# Ideas for a 4 gallon vase shrimp tank?



## themaninthesuit

Hi Guys!

I have a 4ish gallon vase that's just taking up space and I want to turn it into a shrimp tank.

I found a really nice piece of driftwood:









The vase is not really big, about 10 inches diameter, 13 in tall.

I'm thinking about making it an island configuration with large river pebbles around the edges and a sort of valley in the middle with planted substrate, maybe attach some plants to the top of the driftwood and have them grow emersed.

Suggestions on plants I should use?

For lighting I'm using a Marineland double bright that I ended up not using in another tank. Substrate wise I'll use some aqua flora I bought but just in the middle part in a sort of hole/valley outside I'll just leave pebbles to avoid plant growth. Not a huge fan of sand.

I'll use a 10G rated internal filter creating a circular flow. Not sure if it would be better to do a dry start or just dose high CO2 during the first few weeks to jumpstart growth (it will not have permanent CO2, it's going to be fairly low-tech).

What do you think guys? Any suggestions on plants I should use? As anyone used rotala on a dry start method?

What would you put on top of the driftwood emersed? do you know any plant that looks good emersed with nice flowers?

Thanks for reading! looking forward to your suggestions.


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## boxboy

I say go for it... IMO use 
5-7watts 6500k led light
Substrate fert tabs only or dry ferts under substrate
small grain substrate or sand of anykind
Plants planted on each side of the wood, but leave a small space in the front open.
Drop in a small sponge filter or just air tube for water flow
Change 5% of water twice weekly, small water changes often are better then larger ones less often.
Add shrimps and call it a day  

I say this based on my own experance with a few vases ive had, incl my current 7x7x8" shrimp vase...

Post photos often..


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## t2ak

Boxboy said it all. Go for it! That drift wood is just about perfect.


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## AquaAurora

*grabby hands* I want that vase!! where did you get it?


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## themaninthesuit

Wholesale flower market in nyc. About 30 bucks, it was a vase for an orchid I got as a gift but it didn't like it. So, now it's a tank.


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## themaninthesuit

OK, I'm kinda settling down on this hardscape. Decided on the pebbles substrate since the driftwood is heavy and I need something to hold it in place. Not my ideal but don't really want to put epoxy on the tank. Will add some aqua flora substrate on top of this and plant some crypts and perhaps some rotala. Above the water line I'll add a paludarium type plant to scrub the water. Not sure if penny wort, money wort or maybe some sort of lily.


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## AquaAurora

Just to verify: this wood has been previously scrubbed/rinsed/boiled or otherwise cleaned to ensure no nasties are left in it from when it was out in the wild?


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## ValMM

I always thought it would be really cool to attach an orchid to emmersed driftwood. You could just spray the roots with water a couple times a day and it would grow well because the tank would cause humidity around the plant.


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## JoshBA

This is going to make a great display! 
You may run into the issue of detritus buildup using large river rocks as the only substrate; I would recommend adding something smaller underneath it.


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## t2ak

Was just going to say that ^ looks awesome.


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## horsedude

Looks good so far. It will look nice once planted and that piece of wood is really nice
Good luck...


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## Menace

I don't like the pebble look to be honest. What lighting are you going to use? I'm struggling to find a lamp that doesn't look like an erector set.


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## boxboy

Looks great... if you dont wanna use the large stones. you can use Hot Glue Gun to keep the driftwood from floating and its still easy enough to remove if needed.

search ebay for MR16 leds or GU10 leds.. 1pcs 4 watt 6500k will give you enough light. unless you plan to use CFL.


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## themaninthesuit

AquaAurora said:


> Just to verify: this wood has been previously scrubbed/rinsed/boiled or otherwise cleaned to ensure no nasties are left in it from when it was out in the wild?


Not yet, this is a mockup, the tank hasn't been flooded yet.

I'll boil the wood to sterilize and get as much of the tannins out as possible. then cure for a couple of weeks in a bucket of water.

The wood is malaysian mangrove from a very good LFS, it's supposed to be cured already but I'm not taking chances.


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## themaninthesuit

JoshBA said:


> This is going to make a great display!
> You may run into the issue of detritus buildup using large river rocks as the only substrate; I would recommend adding something smaller underneath it.


The pebbles are for weighting down the driftwood as it's not very stable by itself. I'll probably add aqua flora substrate on top.


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## themaninthesuit

Menace said:


> I don't like the pebble look to be honest. What lighting are you going to use? I'm struggling to find a lamp that doesn't look like an erector set.


Going to cover the pebbles with plant friendly substrate. I'll hang an 18 in Marineland double bright that I bought for other tank and ended up not using. It's getting enough light as it is since it's on a very bright room with huge windows. I'll have to add frogbit as a nutrient sink to keep algae in check.


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## themaninthesuit

ValMM said:


> I always thought it would be really cool to attach an orchid to emmersed driftwood. You could just spray the roots with water a couple times a day and it would grow well because the tank would cause humidity around the plant.


Been thinking about it but I'll stick to something faster growing that can act as a water scrubber. I'm sifting through the paludarium builds to see what could look good hanging in there.


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## themaninthesuit

The tank has been flooded!

The winners for stocking were Rotala Rotundifolia and Brazilian Pennyworth. Was looking for some wisteria but couldn't find anything.














































I'm tempted to stick a ball of moss or smoething like that to the protruding dirftwood and turn it into a wabi-kusa top.


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## jmf3460

what is that tiny thing plugged in to the tank?? a tiny filter of some sort??


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## themaninthesuit

jmf3460 said:


> what is that tiny thing plugged in to the tank?? a tiny filter of some sort??


Aqueon 10-Gallon QuietFlow Internal Filter Mini with the bio-media canister removed.

Had to make some modifications to make it quieter. Added some hairnet to the inlets to make it shrimp safe as I plan on adding Amanos and RCS. Removed the bio media cartridge as the cartridge was being too loud banging against itself. The tank will have very low bioload so I think I can get away with only the pump part.

Is essentially a small, quiet, cheap Powerhead that creates a gentle flow.


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## OVT

Looking sweet.
I would watch the driftwood where it breaks the surface as that is the usual are for rot and algae.

Perfect timely thread for me as I expect to get a 12" x 12" cylinder today (all the way from NYC flower district). Wish me luck.

v3


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## themaninthesuit

OVT said:


> Looking sweet.
> I would watch the driftwood where it breaks the surface as that is the usual are for rot and algae.
> 
> Perfect timely thread for me as I expect to get a 12" x 12" cylinder today (all the way from NYC flower district). Wish me luck.
> 
> v3


Sweet, let me know if I can help with anything hehe.

I'm thinking of spreading a bit of moss on the driftwood that's outside, I've heard that some mosses have anti-fungal properties and it would look really nice.


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## themaninthesuit

The permanent lighting has been hanged from the ceiling.










it's just an old marineland double bright I had lying around. I left space to plant some sort of emersed fern on top of the driftwood.

At this height it will not provide much light to the plants but it's ok since I don't plan to add CO2 nor much fertilizers and both the rotala and pennywort are fairly low light plants. The tank is also close to a window, that should supplement the lighting nicely as days grow longer.

Air exposed driftwood developing minor mold. Cleaned with Q-tip and added a few strands of living moss that I hope will outcompete the mold for space, also dropped a few cuttings from dwarf baby tears which stuck to the crevasses of the wood but I don't think it will do very good with this lighting.


Current inhabitants: Single male fire guppy, a couple of amanos and two nerite snails. I'm worried about the guppy picking on the shrimp, depending on how it goes I'll add more amanos or not.


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## themaninthesuit

Added an emersed plant, not sure the species.


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## OVT

Coming along nicely.
You might want to try Ricca on the surface around the wood, it likes to be half in, half out of the water. When the water level comes down a bit, try applying some Excel to the wood with a Q-tip - helps to keep that area clean.

I did get my vase, but, because of yours, went in a different direction - can't compete with your driftwood .



v3


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## themaninthesuit

OVT said:


> Coming along nicely.
> You might want to try Ricca on the surface around the wood, it likes to be half in, half out of the water. When the water level comes down a bit, try applying some Excel to the wood with a Q-tip - helps to keep that area clean.
> 
> I did get my vase, but, because of yours, went in a different direction - can't compete with your driftwood .
> 
> 
> 
> v3


Hahahaha, I'm flattered that you like the driftwood. Thanks for the excel tip! I'll try it later. The riccia will look nice in there I think, I'll try it too!

Looking forward to see your vase!


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## chan1011

Love the setup!!


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## leafofgrass

This is beautiful! I'm impressed 


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


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## themaninthesuit

So, the rotala I got was all in emersed form. It started branching out new sprouts of the immersed leaves and over the last week all the old growth died off (sending a bit of ammonia into the tank, but nothing that can't be handled). I've rearranged all the new immersed growth and cleaned the melted Rotala.

The pennyworth seems to be doing fine and breaking the surface. The emersed plant in the top is sprouting new roots and growing new leaves.

All is well in the front.


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## Ellie

how did you attach the emersed plant to the wood? and lovely looking vase btw. im about to start my own, going to buy some wood this week


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## mosspearl

If you ever get tired of the houseplant on top, you could put some subwassertang on top. When grown emersed, it changes to a fern that is completely different from its submersed form. Might be interesting. 

The vase is lovely, by the way.  Great job!


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## themaninthesuit

Ellie said:


> how did you attach the emersed plant to the wood? and lovely looking vase btw. im about to start my own, going to buy some wood this week


Just tucked the roots in some crevices of the wood. Put a rubber band to hold it for a few days but now it can stand on it's own. Pretty good root growth.

Good look with the vase! let us see some pictures when you're done!


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## Ellie

themaninthesuit said:


> Just tucked the roots in some crevices of the wood. Put a rubber band to hold it for a few days but now it can stand on it's own. Pretty good root growth.
> 
> Good look with the vase! let us see some pictures when you're done!


cool, i thought it might have been but wasnt sure on the ability of emersed plants to hold their own, i will have to try this! 

and thanks, i have started making a journal in the tank journal section but so far all i have is a picture of the actual bowl/vase, will update it tomorrow when i get my wood


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## Katey

A small dwarf Anubias nana, might be worked in near the surface! They say they can live with leaves out of the water, as long as the roots are submersed!


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## themaninthesuit

2 Month update!!!!

The jar has matured incredibly fast. It's a jungle now! I'm seeing planaria swimming all over and the guppies just love to hunt it. The amano shrimp are just thriving and the emersed arrow leaf is just exploding, sending roots and leaves like crazy. This set up has been so satisfying!


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## OVT

YES! 

v3


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## AGUILAR3

Loving the pennywort growth. Not so much a jungle but more of a nice filled in look.


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## fish_fasinated

This is beautiful, I may be inspired to begin a vase of my own. I have a small group of cherry shrimp the need a home other than the breeder trap to separate them from my crs in my 5g

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk


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## Lucubration

mosspearl said:


> If you ever get tired of the houseplant on top, you could put some subwassertang on top. When grown emersed, it changes to a fern that is completely different from its submersed form. Might be interesting.


It does!? Oh, my... I might have to break off a bit from my bunch and try this out for myself. Thank you for the interesting tidbit!

This vase is giving me some good ideas for how to use my spare little Mr Aqua tank as an ornament on my dresser. I think I have an interesting piece of driftwood that would sit half-in/half-out very well.


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## redant

The emersed plant is syngonium - arrow head plant


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## AquaAurora

I love the messy beauty of this pico with plants just allowed to run their course, thank you for sharing a photo update!


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## cjstl

Looks great! I hope the 5G jar I'm working on right now turns out that well.


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## SixBitSamurai

Where do I find a 4 gallon vase like this


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## Fishly

themaninthesuit said:


> Wholesale flower market in nyc. About 30 bucks, it was a vase for an orchid I got as a gift but it didn't like it. So, now it's a tank.


 @SixBitSamurai You might have to order direct from them. I tried googling for a large vase like this and couldn't find anything.


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