# 10 gal Eclipse 1 journal



## Buck (Oct 13, 2002)

Thats going to be a nice little tank roud: 
Keep the test kits handy, the CO2 bubbling and the water fresh and it will be a gem in no time.


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## Fosty (Oct 17, 2003)

That tank looks great. I can't wait to see it when its grown out bit. That lighting makes such a huge difference.


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## Tino (Jan 9, 2005)

Looks great! You are on the right track, my friend. What are you doing with the foreground - marsilea? microsword?


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## supaoopa (Oct 25, 2004)

Thanks for the compliments. 

Tino for the foreground i would like to add either glosso or Hemianthus callitrichoides.

Although i have been thinking about doing a mix of both... what do you guys think? .... VVVV 

Glosso to the left of the anubia nana

and 

Hemianthus callitrichoides to the right of anubia nana.











I added about 10 gold dust molly fry and one black molly fry from a friend that didn't know what to do with them. Had a brain fart and put them in my tank before taking out my betta. :icon_redf Only 5 Gold dust molly's and the 1 Black molly made it before I realized what was going on and scrambled to get a container to but my betta in. 

LOL, additional changes made to make this tank more suitable for fry and plants were...

prefilter sponge on intake as well as Nutrafin co2 canister and ladder diffuser...



















Poly fiber on filter output to reduce flow that was blowing the fry every where as well as causing to much surface disturbance (lose less co2)...



















Then for some added water polishing i packed some filter floss in the filter area where the water is first pumped in.












here are some better pics of the riccia, bacopa, rotala, hornwort...










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Also wanted to add some baby tears at the base of the larger peice of wood or infront of the rotala indica in the left corner. 

Going to also add some japonica shrimp as soon as i can find some at a LFS.



Not bad for 2 weeks.


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## Thanks (Oct 9, 2004)

supaoopa said:


> Not bad for 2 weeks.


I agree. :tongue:


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## depthC (Oct 9, 2003)

Thats a great looking tank with plenty of pics, awesome. Keep us posted with lots more images :icon_bigg .

Andrew


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## supaoopa (Oct 25, 2004)

depthC said:


> Keep us posted with lots more images :icon_bigg .
> 
> Andrew


Careful what you wish for. :hihi: 

Here is a link to all the pics for my tanks (and more) if interested. 

http://www.reaction-image.net/gallery/Black-Civic?page=4 



As for the 10 gal i just planted some glosso and baby tears. Hopefully i have enough light for them to stay growing horizontal and not vertical. 


















Pic of the my baby black molly.  









As you can see in the pic above, i am having some problems with hair algae that came with the riccia. :icon_frow The baby fry have been picking at it but not enough to make a dent in reducing it. WHat can i do to without adding any aggressive fish, to help fight this algae? I already put an otto and 2 amano shrimp in this tank but the shrimp just stay in the shaded areas and the otto perfers to snack on the brown algae which was starting to creep up since i didn't have any clean-up crew scavangers in there. Should i wait a week and see what happens or should i just reduce the amount of hours the light is on? 

routine:
Flourish 1ml 1X week 
Flora plant couple drops 2-3X week
Light on 11 hours per day

Suggestions and comments welcome.


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## supaoopa (Oct 25, 2004)

update.

pics taken 2/12/05 my plants are starting to staighten out and the riccia is taking off. :icon_bigg


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## John P. (Apr 10, 2004)

Looking really, really good. Nice work!


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## Thanks (Oct 9, 2004)

awesome! you look about ready to plant that glosso, and jus imagine it when it covers the gravel roud: 
really, really nice work.


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## Newkidonthetank (Apr 3, 2004)

Hey can you possibly pm me with instructions how to retrofit my eclipse 1 twin lamp, i am 15 and afraid of screwing up wireing.. and if i take that twin lamp out can i put it in another shell or is it like a trasher. thanx i kinda wanted to know.


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## supaoopa (Oct 25, 2004)

You have pm. :wink: 


update:

the fry in my tank are growing at an astonishing rate. So today I decided to add a couple cardinal tetras to liven it up a bit. Also added about 6 japonica shrimps.

Hoping to get my hands on some cherry shrimp in the near future.

Will update with a pic in two or three weeks when everything fills in a little better


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## Crs2fr (Sep 22, 2004)

hey supaoopa, how did you get that riccia on that log?.. what did you use?

chris


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## supaoopa (Oct 25, 2004)

I just used cotton thread. :icon_redf I thought that the riccia would attach itself to the wood so i used cotton since it eventually disolves away. Now that i know better I will be using some nylon thread/ fishing line when i take to out to trim.

Edit* 

Well the Hagen CO2 packet only lasted about 2 weeks. I just set it up with a new pack 2 days ago and nothing happened. Not one bubble? Container was rinsed well, luke warm water was added and nothing. Could it be the one way valve i have on the canister the might of sezied up?


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## Nolan W. (Feb 9, 2005)

Hey Newkid! I thought I was the youngest on this forum, but then I noticed you are the same age as me! Lol, I feel the same way about setting up equipment. Great to meet you. :icon_bigg 

supa, that tank is going to look very lush once the plants fill out! Where did you get that glosso? 6th Ave. has it sometimes, but usually the bottom leaves are brown.


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## supaoopa (Oct 25, 2004)

NWong8589 said:


> Where did you get that glosso? 6th Ave. has it sometimes, but usually the bottom leaves are brown.



I bought the glosso at nippon on geary. No brown on them at all when I was taking it out of the pot. 

6 ave. really hasn't had much higher light plants the past couple times i've went. Just a bunch of java ferns and wentii's. Although i did get the last cup of riccia. :icon_mrgr Haven't been back there for about 2 weeks, so maybe they might have more selection from new shipments.


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## xt87 (Jun 16, 2004)

Can we get another update?


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## supaoopa (Oct 25, 2004)

xt87 said:


> Can we get another update?


another one so soon? lol, ok man. just for you... roud: 



















Added some cardinal tetras. Babies are at a little over 1/2", waiting untill they get about an 1" so that my poor betta can go back into his home after getting kicked out. :hihi:


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## Anthony (Jan 11, 2005)

That sure is one nice tank. I'm trying out a 5 gallon myself to see what I can do with it.


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## capella (Feb 22, 2005)

What a pretty tank roud: Ý cant see any algea :icon_roll


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## kzr750r1 (Jun 8, 2004)

Your betta is missing out. Whatever your doing keep it up.  Looks great! The ricca looks cool on the wood. I like the color contrast.


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## supaoopa (Oct 25, 2004)

kzr750r1 said:


> Your betta is missing out.



HA, yeah i know. Poor guy has to wait untill the baby mollies that are in that tank get a little bigger before he goes back into his new home. 



Capella: roud: i wish that there was no algea in there but there is. You can't really see it but if i were to zoom in on some parts of the riccia and anubia you would be able to see some fuzz algea that just does not want to go away. :icon_frow


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## Olakytrion (Feb 20, 2005)

haha, any more updates? (im so interested....)


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## Jdinh04 (Mar 15, 2004)

Nice, is that a hagen nutrifin C02 bottle/system?


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## kzr750r1 (Jun 8, 2004)

I hope you have all female mollys. This is the first time I have kept mollys. There friggin bunnies. Within the first week the initial batch were born. Now I'm dealing with a feeding gang, can't really call it a school.

One cool thing is my 5 month old daughter watching the mass of juvi sailfins move to their side of the tank for food. I have a LFS that is interested but I'm having a hard time lately with free time.

Pick out those males, if you can tell yet, before they make you a parent. roud:


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## supaoopa (Oct 25, 2004)

Olakytrion said:


> haha, any more updates? (im so interested....)



:icon_bigg lol, not yet. Maybe in about a week. I just got my co2 thing going again so I'm hoping for some nice results by next week. 




Jdinh04 said:


> Nice, is that a hagen nutrifin C02 bottle/system?



Yup, thats what i'm using. I gave up on the premeasured packets (only 1 of 3 actually produced co2 :icon_conf ) that come with it and am doing one of the DIY recipes. I'm getting much better results. 




kzr750r1 said:


> I hope you have all female mollys.


No problems, they all ended up being female. roud:


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## kzr750r1 (Jun 8, 2004)

supaoopa said:


> No problems, they all ended up being female. roud:


Good thing...Your lucky.


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## Jdinh04 (Mar 15, 2004)

Nice, the C02 unit seems to be working really good.


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## supaoopa (Oct 25, 2004)

Trimmed almost everything except for the glosso. My girlfriend thinks i massacred the tank. :hihi: Hopefully it will grow in nicer. Will post pics of the plant massacre later.


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## supaoopa (Oct 25, 2004)

Update: tank has been massacred again! :hihi: 


ANd riccia is officially the biggest pain in the @$$.  lol.


WHat it looked like this morning. 




















WHat it looked like after the riccia p'd me off. 










I wished i would have used nylon thread to begin with. :icon_frow Driftwood had to be taken out because the cotton string i had originally used to tie down the riccia was breaking away. 


Felt kind of bad throwing so much of it away. :icon_frow But i know that the plants will bounce right back by the end of the month.


What didn't make it back into the tank. 










Will update when it fills back in.


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## Tino (Jan 9, 2005)

LOL. Looks like it did tick you off :icon_bigg .
I like the way you glosso is filling in.
Thanks for the update.


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## Anthony (Jan 11, 2005)

I wish my ricca would grow like that! :bounce:


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## BiscuitSlayer (Apr 1, 2005)

Next time you do a massive trimming like that, you should think about keeping the trimmings somewhere and letting the people on the boards know. I would gladly pay shipping for some of those trimmings that you wound up throwing out. Just wrap it in some wet newspaper and put it in a plastic bag and your good to go.

I just tried some glosso, and I wish that I had seen this tread before I had planted it. I planted it in small clumps, and now the small clumps are big clumps. LOL

You are doing a good job Captain Aquascaper. Keep us posted.


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## VITARTE (Jan 28, 2005)

BiscuitSlayer said:


> Next time you do a massive trimming like that, you should think about keeping the trimmings somewhere and letting the people on the boards know. I would gladly pay shipping for some of those trimmings that you wound up throwing out. Just wrap it in some wet newspaper and put it in a plastic bag and your good to go.
> 
> I second that.


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## supaoopa (Oct 25, 2004)

sorry, I'll plan ahead next time. :icon_redf


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## Nolan W. (Feb 9, 2005)

Nooooo I could have used those cuttings!!!


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## supaoopa (Oct 25, 2004)

Corydoras85 said:


> Nooooo I could have used those cuttings!!!


SOrry corydoras85, I'll let you know next time i do a trim if you still what some clippings. :icon_redf 


Anyways here's an update.


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## Thanks (Oct 9, 2004)

nice. next time, I wouldn't trim off so much riccia, but just prune the edges with some scissors. Also, no offense, take out that golden barb you have in there, it doesnt fit at all. I would take out the guppies too, and go with all cardinals. roud: 
Anyway, nice work.


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## Anthony (Jan 11, 2005)

How is your ricca attached to the wood.


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## supaoopa (Oct 25, 2004)

Thanks said:


> nice. next time, I wouldn't trim off so much riccia, but just prune the edges with some scissors. Also, no offense, take out that golden barb you have in there, it doesnt fit at all. I would take out the guppies too, and go with all cardinals. roud:
> Anyway, nice work.



LOL, the barb was a present from my cousin. At the time i was having a problem with fuzz algae and I had mentioned some info i had read about rosy barbs. He showed up with that barb a few days later. :icon_roll No worries tho, my friend agreed to take him (for his 125g community tank). The mollies and the guppies were rescues and will make there way into my 29 gal tank. 

I'm actually thinking about putting a pair of german blue rams into this tank once the other fish are relocated. 


Anthony, I use fishing line to tie it down.


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## BiscuitSlayer (Apr 1, 2005)

Don't forget that I have dibs on your next trimming session. roud: You should be getting close with the fantastic growth that you have been having.


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## Samosette (Feb 15, 2005)

*trimmings*

I also hate throwing my extra cuttings away. So I take em to the LFS and they are nice enough to give me algae wafers (for my shrimps). I'll have to take em some giant hygro and some mircanthe..somethin..(sp). I'll post em next time i have extra if anyone wants them.


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## Steven_Chong (Sep 14, 2004)

The only thing about all cardinals, is that everyone does it . . . and I for one have gotten quite bored of that . . .


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## Troy McClure (Feb 22, 2004)

Is that Rotala indica in the back left corner?


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## supaoopa (Oct 25, 2004)

yes it is. 






R. rotundifolia


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## PinkRasbora (Jan 22, 2005)

So when is the next trimming?


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## supaoopa (Oct 25, 2004)

updating since its been a while.

Sorry for the over exposure. 










shot of one of the new plants that just went in.


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## capricorn77 (May 6, 2005)

supaoopa,
Is that a sparkling gourami you have on the second picture? The picture was a little blurry so I can't really see clearly.


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## supaoopa (Oct 25, 2004)

Yup, thats a sparkling gourami.  Got him in Santa Rosa at Cesars Tropical Fish.


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## capricorn77 (May 6, 2005)

Wow, gorgeous! What has your experience been so far keeping a sparkling gourami? I'm contemplating getting one for my tanks. 
Oh, do they do better in pairs maybe??


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## Marc (Oct 13, 2004)

nice tank- looks like you took out the glosso and went with some HC?


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## supaoopa (Oct 25, 2004)

yeah, its mostly all H.C. now with some little bits of glosso scattered around. Grows kind of slow so its going to be a couple of more weeks before i see some visual improvement in the foreground. 


As for the gourami, its doing very well so far. It loves searching through all the moss looking for things that might be edible. Cute little guy with a lot of personality. I think that in the future i would like to dedicate a good sized tank to keep just sparkling gouramis and hopefully even breed them.


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## supaoopa (Oct 25, 2004)

just updating.


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## Goldfishcrazy11 (Nov 20, 2005)

Corydoras85 (is that it? LOL, I forget)- I'm the youngest on the forum... I'm younger than 16... A couple years younger, at that.

Anyways, nice job on the tank. You do have a weird mix of fish, and it seems a little overcrowded (your 29 seems overcrowded, also, by the way). Water changes should help with that, however.

Your cardinal tetras should really be in schools of 6 or more. Also, I personally think it would be nice to add some more reds or bright greens, but it's your tank :tongue: .

I have missed something, but did you take the betta out? It would be a good choice- the barb, tetras, mollies, and guppies would all go after his long fins.


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## Jerm (Sep 26, 2005)

Goldfishcrazy11 said:


> I have missed something, but did you take the betta out? It would be a good choice- the barb, tetras, mollies, and guppies would all go after his long fins.


Hehe, barbs maybe, but tetras, mollies, and guppies all get pushed around by my betta. I guess it really depends on the fish, in a tank with plants, i think livebearers are perfectly fine with a betta, even large tailed guppies.


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## A Hill (Jul 25, 2005)

great journal the co2 working good i saw that at my lfs and it looked ok i might get one for my 10g i figured those packet things u put in it were no good and you would need to make it homemade tho lol :icon_bigg 

Fn

P.S. i think i have the title for youngest on forum i just turned 14 on nov 29th. :icon_roll


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## aquaphish (Dec 20, 2002)

This is one of the nicest journals I have seen in a while!!! 

I am glad I checked this out. I know someone with two bettas each in a small fish bowl. The sight of having a fish in such a confined area gets to me. So I was planning on getting a 5 gal. tank similar to your eclipse. Now I have to get them!!! I want to set up two 5 gals one for each betta. Will probably add just some cardinals or other small tetras and some cherry shrimp . But they need plants and will use a dark substrate like you have. Can you tell me what you used? roud:


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## supaoopa (Oct 25, 2004)

aquaphish said:


> Can you tell me what you used? roud:


Substrate in this tank is eco complete. 


Thanks for the comments everyone.


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## creepingdeath086 (Aug 21, 2004)

*nice*

most impressive tank, i always liked those eclipse systems they are a marvel on their own, you should be proud of your tank.


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## Anjay (Jan 2, 2006)

*updates?*

any updates?!!


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## tritan (Feb 11, 2005)

supaoopa said:


> Substrate in this tank is eco complete.
> 
> 
> Thanks for the comments everyone.


Where can you buy Eco complete what is it and what does it do? I love the dark color. I also wonder how your Co work? Brand, setup etc?Anyone chime in?


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## supaoopa (Oct 25, 2004)

http://www.bigalsonline.com/search/?type=catalog&method=all&collection=sitebuilder%2Fcatalog3-1&keywords1=eco+complete&x=0&y=0

Here's a link to a place where you can get it online. I personlly bought mine from a lfs for a lot more since it was the only place i knew that carried it at the time. 

The co2 in my tank is produced by fermentation of sugar and bakers yeast in water. You can make it yourself, but i bought mine premade from Nutrafin and it came with a ladder diffuser. If you look around in the above link you can probably find it there too.


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## supaoopa (Oct 25, 2004)

Anjay said:


> any updates?!!


lol, this is a shot of how it looked after getting back from a two week vacation. 










Its already trimmed back and tidy, will post the after pic later.


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## fhqwhgads (Jan 18, 2005)

haha i like the jungle. but if you trimmed it that means that you have clippings? eh eh?


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## A Hill (Jul 25, 2005)

looks awsome

-=- fish newb-=-


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## Stan the Man (Dec 12, 2005)

:thumbsup: Beautiful tank! All the plants that you've chosen are in perfect proportion for the tank. I also love the varying textures created by the different plants. Well done! I also like how you use the rock and wood to create different levels in background. Gives me some potential ideas for my nano tank.


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## supaoopa (Oct 25, 2004)

update


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## ja__ (Oct 2, 2005)

WoW look stunning

what kind of moss did you use on that driftwood? and how did you tie it?


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## supaoopa (Oct 25, 2004)

2 week update.


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## supaoopa (Oct 25, 2004)

some pics from the kitchen side.


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## mrbelvedere (Nov 15, 2005)

I am soooooo envious.


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## aquaphish (Dec 20, 2002)

supaoopa said:


> I just used cotton thread. :icon_redf I thought that the riccia would attach itself to the wood so i used cotton since it eventually disolves away. Now that i know better I will be using some nylon thread/ fishing line when i take to out to trim.


The nylon fishing line will be ok but I have seen many aquascapers use nylon mesh similar to a hair net. It will hold down the Riccia much better and more uniform.





supaoopa said:


> Well the Hagen CO2 packet only lasted about 2 weeks. I just set it up with a new pack 2 days ago and nothing happened. Not one bubble? Container was rinsed well, luke warm water was added and nothing. Could it be the one way valve i have on the canister the might of sezied up?


For the cost of the replacement packages you can go out and buy a 2 litre bottle of your favorite soft drink and use the empty bottle to make a DIY CO2Reactor using sugar and yeast. It does the very same thing as those packets at a cheaper cost.


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## supaoopa (Oct 25, 2004)

aquaphish said:


> The nylon fishing line will be ok but I have seen many aquascapers use nylon mesh similar to a hair net. It will hold down the Riccia much better and more uniform.


True, but i have heard from others about fish getting stuck in hairnets used for moss and riccia so i didn't want to risk it at the time since the mollies were still on the small side and loved to really dig into the riccia to pick at stuff. Either way the riccia in my tank would get out of control way to quickly and needed to much trimming to so that it wouldn't break away. 






aquaphish said:


> For the cost of the replacement packages you can go out and buy a 2 litre bottle of your favorite soft drink and use the empty bottle to make a DIY CO2Reactor using sugar and yeast. It does the very same thing as those packets at a cheaper cost.


lol, way ahead of you. :thumbsup: That was just when i was using the inicial packets that came with the nutrafin kit way back when i first started the tank. I switched to diy recipe when i ran out of packets. I believe that the original problem may have been the check valve since it would crack and leak from the co2 in the line (same thing happened with three different valves).


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## CobraGuppy (Sep 23, 2007)

nice tank, i especially like the lefthand corner lol. Imagine trying to get a fish out of there o.o

i wish i had better fish stores around here so i can get better hard to find plants xD

and about being the youngest on the forum, is there anyone else whos 13? i am ._.


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## vibes_jedi99 (Jun 20, 2007)

Hey SUPAOOPA! what is your tank spec right now is it still the same? lighting, substrate and plants can you list them again? tanks.....


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## supaoopa (Oct 25, 2004)

vibes_jedi99 said:


> Hey SUPAOOPA! what is your tank spec right now is it still the same? lighting, substrate and plants can you list them again? tanks.....



Back From the deaD! lol. 

Just to update. Setup is the same equipment wise. The Eclipse hood has held up well for the past three years this has been setup. No deformation of the hood from the heat of the bulb too if anyone doing this had any worries about heat buildup. Only thing that i have needed to replace is the splash guard since i let the hood drop once and it cracked. I stopped using co2 and ferts and have just stuck to monthly water changes. 

Plants i currently have are Pearlgrass, taiwan moss, bacoba C., african fern, and rotala R. in basically the same scape after removing the small chunk of wood from the right corner. I'll get some pics up in a bit. 

Very low maintenance, and most importantly no algae problems. Same fish and shrimp from the last time too. :thumbsup:


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## ZooTycoonMaster (Jan 2, 2008)

You grew all that with DIY CO2 and the bubble ladder:eek5: 

Where do you do your shopping at? *hopes it's where I do mine at*


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## supaoopa (Oct 25, 2004)

ZooTycoonMaster said:


> You grew all that with DIY CO2 and the bubble ladder:eek5:
> 
> Where do you do your shopping at? *hopes it's where I do mine at*


lol, do you mean for plants? I usually end up going to 6 ave in SF (don't recommend their fish). But if you need good advice i would talk to Justin at Oceans Aquarium (also in SF). Good guy and he can get his hands on some pretty rare stuff if your looking for something special.


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## ZooTycoonMaster (Jan 2, 2008)

Oh you're in the North Bay I'm in the South Bay...


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## supaoopa (Oct 25, 2004)

ZooTycoonMaster said:


> Oh you're in the North Bay I'm in the South Bay...


Well if you ever make your way to SF you should check out Oceans Aquarium and Aqua forest if your looking for plants. Where do you go in the south bay?
I've never really ventured for aquarium stores in that area. 


Rough undate pics off a friends cell phone.  I haven't really touched anything and just let things grow the way they want to. I just thin out sections when they get to out of control. No co2 or ferts for more then a year now i think. 

Just thinned it out.... still need to trim down the pearlweed. Kinda messy but I'm gonna work on it when i have some free time next month.


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## ZooTycoonMaster (Jan 2, 2008)

I go to Dolphin Pet Villageroud:

Is that Rotala Indica or Rotund.?


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## supaoopa (Oct 25, 2004)

R. Rotundifolia. How is yours doing in your tank?


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## ZooTycoonMaster (Jan 2, 2008)

It's doing fine. Although I don't know the exact ID, it's either Indica, Rotun., or Colorata. Here's a pic from July 3:









And how did you know I had some? Looked at my 10 gal journal?


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## punchbuggy (Sep 11, 2009)

supaoopa said:


> Well if you ever make your way to SF you should check out Oceans Aquarium and Aqua forest if your looking for plants. Where do you go in the south bay?
> I've never really ventured for aquarium stores in that area.
> 
> 
> ...


hi supaoopa, just wondering if you have any of the hood mod pics from years past! i'm looking to do my hood in a week or so but can't find and pics of anyone elses. 

Cheers


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## supaoopa (Oct 25, 2004)

Update. Picked up some goodies today. Will update with new pics once I get it to where I want it. :thumbsup:


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## supaoopa (Oct 25, 2004)

New beginning. 









These guys have been in there since the initial setup. How long are they sup post to live for?


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## supaoopa (Oct 25, 2004)

Update


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