# 10.5 Gallon Planted CRS, Espei Tank -- Updated 2/6 More Pics



## fusiongt (Nov 7, 2011)

Updated 2/6/2012:
Was getting really low flow from the Fluval G3 so I cleaned out the tubes and pipes. Took a few pics to show more plant growth (the background really filled in).





























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Updated 1/12, plant growth and new camera so new pics:

Macro shot of the almost inch espei rasboro:









The plants are growing well









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Updated 12/9, new tank top, new poppy glass, new video of the tank in motion

It's on the second page and here is a direct link: 
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/t...5-gallon-planted-crs-espei-2.html#post1628932












Video of the tank:
- *http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25xs5LI7Lb0*


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Update 11/20, new filter added!

Scroll down to post #11, http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/t...5-gallon-planted-crystal-red.html#post1602801 


New Fluval G3:










Tank with lily pipes. Intake is the metal ADA Metal Jet Pipe - V1 (13mm), and the output is ADA Lily Pipe Outflow P-2 (13mm).










Fish and shrimp enjoy the new filtration (or don't care at all)










Lily pipe closeup









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First post 11/7 below:

Hi all, this is my first post! I've been a fan of planted aquariums for a while now and currently have a 10.5 gallon tank with Crystal Red shrimps (3-4 generations there breeding), 9 espei rasboros, and a couple glowlight tetras which are getting old now and I haven't replenished their school because they're on their way out unfortunately.

Specs:
- Soil: ADA Aquasoil Amazonia & ADA Bright Sand
- Filter: Fluval C2 (power filter, put eheim substrate in place of carbon pad, added a pre-filter sponge on it)
- Supplements: Flourish Excel (the liquid C02), Flourish Supplements
- Lighting: Archaea 36W Power Compact Light Fixture

The tank definitely looks busy/overgrown but I think it's more of the pictures... I've been thinking of re-landscaping it but right now it's been a good home for the shrimps and as long as they're breeding I'm happy.

Cover on:









Cover off with floaty plants (a bit too many at this time):


















































Any feedback appreciated!


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## discuspaul (Jul 27, 2010)

Your photography is excellent ! And your plants look superb. Keep it up - show us more.
Love rimless tanks, and love Rasboras !


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## PinoyBoy (Mar 14, 2008)

Looks amazing. You make me want to get rid one of my 2.5g and get a 10g. Then again, I've never seen any tank locally that looks like that.


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## fusiongt (Nov 7, 2011)

discuspaul said:


> Your photography is excellent ! And your plants look superb. Keep it up - show us more.
> Love rimless tanks, and love Rasboras !


Thanks so much. I am really into photography and I found shooting aquariums pretty difficult so I'm still learning and trying out different techniques (still have yet to set up a good flash setup for it). I've always admired the pro-shots (like the ones from Amano and ADA) and hope to figure out that clean technique soon.


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## fusiongt (Nov 7, 2011)

PinoyBoy said:


> Looks amazing. You make me want to get rid one of my 2.5g and get a 10g. Then again, I've never seen any tank locally that looks like that.


Thanks PinoyBoy. I think it's a pretty low tech tank too and one that I think everyone could pull off (I saw your list of low tech ones). I found that starting off with the ADA Amazonia soil is really good not just for plants but also for setting the water requirements right for fish that need around PH 6.5. If you use more leafy plants and not small ground cover ones you can get by with Excel (and maybe not even need that).

I actually think my tank needs a good trimming or maybe some new plants (or repositioned the taller ones more to the back than the middle). But plants growing too much is always a good sign =)


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## doubleott05 (Mar 16, 2010)

What Kelvin is that light burning at?


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## fusiongt (Nov 7, 2011)

doubleott05 said:


> What Kelvin is that light burning at?


It's burning at 6700K. Here is the light on Aqua Forest's website (I bought it from them in store)

http://www.adana-usa.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=452

It's a good light, I recommend it. The bulb does reduce a lot though after a year (like I imagine most do) so it's good to change it even if it hasn't died out yet.


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## dunehole (Sep 13, 2011)

Great looking tank. What are the floaters?


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## fusiongt (Nov 7, 2011)

dunehole said:


> Great looking tank. What are the floaters?


I'm pretty sure they're Amazon Frogbite. I purchased them a few years ago from Aqua Forest and forgot to write down the names but looking online they resemble Amazon Frogbite a lot. Let me know if you'd like some (I see you're close in Berkeley) because they grow really well and I have to throw them away pretty often which feels like a waste. And if you have anything extras in your tank we can exchange =)


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## dunehole (Sep 13, 2011)

Thanks for the offer. I'd love to setup a trade. But, I'm moving out of state in a month and I'm going to have to break everything down and start over when i get there.


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## fusiongt (Nov 7, 2011)

*10.5 Gallon Planted Crystal Red + Espei Rasboro - 11/20 Update, New Tech!*

New pictures added!

I decided that my old power filter (Fluval C2) would get clogged way too often. It was most likely because of my pre-filter but I needed that to avoid shrimp fry from getting sucked up so that had to stay. I know when I go on vacation I have a cat sitter who will feed the fish, but I can't ask her to clean the filter haha. So ultimately I decided to get a canister filter. I decided on the Fluval G3, which is definitely overkill for a small tank like mine, but I liked the looks of it and its price has gone down a lot since it first came out. It was going to be placed in plain view on my kitchen counter so I wanted it to look nice. I added on a inline heater so I could remove the existing heater which was in the tank. Finally I lowered the water level that way I could remove the tank lid (though I plan to create a metal mesh lid for it still).


New Fluval G3:










Tank with lily pipes. Intake is the metal ADA Metal Jet Pipe - V1 (13mm), and the output is ADA Lily Pipe Outflow P-2 (13mm).










Fish and shrimp enjoy the new filtration (or don't care at all)










Lily pipe closeup










In order to use smaller 13mm lily pipes I had to convert 5/8" tubing to 1/2" tubes. I received the solution from friendly folks at Aqua Forest as they showed me they did this to their tanks. They put in 1/2" tubes 2-4 inches inside of the larger 5/8" and voila, it works. To make sure it was sealed even better, I wrapped a rubber band around the 1/2" tube's edge and then jammed that into the larger tube as far as I could have. You can see some of the rubber band sticking out in this picture.


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## fusiongt (Nov 7, 2011)

And an extra bonus shot of a berried CRS. I had about 4 generations of CRS but until last week had no idea this is what a prego CRS looked like!


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## ghotifish (Feb 16, 2009)

Wowsa! That tank is gorgeous! I'm so impressed that you are able to do all that without CO2. Everything looks so healthy. What's your secret??? 

Unfortunately, viewing this journal will probably cost me a couple hundred bucks because now my next tank simply must be rimless!

Congrats on a beautiful tank!


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## gnod (Mar 24, 2011)

really liking the set up.
what brand tank is it and what's the plant in the left front corner?


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## fusiongt (Nov 7, 2011)

ghotifish said:


> Wowsa! That tank is gorgeous! I'm so impressed that you are able to do all that without CO2. Everything looks so healthy. What's your secret???


Thanks, yea I'm still debating whether or not to get CO2. I've had it in the past on larger tanks and it really does give the kick in the pants needed to get the plants to grow like crazy. Right now I'm just dosing once a week with Excel (just like 1 thread on the cap, very little) and the plants do grow but not as rapidly which is kind of a good thing because it's a lot less maintenance (trimming small amounts weekly or bi-weekly). The ADA substrate Amazonia really helps and I don't have any hard to grow plants in there (I don't think). Ground cover plants that you want to spread out throughout the bottom will definitely need CO2 which is why I avoided it. I also do very small water changes every 1 or 2 days (like a 16 oz cup full) because it's right next to my kitchen sink.



gnod said:


> really liking the set up.
> what brand tank is it and what's the plant in the left front corner?


Thanks! For the left corner plant, I am pretty sure it's Blyxa japonica (but not 100% as I forgot to write it down after I purchased it years ago).

Edit - The tank is 10.5 gallon rimless glass by "Huey Hung Miracle Baby". I like the tank a lot, it's held up 3 transfers where I didn't completely take out all the substrate/water/fish. It comes with removable plastic sides and a glass top as well (seen in the first post, first image). I couldn't find the tank on the companies website though; I bought it from my LFS Albany Aquarium (http://www.albanyaquarium.com/) and I imagine they could ship one if you contact them. The tanks are really affordable compared to ADA stuff and I think the quality is really nice - they come in a few sizes but I forget the exact gallon sizes... Mine is 10.5 gallon and they have one less than that and one that is more.


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## allknighter (Feb 26, 2010)

What kind of lens do you use for your macro photography? I've been looking at a $1600 Nikkor (I can justify it for work) but I'm not sure what kind of flash I'd have to get to be able to catch fish.

Also, why use the 36W archaea instead of the 27W? I think it's narrower and would probably fit your tank better. I'm getting a ADA 45H in January and will probably go custom dimmable LED (I don't want to change a $35 bulb every year). 

With regards to your composition, since your light is so bright, I think it would be interesting to see what happened if the floaters filled in entirely over the surface. It would filter your light and add perhaps some more drama to the environment where rays of light filter through.

Great tank - it looks like you've really got some luck fish!


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## fusiongt (Nov 7, 2011)

allknighter said:


> What kind of lens do you use for your macro photography? I've been looking at a $1600 Nikkor (I can justify it for work) but I'm not sure what kind of flash I'd have to get to be able to catch fish.


Thanks for your comments. I'm glad you're a Nikon guy as I am, too. Most of the shots here were with a D3 and 18mm/f2.8 lens (an oldie but a goodie). The closeup of the shrimps were with a nikkor 105mm micr lens.

You mentioned a $1600 Nikkor for macro? I know practically all the lenses there are for Nikon and I can't put my finger on a macro lens that costs that much. A used 200mm f/4 micro? I haven't used that one myself but I've read it's probably the best macro lens as the next most expensive one is half that which is the one I use, the Nikon 105mm micro. But in the case with aquarium photography, I don't know if you need a focal length that high since you'll probably be sitting right next to your tank. If you were using the 200mm you'd have to sit a few feet away, but the optics are probably worth it (I'm just saying you don't need a far focal length since you have control of your enviornment; if you were shooting insects then the longer focal length is great).

I tried a few flash setups on my shots but really didn't have much success... I used the SB-900 by itself, then as the master with SB-600's with umbrellas. They really came out flat but those were for the full aquarium shots. Just for shots of the shrimps I could see using flash bringing out even more detail; however, the ones I have posted here are all without flash. I shoot aperture priority most of the time but anytime I need sharp pictures of fast moving things like dogs/birds/fish, I go to shutter priority. For my closeups of the shrimps in this thread, they were shot at 1/250s f/4 with no flash and the auto iso was around 1600. I don't think they were very good shots or anything, just saying their exif data if it helps because shrimps/fish could be difficult and I know I'm still learning. I just want to emphasize that with today's cameras with great high iso levels, and with the abundant lights from the aquarium, you should have no problem taking pictures of moving fish/shrimp without flash.

If you're on the look out for good lens prices be sure to check out fredmiranda.com's buy/sell forum - that's where I've gotten like 90% of my lenses for way cheaper than retail and I say more reliable than 3bay




allknighter said:


> Also, why use the 36W archaea instead of the 27W? I think it's narrower and would probably fit your tank better. I'm getting a ADA 45H in January and will probably go custom dimmable LED (I don't want to change a $35 bulb every year).


I actually didn't see the 27W one back when I was shopping for it. I went to aqua forest and I thought the 36W was good. If I was shopping now I'd definitely consider that one because the one sided mount is cleaner than the back mount on the 36W I am using. When you get the 45H be sure to post up a tank journal! =) I'd like to see its progress =)


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## fusiongt (Nov 7, 2011)

Just an update on the tank.

Additions:
- Changed the lily pipe from the regular ADA one to the Do! Aqua Poppy Glass PP-1. The flow was too much (because of my over filtration) but the Poppy Glass does wonders. The water still goes fast but will hit the bottom of the glass , kill its momentum, then go upwards. The only downside is if I don't do a water change in 2-3 days a thin layer of film will appear but can be avoided if I lift up the glass for a few minutes which will disturb the water top enough.

- Added 5 assassin snails, purchased from NeoShrimp on these boards. They are really interesting to watch (more so because they seem to be nocturnal so seeing them out in the day is rare for me). I've seen lots of empty snail shells already so they're doing well.

- Made a DIY tank top with alumnium screen window sides and clear plastic mesh. I messaged speedie408 for info and he showed me the link of which he used: http://www.reeflounge.com/showthread.php?t=31685 


New Picture:
- Here is the new tank top. Some challenges I faced were I had lily pipes on the left side and the top side had my light. I had to try to cover it all or my cat would find a way to drink the tank water which I didn't want (it must take like a cocktail to him heh). I wanted it to be easily taken off so making a one piece construction wouldn't work that well because I would have to lift up the lily pipes if I wanted to remove the top so instead I created a left side that goes under the lily pipes, and a right side that I can remove for trimming, feeding, and water changes. The right side has no back bar because of the light so it looks sloppier but I'm happy with it. My first attempt was with aluminum mesh but that was such a pain in the butt and was really hard to work with so plastic is a lot better. I was going to go with black plastic but found clear plastic and went with that (you can find it here http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/store/clear-1-4-screen-netting-7-x-3.html)











Video of the tank:
- *http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25xs5LI7Lb0*

It's just filmed on my iphone so the quality is so-so but it shows the tank in motion. I was interested in the assassin snails because like I mentioned, they are rarely out during the day when the lights are on. Early on the video I tried to get a video of a berried CRS on top of frogbite but it was hard to pick up.


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## fusiongt (Nov 7, 2011)

Got myself a new Nikon V1 camera with FT1 adapter (to allow for the regular dslr lenses to be used on it). It has a 2.7x crop so my macro lens, a 105mm, becomes like 280mm! I didn't get a good one of my shrimps as most were hiding today but I like how close I could get to my espei rasbora which are about an inch long and I had to back up to get their whole body in the frame!











The plants are growing well


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## fusiongt (Nov 7, 2011)

Was getting really low flow from the Fluval G3 so I cleaned out the tubes and pipes. Took a few pics to show more plant growth (the background really filled in).


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## chubbyone (Dec 9, 2011)

Really like this tank, very natural looking inside given all the tech outside. Great photos too! I envy good photography on here, I need to get myself a nice rig.


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## pomby27 (Jan 27, 2004)

love that picture of the school


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## Kernowmcrae (Feb 22, 2012)

That's a stunning little setup, love the idea of the cats enjoying a quick drink occasionally.. What are the small, chunky leaved plants in the foreground?


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## frrok (May 22, 2011)

Coeuple of questions, one where did you buy the metal ADA intake...thats looks really cool..always the aluminum bars that you have connected to the plastic mesh. where did you get that stuff? im looking for an easy cheap top for my tank as well. thanks.. was going to DIY a glass hood but I accidentally dropped it on the corner of my tank when measuring causing it to crack on the edge. luckily it didn't shatter!  so I'm clumsy so I'd rather avoid the glass on glass thing... thanks


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## fusiongt (Nov 7, 2011)

Kernowmcrae said:


> That's a stunning little setup, love the idea of the cats enjoying a quick drink occasionally.. What are the small, chunky leaved plants in the foreground?


Sorry I have to actually ask around. I bought it a while ago and didn't put it in my notes.




frrok said:


> Coeuple of questions, one where did you buy the metal ADA intake...thats looks really cool..always the aluminum bars that you have connected to the plastic mesh. where did you get that stuff? im looking for an easy cheap top for my tank as well. thanks.. was going to DIY a glass hood but I accidentally dropped it on the corner of my tank when measuring causing it to crack on the edge. luckily it didn't shatter!  so I'm clumsy so I'd rather avoid the glass on glass thing... thanks


I think I saw your thread and replied to it back then. Glad the tank didn't break! As for the aluminum bars, just go to your hardware store and look for screen repair stuff. I don't think I even saw other versions other than aluminium.

If you scroll up (or go here http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/t...5-gallon-planted-crs-espei-2.html#post1628932) you'll see some notes on the DIY screen top as well as a link to the thread I looked at describing how to do it. I like the aluminum screen top because it goes with the aluminum intake pipe.

For the aluminum intake pipe, I bought it at the physical Aqua Forest store but they also have it online here: http://www.adana-usa.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=76_26_44

It's really well made and I like it a lot. I haven't taken pictures lately but next time I do I'll try to isolate it. I added 2 hard sponge prefilters (as opposed to soft prefilters like the fluval edge kind that just get sucked up into the filter killing the flow) and it's worked well with no baby shrimps getting sucked up. 

One other thing to consider is another of ADA's metal pipes that said to be for outflow (I've never seen it in action it looks more like an inflow) and that's here: http://www.thegreenmachineonline.co...etal-jet-pipes/ada-metal-jet-pipe-p-1-outflow

I really wanted one but my local stores can't get it to me for cheap but it looks pretty darn cool!


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## frrok (May 22, 2011)

fusiongt said:


> Sorry I have to actually ask around. I bought it a while ago and didn't put it in my notes.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


thanks for the links! those metal pipes are cool!...but expensive. hahaha. yea man my tank is ok luckily. So any reason why you went with the foam pre-filter as apposed to the metal one it came with? are the openings too big? one of those steel mesh prefilters would look cool with that intake. i have the fluval one right now and its always getting clogged up..annoying!

by the way, your tank and pics look awesome.


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## fusiongt (Nov 7, 2011)

frrok said:


> thanks for the links! those metal pipes are cool!...but expensive. hahaha. yea man my tank is ok luckily. So any reason why you went with the foam pre-filter as apposed to the metal one it came with? are the openings too big? one of those steel mesh prefilters would look cool with that intake. i have the fluval one right now and its always getting clogged up..annoying!
> 
> by the way, your tank and pics look awesome.


I've seen steel mesh prefilters and the metal intake pipe I have has a decent mesh around it. I even went to the store and bought plastic mesh and put it around it like a prefilter. The problem is it's like the soft sponges where sometimes they'll get sucked up so much that it'll start clogging and you'll have to clean the prefilters. That's not to say you don't have to clean the hard sponges, but it's way less often. Also if you've seen baby CRS, like literal newborn ones, they're really really small and you'll need a super fine prefilter to not get them sucked up. With the hard sponge, they would really want a death wish if they climb through the hard sponge areas (like a maze) so I feel it's safe.

So in short, I use the hard sponge because I don't have to clean it as much


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## Volkswagen (Jan 18, 2012)

Excellent tank and photos. :thumbsup:


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## GMYukonon24s (May 3, 2009)

Great looking fish and tank. How do you like your filter?


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## fusiongt (Nov 7, 2011)

GMYukonon24s said:


> Great looking fish and tank. How do you like your filter?


It's an excellent filter but like all canister filters requires maintenance. I like to break it down once a month by cleaning the mechanical filtration and also the intake pipes and tubing. I don't get too thorough on the tubing as that would require disconnecting all of them, but rather just run a bristle through it so it gets rid of the big gunk. I also clean out any gunk on the propeller. After this, I see a significant improvement in the filter as if it were new. The Fluval G3 is definitely better for larger tanks but since mine was out in the open I thought I'd splurge and get it since it looks nice... it has a very good flow control so I can reduce it a lot since my tank is small.


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## Naisi (Mar 9, 2011)

I'm speechless, what an awesome setup you have. And the photo's are breathtaking. Great job!!!!


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## trueblu8 (Mar 3, 2012)

I love your tank.


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## dragonsong93 (Nov 25, 2011)

This is a really beautiful tank...the aquascaping is just perfect


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## GAZ_XB9R (Jul 29, 2012)

Fusiongt - first of all I love your tank. I'm just about to start my first true planted tank.

I'm getting the bits and pieces together.

It's my only tank that I've had for years and has been ultra stable as a fish tank but the plants I added did the usual 2 months or so then died as there was no thought to providing what they needed.

Tank is Juwel Vision bow fronted 260lts with internal filter.
I want to add an external filter for more filtration and flow.

I like the look of your Metal jet pipe and Lily pipe.

Could you do me a massive favour and advise the internal and external diameter of these pipes. 

I will be adding an Eheim Ecco Pro 300. It says hose size is 12mm diameter. I don't know if that is outside or inside diameter.

I can get hold of high spec stainless tube in 1/2" outside diameter. (I expect I would need to get the thin walled stuff though). If the sizes are about right I can bend it myself, drill or slot cut the inlet and make some sort of diffuser for the outlet. Also means I can use compression fittings and full bore ball valves for ease of use and maintenance.

Thanks

Gaz


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## jncme (May 29, 2012)

i would use some heat shrink on there, if you are still iffy. Tanks looks good though


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## fusiongt (Nov 7, 2011)

I haven't updated my journal but to make sure the 5/8" to 1/2" tube conversion didn't leak I put a rubber band on the outside and made sure it was twisted tightly. Right now though I've moved the fauna over to a new 25g tank and I'll be making a new journal for that shortly. The tank now has just a HOB filter and plenty o' shrimps 



> Could you do me a massive favour and advise the internal and external diameter of these pipes.


The ADA Metal Pipes are 13mm ones. They don't come in other sizes I believe. I don't know the Ecco Pro lineup that well but saw this review after googling it, http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=79291 -- I'm most certain it'll fit 13mm pipes. The tubing is flexible so it might be a tight fit if it's indeed only 12mm, but fret not as you can tip it in hot water and it'll be very flexible and definitely fit around that 13mm pipe.

One thing I would recommend if you like the look of stainless steel pipes is this thread I saw on the buy/sell board. http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=185620

It's some really awesome looking pipes that are more flexible than ADA's version - the intake with shrimp prefilter is great (ADA's version would still suck up baby shrimps as it's big enough openings). And assuming you don't need crazy flow, I would get the cross cut flow which looks sweet and it'll still provide a fast enough current. I haven't tried these pipes but their price is so much better than ADAs and they look basically the same (if not better). I would choose these if I were going for aluminum pipes. Good luck!


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## MrManana (Mar 26, 2012)

Did the stand used to hold your light come with the fixture? If not could you link the stand to me? I've been looking every where for something similar.


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## Ben. (Mar 29, 2011)

That's some thick substrate! two, three inches?


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## Gmonsta13 (Apr 8, 2013)

your tank looks amazing. *inspired* and you might've just solved my tubing problemsroud:


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