# From clown puke to ozark glades (10 gal, low tech)



## calebkraft (Jan 3, 2012)

I have this 10 gallon setup that is currently in full clown puke mode. 

I'd like to transform it to something a little prettier to keep me sane during the winter. I'm considering emulating our local landscape a bit instead of going the traditional route. 

Here's the current state:








Here's my quick mockup:










Plants: 
tall stuff (emulating tall grass)= ?
short stuff (emulating short grass)= ?
considering doing moss on the creek bed.

I should be able to do med/high light but would like to stay low tech. I don't mind dropping in some ferts, but I'm not planning on doing C02. 

Any suggestions for plants? The substrate will obviously not be able to be super thick where the soil meets the rock cliffs... should this pose a problem?


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## calebkraft (Jan 3, 2012)

Inspiration on the grass


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## TheJadeShrimp (Oct 13, 2011)

calebkraft said:


> Plants:
> tall stuff (emulating tall grass)= ?
> short stuff (emulating short grass)= ?
> considering doing moss on the creek bed.
> ...


Looks nice! I like it. Dwarf Hairgrass Belem and the regular dwarf Hairgrass.


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## PinoyBoy (Mar 14, 2008)

+1 to the belem and hairgrass. The belem is shorter and the hairgrass can get as tall as you want. Narrow leaf java fern and vals of somekind might be an option, but the blades might be too thick.


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## calebkraft (Jan 3, 2012)

Think hairgrass will grow OK without C02? I'm fine with it growing slowly, I just want it to be healthy.

I'm not stuck on having the grass, I might be tempted to go with the easiest green carpet I can make work low tech.


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## TheJadeShrimp (Oct 13, 2011)

calebkraft said:


> Think hairgrass will grow OK without C02? I'm fine with it growing slowly, I just want it to be healthy.
> 
> I'm not stuck on having the grass, I might be tempted to go with the easiest green carpet I can make work low tech.


It will be fine. Some put it in a Unfilter unheated really low tech bowl. That is what I am going to do with DHG. Newman has some in his bowl currently.


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## calebkraft (Jan 3, 2012)

Great! I forgot to mention, this will probably be a shrimp only tank. I might drop in a single fish or possibly two at some point, but the goal is a shrimp habitat. 

I wish there were more inverts to play with, but crawfish are aggressive. I might find some friendly bugs to put in there like dafnia. Still researching.


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## [email protected] (Apr 27, 2011)

calebkraft said:


> Great! I forgot to mention, this will probably be a shrimp only tank. I might drop in a single fish or possibly two at some point, but the goal is a shrimp habitat.
> 
> *I wish there were more inverts to play with, but crawfish are aggressive*. I might find some friendly bugs to put in there like dafnia. Still researching.


 Self-cloning crays are a peaceful, vegetarian crayfish that only get to around 3". Mine is a really awesome blue color and is great to watch in my community tank. They are kind of expensive initially, but are better-looking then shrimp, IMO.


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## calebkraft (Jan 3, 2012)

[email protected] said:


> Self-cloning crays are a peaceful, vegetarian crayfish that only get to around 3". Mine is a really awesome blue color and is great to watch in my community tank. They are kind of expensive initially, but are better-looking then shrimp, IMO.


oh wow... man. this makes me think. It says they're very plant destructive. I'd have to re-plan my tank


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## calebkraft (Jan 3, 2012)

oooh, illegal in missouri as of March 2011. I tend to ignore most laws based off nonsense, but invasive species is a fairly important issue here (as opposed to zoning, for instance).


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## msjinkzd (May 12, 2007)

consider Cambarellus shufeldtii or Cambarellus patzcuarensis, 1-1.5", peaceful, shrimp safe, plant safe


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## calebkraft (Jan 3, 2012)

msjinkzd said:


> consider Cambarellus shufeldtii or Cambarellus patzcuarensis, 1-1.5", peaceful, shrimp safe, plant safe


It is very tempting. With the design above, it would be easy to add some pvc hiding spots in between some rocks.


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## calebkraft (Jan 3, 2012)

Picked up the organic soil and some flagstone today. Not sure when I'll be able to get started on it though.


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## AesopRocks247 (Jan 15, 2010)

You should try some dwarf sagatteria too


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## Brian10962001 (Dec 6, 2011)

AesopRocks247 said:


> You should try some dwarf sagatteria too


Just a warning, dwarf sag won't stay dwarf in a low tech tank with low light. It will grow massive foot long leaves, that melt and die. It's my second least favorite plant (anacharis being the first).


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

Brian10962001 said:


> Just a warning, dwarf sag won't stay dwarf in a low tech tank with low light. It will grow massive foot long leaves, that melt and die. It's my second least favorite plant (anacharis being the first).


That totally depends on the variety. There are some that won't exceed 3" tall no matter the lighting.


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## calebkraft (Jan 3, 2012)

Well, this is a 10gal with 2x15w cfl bulbs. I think it should have decent light. I really like the look of the dwarf hairgrass... gotta try to find some dwarf hairgrass belem though.


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## depech (Dec 6, 2011)

What type of rock do you plan to use? Great mock up by the way.


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## calebkraft (Jan 3, 2012)

depech said:


> What type of rock do you plan to use? Great mock up by the way.


Thanks. 

well, most of the rock around here is limestone. To emulate that visually, I'm just going to settle with some southwest flagstone (flat bits of sandstone). I'll lay it flat and maybe stack it to create the creek side. 

You can see some of the stone here


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

I would avoid Eleocharis species if you're not planning on using CO2.

I'd consider Lilaopsis mauritiana, instead. It's what I have carpeting my own 90 and 29gal (no trimming or CO2 needed)...


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## calebkraft (Jan 3, 2012)

Well, I finally moved the last few fish out. I dumped the old water and most of the clown puke. I kept a little clown puke and left it under the soil and sand. The red rock was in the old tank too. I need to get more sand to build up more, there's not a thick enough layer over the soil. I also want to get some kind of lighter material for the "creek bed". Not sure if I'll do light sand or pebbles.

I moved the filter over to the new tank to keep the biofilter alive. When this one is ready, I'll just move it back! My cycle should go much faster.










I don't think I'm going to try super hard to get the grass effect I had initially planned for. I think I will still plant something taller in back but the foreground will probably be whatever grows a thick carpet the easiest.


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## calebkraft (Jan 3, 2012)

I'm researching mosses for the carpet. Anyone have luck cutting up marimo balls for moss carpets?


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## sssnel (Nov 8, 2011)

Marimo won't carpet. I cut one up and flattened it out in a 2.5 gallon. It had to be weighed down and the undersides turned very brown. I ended up pulling it completely. Once left to grow on its own after many many months the pieces started trying to ball up again.


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## calebkraft (Jan 3, 2012)

I finished the hardscape I think. The creek bed turned out a little goofy looking, but I'm cool with that. 










I have been researching and thought about trying HC for the carpet and doing the emersed way where you just have enough water for the roots to grow for like a month (is that the correct term?). But I'm not sure my sand could hold down a healthy growth of HC. 

Still researching I guess.


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## cableguy69846 (Dec 13, 2010)

Not a bad start man. That hardscape is pretty spiffy.

For HC, sand will work great. I have a partial HC carpet in my 2.5 gallon with black marine sand and it loves it. The only issue I think you will have is how slowly it will grow once you flood the tank if you don't have CO2 going. Some Excel added religiously will solve that problem for the most part though. And I think the term you are looking for is emergent, but emersed and emergent are used pretty interchangeably around here, so no worries. What you are planning is called a "Dry start". Not too dry, but that should help with the research on this tank. Looks good so far man, keep it up.:icon_smil


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## calebkraft (Jan 3, 2012)

I'm really not stuck on HC. I mean I like the way it looks, but at this point I'm still building experience. I have also considered different mosses. Even Riccia would be really easy to just tie to a bunch of rocks and have an almost instant carpet. I suspect it would require constant trimming though.


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## cableguy69846 (Dec 13, 2010)

calebkraft said:


> I'm really not stuck on HC. I mean I like the way it looks, but at this point I'm still building experience. I have also considered different mosses. Even Riccia would be really easy to just tie to a bunch of rocks and have an almost instant carpet. I suspect it would require constant trimming though.


Yeah, riccia tends to grow up. And then it breaks off and grows in a massive floating pod. You will be better off with moss of some sort. Peacock and Java grow pretty easily.


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## calebkraft (Jan 3, 2012)

I just ordered a square mile of HC. We'll see how it does.


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## Brian10962001 (Dec 6, 2011)

lauraleellbp said:


> That totally depends on the variety. There are some that won't exceed 3" tall no matter the lighting.


I see, do you know how to tell them apart? Or a better question, what's a nice low level, low light plant for these types of tanks?


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## calebkraft (Jan 3, 2012)

So frustrated right now. I had ordered $40 worth of HC. I noticed as the order went through that paypal had my address that I had just moved from. 

I put a note in the "notes" section of the order form to contact me since the address was wrong, and included the correct address... they completely ignored it. No contact and the package was attempted at the old address and is most likely being returned to them.


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## cableguy69846 (Dec 13, 2010)

calebkraft said:


> So frustrated right now. I had ordered $40 worth of HC. I noticed as the order went through that paypal had my address that I had just moved from.
> 
> I put a note in the "notes" section of the order form to contact me since the address was wrong, and included the correct address... they completely ignored it. No contact and the package was attempted at the old address and is most likely being returned to them.


Ouch. I would send them a very strongly worded e-mail.:hihi:

Where did you order from?


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## calebkraft (Jan 3, 2012)

I ordered through plantedaquariumscentral.com. I have emailed them asking how they would like to resolve the issue. I've been a small business owner before and I know how things can slip through the cracks. I always give people a chance to make things right before being a jerk.


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## calebkraft (Jan 3, 2012)

Well they finally arrived today after bouncing around the postal service for a week.









Looks like I bought more than enough... I guess I'm basically just laying down a carpet!


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## cableguy69846 (Dec 13, 2010)

That is a lot of HC man.roud:


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## calebkraft (Jan 3, 2012)

HC planted. I could have gotten by with half this much, but I don't really have another tank to use it in right now. Hopefully I can keep it alive. One of my bulbs was busted, so I have to go buy another tomorrow. That's why the right side looks so dark.


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## cableguy69846 (Dec 13, 2010)

As long as it is humid enough, you should be good. And that looks like it took a lot of patience. Looks great though.


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## gatorsmashed (Nov 20, 2011)

I just wanted to say I really like the look of this tank! Very unique and beautiful, great job please keep us up to date with pictures and stuff as it progresses.


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## calebkraft (Jan 3, 2012)

I'll snap another pic tonight, though it doesn't look much different(twice as much light though). Still waiting for that HC (dwarf baby tears) to put down solid roots. I did plant some dwarf hairgrass along the edge of the "creek" looking thing though. 

I was inspired by Xenxe's 20long one and ordered that same light today. I think I'll do a few "lucky bamboo" shoots in that top back corner extending out of the tank. Trying to come up with something nice to do for that boring creek bed area. I'm sure I'll come up with something.


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## calebkraft (Jan 3, 2012)

Pictures as promised. Nothing amazing here. 

I am tempted to flood just so I can keep it warmer though. My house keeps dropping to the mid 60s at night.


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## crowconor (Jan 29, 2012)

that looks awesome, i have had no luck with HC. That is a huge change from the first picture


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## calebkraft (Jan 3, 2012)

It has definitely fluffed up a little. The roots still aren't deep enough though. The lowest spot, where I planted the DHG lifted when I added a little more water last week.


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## calebkraft (Jan 3, 2012)

Flooded because I'm impatient. Got some HC dying off in the middle area and healthy growth around the edges. Added some "cardinal plant", some microsword, and some duckweed and some other plant I pulled from a local stream. I'm still waiting for my 4 foot t5 to arrive so I can ditch this hood and plant the bamboo in the back.

Dropped in a giant carpet of moss of some kind too, not sure if that'll take everything over or not. Gotta research! I also found clumps that look like riccia on steroids. They're super thick and rough, but the shape is the same.


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## calebkraft (Jan 3, 2012)

My light finally arrived! UPS lost my first one so Amazon sent me another. 










Again, total ripoff of Xenxe's. Hope I didn't completely kill that bamboo by cutting it off below the leaves. From what I gathered, the stuff is almost invincible and will sprout if you diced it and buried it.

Many more plants coming soon!


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## cableguy69846 (Dec 13, 2010)

Looks good man. I can see the next wave in fish keeping. Tubs with grow lights. Lol.

What is the creeping plant on the left, and the moss on the rock on the right?


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## calebkraft (Jan 3, 2012)

Bottom left is "wandering jew" (always hated that name, sounds like a racial slur). The moss on the right is just some moss I dug up in my yard. it has about an inch of soil under it. Not sure if it will survive, but it will be cool if it does!


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## cableguy69846 (Dec 13, 2010)

calebkraft said:


> Bottom left is "wandering jew" (always hated that name, sounds like a racial slur). The moss on the right is just some moss I dug up in my yard. it has about an inch of soil under it. Not sure if it will survive, but it will be cool if it does!


That will be cool if it does.


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## calebkraft (Jan 3, 2012)

This tank no longer exists. It became a beautiful overgrown mess (just the way I like 'em) and then finally got sacrificed for a bigger one. 
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=202808&highlight=


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