. I have wanted to set up a planted Betta tank for awhile. You tank has given me some inspiration.


The nice thing about an office setup is that I have way more patience with it. I have my main tank at home, and it would be hard to have this much patience with it. This is like a hobby of my hobby.


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

The webcam is back live in the first post! It is updated every 30 seconds during the photo period, so if you want to see how it's looking, the last pic in the first post is always current. 

The HC is really taking off now. I've adjusted the lighting a bit to help out 2 areas. I added an external light to the left of the main rock to help the plants over there take off better. There is enough light to sustain them, but they grow incredibly slow. I think they'll be fine when it fills in. I also took the Finnex light and turned it diagonally and put it mostly over the right side of the tank. Growth has been slower over there.

I've also pulled up some HC from the really thick areas and transplanted it to the left of the big rock and over on the right side to help fill those areas in faster. I'm going to be on vacation mid next week, so if it's filled in good when I get back on the 20th, it might be time to fill it up with water. I'm not in a rush though, as this has been a really fun experiment. The time lapse of the current growth is very cool, and I can't wait to see it fully completed.

Here is how it looks now from a better angle than the webcam gives. If you compare to the pic a few posts up from 9 days ago, you'll see that it's doing well.


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## rygar126 (Oct 16, 2004)

hey great job! im doing something similar to your setup. i was wondering if youre fertilizing WHILE youre doing the dry start? i just have fluval stratum and was planning on misting with water/flouish and excel maybe. what are your thoughts?


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

Fertilizing is unnecessary. All of that growth is without it. That said, it'd probably go faster with some root tabs. Last week I grabbed some ferts out of my fridge and fed them a little. The next day they were melting. If you look at the current pic in the first post, it's gone downhill fast. 

I was pretty confused at first, but then recall that I put excel in my ferts to keep them from getting mold. I'm fairly certain that's the killer again. I feel like a total idiot for forgetting that. That's now 3 times I've halted progress and killed plants during this dry start. I'm a bit frustrated with myself.


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## rygar126 (Oct 16, 2004)

AnotherHobby said:


> Fertilizing is unnecessary. All of that growth is without it. That said, it'd probably go faster with some root tabs. Last week I grabbed some ferts out of my fridge and fed them a little. The next day they were melting. If you look at the current pic in the first post, it's gone downhill fast.
> 
> I was pretty confused at first, but then recall that I put excel in my ferts to keep them from getting mold. I'm fairly certain that's the killer again. I feel like a total idiot for forgetting that. That's now 3 times I've halted progress and killed plants during this dry start. I'm a bit frustrated with myself.


wow im sorry to hear. that really is frustrating. i appreciate your advice tho because i was just about to fertilize with that same mix. why do you think the tabs would be better? doesnt flourish contain the same stuff and more?


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

rygar126 said:


> wow im sorry to hear. that really is frustrating. i appreciate your advice tho because i was just about to fertilize with that same mix. why do you think the tabs would be better? doesnt flourish contain the same stuff and more?


I'm no expert by any means. I've killed my HC completely once, and almost killed it twice now. It's been 4 months and I still don't have water in it. As such, I'm not sure I'd listen to me. :redface:

This is just a fun little experiment, and every time it starts going well I seem to kill it. :frown:

So, flourish might work great. I just said root tabs because I know people use them.


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## rygar126 (Oct 16, 2004)

AnotherHobby said:


> I'm no expert by any means. I've killed my HC completely once, and almost killed it twice now. It's been 4 months and I still don't have water in it. As such, I'm not sure I'd listen to me. :redface:
> 
> This is just a fun little experiment, and every time it starts going well I seem to kill it. :frown:
> 
> So, flourish might work great. I just said root tabs because I know people use them.


thanks! i'll try the flourish in the mister. you can track my journal if you want.


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

AnotherHobby said:


> Last week I grabbed some ferts out of my fridge and fed them a little. The next day they were melting. If you look at the current pic in the first post, it's gone downhill fast.
> 
> I was pretty confused at first, but then recall that I put excel in my ferts to keep them from getting mold. I'm fairly certain that's the killer again. I feel like a total idiot for forgetting that. That's now 3 times I've halted progress and killed plants during this dry start. I'm a bit frustrated with myself.


As I had mentioned 2 weeks ago, I was a [curse word] [curse word] and crashed my DSM by not leaving it alone. After 2 weeks, the situation has stabilized (HC stopped dying), so I dropped in some more HC to help fill back in faster. If I hadn't have killed it off so much, the tank would be flooded right now. 

Anyway, here is the final kill off photo taken this morning before replanting. As you can see it's fairly substantial:










Here is how it looks now that I've filled it back in with about $10 worth of HC from the LFS:










I'll probably have to wait 2 weeks no matter what just to let the new stuff take root or it'll float. And from what I've seen after planting twice so far is that it takes 2 weeks before the new stuff starts spreading anyway.

This will probably go down in history as the slowest DSM ever performed. :redface:

The good thing is it's just sitting on my desk at work, so it's a fun learning experience and I'm not really bent out of shape over any of it. :smile:


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## CPDzeke (Jan 4, 2013)

I have a bowl that's been DSMing for 3 months with just a few HC trimmings, it's almost fully carpeted now.
Which LFS did you go to? Tropiquatics, WOF, Wet World, Terre-Quatics, etc?


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

CPDzeke said:


> I have a bowl that's been DSMing for 3 months with just a few HC trimmings, it's almost fully carpeted now.


LOL! Must be a Minnesota thing. :smile:


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## bitFUUL (May 14, 2010)

You're not the only one... My Mr. Aqua 3 gallon bow-back did the same thing. Every few months I pull it out and reattempt. Just keep at it, can't wait to see you flood it, loving the scape!


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

bitFUUL said:


> You're not the only one... My Mr. Aqua 3 gallon bow-back did the same thing. Every few months I pull it out and reattempt. Just keep at it, can't wait to see you flood it, loving the scape!


Thanks for encouragement bump! I was super excited for the first month or two, and the excitement has been slowly simmering down. It's hard to stay excited for months on end while you literally watch grass grow. Then you kill it. Then you watch more grow, only to then mostly kill it again. Then you watch it bounce back really strong and are just a week or two away... And then almost completely kill it again. :icon_cry:

That said, I can't wait to flood it! I still love the scape, and above all, I'm learning a ton from the whole thing. :thumbsup:


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## bbqthis (Nov 7, 2012)

Updates??? I wanna see this tank flooded!


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

bbqthis said:


> Updates??? I wanna see this tank flooded!


I do too!! :bounce:

It's killing me.

If you look at the live webcam at the bottom of the first post, you can see the HC is filling in pretty good. I really want 100% coverage first. I'm thinking < 2 weeks to flood. The HC is growing pretty fast right now.

Once flooded I have to figure out what other plants I want to put in there. Not sure what exactly just yet though...


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

UPDATE: Now that I'm getting closer to flooding the tank, and the HC is really springing to life, I planted some staurogyne repens. I want one more plant for this tank, but I'm not sure what that'll be. I'mm thinking something grassy in the back. Any suggestions?

Here is how the staurogyne repens looks, and you can see how well the HC is filling in:


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## somewhatshocked (Aug 8, 2011)

Looking great.

You should consider sticking with just the plants you've got at the moment. I promise it's going to look amazing once the S. repens adjusts and starts to look thicker and more shrub-like.


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

Yeah, that's a really good point. And being so small at just under 3 gallons, it might get busy.


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## somewhatshocked (Aug 8, 2011)

Some will tell you that you need taller background plants but I disagree. The rocks and S. repens will provide a decent sense of height. 

Only thing I would consider is adding a black background to help hide eventual tubing and such.


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## frrok (May 22, 2011)

Kind of similar to my scape. I just trimmed my s.repens back. Don't be afraid when you flood, to do this. Because the emmersed leaves will melt once flooded. As long as there are solid roots they will grow back thicker.


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

*FLOODING THE TANK TOMORROW!* :bounce:

The s.repens came from an existing tank (Tom Barr's). After looking into the s.repens going from immersed to emersed and then back to immersed, I could have some leaf issues. I don't think that's the best course of action. I've decided to just flood the tank. The filter (already seeded on my other tank), lily pipes, excel, ferts, 1 gallon jug, tubing, and everything I need are at home. I'm bringing it all into work tomorrow and will be flooding the tank a little after 7am.

The HC has one heck of a good start, so I think everything should be fine. I would have preferred 100% HC coverage, but I don't feel like waiting 2 more weeks. It's been WAY TOO LONG already!


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## frrok (May 22, 2011)

Good idea. S repens may have died back otherwise.


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

And... BOOM!


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## somewhatshocked (Aug 8, 2011)

Looking great.

As the S. repens grows, keeping it short in the front and taller/bushier in the back will add some terrific depth. It will be especially helpful to have depth like that if there's no background to prevent distractions from the rear of the tank.


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

Thanks! By the way, I thought I saw you (or maybe it was Hoppy) mention somewhere that you can reduce PAR on the Finnex fixtures by a certain percent with a certain number of layers of fiberglass screen. Where it sits right now, it's just 6" above the substrate, so it's blasting about 60 PAR with no CO2 (I'm planning on just using Excel). I think it'd be best to cut that about in half since I'm not trying to raise an algae farm, but I don't want to raise it up 6" more. 

Do you recall if it's just 1 layer of screen to cut it in half?


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## Vermino (Jun 14, 2012)

I love the Tropica 049's, it really is going to look great with your HC carpet. Did you every say what you might be putting into your tank; fauna wise?


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

I just ordered 7 crystal red shrimp. I'm undecided if I'll put a few nano fish in there (like little rasboras or endlers).


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

Lots of perling this morning:


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

Here is an HD time lapse video of the full DSM period and the filling of the tank. It's pretty cool, and you can see the 2 times I almost killed everything with Excel.


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

This morning I put 1 layer of fiberglass window screen over the light to cut down the PAR. At just 6" off the substrate, the Finnex Fuge Ray is pushing out 62 PAR. With no CO2, this is asking for an algae farm, and with CO2 it'd be faster growth than I want to deal with at work. 

Without the screen yesterday, the HC was perling like crazy. See the pic 2 posts above. With the screen in place, it still perls, but it's far less action... probably 1/10th the bubbles. I cut it perfectly to size and used double sided tape to attach it. You cannot see the screen at all unless you pick the light up and turn it over.










I brought in the D7000 today to get a much better full tank shot. 










And I must say, it's just a joy to see this little nano tank next to me at work all day.


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## Vermino (Jun 14, 2012)

wow I couldn't deal with having my monitors on either side of me. But very nice setup and I love the youtube time elapse DSM - you don't see those kinds of videos much


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

Vermino said:


> wow I couldn't deal with having my monitors on either side of me.


The back monitor is second computer for R&D and testing. My main computer is the laptop, which just runs it's own screen and the monitor right in front of me.


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## jbrady33 (Jun 7, 2012)

I have a somewhat similar situation - a mounted dual screen for a desktop in front of me, a single screen laptop on my right hand and my 3 gallon nano shrimp tank on my left. 

The tank might not get the most viewing time, but it is certainly the most pleasant! :smile:


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## bitFUUL (May 14, 2010)

Awesome full tank shot, this is probably the best Mr. Aqua 3gal tank I've seen! Keep taking shots over the next few days, I'm curious how your tank will adjust with high light and no co2/ferts.


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## frrok (May 22, 2011)

No co2 and HC?? Has it been done successfully? Yes, but not often. Good luck! Sick little desktop setup.


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

bitFUUL said:


> Awesome full tank shot, this is probably the best Mr. Aqua 3gal tank I've seen! Keep taking shots over the next few days, I'm curious how your tank will adjust with high light and no co2/ferts.


Thank you! I'm very curious as well. I have a DIY CO2 setup all ready to go if this doesn't go well.



frrok said:


> No co2 and HC?? Has it been done successfully? Yes, but not often. Good luck! Sick little desktop setup.


Yes it has, but not by me, and I'm no expert. I'll need all the luck I can get, so I appreciate the offer of luck! 

Following many threads by Tom Barr and others, HC supposedly responds remarkably well to Excel (under water). If it doesn't pan out, I'm very comfortable with CO2 and built my on reg setup for my main home tank, and have done DIY as well.


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## PeterN1986 (Jun 15, 2011)

AnotherHobby said:


> Thank you! I'm very curious as well. I have a DIY CO2 setup all ready to go if this doesn't go well.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Wow great job with the HC and it pearling! Your patience has paid off I think. I tried DSM for HC back in January, and flooded in March but it didn't quite work out. The way your HC is now is EXACTLY what I had envisioned for my attempt. I'm glad it's working out! Certainly do Excel/EI ferts to maintain it submerged.


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## Charrr89 (May 15, 2013)

Wow that took ALOT. Of patience. Nice tank!!


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## melanotaenia (Mar 26, 2013)

Looks good! You can tell that HC is just dying for CO2


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

melanotaenia said:


> Looks good! You can tell that HC is just dying for CO2


Don't torture me. :icon_cry:

I'm fine with incredibly slow growth. It already looks fantastic. I just don't want it to die.


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## FlyingHellFish (Nov 5, 2011)

Your office is awesome! I like your set up, it's very nice. Multiple monitors, and maybe multiple tanks?  

Here is some things to consider, I know people say it's been done, etc, etc, where you have HC Cuba and no Co2 and only excel but, that depends on a lot of things. All that healthy and amazing growth was done in a way where the plants had a ton of Co2, now you got the plants relying on carbon from excel. 

You either go super slow on growth, where the plants basically grow at a rate that just prevents them from dying, not going to work with that Finnex by the way, or you go Co2. 

You can go the slow way, Excel and Co2 from the break down of organic but that way lies damnation. That the most tedious, not fun, barely even a hobby, way. You're not going to maintain that level of growth from Excel. 

People who do the slow way, they start it off slow and continue slow. People do the dry start method, start it off fast and continue with that pace (or they try to at least). The last thing I want to happen is for you to spent the next 2 weeks watching it melt. 

Pick up a cheap paintball set up, 80 bucks, done. Don't do DIY Co2, that not good enough. Not for that beautiful office and certainly not enough for that beautiful tank.


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

I'm going to watch it close for now. If it starts to take a turn, I can have an 



 sitting in my office in 2 days flat with Amazon Prime. I'd just rather not drop another $100 if I don't have to. Also, I cut the light output of the Finnex in about 1/2 with sheet of window sceen, so it shouldn't be too much light for non-CO2.

On a side note, I have a webcam on the side now so I can peek at the tank when I'm not at work. It's not very interesting yet without any critters, but I have 7 CRS showing up on Monday. The tank is fully cycled, and the water parameters are looking good for CRS.

It updates every 5 seconds from 7am to 3pm CST: Live Webcam


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## lamiskool (Jul 1, 2011)

Thats so cool! Hopefully when I start my office tank ill be able to have a webcam lol also I have two aquatek paintball setup for both my 10 gallons and they were worth every penny.


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

So one of the complications I'll always have to deal with on this tank is that from Friday at 4pm until Monday at 7am, I'll be away from it. Today I looked at my webcam and I'm noticing algae growth on the walls of the tank already. I really want to scrub it off, but I can't until tomorrow. 

Anyway, I happened to grab a 9am shot of the tank yesterday and compared it to this morning at around the same time. I have to say, I don't think I'm worried about HC melt. Look at the amount of HC growth in 24 hours in this animated gif:










Unfortunately, you can also see how quickly the algae is popping up. I think I need to put another layer of screen on the light. I'm guessing it's still too bright. Furthermore, I have no way to dose Excel over the weekend. I am dosing in the morning, and now I'm thinking I should dose Friday when I leave as well. I'm currently dosing 1mL Excel per day.

Either way, growth is excellent, so that makes me happy, and it looks like non-CO2 growth should be okay. Even the s. repens is growing fast in 24 hours. I'm just really hoping I can get the lights to a level were the plants are still happy and the algae is held at bay, otherwise I may still need CO2.

EDIT: Upon further reading, it appears to be diatom growth and is totally normal in new tanks, so I'm okay with that. Lights may be fine for now. As such the real update is that I'm seeing good growth so far!


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## rustbucket (Oct 15, 2011)

Tank looks great, and I love the picture!!


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

Thanks!

Current water parameters should be fine for CRS:

KH = 3
GH = 6
TDS = 215
Temp = 72° (always constant... office temp)

A little bit of the s. repens is melting since I filled the tank. I think this is from shipping since the exact same s. repens I put in my home tank is melting some as well. Otherwise, all of the HC looks good this morning and has grown since I saw it last Thursday (as also seen in the pic).

How thick should I let the carpet grow? I'm thinking 1/2-3/4" or so as it gets established.


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

Mail came... no shrimp yet.


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## Vermino (Jun 14, 2012)

AnotherHobby said:


> Mail came... no shrimp yet.


 Dont you hate those days... Just waiting for that package to arrive


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

Vermino said:


> Dont you hate those days... Just waiting for that package to arrive


Yes — it's torture!

I found out the package couldn't get shipped out until today, which is fine. It'll just be later this week. Probably best anyway since the tank is so new.


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## Psiorian (Jun 23, 2013)

I want to create a tank similar to this at my work. It is stable on the weekends? Even during the DSM?


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

It was very stable during the DSM period. I found that at least in this little tank, I didn't actually want that high of humidity. The HC grew faster when the leaves were dry, as long as the soil and roots were wet. So I'd make sure it was sprayed down good before I left on Friday, and then make sure the saran wrap was slightly tighter than usual, although not completely sealed. I had many holes poked in the wrap. It was always fine. If the glass got any moisture on it, I knew it was too damp. 

When I was off for more than just the weekend, I had a coworker take care of it for me, and he did an excellent job.

As for moving forward, we'll see. It hasn't been flooded long enough to make that judgement, but I'm expecting it'll be just fine.


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

Woohoo! My nano tank is now home to 7 little CRS!

They are pretty small... but they will grow... and hopefully breed.


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## Fuzz (Mar 13, 2011)

That looks great! I would love to do a small nano iwagumi like that, and the way it is scaped makes it look way bigger than it really is. The tank you have is really neat with the bowed front, I think I found my next project


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## Vermino (Jun 14, 2012)

wow those little guys look awesome.


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## assasin6547 (Feb 6, 2013)

Sweet HC and shrimp!

Good luck on eradicating that algae!


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

assasin6547 said:


> Sweet HC and shrimp!
> 
> Good luck on eradicating that algae!


Thanks! Luckily it's not algae it's diatoms.


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## PeterN1986 (Jun 15, 2011)

All that pearling, with no CO2. I am jealous. Are you dosing EI/Excel?


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

PeterN1986 said:


> All that pearling, with no CO2. I am jealous. Are you dosing EI/Excel?


I am dosing Excel and a reduced version of EI (somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2). The pearling was pretty nuts with the lights at first, but I dimmed them with some screen. They still perl some, but nothing like the first days. With that much light, I think I'd be algae city without real CO2.


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

My HC is doing well, but my s. repens has melted quite a bit. Here is a pic of it. You can see the stem on the left (and pointing left) with no leaves, and the plant in the middle looking pretty poor also. Several of the others look similar. Ignoring the diatoms from being a new tank, is this kind of melt normal and an adjustment thing, or do you think I'm just slowly loosing them?


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## Vermino (Jun 14, 2012)

is there new buds growing in the middle of the stem? I found all mine melted most of their old leaves and creating new buds of leaves from either different water parameters and/or somewhat long transit (from seller to me)


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

It's hard to tell. If I look VERY close, I think there may be, but it's not apparent if those are the stubs of the old leaves or the beginning of new. They came from a tank that I know had a lot of CO2, so I'm hoping it's just adapting. I guess time will tell.


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

Getting quite a bit of diatoms, which the 7 very small CRS won't be able to put much of a dent in. Today I dropped in 7 pretty good sized RCS with the hope that they can clean some of this up.


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## CPDzeke (Jan 4, 2013)

Get an oto. Diatom eating tanks, plus they don't eat shrimp! Or a nerite, but otos don't crawl outside the tank.


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

It's a pretty small tank, but I could probably have 1 or 2. My only concern is do they eat tiny baby shrimp? I really want them the CRS to breed before I add any fish.


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## CPDzeke (Jan 4, 2013)

Depends. You can just get a little one then move it, or try to identify the species at the LFS and get a small one. I have a real big oto in my 3g, and Kiran at one point had 7 CPDs plus an oto in his 3g, so you should be fine.


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

I will see how the shrimp do over the weekend. Good point that I could always move them back to my main aquarium at home.


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## sacme (Apr 3, 2013)

I've just read this whole thread in one sitting. Amazing set up, my HC has been in a DSM for 46 days (20l) its been killing me but I'm still looking around for a good co2 rig for a decent price. Its my first tank and reading this thread has helped me understand a lot. I hope my HC doesn't melt after the DSM just as much as I hope yours doesn't either.


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

Thanks! I hope it doesn't melt too. It has definitely grown since flooding, but at only 9 days old, it's hard to judge if it will or not. This time lapse is from this week (Monday-Friday), starting just 4 days after I flooded the tank. You can definitely see the HC still growing (and the pearling looks cool if you flip to 720p!):






I switched to a better camera angle today, so hopefully the time lapses look better in the future. That side shot wasn't that great.

Be patient with the DSM. Once the HC roots, it actually fills in pretty quick. As far as CO2 goes, I built my own using a dual stage regulator for my home setup, and I found it really rewarding.


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## sacme (Apr 3, 2013)

The webcam slideshows are really neat! 
I started off with 4 plants covering the bottom and they rooted about 2 weeks ago and have begun to take off. I've heard great things about CO2 but never had any experience, how do you like it? I'm looking into an aquatek regulator with a 2.5-5 lbs tank. Do you think that would fair well for a 20g?


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

I love having CO2. When I was looking at regulators, I was going to get one from GLA. I don't know much about the commercial units though, because once I figured out I could build a super high quality dual stage unit for the same price, I went that route. If you are handy, it's not really that hard. Lots of people on here can help you and also supply parts. Some even build them.

I used diffusers for the first couple of months, but got sick of them quickly. Last week I made a cerges reactor and love it. No more hoses and CO2 gear in the tank, no more bubbles in the tank, and no more clogged ceramic discs.


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## Vermino (Jun 14, 2012)

AnotherHobby said:


> It's a pretty small tank, but I could probably have 1 or 2. My only concern is do they eat tiny baby shrimp? I really want them the CRS to breed before I add any fish.


I wouldn't put an oto in a 3 gallon. You know I like pushing the boundaries with what people recommend but 3 gallons is definitely too small of a tank even for one oto (plus they are shoaling fish, so a group of 3 or more oto's are recommended) You could possible buy an SAE (Siamese's algae eater), I believe they keep hair algae and diatoms in check till the blooming phase passes. (diatoms typically a sign of a new tank, they go away over time) Once your done with the SAE, you can just give back to the LPS or find someone that wants him/her. RCS and Amano's should take care of the diatoms as well, so just let them do their job.

Also, don't get your hopes up breeding with shrimp in a 3 gallon. I haven't heard many people achieving this even if it was RCS's in a nano tank. Now you can always throw them into a 10+ gallon breeder tank for a month and start a colony pretty quick.


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## Vermino (Jun 14, 2012)

also, your back staurogyne repens are showing new growth which is good.


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

Yeah, I had read up on otos and came to that same conclusion. Even if you could biologically filter it, you'd have some very unhappy fish. I'm sure the shrimp will do cleanup duty. For now I'm going to try and not change anything and just observe. I like to tinker, so it'll be good for me.


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

Well it's been about 3 weeks since flooding the tank, and some stuff is going well while other stuff isn't. The HC seems to have transitioned just fine to immersed growth. In general, it's doing okay. 

Nearly all of the s. repens I got has died, which is really lame. There is one lone s. repens survivor in the back. I'm assuming it's because I got it from Tom Barr's CO2 tank and it just didn't transition well to my water parameters. I'll probably pull it and find something else to plant in here.

The biggest annoyance right now is diatoms. Lots of it (quite visible in the webcam and the pictures below). I know it'll go away and it's common with new tanks, but it's really annoying. If I don't clean it off the HC, it blocks out the light for that area of the plant and kills it. Overall, the HC is doing pretty well, but there are some melted areas from the diatoms.

I can fully conclude that I don't like Fluval Shrimp Stratum at all. It looks nice, but that's about it. It crumbles easy and doesn't hold plants well. The HC struggles to stay planted in it because it's so light. This is super annoying when I'm trying to clean diatoms off the HC. How much do I not like it? I have a ton of aquasoil left over from my Fallen Tree Branch 60P project, and I'm tempted to pull all of the shrimp from this tank and move them to my tank at home, and then pull all of the HC, clean off the diatoms, and redo this tank with Aquasoil. Will I? Probably not, but maybe, and that's how I feel about FSS. I might cycle enough at home just to leach the ammonia out in case I decide to do it.

The CRS in this tank are doing well. They are growing, molting, and appear to be pretty happy little critters. I had also tossed in some fully grown RCS to help clean up the diatoms, and they have now produced some offspring. I think one was berried when I tossed in there. Well now I've spotted at least 3 tiny little shrimp. 

Full Tank Shot (you can see my diatom issue):










As you can see, as long as it's not getting smothered by diatoms, the HC is doing pretty well so far:










Here is an area where the diatoms were on the HC for a while and blocked out enough light where it started going clear and melting:


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## Vermino (Jun 14, 2012)

I'm ain't gonna lie, aquasoil (powder) isn't going to keep your HC down any better. I hope the RCS do their job.


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

Vermino said:


> I'm ain't gonna lie, aquasoil (powder) isn't going to keep your HC down any better. I hope the RCS do their job.


I've had aquasoil amazonia in my other tank(s) for about 8 months now, and it definitely holds plants down much better than the FSS in this tank. Having both at the same time makes it easy to compare.


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## Rodneywt1180b (Jun 22, 2013)

I just finished reading thru your thread. Very neat tank, I love the way you set it up. I hope you get the rest of the kinks worked out of it. The results will be well worth your effort. Nice to see HC growing w/o CO2 and high lights in an aquarium though I doubt I'll be trying that any time soon.
Rodney


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

The lights are definitely not high. I have window screen over the FugeRay, so it's cut by about 40% brightness. The HC doesn't perl anymore, which is a good sign if you aren't going for fast growth. If it was high light, it'd be an algae farm.

Who knows... I may give up and go paintball CO2 on this little tank someday, but not without a solid effort first.


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## Psiorian (Jun 23, 2013)

AnotherHobby said:


> The lights are definitely not high. I have window screen over the FugeRay, so it's cut by about 40% brightness. The HC doesn't perl anymore, which is a good sign if you aren't going for fast growth. If it was high light, it'd be an algae farm.
> 
> Who knows... I may give up and go paintball CO2 on this little tank someday, but not without a solid effort first.


I'm hoping it works out for you without CO2, because that will give me hope for my work tank to be a little lower maintenance.

Though paintball is small enough with a nice compact regulator


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## PeterN1986 (Jun 15, 2011)

Boo diatoms. I hope your HC survives through it! Have patience!


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## FlyingHellFish (Nov 5, 2011)

Don't worry bro, my HC Cuba did the same thing and it grew back in no time. The diatom will disappear on it's own, I did some major WC to speed up the process. If you stick through this HC Cuba period, you will end up with a lush carpet!


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

The diatoms have finally finished and have mostly disappeared. A bit more HC died than I would have liked, but it's doing okay. I'm hoping it looks quite a bit better in a few months. My HC grows pretty slow without CO2. :icon_neut


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## borgie28 (Jul 1, 2013)

What lily pipes are you using can't seem to find them online, also are you using the stock tubes with the filter?


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

borgie28 said:


> What lily pipes are you using can't seem to find them online, also are you using the stock tubes with the filter?


Look up ebay item 250470243740. That's what I got. I had to get longer tubing as well for the filter. I just brought it to home depot and got the same size.


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## daygoboiz (Apr 20, 2012)

I just read the whole thread and I hope you come up with a solution soon. I've attempted to grow hc for 2x and failed at the end. Just ordered everything and doing another attempt next week. Your thread is very educated for me. Once again Good Luck!


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## JEFF9922 (May 8, 2013)

I would give anything to have a work desk like that with that nano ,it would make my days so nice looks great 









I brought in the D7000 today to get a much better full tank shot. 










And I must say, it's just a joy to see this little nano tank next to me at work all day.  








[/QUOTE]


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## sevenportsOFFICE (Aug 5, 2013)

That is a cool little tank there


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

Thanks! I really enjoy having it at work. It's a fun conversation piece too. The tank doesn't look nearly as good as the glamour shot I took after I flooded it. There is lots of brown from HC die off from the massive diatom outbreak, but it's slowly recovering. To green it up I added a several stems of Rotala 'Gia Lai' (it has pretty tiny leaves) and some hydrocotyle tripartita japan and 2 little anubias nana petite. Not sure if I'll keep that stuff in there long term or not, but I'm guessing not.

I just did a glass cleaning and water change over lunch. I'll post an up to date pic after the water clears.


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## sevenportsOFFICE (Aug 5, 2013)

AnotherHobby said:


> Thanks! I really enjoy having it at work. It's a fun conversation piece too. The tank doesn't look nearly as good as the glamour shot I took after I flooded it. There is lots of brown from HC die off from the massive diatom outbreak, but it's slowly recovering. To green it up I added a several stems of Rotala 'Gia Lai' (it has pretty tiny leaves) and some hydrocotyle tripartita japan and 2 little anubias nana petite. Not sure if I'll keep that stuff in there long term or not, but I'm guessing not.
> 
> I just did a glass cleaning and water change over lunch. I'll post an up to date pic after the water clears.


Cool! Yeah, every time I would set up a tank on a set or in a business everyone and their mother wanted to come talk and ask question  People get very interested when they see an aquarium. Its awesome, people get very excited.


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

I just snapped this with my iPhone, so it's not the best pic. The water is also still a little cloudy from my cleaning and water change, but this is how it looks today:


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## Bserve (Nov 4, 2012)

Hey, any updates?


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

Bserve said:


> Hey, any updates?


Sure... I went on vacation for a week and it turned into a bit of an algae farm. I had noticed that some hair algae blooming up just before I left, but I couldn't do anything about it. I had a guy at work take care of the tank for me, but it got _bad_ by the time I was back. Not his fault at all, there was nothing he could do.

I pulled out all of my CRS on Wednesday and put them in a temporary 1/2 gallon tank I keep here for emergencies. I put the media and sponges from the filter with them, and then did 2 back to back over the top H2O2 treatments with water changes in between. Then I did a double dose excel treatment. 

After changing the water a final time yesterday, I put the CRS back in, and put the media and sponges back in the filter. Hopefully the algae dies over the next few days. It already looks way better this morning.

The plants all look okay. The HC is still doing quite good, considering no CO2 and low lighting. I'll take a pic next week after the algae goes away.

As for the future of this tank, I'm contemplating a rescape. When I went backpacking/fishing in the Big Horns, I managed to grab some really cool nano sized gnarly wood that would be fun to work with. If I do this, I'll abandon the Iwagumi style and probably stop using HC and try something totally different. It'd be a while out though, because I'd need to pre-cycle the aquasoil that I'd use. 

I'm also contemplating swapping out the tank completely for a 3.4 gallon low iron truAQUA. It'd give me a bit more room, and the low iron tank I have at home spoils me.


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## Psiorian (Jun 23, 2013)

That'll be cool! Get the new tank  maybe don't rescape. Just put the new tank next to this one.


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## tylergvolk (Jun 17, 2012)

How is this tank coming along?

Are you still using Excel Only?


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

It's all actually going quite well. 

I haven't been using anything for the last few months. Since my last post, I have not added a single drop of excel or ferts. It's now 100% low tech. I had some HC die off after I treaded for algae, but since then it's been doing just fine. I haven't even trimmed a single plant.

All I do now is scrub a the front glass every couple of weeks. I'm getting almost no algae (just a dusting on the side and back glass), and everything seems happy. I haven't scrubbed the sides or back since the treatment, so what you can see below is 3 months worth.

I might start dosing a tiny bit of ferts and excel soon so that I can stimulate some more HC growth, but otherwise everything is going well.

I only have my iPhone with me today, so this is the best pic I can muster:


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## quark (Jan 10, 2014)

Nice tank! I'm setting up a similar sized tank, but cant seem to find a good sized lily pipe from [Ebay Link Removed] The item number doesn't exist any more, do you recall the vendor or have a link perhaps? thanks.


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

quark said:


> Nice tank! I'm setting up a similar sized tank, but cant seem to find a good sized lily pipe from [Ebay Link Removed] The item number doesn't exist any more, do you recall the vendor or have a link perhaps? thanks.


I'm pretty sure ebay item 161115780749 are the pipes I have. Mine are 10mm. They are selling them for $16.50 each with free (and likely incredibly slow) shipping from HK.


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## devilduck (May 9, 2012)

Do you have shots on how you mounted your ZooMed 501? I'm looking to hide mine also.


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## parrottbay (May 14, 2012)

How did you have Co2 getting pumped into this tank previously?


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## Asu1776 (Mar 5, 2013)

How did your shrimps do when you dosed excel into your nano tank?


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

devilduck said:


> Do you have shots on how you mounted your ZooMed 501? I'm looking to hide mine also.


It's just sitting on the floor under the desk. I have 3' long hoses running up to the tank. There is no reduction in circulation by doing this, but since the filter isn't "designed" to be lower than the tank, I have it sitting in a 3 gallon Tupperware container in case something goes wrong.



parrottbay said:


> How did you have Co2 getting pumped into this tank previously?


I've never had CO2 in this tank.



Asu1776 said:


> How did your shrimps do when you dosed excel into your nano tank?


They didn't seem to have any issues, but I was dosing at pretty low amounts. It's now extremely low tech with virtually no fert dosing or excel. The plants do okay, but exhibit close to zero growth. On the other hand, I have almost zero algae. I'd like to tinker with it more, but I'm so busy at work right now that it's kind of perfect.


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## vegakat (Jan 3, 2011)

Just read both of your tank journals. How is this little tank doing now? Great job on both tanks man!


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

It's doing okay. Over a year in and the HC is still kicking and I have about 30 CRS in there. However, I recently started getting hair algae, and when I pulled some out today it took almost 1/2 the HC with it. So, it's not looking too fabulous right now. 

I'm still tempted to start over with something else.


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

Well this tank is coming to an end very soon. I got a wild hair yesterday and decided I wanted to change it up. It's been serving well has a home for about 40 cherry shrimp, but I want more plants, more color, and more room. I'm a bit bored with iwagumi.

I warned my wife that I was dropping about $300 for an office aquarium change out. 

I've ordered a Mr Aqua 6 gallon long to replace it. I was tempted to do a 12 gallon long, but the water changes would just be too big and too much of a PITA to be hauling that much water around the office. The 6 gallon long (which I think is actually 6.5) is 24" long, 6.7" deep, and 9.4" tall. It's basically the same length, but half as tall and half as deep as a 60p.

I'm also addicted to CO2 now, so I'll be going high tech and ordered a pressurized paintball CO2 setup. I will be lighting it with a 24" Current Satellite Plus. It'll be auto-dosed EI ferts and all controlled via an Arduino so I can do full RGBW color fades for sunrises and sunsets. I'm going all in. 

I'll start a new journal when I get going on it.

After decommission, I think this one will find a new life on my desk at home. Is 3 tanks MTS?


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