# Brohawk's 2.5 gal - UPDATED 3/27/10



## kittytango (May 7, 2008)

It looks good are there fish in there?


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## brohawk (May 19, 2008)

Thanks! Nothing yet. I was going to wait and see if I have a mini recycle to deal w/ first. I'll probably house cherries or regular bee shrimp in it later. Also maybe a small school of microrasbora kubotai, or I'll try to pull my boraras maculatus out of my 29g.


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

That looks wonderful. What kind of hairgrass is that? Your rocks are awesome, where did you get them? I would go with a finer substrate to use to give better scale .
oh, and is that a MH light? That would be crazy on a 2.5 gallon:icon_eek:


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## brohawk (May 19, 2008)

Thanks CL. It's just dwarf hairgrass. The rocks, I broke down and ordered online from ADA/Aquaforest. It's the shou stone variety, and I'm rather glad I paid so much for "rocks" of all things. And yeah, I could go w/ a smaller substrate, but I figured it's all going to be covered eventually anyway. Then again, my gH was back up at 7 by this evening, so I might have to replace the substrate completely anyway. We'll see if it goes down after the next couple WCs. The light's just an 18 watt coralife mini.


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## FrostyNYC (Nov 5, 2007)

The first two pics dont work for me, not sure if anyone else is having that problem.


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## brohawk (May 19, 2008)

In advance, sorry about the pic quality! I now realize my old Nikon Coolpix is in dire need of a replacement.

Anyway, after a few WCs my H2O hardness remained an issue, so I decided to swap out substrates and completely start over. After a little tweaking, I've now got an ideal 4gH, 2kH, 6.8 pH. I did a similar scape to the last one, and it's been going for about 4 weeks now. The hair grass is taking off, but the HC has been slow. The shrimp have been pulling up bits of it, but it's still not taking off like it had in my previous scape (and the plantlets I used were from the same earlier setup!). Anyway, if/when the HC starts moving, I'll be pulling out some of the hairgrass. Probably I'll use it just in the corner(s) to hide the heater, but for now I'm just letting the tank grow however it wants to. Oh, and I went rimless this time.










































Comments/suggestions? Thanks!


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## fastfreddie (Sep 10, 2008)

Beautiful tank! How about a dumb question from a beginner? What are the clear cup like hose extensions in your tank? I'm assuming filtration and CO2, but what do the cup like shapes achieve? I've seen them in many posts.

Are they glass or plastic?


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## MarioMaster (Jul 31, 2008)

they're basically for better circulation with less velocity - plus they look nice 

edit - they're plastic if you're short on cash, but they're normally glass


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

That looks fantastic  where did you get your pipes?


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## fastfreddie (Sep 10, 2008)

What kind of filtration are you using?


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## brohawk (May 19, 2008)

Thanks all! Yep, Mario nailed it. Mine are glass. CO2's on the left side of the tank.

The lily pipes are made by PowerMen. Got mine from Int'l Fish Street (HK) off ebay. They're usually around $45 for the pair, shipped. Fair warning, the inlet's are pretty fragile. I've had to replace mine once, and they only sell the pair together. With the 2nd pair, the box had been well abused during shipping and the inlet arrived in pieces, but Fish Street did a great job of sending another, no extra charge.

Filter is the usual ZooMed 501. I've been pretty happy w/ the flow at least for this size tank.


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## garuf (May 30, 2007)

Reminds me a lot of George Farmer's old nano scape. Very nice it is indeed. I really like it, can you give us a full tech spec of the tank please?


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## frozenbarb (Dec 16, 2006)

I love your hairgrass and I like your rocks.


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## 17882 (Aug 25, 2008)

Looks great! How much time do you get out of your co2 in that hagen?


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## fish_fasinated (Mar 30, 2006)

very nice, i like your rocks alot! they look great. can't wait for the HC to fill in a bit too.


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## brohawk (May 19, 2008)

garuf said:


> Reminds me a lot of George Farmer's old nano scape. Very nice it is indeed. I really like it, can you give us a full tech spec of the tank please?


Thanks very much, garuf. George's nano was probably thee nano that inspired me to start one of my own. I know at the moment I've got the same dwarf hairgrass and HC/riccia concept going, but I plan to make this one as different as I can. That being said, I'm open to any suggestions you guys have!​Here are the specs:

*Tank:* AGA standard 2.5 gallon, derimmed.

*Lighting:* 18W Coralife Mini which I'd originally mounted semi-DYI w/ coralife's standard legs. When I went rimless I decided it'd be safest (and look cooler, duh) to hang it from under the cabinet where the tank had been sitting all along.

*Heater:* Hagen Elite 25W.

*Filtration:* Zoomed 501 w/ PowerMen lily pipes. On a side note, anyone ever tried submersing/plumbing a small heater directly into the ZooMed? I'd love to get more equipment out of the tank.

*CO2:* DIY Hagen canister through a glass diffuser at 1/2 - 1 bps. To answer your question pbfreakon, I get about 14 pretty consistent days out of it, but that's b/c my bps is so low. I also don't clean out the canister between refills, leaving what active yeast is left on the bottom, and only add 1/4 tsp yeast and 3/4 tsp baking soda. I haven't used Excel so far but probably will on occasion.

*Substrate:* Amazonia II. Not much crumbling/breaking down so far, but it's only been a month...

*Ferts:* None yet. But will dose 1/2 EI once the plant mass takes off -- so long as the shrimp don't mind.

*Hardscape:* ADA shou stones.

*Flora:* Dwarf hairgrass, HC, bits of subwassertang and riccia that snuck in w/ the HC from my 29 gal.

*Fauna:* 5 bee shrimp juvies and 4 adult RCS (the RCS have now all saddled so I'll make another attempt to get a male in there).

Thanks again to all who have complimented/commented so far. My current plan is to give this tank as much scale as possible. I'd like to find a short stem plant or other that will give a tree/forest look to the tops of the two main mounds. Or I might tie mini pellia (if I can find it) towards the base of the rocks. Erios sp. mini is another option, but it's 1) $$ and 2) becoming too much of all the rage. Of course, if I could find it and can afford it, I'm sure I'll buy it too... We'll see. Again, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.


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## brohawk (May 19, 2008)

It's been more than a month since my last post, so thought it was time for an update. I've done virtually nothing to the tank since then. Feeding of course, I'm guessing 4 WCs, Excel once or twice a week if I remember to, pulled a few aggressive DHG runners, and that's it. No ferts so far, and I haven't even cleaned the glass since the last update. Here are some pics (I finally figured out some of the settings on my cheapo camera):
































































Now that the HC is taking off, I'm hoping to see it pretty much filled in in the next 4 - 6 weeks. When it gets close I'll pull the DHG from the center and move it to the right to better hide the heater. Then I can think about how I want to trim and shape things. I'm pretty happy w/ how things are going so far. Only bad news: one BCS made a successful suicide attempt last month, and two others I was able to save in time. Only happened when the waterline was too close to the top edge, so that problem was easily fixed. I'm still wanting to add fissidens and/or mini pellia but it's hard to find, pricey, and I haven't had the uncontrollable urge to get it yet.

Any other ideas people? Thanks for looking.


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## hyphination (Sep 25, 2008)

cool lookin rocks!!
you tank is looking great
i really like how the lily pipes look on your nano
do those also create the whirlpool at the surface?
ohh and what are you using as your background?


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## brohawk (May 19, 2008)

Thanks!

BARELY. But it does. I have the weak turtle filter like every one else. More flow through it and it would be a more pronounced one.


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## hyphination (Sep 25, 2008)

any updates?


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## brohawk (May 19, 2008)

I'll try to snap off some pics this weekend. Foreground's filling in nicely, but the HC hasn't creeped to the back quite yet. I'll probably start to trim in a couple three weeks.

I've been thinking about adding a DIY external heater something like this so I can get that big thing out of the tank. Which got me thinking of doing something like this to also get the diffuser out at the same time. But b/c of limited space behind the tank, I'd need to install the heater at the top of the reactor.

Anyone have any idea if the 501 will have enough flow to avoid any air gap at the top (avg 0.5 - 1 bps DIY CO2, never more) so I don't risk breaking my heater? I'd use clear PVC so I can monitor both the heater and CO2. I suppose smaller diameter pipe would keep the flow up, at risk of less dissolution (which is fine w/ me). Any opinions out there?


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## brohawk (May 19, 2008)

Got around to taking a couple pics tonight before my camera went dead. I'll take more, that aren't overexposed, this weekend.

I also have a preggers CBS since about the 15th Nov. She dropped most of her eggs after a week or so, but still has a couple/few left that I'm hoping will make it. I'm not expecting much since the tank's so small and I haven't been keeping up on WCs.



















I'm still thinking about pulling the heater and CO2 out of this tank, but won't have the right parts arriving for another week. I'll show everyone what I come up w/ then.


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## cah925 (May 18, 2007)

looking good, the HC is filling in very nicely. How about some Rotala mini's for the tops of the mounds?


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## EdTheEdge (Jan 25, 2007)

Wow what a wonderful little tank! Keep up the good work!!!!

Thanks for sharing!


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## brohawk (May 19, 2008)

cah925 said:


> looking good, the HC is filling in very nicely. How about some Rotala mini's for the tops of the mounds?


Yeah, that's a good idea. I've been wondering how that would look, but I've never dealt w/ rotalas before. How much trimming will I have to do on the minis to keep them at/below the height of the rocks?



EdTheEdge said:


> Wow what a wonderful little tank! Keep up the good work!!!!
> 
> Thanks for sharing!


Thanks very much!


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## cah925 (May 18, 2007)

brohawk said:


> Yeah, that's a good idea. I've been wondering how that would look, but I've never dealt w/ rotalas before. How much trimming will I have to do on the minis to keep them at/below the height of the rocks?


I got some about 3-4 weeks ago and haven't had to trim them yet. I'm not sure if they are slow to adjust or just slow growers.


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## fish_fasinated (Mar 30, 2006)

looks really good.


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## chadly (May 17, 2005)

sweet tank! love the rocks. I think I'll have to go rimless w/ my next 2.5


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## brohawk (May 19, 2008)

Quick pics just after a major trim. Sorry about the quality. Better ones to follow in a couple weeks when I figure this'll be at its best (of my ability).


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## brohawk (May 19, 2008)

So this sucker's been pretty fallow since about April or May. Did a major trim on the HC, ammonia spiked, CBS dropped like flies, and the Amazonia II just started turning the thing into a dust bowl w/o any help from me. So I pulled what was left of the HC and DHG, vacuumed the hell out of it 10 or 12 times and used it as a plant, shrimplet and fry grow out tank until late last month.

I then threw together the below scape in literally about 5 minutes.









But after 2 weeks I couldn't stand it anymore, so added some more rocks and soil and painted the back black. I'm much happier w/ it now, but will probably keep tweaking the position of things as it grows. My hopes are to make this a much lower maintenance tank than I had before. The HC and DHG needed way too much trimming. No inhabitants besides snails, and I'll probably keep it that way for now so I can bomb it w/ CO2 and Excel until it fills in, then turn the light period way back after that. Hope you like.


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## _ReApEr (Nov 14, 2008)

I really like the new look. Fantastic scape, gorgeous nano.


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## speedie408 (Jan 15, 2009)

I like your excessive slope and sick looking rocks man. Very nice!


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## hyphination (Sep 25, 2008)

looking good brohawk!


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## Bmonarch (Oct 19, 2009)

Very cool aquascape! So jealous of the rocks!


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## brohawk (May 19, 2008)

Thank you all for the compliments. I'm hoping the fissidens will work out as a decent carpet plant. It's sticking to the aquasoil just fine, but it's such a light substrate I'm afraid it'll go into disarray as soon as I try trimming--which it already needs in some spots. I've thought of using SS mesh, but there's little room for it between all those rocks I've crammed in.


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## Outlawboss (Dec 30, 2008)

Very cool. I've never considered fissidens for a carpet plant but the flowing grass look is sweet. Nice one!


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## brohawk (May 19, 2008)

It grew... except for the MP which doesn't like the lower lighting.



















...and I'm bored w/ it. Expect some fissidens on the SnS soon, and maybe the whole set up too.


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## Ugly Genius (Sep 27, 2003)

I know what you mean about being bored of a 'scape, but this is a very unique 'scape. It's like water colors painted with broad strokes.
It's a totally different look and a good one at that!


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## brohawk (May 19, 2008)

Thanks UG! It's a combo of bored w/ the scape, and my g/f vying for more kitchen counter space... and less time spent on aquariums, i.e. more time to be spent sitting on the couch watching Twilight or something else equally unbearable. We'll see what happens. It has been nice having a good looking low maintenance set up though, I must say.


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## zeldar (Jun 24, 2009)

Man, I don't know how I missed this one. 

Such a unique scape and I love the sharp, pointed rocks. The fissidens carpet is awesome and something you don't see everyday. 

What is the plant in the back left corner? I hope you keep this tank going because I really like it.


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## brohawk (May 19, 2008)

Thanks man. Good ol' flame moss actually. A bit unconventional use for it, but it's working great for a background plant in a smaller tank. The pics are actually 2 or 3 weeks old. Just hadn't gotten around to uploading them. So the tank's even thicker now, and the bits of flame moss on the right are starting to catch up w/ the left side now. If I do decide to break this tank down, will try to snap a pic of it at its best beforehand.


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## zeldar (Jun 24, 2009)

Ah, I thought it looked a little like a moss. What livestock do you have in here, looks like at least one rcs in the back left?


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## brohawk (May 19, 2008)

yep. just the one rcs. migrated over from my 29 gal somehow. never got around to adding more b/c i've been up in the air on whether to rescape, break down the tank, or just be happy w/ it... while keeping the g/f at bay!


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## Ugly Genius (Sep 27, 2003)

bro, if you watched _Twilight_ with her, she _owes_ you. Big time! That movie sucked. I couldn't even finish the first half of the first one. The least she can do to show her appreciation is give you a tiny nano-sized portion of the counter.

'Cause, seriously, if you're a dude, it's almost impossible to like that movie.


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## brohawk (May 19, 2008)

Oh how I hear ya on that one. It's become her own form of punishment. Whenever I screw up, Twilight or New Moon gets popped in the dvd player...

Go team Edward!!!


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## AlexXx (Dec 1, 2009)

Dear god I thought Twilight was one of those awful Disney TV movies produced in a few hours... Such a terrible movie. And how, i love your tank! <3


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