# Gautama Awakens 7g nano Journal



## xxUnRaTeDxxRkOxx (Jul 12, 2011)

Sweet looking setup you have going, I have the same 10" Finnex FugeRay on my Evolve 4. It's such a sweet little LED light isn't it?


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## CatFishStryk (Sep 3, 2013)

Wow, didn't realize that you could have so many corys (even pygmy) in a tank that size. Very reassuring for my tank ideas! Very nice looking tank!


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## frenchie1001 (Jun 23, 2013)

intersted how you go with the cories. i put 8 in a freshish tank and i think ive lost them all.


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## devilduck (May 9, 2012)

frenchie1001 said:


> intersted how you go with the cories. i put 8 in a freshish tank and i think ive lost them all.


They were an impulse buy at a fish show. So far they appear to be active and eating. I'll post updates on them. I really like them and I hope they make it.


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## bitFUUL (May 14, 2010)

Are you sure it's the 10" light? The 7 gallon cube is 12" all around.


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## devilduck (May 9, 2012)

bitFUUL said:


> Are you sure it's the 10" light? The 7 gallon cube is 12" all around.


Duh! You are correct it is the 12" Fugeray, the cube is 30cm about 11.8 inches. 

When I had the light on during the dry start it didn't look like it was enough light. Now that it's filled it's looking pretty good. I'm aim toward the mid to high end of medium level lighting once the CO2 gets setup.


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## hryder77 (May 24, 2012)

that Buddha head would look really cool around allot of overgrown hair grass. Kinda like a lost artifact look


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## second (Jan 31, 2005)

Very cool


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## devilduck (May 9, 2012)

Ran into a bit of a problem with the Buddha head. I took it out to clean what I though was algae growing on the face. Lightly scrubbed it with a toothbrush and the white came off revealing a darker color underneath.

I thought the stone was naturally white but it seems it was some type of paint or coloring, the stone underneath is a lot darker. Took it out quickly then did a 80% water change. Hopefully whatever leeched out in the 24 hours won't kill my cories....
They seem to be acting alright. Will probably continue to do some small water changes daily for the next couple of days.

An hour of cleaning with 3 different brushes and here is the newly cleaned up Buddha head, it's a bit darker:


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## devilduck (May 9, 2012)

Two week update on growth. 

Trimmed the hair grass in hopes of promoting runners.

Added one amano shrimp to control algae on dhg but he seems more adapt at stealing the Cory's food. 

Pygmy Corys are doing great!

The two blue ramshorns have had eggs and I see babies on the leaves.


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## devilduck (May 9, 2012)

Some type of infection has hit the tank. Noticed that the tails of he corys were gone and they started acting listless. Next day I lost the amino shrimp and two corys.

I started dosing kanaplex in hopes of stopping the die off...


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## devilduck (May 9, 2012)

After 3 days of Kanaplex treatment there are no more losses! Fish are back to acting like their playful selves. 

Moved 2 amano shrimp from my main tank to this one to control some hair algae that I'm seeing start to appear on the glass.

Looking to add either Endler livebearer males or ginga rubra guppies as the next occupant.


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## devilduck (May 9, 2012)

Updates:

Tank is now clear of whatever infection was killing shrimps/fish. Total losses were 1 large amano and 2 pygmy corys.

- Added 2 croaking gouramis, I mistook them for sparkling gouramis. If they get too big I will move them to the main tank.

- Added aquarium hk brand lily pipe and intake









Pygmy cory meeting on top of Buddha's head.









Croaking Gouramis









FTS


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## second (Jan 31, 2005)

That looks great!


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## chrispena33 (Aug 26, 2013)

Has the DHG started coming in faster now that its flooded? I'm about a month in to my DSM with DHG and I'm only seeing a few runners at this point. I've been thinking about just flooding it and going from there.


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## devilduck (May 9, 2012)

chrispena33 said:


> Has the DHG started coming in faster now that its flooded? I'm about a month in to my DSM with DHG and I'm only seeing a few runners at this point. I've been thinking about just flooding it and going from there.


Yes, with the tank flooded and with co2, the dhg is settling in and putting out runners. I don't know if doing the DSM with dhg was necessary in my case. I did notice that the dhg did produce a nice root structure during the dry start. So if your not going to add bottom digging fish like cories I think you can skip DSM.


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## devilduck (May 9, 2012)

Updated first page:

I decided to add a Finnex Fugeray-r since the 12" Fugeray alone wasn't getting me the coverage I wanted. I found that as the stem plants in the back were getting taller they all starting to leaning forward toward the front of the tank because the back was darker. When I pushed the light further back, I didn't like the shadows it created with the buddha head. Now the tank if extremely bright. I cranked up the co2 a bit and hoping for the best. I put the main light, the 12" Fugeray on a different timer and a shorter time schedule.

Both lights: 









Note on the left of buddha is a crypt parva, that I thought completely melted away is now coming back and started to peek through.

Fugeray-R reds only:









DGH "belem" carpet is coming along great! Looking back I should have skipped the DSM:










I thought I knew a lot about keeping freshwater fish until this nano challenged me and showed me that I have a long way to go. Things change fast with a tank this size, diseases spread faster. Livestock that most would consider peaceful in a 20g+ can turn downright nasty in a smaller tank.


Problems:

My downoi is no longer looking so hot. Getting small holes in the leaves and it's melted back a bit. Is this a K deficiency or is it getting shaded too much? I also started excel dosing for some hair algae I was getting. Does downoi hate excel?










Stocking issues:

I added 6 chili rasboras, one was immediately killed by the croaking gouramis I had in there. I re-homed them to my main 29g tank, lost one of them, it jumped but the other seems pretty happy in the more spacious tank.

Then 2 of of the chili's simply disappeared over the course of the next few weeks, leaving me with only 3 left. I can only assume they died and were eaten by snails.

Next I added 5 juvenile male ginga rubra guppies, noticed they started to die off one by one from what seemed to be fin rot. I medicated the tank again with Kanaplex, but still lost 2 of them. I then noticed that the largest was bullying and nipping at the smaller ones probably stressing them to death. I moved one to my ramshorn breeding bucket and left the two largest ones in the tank. My guess is i'll at some point i'll probably have to move the other to the main tank leaving only one guppy in this tank. Further research confirmed that I should have done a mix of 1male/2females. I went all male because I didn't want to be overrun with guppies, what I didn't know was they get extremely territorial as they get older.

I'm open to all comments and recommendations, even the smartass ones.


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## cifinest33rd (Apr 30, 2012)

Sweet setup! @devilduck

Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk


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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Excellent little tank. Probably a good move to add the additional light, looks like you are going to a have a densely planted tank in no time at all!


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## devilduck (May 9, 2012)

Some updates, did a slight rescape. 

Added a sparkling gourami. 

Battling some green dust algae that has started appearing on the glass.



Ginga Rubra Guppies coloring up:


Sparkling Gourami:


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## skindy (Jan 30, 2012)

Awesome update! Do you still have most of your pygmy cories? I've been considering some but I was under the impression I needed at least a 10g for 5+ cories. How are yours doing?


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## devilduck (May 9, 2012)

I started with 10 but lost 2 to a fin rot outbreak. The remaining ones are doing great! They've grown from the initial size of less than a 1/2in to 3/4in. Very active and fun fish. They like to either hang around on top of the buddha head, dig amongst the dwarf hair grass or surf the outflow. 

For any fish the more room the better, but 1-1.5 pygmy cory per gallon seems to be a good general rule.


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## Asu1776 (Mar 5, 2013)

Cool idea! The picture of the pigmy corys on top of the head was funny.


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## CAPSLOK (Dec 8, 2013)

Looks really good! I love those little pygmy cories.


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## devilduck (May 9, 2012)

Making great headway with my war against endless Green Dust Algae!

I've been fighting it with co2, light, excel, h2o2, and more/less ferts for months. None of tinkering made a dent, the GDA would just come back in a matter of hours and cover the glass after a couple of days. 

Finally I remembered reading this thread a few months back:
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?p=5603841&highlight=#post5603841

At first I was skeptical and I really didn't think a bushy nose pleco would be a smart thing to do in my already overstocked tank. After a visit to my LFS to look at an expensive UV unit I caved and bought a single 1.5" juvenile BN pleco and a couple more amano shrimps.

Less than 24 hours later I was nearly algae free! That little bn scraped every side of the tank! I was dumbstruck.

He had some problem getting to the parts where my carpet of dhg belem grew against the glass, so today I removed a portion of the carpet to give him easier access.










The other parts of my algae crew; ramshorn snails and 4 amano shrimps:










I also added a Finnex light risers made by Fuze that props my Fugeray up 3 inches and gives me better coverage over the tank.


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## MichaelMcG (Mar 16, 2012)

Great looking tank! DHG looks amazing!

I will always keep a BN pleco. They do help with the glass, but they are also one of my favorite fish. There is Animal Island in Midlothian, about 143rd and Cicero that has dwarf BN plecos. They only get like 2.5 inches max.

Where did you get your amano from?


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## lamiskool (Jul 1, 2011)

curious how you were able to remove the DHG without uprooting the whole thing? My lawn need to be trimmed sometime lol


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## limz_777 (Jun 29, 2005)

nice buddha head , i got a similar one too


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## devilduck (May 9, 2012)

It was my first time attempting it. I slowly pulled up a section from the substrate then clipped it with a pair of long scissors. It was a messy operation.

The roots are pretty tightly woven.



lamiskool said:


> curious how you were able to remove the DHG without uprooting the whole thing? My lawn need to be trimmed sometime lol


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## devilduck (May 9, 2012)

Thanks ilk check them out! I got the BN pleco and amanos from Golden Aquarium. Not sure if the BN is a dwarf or not.




MichaelMcG said:


> Great looking tank! DHG looks amazing!
> 
> I will always keep a BN pleco. They do help with the glass, but they are also one of my favorite fish. There is Animal Island in Midlothian, about 143rd and Cicero that has dwarf BN plecos. They only get like 2.5 inches max.
> 
> Where did you get your amano from?


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## Chris_Produces (Feb 19, 2014)

Any update on this tank? Looks great!


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## devilduck (May 9, 2012)

A quick update. 

Things aren't going too well after I switched to dry dosing AquariumFertilizer.com's Macro/Micro mix and elevated the main light up 3 inches. All my downai and L. sp. Red melted away, which I replaced with blyxa. 

I'm seeing a combo of green spot algae and green dust algae, BBA or staghorn on some plants. My previously perfectly green lawn of dhg belem is yellowing in certain spots.

I've lowered my light back down to the top of the tank and still adjusting my fertilizer and co2 levels in hopes of bringing everything back under control.











My poor Alternanthera reineckii sp Mini! Covered with green spot and green dust algae. I might have to scrap these and start again with tops from my other tank.









Amanos working hard but not making much of a dent.


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## devilduck (May 9, 2012)

*Taking Out the Big Guns vs GDA*

I've been fighting GDA of months and I'm tired of it. I've tried fiddling with the light levels/ferts schedule to no avail. I purchased a baby bristle-nose pleco, which did a good job controlling until it discovered it's easier to steal algae tabs from the pygmy corys and bully them around. After a few months I felt he just got too big for this tank and moved him into my 29g.

After I pulled and trimmed off all the algae covered plants I decided to throw in the town and invested in a Aquatop HOB style UV sterilizer. The sterilizer is a pretty nice unit, the UV bulb is 5 watts, included is a surface skimmer, a simple carbon and floss cartridge, a small bag of ceramic media, and has adjustable flow. I think there might just be enough room to squeeze in a 100mg bag of Purigen too. To increase dwell time in the UV chamber I turned the flow as long as it will go without getting too noisy. Not bad for $34 off of amazon.

The surface skimmer is a very nice plus. Does a decent job of removing surface scum and small floating bits of plants. Believe me if you have some type of carpeting plant you'll always have small bit of them floating around.
The downside is that it sucked in and killed one of my chili rasboras, I immediately removed it after that incident. Now i'm down to just a single chili...

I've had it on about 2 weeks and there has been a dramatic decrease in GDA! Whenever I see GDA start forming on the glass I scrap it off so that it can be sucked into the sterilizer. Hopefully in about a month I can finally be GDA free and I can remove the UV. 

I lost a couple of fish due to some illness brought in from a sick scarlet badis.

Current fauna:

1 lone chili rasbora
2 very shy danio erythromicron
7-8 Pygmy cories
1 Amano shrimp
Random fluctuating number of ramshorn snails


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## devilduck (May 9, 2012)

Time for a video update!

Rearranged some hardscape and added some livestock.

More chili rasboras (with a couple of strawberry rasboras mixed in)
Ghost feeder shrimp from Petco.
female scarlet badis

http://vimeo.com/115949823


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## NotCousteau (Sep 25, 2014)

Beautiful tank and video! I can't believe it's only 7 gallons. It feels so much bigger because of your great aquascaping and fish selection.


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## devilduck (May 9, 2012)

Complete re-scape. New manzanita, new smaller Buddha head.
Added my first bucephalandra lamandau purple move in some moss and nana petite.


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## devilduck (May 9, 2012)

Update: Bruce is flowering!


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## du3ce (Jan 26, 2013)

dig the new scape


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## devilduck (May 9, 2012)

du3ce said:


> dig the new scape


Thanks!


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## devilduck (May 9, 2012)

onefang said:


> FYI.. this is not an amano shrimp:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thanks! My lfs sold them as amano shrimps. They have since passed on and have been replaced with cherry shrimp. I did not have an problems with them in the tank other than their short life span. 

The bucephalandra lamandau purple flowered but the snails made short work of the flower.


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## devilduck (May 9, 2012)

Mini restart from moving cross country from Chicago to LA. Basically tossed everything into a bucket and put it in the back of my suv. Only losses were 2 shrimp and 2 of the chilis.


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## devilduck (May 9, 2012)

Added ohko stones and Monte Carlo.


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## devilduck (May 9, 2012)

Growth update.

Monte Carlo filling in the cracks between the stones and starting to grow over. Buddha head is starting to get a nice patina of algae.


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## devilduck (May 9, 2012)

Now pimping an AQUASKY and monte carlo carpet is in place. Tank is nicely balanced now that I've switch to RO water for water changes. The water from my downtown LA tap is close to 500 ppm! With the RO i'm keeping it below 200 ppm.

The larger buce lamandau purple is flowering and taking off like wild fire. Might have to thin some of it soon.

Downside is my painted fire red shrimps population crashed. Probably not liking the softer water. I've augmented with a couple of crs but they are struggling under my co2 injection.


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## devilduck (May 9, 2012)

I can't believe it's been 3 years since my last update. I've moved several times around the country since then and taken this tank and it's inhabitants with me. With all the moving I've surprised that most of the fauna survived. I still have the shrimps, snails, pygmy cories and up until last week all of the chili rasboras. Then something happened and all of the chilis died except for one.

I've gotten a hold of 2 female scarlet badis and converted this tank into a low tech, blackwater breeding tank for them.


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## CatsMeow (Nov 9, 2009)

I am sure you've listed it in previous comments, but I couldn't find it. What light are you using on this tank? I got one cheap on Amazon that is more like a spotlight, and yours looks like it covers the entire tank. 

Love the look of that moss on the wood, too!


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## minorhero (Mar 28, 2019)

Pretty sure that is a Luminie Asta light (probably the 20). I have the identical light on my 5 gallon tank. It comes with a lens that makes a 60 degree spot light. If you remove the lens (or never install it since mine came uninstalled) you get a 120 degree light instead.

https://www.amazon.com/Aquarium-Lig...clip+on&qid=1556820568&s=gateway&sr=8-33&th=1


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## devilduck (May 9, 2012)

minorhero is correct, this is the Luminie Asta 20 with regular (flat) 120 degree lens. I wrote a review on this light that is in the Amazon link. It's a great dimmable light for the price!


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