# MrAqua 3 gallon bowfront - Changing over to Low Tech



## tatersalad (Dec 7, 2011)

Started this tank a couple of months ago, just thought I would kinda try to do a journal on it.
*Tank*: MrAqua 3 gallon bowfront (actual working water volume after rocks and substrate closer to 1.5 gallons)
*Substrate*: MrAqua soil
*Rocks*: Suieryi???however you spell it
*Light*: Started out with a beamswork 9watt LED setup, recently changed to the Finnex Fugeray +planted
*Filter*: Azoo Palm with the foam prefilter
*Heater*: None temps stay between 69 and 71 at all times
*Co2*: 5lb tank with a stainless parker dual stage regulator and Burket solenoid with a swagelock nupro fine needle valve. Running high pressure atomic diffuser and the high pressure atomic checkvalve from GLA.
I've been wanting to do an iwugami style tank for quite sometime. I couldn't decide what I wanted to grow as my carpet though, glosso or HC? Looking back now I wish I would have done the HC instead of the glosso. I did end up using some of that plastic eggcrate to hold up my rocks and soil to make a slope that will hopefully not fall down.
I have a pic of what it looked like before I started my dry start. The dry start went well even with the beamswork light that I realize now is pretty underpowered for what I was wanting to accomplish. I could not get anything to show a green color and pearl at all with beamswork light. The Finnex has both moss and glosso pearling and some actual color coming to the plants. So far I do like the MrAqua soil. It has not started to break down or anything and the glosso seems to like it. I did cave in to my desire to have some fissdens in the tank. I’ve been seeing all the stuff on here about chopping up the moss and putting it on the rocks during the dry start so I thought I would try to do some of that on my stones in the tank. A lot of it took really well as you can see in the pics. I bet it would have done even better had I had the correct lighting at the time.
So far I just have the remaining painted fire reds from my Edge tank that I have recently torn down. They seem to be very happy in their new surroundings. I plan to get more shrimp soon. I think I’m going to stick with neos because it seems now that there are more colors to choose from than I remember 2 or 3 years ago.
Oh well, here’s some pics of how it looks and what all is going on. Feel free to ask any questions.


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## awesometim1 (Oct 31, 2013)

Nice! I love the way Riccia pearls... LOL


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## tylergvolk (Jun 17, 2012)

I've noticed you have the Finnex FugeRay Planted+ suspended on this tank. After filling the tank, did you start with the light at this length or did you determine there was took much light?

How far from your fixture from the substrate?

I am very interested in doing a similar setup and because there are not official PAR settings for this fixture. I'm wondering if it is too much light for this size tank.

I'm guessing your have the Finnex FugeRay Planted+ on the Mr. Aqua 3 Gallon D: 11.8" x 7.0" x 8.3"...
*
*


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## That70sfishboy (Apr 2, 2013)

That tank is beautiful!


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## tatersalad (Dec 7, 2011)

tylergvolk said:


> I've noticed you have the Finnex FugeRay Planted+ suspended on this tank. After filling the tank, did you start with the light at this length or did you determine there was took much light?
> 
> How far from your fixture from the substrate?
> 
> ...


Yes, it is the Finnex FugeRay Planted+. I have it mounted with the legs that came with it. That one front tank shot that shows a suspended light fixture was the old Beamswork light that I had on the tank when I started. I will take a new pic tonight of the tank with the new Fugeray planted+ on it. I will get a measurement of the top of the substrate to the bottom of the light fixture too. I know it's not very far. I have not been having alage problems so far, but I do have my CO2 going pretty good.


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## xmas_one (Feb 5, 2010)

Looks nice. Trim that glosso! Plant the trimmings.


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## tylergvolk (Jun 17, 2012)

Thanks for taking the time to take the picture and measure the distance. In fact, thanks for starting a journal for others to see what you go going on.

Subscribed!



tatersalad said:


> Yes, it is the Finnex FugeRay Planted+. I have it mounted with the legs that came with it. That one front tank shot that shows a suspended light fixture was the old Beamswork light that I had on the tank when I started. I will take a new pic tonight of the tank with the new Fugeray planted+ on it. I will get a measurement of the top of the substrate to the bottom of the light fixture too. I know it's not very far. I have not been having alage problems so far, but I do have my CO2 going pretty good.


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## tatersalad (Dec 7, 2011)

Alright, got a picture....It didn't turn out as good as the other ones, but you can see the fixture. I do really need to trim the glosso and replant, just haven't had the time.
I measured the distance from the leds on the bottom of the fixture to the surface of the substrate at the front of the tank at 7" to 7 1/2".
The Fissdens is doing really well, this is my first attempt at growing it. I wish that all of it that I chopped up and put on the rocks would have taken hold.
Anyway, here's a shot from tonight. I need to trim and do my regular maintenance that I normally do on Fridays. I'll update with a pic after that.
Thanks for looking!


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## tylergvolk (Jun 17, 2012)

Beautiful, I can't wait to set mine up.


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## tatersalad (Dec 7, 2011)

UPDATE: Well, it's been a long time since I've updated anything with this tank. Life happens. Ended up my 1 year old son wouldn't keep his hands out of this tank so I had to re-home the occupants and tear the tank down. So, fast forward to now and I have it set back up at my desk at work. I have it setup dirty with miracle grow garden soil with a little Osmocote sprinkled on top then covered with black diamond blasting sand. I still have two of my rocks setup and I've planted it out with just dwarf hairgrass. I'm doing a dry start again, this time with the tissue cultured hairgrass from Petsmart. I still have my Finnex fugeray planted + light. Looking forward to watching it grow out. Still haven't really decided on what to stock it with. I will be injecting CO2 mainly because I already have all the equipment for it for this tank. This tank will be unattended at work over the weekend so I have to consider that as well.


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## Couesfanatic (Sep 28, 2009)

Looks nice


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## tatersalad (Dec 7, 2011)

Well, it's been about a week and a half now since I got this thing going again. The hairgrass is still looking very healthy and I have noticed several spots where new growth is coming up out of the substrate. I know on camera it doesn't look like much, but I thought I would just upload a pic every week or so to keep up with the progress. I am currently doing a 10 hour photoperiod. I'm thinking of increasing that to 12.


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## tatersalad (Dec 7, 2011)

*3 Week Update:* Tissue cultured hairgrass from Petsmart has really taken off. I'm very pleased with the growth rates from this setup so far. I changed the light cycle on the Finnex to 12 hours when I did my last update on here. I have not added anything to my water that I mist with everyday, it's just distilled water. So far, I haven't had any problems with the night cleaning people or anyone else messing with the tank while I'm away from work. This tank sits undisturbed Thursday at 5 till Monday at 7am. I guess with the saran wrap on the top it kind of deters people from putting things in the tank. I'm not really worried about the people in my office building, but we all worry about the cleaning crew. Things have been known to come up missing over night. Back to the tank though, the plants are doing so well I'm thinking of flooding the tank a couple of weeks early. I had originally planned to do the dry start for a full 6 weeks, but I am starting to get the itch to bring my co2 up here and flood this thing. As far as inhabitants go, I have always loved seeing the pics of the galaxy rasboras on here but I've never seen them in any of my local places around here. I may just go with shrimp, I know there is only one person in my building that even knows about freshwater shrimp so I'm sure it would be a real conversation starter around here. I am going to stick with my Azoo palm filter because you can adjust the flow. I plan on getting my co2 setup out tonight and doing a test run to see if I need to order another atomic diffuser. I believe I can probably get away with just cleaning the one I have. If anyone knows of a good source to get the galaxy's from that is not an arm and a leg in cost, I would greatly appreciate it.


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## tatersalad (Dec 7, 2011)

*4+ weeks: * Grass is growing very well I think. I have decided that with my work schedule I will be leaving this tank in the dry until after Thanksgiving break. I would like to be at work for the entire first week of starting the CO2. Only problem I have seen so far is I've got some algae popping up in one corner and on one rock. I may spot treat with Excel before it gets out of hand. I think I had too much water in the bottom. I have a turkey baster here to remove water when it gets too high. I have also been doing a gas exchange every day where I pull back the wrap on top and let it "breathe" awhile. I'm still on the fence about what to stock it with. I believe that the galaxy rasboras are out of my range. They are not available anywhere locally and to have them shipped in seems really expensive. I may go with white cloud mountain minnows. I have a small group of them in my large tank at home and I enjoy watching them.


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## tatersalad (Dec 7, 2011)

*Week 7
Filled it up today! Got the CO2 running pretty hard, everything looks normal. *


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## tatersalad (Dec 7, 2011)

*Week 8 or 9 UPDATE:*

Ok, this begins the second week of being flooded. The tank seems to be doing well, I had a difficult two days or so of fiddling with the CO2 to get it just right. On this small of a tank it seems to be hard to get the CO2 diffused into the water column without the use of a canister filter and a reactor. I have the nano version of the atomic diffuser. I have it positioned under the outflow from the hang on the back. I did add a new drop checker. I got one of those little neat ones that have the bulb with the solution in it outside of the tank. I like it so far. The grass is growing very well and pretty much all of the alage that showed up during the dry start is gone thanks to snails and CO2. I added a neon tetra last week and today I put in two of my whitecloud mountain minnows from my big tank at home. Everyone seems to be doing great so far. I did have to do several water changes the first few days because the water would turn tannic from the miracle grow. I must say that this tank has really helped me relax at work more. I get stressed out quicker seems like since I've gotten older.


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## tatersalad (Dec 7, 2011)

*Added a few more plants*

Well I spotted some of these plants at Petsmart over the weekend and had to run and get some during my lunch time yesterday. They are telanthera cardinalis. They had them in the tissue cultured plants. Just thought I would snap a shot of them this morning to document their beginning. I have them sorda positioned behind my rocks so hopefully when they mature I will have sort of a backdrop of a different color. I have never tried to grow this plant, so we will see.


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## tatersalad (Dec 7, 2011)

*10 week update*

Well, it's been 10 weeks since I set this tank up on my desk at work. We started out dry for approx. 6 weeks and I believe we've been flooded now for at least 4 weeks. The hairgrass is growing like crazy! You can't even tell what substrate I have because almost every inch of it is covered in hairgrass. The background plants that I installed the week before last are doing quite well actually. They are making new leaves and starting to peak out over the rocks on the right hand side of the tank. I took some quick pics today to share, I have not done my weekly water change yet and this is what the tank looked like coming back to work on Monday after being gone since last Thursday.
Thanks for looking


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## tatersalad (Dec 7, 2011)

*End of year UPDATE*

Well as you can see from the photo, the plants are doing very well. The fish are also doing well. The hairgrass is really getting going good. I will have to trim some more this week. I attempted trimming last week and it is very difficult to do in this small of a tank. I was gone from the tank for a total of 5 days as we were away for Christmas break. Apparently over the break there was some sort of malfunction with the digital timer I am using for my CO2 solenoid. I have had 2 separate problems with this timer. I don't know what is happening. I don't know if it loses everything when we have a power dip or what. I will be bringing in one of my reliable mechanical timers tomorrow. I'm tired of messing with this digital timer.
Hope everyone has a happy and safe new year.


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## Sbian (Aug 22, 2016)

Do you have a cover for this tank? If so where did you get it?


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## tatersalad (Dec 7, 2011)

Sbian said:


> Do you have a cover for this tank? If so where did you get it?


Na, no cover. The water evaporates rather quickly, but I like the open top look.


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## tatersalad (Dec 7, 2011)

*UPDATE: UV HOB Filter Installed*

Well, as you can see from the picture the plants are in full Rock and Roll mode. The grass is pretty much uncontrollable, and the other plants are doing great as well. I've tried to trim the grass several times, but it's like it grows back over night. Last week I started to experience the beginnings of what was looking like an algae bloom in the tank. It was coming up on the 3 day weekend so I decided to kill the CO2 and the lights for the 3 days. I also went ahead and ordered a Grech CBG-500 Hang on the Back filter with integrated 5 watt UV light. I have never owned one of these filters but they seem to have good reviews on the net so I decided to give them a try. Came in Monday morning and the tank had zero algae on any surface and the water was just kind of yellow. Did a big water change and everything looked ok. Following day, the new filter got installed. I must say this filter is WAY bigger than the Azoo palm I had on here. It just barely fits. I had to modify the suction on it so that it would even go in the tank as the original setup would hit the bottom of the tank. The new filter flows a lot more as well so I have it throttled back as much as possible. One thing I do like about the filter is the fact that the media section of it is set up just like the Fluval hang on the backs I have had in the past. It has 3 sections that can hold pre-cut sponges or they offer you 2 little boxes that can house any other loose media you want. I used one of the boxes to hold a sponge from my Azoo palm that was already on this tank and the other box I housed some of the included ceramic balls for bio media. All seems well this morning and I hope by the end of the week the water will be crystal clear. Right now it is looking pretty good, but I've seen it clearer.


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## tatersalad (Dec 7, 2011)

*UV Is Working And Finally Trimmed*

Came in this morning to crystal clear water. Also finally got to trim the hairgrass today.


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## PlantedParadise (Jan 12, 2017)

This little tank looks fabulous! I've recently started a low-tech 5 gallon chi planted tank, do you have any recommendations for lighting? I currently just have a 6500K CFL light bulb in a small tank hood set on top of a glass cover...


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## KeatonG (Jan 3, 2017)

Tank looks great! Hairgrass is nice and lush.


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## tatersalad (Dec 7, 2011)

PlantedParadise said:


> This little tank looks fabulous! I've recently started a low-tech 5 gallon chi planted tank, do you have any recommendations for lighting? I currently just have a 6500K CFL light bulb in a small tank hood set on top of a glass cover...


I have to recommend Finnex Fugeray Planted+ That is what is on this little tank and to me it shows more color in the plants. It also grows them very well. With your tank though, it's going to be tough to find something that will work with the way the top is on that tank. Most LED fixtures these days are made to work with open top rimless tanks.

Bump:


KeatonG said:


> Tank looks great! Hairgrass is nice and lush.


Thank you very much, I attribute the wonderful growth to using osmocote in my dirt and dry starting the hairgrass.

Bump: The UV hang on the back filter is working wonderfully. Came in this morning to absolutely crystal clear water and happy fish and plants. Here is a little further back shot from normal to kind of show the view I get while working from my desk.


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## zombiejessigamer (Dec 23, 2016)

I'm soo inspired by this tank, I'm getting a second 5.5gal tank and want to do a hairgrass and a lily/swordtail look. Im hoping to do a shrimp and tetra tank out of this with drift wood. Right now I have a 5.5gal betta tank and I've had two anubias sprout blooms and they've already started rooting. I'm loving planting tanks!


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## tatersalad (Dec 7, 2011)

*Dead*

Well, came in this morning to find that one of my white cloud mountain minnows had jumped out of the tank last night. I have noticed that my other mountain minnow is all flared out and acting very aggressive this morning. Maybe he pestered the other one so bad last night that it accidentally jumped out of the tank.


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## tatersalad (Dec 7, 2011)

*~4 Month Update*

Well it's been almost 4 months since I dry started this tank in my office at work. So far everything is going great with it. I really am impressed with the way the plants have been growing and the fact that I have zero algae in this tank. As far as fish go, it could be better. Since one of my white clouds jumped ship, I removed the other one and he was re-homed to my friends 135 gallon community tank. I have ordered some shrimp for this tank, they should arrive sometime this week. Nothing fancy, I ordered some of the "wild type" neos. I tried this before in my larger tank and I was surprised at some of the colors I ended up with. I will be removing the 2 remaining neon tetras and having shrimp and snails only in this tank. I know I will enjoy watching the shrimp more. These neons are just not meant to be in this small of an environment I think. They stay hid most of the time and only come out to eat really. I know they will be much happier in my bigger tank at home.


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## KayakJimW (Aug 12, 2016)

This tank is great. I've enjoyed seeing the transformations and growth quite a bit. 
Glad you moved the Cajun seasoning from post #26. It would have made the shrimp feel nervous with that in view.


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## tatersalad (Dec 7, 2011)

*Shrimp showed up today*

My wild type shrimp showed up today in the largest box I've ever gotten shrimp in. They were all pretty healthy looking and only one had died and it looked like it just died right before I got them. Pleased so far, looking forward to seeing if any of them change colors over the weekend.
Thanks for looking.


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## tatersalad (Dec 7, 2011)

*Actually got a couple of Cool looking shrimp out of the batch*

Actually got a couple of Cool looking shrimp out of the batch


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## Cmeister (Jul 5, 2009)

Hairgrass is looking healthy!


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## tatersalad (Dec 7, 2011)

*Trim Update*

This tank is doing great. I very much enjoy having the shrimp in here vs. the small fish I had. The shrimp are a lot more entertaining. I took a before and after trim pic this week just to show you guys how much I have to trim the grass every week. It's getting tough to trim. If you aren't careful with the scissors you can almost pull up the hairgrass. 
Thanks for looking.


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## Jerad Wilson (Jun 23, 2016)

That hair grass looks awesome! Totally going to be getting some.


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## Hephaestus (Feb 2, 2017)

This is an absolutely beautiful tank! This tank caught my eye recently and I've been wondering what it would look like.

Bravo on a gorgeous tank!


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## IntotheWRX (May 13, 2016)

i like your hairy tank


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## tatersalad (Dec 7, 2011)

IntotheWRX said:


> i like your hairy tank





Hephaestus said:


> This is an absolutely beautiful tank! This tank caught my eye recently and I've been wondering what it would look like.
> 
> Bravo on a gorgeous tank!





Jerad Wilson said:


> That hair grass looks awesome! Totally going to be getting some.


Thanks, this little tank has been fun to watch. I spend more time at work than at home so I get to keep up with this one more it seems.
I had to trim back the red stem plants last thursday, they were coming up out of the tank.
Here's a shot of them now:


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## tatersalad (Dec 7, 2011)

*Mid-March Update:*

Well everything is going great with this tank still, the shrimp are multiplying like crazy and the plants are growing like crazy as well. I cut all of the stems down 2 weeks ago and took those tops and replanted them in my 120. The stems have bounced back wonderfully in this nano. I just trimmed down the grass this morning and had to be really careful not to cut up any baby shrimp as they are everywhere. I have noticed some more colorful shrimp showing up, some that look like they might have been mixed with red or blue rili's at some point. There are alot of hiding places in this small tank and it seems like I don't see some of the shrimp that I used to see.
Hope everyone's tanks are doing well.


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## tatersalad (Dec 7, 2011)

*Dragonfly*

Been busy this morning and just got back to my desk to find this guy just hatching out. I guess I must have gotten a dragonfly larvae in here somehow. None of my plants are from anyone's tank, they are all tissue cultured. He looks cool though, I wonder how many shrimp he took out? I don't really know how I could've missed him. Judging by the carcass of the larvae, it wasn't very big. He looks kinda pink right now. It's cool, I've never had them before. My office buddy was tripping out. This little tank is a good size to have on your desk.


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## Nigel95 (Mar 5, 2017)

Very nice tank. How is the neon tetra doing alone in such a small tank? 
Can't wait till my carpet plants pop up everywhere.


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## KayakJimW (Aug 12, 2016)

tatersalad said:


> Been busy this morning and just got back to my desk to find this guy just hatching out. I guess I must have gotten a dragonfly larvae in here somehow. None of my plants are from anyone's tank, they are all tissue cultured. He looks cool though, I wonder how many shrimp he took out? I don't really know how I could've missed him. Judging by the carcass of the larvae, it wasn't very big. He looks kinda pink right now. It's cool, I've never had them before. My office buddy was tripping out. This little tank is a good size to have on your desk.


That's neat. I had a dragonfly nymph randomly appear in my 29 a few years ago. I took him out after realizing he was a predator but it's cool that yours made it to the dragonfly stage. Tank raised!


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## tatersalad (Dec 7, 2011)

Nigel95 said:


> Very nice tank. How is the neon tetra doing alone in such a small tank?
> Can't wait till my carpet plants pop up everywhere.


Well, I moved the neons out of this tank a few months ago. It's been shrimp and snails only. I don't think the neons liked being in such a small tank. This tank I think should only be for small invertebrates, pretty much too small for fish.


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## tatersalad (Dec 7, 2011)

*New Shrimp*

Over the weekend me and my family visited a lake around here that we go to quite often. My kids love to take nets and try to catch little critters whenever they can. This time, my oldest was able to catch some freshwater shrimp. They look like ghost shrimp to me. She caught several so I let her put some in her 10 gallon and I brought 2 of them to this little tank of mine at work. As you can see, one of them is berried up and much larger than the other.
Pretty cool, I didn't know that freshwater shrimp were around here.


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## Alf2Frankie (Mar 29, 2017)

Looks like ghost shrimp to me as well. That is pretty amazing she was able to catch them! How are they acclimating from being moved from the wild to a tank, any issues?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro


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## FishRFriendz (Dec 21, 2016)

Alf2Frankie said:


> Looks like ghost shrimp to me as well. That is pretty amazing she was able to catch them! How are they acclimating from being moved from the wild to a tank, any issues?


They're quite easy to catch actually. When I was a kid I used to take a swimming pool net and just scoop along the bottom under some trees, and instantly have a ton of ghost shrimp, which made for a more entertaining feeding to the oscars at home. 

Any parasites on them? I'd be really afraid of parasites killing off other more expensive shrimp in the tank.


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## BettaBettas (Aug 21, 2016)

neato about your shrimp in the lake, near where I live is one of the u.s.'s largest trout farms (actually I think it is the largest) and in a little lake/river/pond they have near it where some of the trout are released, there are these tiny little shrimp (and apple snails) that look chocolate but I could never ID them, I thought they where some kind of wild neo or something.


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## tatersalad (Dec 7, 2011)

BettaBettas said:


> neato about your shrimp in the lake, near where I live is one of the u.s.'s largest trout farms (actually I think it is the largest) and in a little lake/river/pond they have near it where some of the trout are released, there are these tiny little shrimp (and apple snails) that look chocolate but I could never ID them, I thought they where some kind of wild neo or something.


That's cool, she ended up getting some snails too. A couple looked like ramshorn snails that were brown. I've hung some of the apple snails you are talking about while fishing before. I'd be diggin a crankbait along the bottom and I would come up with some yellow apple snails every now and then in certain spots of the lake.


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## bmillerind07 (Aug 19, 2016)

Very nice tank! I would love for my nano to look like this.

What does your fert regime look like?


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## tatersalad (Dec 7, 2011)

bmillerind07 said:


> Very nice tank! I would love for my nano to look like this.
> 
> What does your fert regime look like?


Thanks! I actually don't dose anything. I have a layer of miracle grow with a little osmocote+ sprinkled on top capped off with some black diamond blasting media.


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## tatersalad (Dec 7, 2011)

*Trim Day and Water Change*

Well, the wild shrimp my daughter caught didn't make it long in this little tank. Most of hers are still alive in her tank at home though. This tank is rocking right along, I did end up having to remove that HOB with the built in UV. It had a skimmer attachment that could not be removed and I tried everything I could think of to modify it to work on this tiny tank but it just wouldn't work right. Every Monday when I would come in the flow would be almost non-existent because of the sponge on the intake being almost clogged. I ended up just going back to my original Azoo palm HOB. I also got some stainless mesh for the intake on it so that no shrimp will get sucked up. When I broke down the other filter there were like 10 shrimp in it that had got pulled through the skimmer on that HOB. The red plants in this tank have been growing rapidly and I've been trimming them down every other week it seems. I've taken several home and planted in my 120 gallon. They have been doing well there also.
Today I just trimmed this massive grass lawn and did a big water change, here is the current FTS:


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## tatersalad (Dec 7, 2011)

*Shrimp*

Grabbed a pic at feeding time


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## tatersalad (Dec 7, 2011)

*Scuds*

Thought I would show the latest pic of this tank. I've been really busy the last few weeks at work and I haven't gotten a chance to trim the stem plants. I'm also seeing some scuds in this tank now. I'm assuming they came from the wild shrimp I brought from the lake. I don't think they will hurt anything though. I'm having issues with my CO2 setup on this tank as well. I just put on a new tank about 2 weeks ago and it is empty now. I'm sure I have a leak somewhere, just have to make time at work to find it after I get a new tank on there. It's difficult sometimes to maintain a high tech tank at work.


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## Alf2Frankie (Mar 29, 2017)

That DHG is doing super well - congrats! I currently have some scuds in one of my tanks I let run wild, they won't do any harm to shrimp.


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## OCDiscus (May 20, 2017)

Beautiful tank! I have a 5 gallon tank at work (Marineland Portrat) currently stocked with Ramshorn snails and some ember tetra. What are your parameters for keeping the ramshorn happy with CO2? I currently have java moss + java fern, but really want to add some other plants. I'm terrified if I bump the CO2 that the snails will not like it. I'm currently at ~7.6 PH by keeping KH = 5 and GH = 8 with sodium bicarbonate and calcium sulfate. You think that's enough buffer to add some CO2 to get plant growth like you have there?


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## tatersalad (Dec 7, 2011)

OCDiscus said:


> Beautiful tank! I have a 5 gallon tank at work (Marineland Portrat) currently stocked with Ramshorn snails and some ember tetra. What are your parameters for keeping the ramshorn happy with CO2? I currently have java moss + java fern, but really want to add some other plants. I'm terrified if I bump the CO2 that the snails will not like it. I'm currently at ~7.6 PH by keeping KH = 5 and GH = 8 with sodium bicarbonate and calcium sulfate. You think that's enough buffer to add some CO2 to get plant growth like you have there?


I haven't had any problems with the ramshorn snails. In fact they proliferate at such a high rate that I have to take at least a dozen out almost monthly. I move them to other tanks I have. I guess the only thing that could be helping the snails is the fact that I feed food that has calcium added. This is supposed to be good for the snails and the shrimp. I'm using bottled water in this tank since it is so little and I have access to it at work. I believe the PH of the bottled water is pretty close to 7, so with the CO2 added it probably gets down around 6. I'm pretty sure I'm dropping it close to a full point. I think you should go ahead and start bumping up your CO2. Just take it slow, make a small move and give it several hours. I've learned the hard way not to be too drastic with pressurized CO2. Also, always make changes with your needle valve while the solenoid is on and gas is flowing. Good luck!


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## tatersalad (Dec 7, 2011)

*Big Trim*

Had to swap out my 5lb CO2 cylinder on this little tank today so I thought I would do a trim. Check it out.


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## bmillerind07 (Aug 19, 2016)

The tank still looks amazing. You're getting some great color and growth out of those ARs.

I'm looking at buying the Grech filter that you had. Do you think it would work well on a topless Fluval Edge 6 gallon? Or would I run into the same issues you experienced?


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## tatersalad (Dec 7, 2011)

bmillerind07 said:


> The tank still looks amazing. You're getting some great color and growth out of those ARs.
> 
> I'm looking at buying the Grech filter that you had. Do you think it would work well on a topless Fluval Edge 6 gallon? Or would I run into the same issues you experienced?


Sorry it took so long to reply. I think as long as you are able to get the entire pickup tube into that Fluval you should be ok. I had a 6 gallon fluval edge a couple of years ago, I think it might be deep enough for that filter. Other than the pickup tube issues, it really seemed like a good filter. I liked the UV light.


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## bmillerind07 (Aug 19, 2016)

Awesome, thanks for the info! With a UV sterilizer and for the price, it really seems like a no brainer.


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## tatersalad (Dec 7, 2011)

*Changing Over To Low Tech*

Well, after much consideration I have decided to go "low tech" with this tank. I like using pressurized CO2 but I don't want to put my job in jeopardy just to have it. I have gotten away with sneaking around this 5lb CO2 setup. I have it semi-hid under my desk and everything but I feel like if the wrong person knew it was here I would get in trouble. I purchased some floaters from a member here and put them in yesterday. I am going to be on the look out for a way to DIY a dimmer for this awesome Finnex planted+ so that maybe I can just do that instead of the floaters. Just wanted to update this journal on the big change, if anyone has any ideas (or links to parts) for a DIY dimmer I would really appreciate it.
Thanks


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## tatersalad (Dec 7, 2011)

*Dimmer Installed*

Found what seems to be a decent dimmer on Amazon. I installed it after the power supply on my Finnex Planted+ and it works really well. I have the light dimmed to approximately half power. So far so good.


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## Hans Wormhat (Jul 31, 2017)

This is such an inspiring thread and my first sub as a new member. I'm just starting out in the world of planted tanks so the constant updates are really nice. The simplistic look with just the grass and one other type of plant is really appealing, especially with the red against the green foreground. I look forward to reading more!


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## Tnalp (Mar 25, 2017)

tatersalad said:


> Found what seems to be a decent dimmer on Amazon. I installed it after the power supply on my Finnex Planted+ and it works really well. I have the light dimmed to approximately half power. So far so good.




How much was this dimmer? May I have the link? I have. Twin star led light that I would like to dim. It's very very bright 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## tatersalad (Dec 7, 2011)

Tnalp said:


> How much was this dimmer? May I have the link? I have. Twin star led light that I would like to dim. It's very very bright
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


I don't think we are allowed to post links for stuff on Amazon, but if you go to Amazon and type this in: 12V 24V 30A LED Dimmer Controller for Single Color LED Strip Lighting Lamp Ribbon Light Black Button Control Brightness 
You will find it!
So far this little dude is working great. It does not even get warm.


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