# Diego's 4 Gal Finnex Update 09/15/10



## Clare12345 (Dec 20, 2008)

Great, I love it!


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## beedee (Jul 1, 2010)

nice start. i cant wait to see how it progresses.


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## Clare12345 (Dec 20, 2008)

Are you going to put fish in? Or inverts? I'm too impatient for just one plant right now


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## Diegosaenz (Aug 4, 2010)

I dont know yet :redface:, if its fish it will be cardinal tetras probably because they are quite small, if its invertebrates id like to put in CRS but they are quite expensive so will see now... I also need a job that will make big difference haha



Clare12345 said:


> Are you going to put fish in? Or inverts? I'm too impatient for just one plant right now


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## Diegosaenz (Aug 4, 2010)

UPDATE:

Just got all my parts for the CO2, ill post picture once its installed.


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## Outlawboss (Dec 30, 2008)

Looking good. The rock is very monolithic. It will look pretty awesome if the HC fills in fully with that rock sticking out.


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## Diegosaenz (Aug 4, 2010)

Thank Outlaw, no I have hair algae on the tank, I overdosed excel so I'm guessing thats the problem, im going to stop dossing it and see how it goes. cheers!


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## zeldar (Jun 24, 2009)

very nice for your first tank! HC + seriyu stone is always a winner. You may want to try a background plant to give the tank some depth. Dwarf hairgrass is always classic for an iwagumi. Blyxa is another good choice if you feel up to the frequent trims. It is a pretty fast growing plant and can take over a scape in no time. 

Please don't put cardinal tetras in a 4 gallon tank. They actually get quite large. I have some that are a good 1.5inches and of course they need room for swimming. Cardinals don't really belong in anything smaller than a 20gallon. If you want some fish in there, I suggest a microrasbora like boraras briggittae. They are very small which won't throw off the sense of size for your scape. You could probably get away with keeping ~8 of them in a 4gallon. You can always try shrimp! Warning though: once you try shrimp you will be hooked. I started out with the classic RCS and now have had CRS, snowballs, tiger, blue tiger, amano. They are addicting!


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## Diegosaenz (Aug 4, 2010)

Thank Zeldar! I'm actually going to keep shrimp in it once its cycled, im supposed to get them today in the mail so while my tank gets cycled and im going to keep them in a 1.5 tetra water wonders, should do the job while they wait, I got them some algae disks a mossball and shrimp pellets so they can be spoiled while they wait hehe.


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## Diegosaenz (Aug 4, 2010)

Here's an update of my tank 

Added the Co2 and a moss ball which ill be removing in a couple of days, the hair algae seems to be going away with lots of water changes and co2 boost.
I also decreased the size of the intake of the filter, it was too close to the plants and it bothered me.

Removed the drop checker because I couldn't do a 4dkh solution lol or at least it didn't work so once its cycled ill worry about it. I should be moving the tank to another room with a bio cube stand I found for 30 bucks!


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## ddtran46 (Jul 8, 2008)

The tank is looking great. I actually kinda like the moss ball in there. haha


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## MCHRKiller (Jul 25, 2008)

Glad to see the stones found a nice tank to call home, looks great so far


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## Diegosaenz (Aug 4, 2010)

The ball had to go , pearling has slowed down a lot, I boosted up the CO2 but god knows what the problem is... plants are green but still not much pearling... i'll be updating soon.


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## TLE041 (Jan 16, 2010)

Tank looks great. I wouldn't worry too much about the lack of pearling. The important thing right now is them not melting. Have you thought about adding a background of dwarf hairgrass for more interest?


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## Diegosaenz (Aug 4, 2010)

Yes, since is my first planted tank ever I wanted to just focus on HC right now but yes I do have thought about adding dwarf hair grass, I havent yet because I want the HC to spread, but maybe I should... I heard that once DHG starts spreading is really hard to stop it from not taking over the tank, will see!



TLE041 said:


> Tank looks great. I wouldn't worry too much about the lack of pearling. The important thing right now is them not melting. Have you thought about adding a background of dwarf hairgrass for more interest?


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## Diegosaenz (Aug 4, 2010)

Update: Everything is going fine but im not sure about the iwagumi style, I ordered a package of plants today. I really really enjoy the jungle look of other thanks so that's what im going to go for in a couple of days.
Here are a few screen shots of how it looks today.

































Amonia is at around 1.5mg/l
Don't get me wrong I love iwagumi style but If I'm going to do it, it has to be on a bigger tank.


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## tnemelk (Jun 25, 2010)

Hey Diego,

your HC looks good, and no algae on the HC yet. r u still using Excel or just cylinder CO2, and how many bps?


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## Diegosaenz (Aug 4, 2010)

Thanks tnemelk.
I noticed that the HC pearls a lot less (in my case) if I add excel, so I add 5ml of Excel every 2 or 3 water changes, I do around 60-70% water changes daily, the BPS are at ~1 bps. 

I did get hair algae at the very begging, I tried to overdose excel and it didn't cut it, a water change a day and a photo cycle of 12hrs 8am to 8pm did the job in a couple of days.


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## Diegosaenz (Aug 4, 2010)

Here's an update of how it is looking, I added 2 guppies just for the sake of it, will see how they do.


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## Outlawboss (Dec 30, 2008)

Lookin' good! It's coming along nicely.


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## Clare12345 (Dec 20, 2008)

I like it.


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## MissGreen08 (Jan 4, 2011)

Sorry to resurrect an older journal. I was just wondering if you had any comments on the canister filter that comes with the Finnex. I was debating whether to buy the HOB model and upgrade to an Eheim 2211, or if the canister filter was sufficient. Thanks for your help.


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