# 12" Slate cube



## Kehy (Feb 5, 2012)

Did some more planting and now it's just time to wait for things to grow in. I'll probably only add some moss and anubias, if I do add more plants at all. I'll also tuck the heater back behind the wall once I get that set up properly, but I'm still trying to figure it out. I'm mostly going for plants that are easy to care for, but can still look nice. I'm hoping the marselia does well, despite extreme trimming. It took a looooong time to plant all of it, but if it does grow and carpet properly, it'll look amazing. 

*Current plant list:*
Baby Amazon Swords
Vals
Baby willow hygro
Crypt. Undulata
Crypt. Wendii 'Bronze'
Crypt. Lucens
Ludwigia inclinata var. verticillata 'Cuba'
Marselia sp. (probably either Quadrifolia or Minuta)
Nymphaea Stellata (dwarf lilly)


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## maux (Sep 26, 2013)

That looks great. It will be nice to see some pictures of it grown in.

Did you hotglue the slate together? Isn't there room behind it for the heater?

Are you thinking of any livestock?


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## Kehy (Feb 5, 2012)

I did use hot glue on the slate, and while it worked great on its own, i forgot to really clean off all the dirt and dust from the rock, and it had a hard time sticking to that. And yes, there's plenty of room behind the wall, but I want to get the heater calibrated and set before I tuck it back there. I didn't glue down the top two pieces of slate, so it's easy to access behind the wall. 

For livestock I'm thinking a couple neo shrimp of some color (probably red, since I already have those), maybe a snail and a reverse trio of Betta Albis. The Albis are pretty shy though, so at some point before they come, I'll be adding a ton of floaters and/or moving and adding more crypts.


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## Kehy (Feb 5, 2012)

10 days can make quite a big difference! The marselia is doing great, all of it is growing despite doing an extremely heavy trim and cutting it all into nodes. All the little clovers are adorable, and I can't wait to see what it looks like all grown in. 
I added a couple of plants, a few pieces of java fern (I don't like them, I'll pull them soon) and some anubias, including a piece that I put in the outflow of the filter in hopes it will grow emersed and recover from a really bad algae attack. I'm thinking about moving over more anubias, to fill out the wall, maybe even a buce or two. I also added a handful of floaters to help with the cycle (I'm guessing the cycle is done, but I don't want to get in fish right before leaving for Thanksgiving)

Sorry for all the bubbles, I was excited about noticing all the marselia growth and forgot to turn down the filter for pics. 




I keep forgetting to set up the heater and tuck it away, forgive me, it's close to the end of the quarter at college, but I'm thinking the plants would appreciate a little heat at least.


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## Asymetric (Nov 25, 2013)

What is that clover called? I want to grow a patch of it..

Did you buy a large piece of slate from a landscape place and break it into pieces? The small pieces in the petstore would cost a fortune to make a small wall like that. I like your taste, I would do somthing similar if I could find a cheaper way to do it.


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## Kehy (Feb 5, 2012)

The clover is marselia, this is likely either quadrifolia (usually has 4 lobed leaf) or minuta (which it was sold to me as). In another tank that's being grown with sunlight, the marselia definetly looks like minuta, but here...I'm not entirely sure. It can handle lower light, but wants a rich substrate. No co2 needed. It grows slowly until it gets comfortable, in which case it can grow quickly. When grown emersed in dirt, it grows like crazy, and the real reason why I used it here was to get it out of my emersed bin!

I'm guilty of buying petstore rocks. I didn't have much of a choice, as I live in a tiny college town that doesn't sell rocks except to contractors. I bought 11 pounds, and probably used 6-7 on the wall. The rest is either broken into pieces that I might use later, and in one remaining largish rock. The tile thing would totally work, especially if you ask for broken tiles from hardware or flooring stores. You might also want to check out landscaping shops, should only be a few cents per pound there. Frankly, I should've just gone for a whole 12" square tile flat on the back if my tank wasn't just barely under 12". 

Over all, the cost, including a mesh screen behind the wall ($6 on Bay of E), hot glue gun ($13), and rock ($33) wasn't too bad. Really wish I had had another source for the rock, but it is what it is. Now I'm just trying to figure out how to fill out the wall with plants.


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## Asymetric (Nov 25, 2013)

Couldn't you glue on some more rocks to make a shelf that will hold a small pot, the grow moss on the pot to hide it?

The whole thing is new to me, so I'm just guessing.

Around here, there are a few landscaping places that sell large rocks of every kind. I have seen big (100lb+) pieces of slate spraypainted $40. I just don't know how hard it is to break into useable size pieces.


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## Kehy (Feb 5, 2012)

It took me a bit to figure out how to break it, but once you get the hang of breaking slate, it's reasonably easy. You can do it with just a hammer, and a surface that can take a beating, like a concrete patio. Use the edges of the hammers to hit the stone with the smallest possible area. If you're careful, you can direct how the rock will break (to a point) by using your hand to absorb some of the shockwaves in the rock, making an area where the rock won't break. This can hurt a bit, so be careful. Like this, it was easy to break rock that was less than 1" thick, but over that, you might want to consider getting a rock chisel and just cutting the rock. 

Also, this is extremely noisy, so try not to do this at a time when people might be sleeping.


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## devilduck (May 9, 2012)

Great job. I have the same tank and light, I find that the back is always better lit than the front with the fugeray-r. Those swords will eventually get to big for the tank, mine over took a 29g

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk


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## Soup12 (Nov 10, 2012)

nice little cube


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## Kehy (Feb 5, 2012)

devilduck said:


> Great job. I have the same tank and light, I find that the back is always better lit than the front with the fugeray-r. Those swords will eventually get to big for the tank, mine over took a 29g
> 
> Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk


Two swords might be an issue, I agree. I'm just glad I didn't go with a dirt tank like I thought about, so one of them could be pulled easily. I'm really wanting the over the top dense plant growth though, so I'd be fine with a single overgrown sword. Hopefully that won't be too much of an issue for awhile, but I'm already seeing growth from them.


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## Kehy (Feb 5, 2012)

Been awhile since I updated, and things have been changing, not necessarily in a good way. I'm on my winter break from school, but I took some pics before I left. New tank syndrome has struck big time, and there was a pretty good sized algae outbreak. I cleaned what I could before I left, added some new plants and moss, and a couple berried shrimpies. The plants seemed to be doing ok, despite the algae. Not seeing much growth from the stems, but that could be from adjustment or not having a carbon source. The crypts seem to be doing really well, and swords are just puttering around. Hopefully the swords won't get too overgrown soon, but I'll probably have to remove one of them eventually. The marselia is doing fantastic, why was I worried at all? I'm planning on removing the java fern, look wise, it doesn't fit in the tank. The dwarf lilly seems to be taking a beating from the flow from the filter. I turned the filter down, and added the original bulb from the lilly, there's several baby plants that can will hopefully do ok.

I should be getting back in a few days, so new pics then, and I'll be able to start working on the tank. 

Current plant list:
Baby Amazon Swords
Vals
Baby willow hygro
Crypt. Undulata
Crypt. Wendii 'Bronze'
Crypt. Lucens
Ludwigia inclinata var. verticillata 'Cuba'
Marselia sp. (probably either Quadrifolia or Minuta)
Nymphaea Stellata (dwarf lilly)
Anchor Moss
Peacock Moss
Bucephalandra Sherry
Bucephalandra ???
Java fern (to be removed)


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## PeterN1986 (Jun 15, 2011)

If flow is an issue, maybe glue one more piece of narrow slate to protrude into the AC20 output to deaden the flow? 

And don't forget to put a sponge or SS mesh over the intake to protect the shrimp!


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## Kehy (Feb 5, 2012)

PeterN1986 said:


> If flow is an issue, maybe glue one more piece of narrow slate to protrude into the AC20 output to deaden the flow?
> 
> And don't forget to put a sponge or SS mesh over the intake to protect the shrimp!


I could always adjust the filter to lower flow too  (did that before I left). I might just add more slate as well though, I really like the waterfall effect. 

As for the mesh, one step ahead of you


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## lochaber (Jan 23, 2012)

pretty nice looking.

Out of curiosity, why not stick the heater behind the slate wall?


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## Charrr89 (May 15, 2013)

That's pretty cool. The slate slabs I have seen are only real thick. Lucky u can find them thin !


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## THE V (Nov 17, 2011)

A thick slate slab + hammer & screwdriver = small pieces of slate in with a little pounding.


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## Kehy (Feb 5, 2012)

lochaber said:


> pretty nice looking.
> 
> Out of curiosity, why not stick the heater behind the slate wall?


I was just dragging my feet getting the heater calibrated. Once it's set up properly (when I get back to the fiance's apartment) it will go behind the wall


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## Kehy (Feb 5, 2012)

Alright, so I'm back from my 3 week break. The moment I saw the tank, I realized I'd made a terrible mistake. I didn't get a timer for the lights. I knew there would be algae, but I didn't think it would be this bad.

While I was cleaning the walls of the tank, the slate wall started falling down, and all of the glue holding everything together let go. Even the SS mesh behind the wall came loose. I was mostly just trying to clean, so I gave the rocks a quick scrub and then put them back in, without really trying to make something look decent. I actually like this more than the original scape, but I do need to get a prefilter methinks. In this scape, I can actually use those dorky java ferns, and make them look halfway decent here.


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## Kehy (Feb 5, 2012)

Wonderful, now the heater's not working. -.-
In other news, I picked up a thing that I'm hoping I can use as a hanging/suction cupped-on planter. I would have gotten a riparium kit, but unfortunately I have college student symdrome at the moment, and the possible planter thingy was only $5. Since It doesn't have holes in it, I can use plants that don't necessarily like having their feet wet, but like high humidity. Han't figured out what I want in there quite yet though.


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## Kehy (Feb 5, 2012)

Well the planter thing didn't work out at all, but I suppose that's ok. Moved the heater to see if it will work if it's not buried by rocks. Doesn't look quite as good, but hopefully there's a way to at least partially hide it. I also made a prefilter for the tank, by taking a piece of AC20 foam, cutting it in half, and trimming to shape. Should work fine, although it might need to be cleaned out frequently

Did another cleaning and rearranging of rocks, and added more java fern. Started a heavy Excel routine, and that will hopefully take care of the last bits of algae. It's pretty amazing how much algae has already been removed just with a little scrubbing and vacuuming the substrate. If your tank gets as bad as mine did, try scrubbing before flat out giving up.



prefilter:

Little tiny tiny Buce Sherry (I think)


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## Kehy (Feb 5, 2012)

So just a couple days with the excel and the tank seems to be getting better. The biggest problem algae I can see is stuck to the crypt, sword, and java fern leaves. Some marselia could use some help as well, but we'll see how things look by the end of the week. 
No pics until then, so you can judge for yourselves whether the Excel has made a difference.


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## magnum (Jun 23, 2011)

Bummer that slate wall was pretty niffty


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## kman (Dec 11, 2013)

^^ Agreed, I really loved that slate column!

I wonder if using Krazy Glue Gel would work better than the hot glue... I suspect it would. Construction adhesive is another idea that would DEFINITELY work (it's made for that sort of thing) but the only concern is whether there are any issues with chemical residue in a tank with living things.


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## Kehy (Feb 5, 2012)

kman said:


> ^^ Agreed, I really loved that slate column!
> 
> I wonder if using Krazy Glue Gel would work better than the hot glue... I suspect it would. Construction adhesive is another idea that would DEFINITELY work (it's made for that sort of thing) but the only concern is whether there are any issues with chemical residue in a tank with living things.


I'm guessing the reason why it didn't hold was because the slate itself wasn't clean. It was a bit dirty and gritty, and the glue likely had a hard time holding onto that. That, and I've heard silicone and slate don't hold onto each other well (was fixing up an old metaframe tank once) and hot glue is just melted silicone. Ah well, I do like the more natural and random look of the slate now. I might add more later.


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## kman (Dec 11, 2013)

Kehy said:


> I'm guessing the reason why it didn't hold was because the slate itself wasn't clean. It was a bit dirty and gritty, and the glue likely had a hard time holding onto that. That, and I've heard silicone and slate don't hold onto each other well (was fixing up an old metaframe tank once) and hot glue is just melted silicone. Ah well, I do like the more natural and random look of the slate now. I might add more later.


Hot glue just isn't an especially strong adhesive, and yes, slate is probably not the easiest rock to glue. 

Cleaner slate and super glue gel might work when you try again later, or, as I mentioned, some sort of construction adhesive, assuming a fish-safe version can be found. (they use some sort of tile glue for gluing slate tiles in place when using them as floor/wall tiles, after all, and that holds, so there clearly a way to glue the stuff!)


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## creekbottom (Apr 5, 2012)

Can't you just use silicone that has been proven safe by other hobbyists?


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## Kehy (Feb 5, 2012)

creekbottom said:


> Can't you just use silicone that has been proven safe by other hobbyists?


The more I read about it, slate and silicone just don't get along, meaning that the options would be to stack the slate without adhesive (possible, but risky), or find a safe, effective solution. While ya'll find that, I'll be playing with my rock pile :icon_mrgr


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## kman (Dec 11, 2013)

Kehy said:


> The more I read about it, slate and silicone just don't get along, meaning that the options would be to stack the slate without adhesive (possible, but risky), or find a safe, effective solution. While ya'll find that, I'll be playing with my rock pile :icon_mrgr


Hmm, I wonder if you could drill small holes and just run wire through them? It would be invisible from the front. But no adhesive needed whatsoever.


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## lochaber (Jan 23, 2012)

epoxy should work, it sticks to almost everything.

And I also tend to think it's the solution to everything aquaria/paludaria related.


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## Kehy (Feb 5, 2012)

kman said:


> Hmm, I wonder if you could drill small holes and just run wire through them? It would be invisible from the front. But no adhesive needed whatsoever.


No harm in trying, especially in a nano tank. Give it a go if you can


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## kman (Dec 11, 2013)

Kehy said:


> No harm in trying, especially in a nano tank. Give it a go if you can


I'll probably give the adhesive a whirl first. Not a lot of room in my 2 gal Spec for decorative walls! Although I sure wouldn't mind something nicer covering up the black plastic back wall...

My somewhat larger Edge doesn't really have a place to put a background, given it's odd contruction (and limited access point).


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## Legot (Jun 29, 2013)

First of all, you guys aren't thinking of how the material that needs to be bonded is made up. If it was a 'normal' rock, sure, epoxy and others would work, but this is slate we're talking about. It's made up of many very small, flat layers, which is why it has that fairly unique texture. Instead of adhering the surfaces of two pieces, you need to form a bond that extends through the material, so the glue has to be thin enough to seep far enough into the rock's layers, but thick enough to allow for a good bond between two pieces.

Thick CA (thick superglue) would do well. It is NOT Superglue Gel, and it will work better than anything out there since it can bond through the layers, rather than to the surface of one.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

Petsmart has a green tube of putty. I built several slate structures using it, held upb just fine. Give it a day or two to cure before you get it wet.


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## Kehy (Feb 5, 2012)

A quick teaser pic. Remember this being covered in algae a week ago?


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## Kehy (Feb 5, 2012)

Alright, so remember how this was the tank less than 3 weeks ago?


After a good scrubbing and rescaping, it looked quite a bit better, like this:


A week after that, I gave it another cleaning, and started a week of heavy Excel dosing. Before:


Aaaaand after!


I just wanted to do this to show people to not give up on your tanks. I know I still have a ways to go, but that was a BIG transformation in a really short amount of time. I was very skeptical about the Excel when I started, but honestly, it's hard to argue with the results. 
Here's a closeup of our favorite Marselia patch to show what's left to clean up. As you can see, most of the algae is coming off, and I've come to realize how awesome marselia is. While the other plants were just dealing with being covered with algae, the marselia was actively growing. I don't know how much of this is from the Excel, but I'm loving it either way.

Seems this lil guy made it through just fine. Still won't stay in one place, I may have to super glue him.

Java fern looking significantly better.

I will allow some algae to grow on the rocks, it looks much more natural with a little green on it (or brown I suppose). 


I can't wait to see this thing really take off!


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## Kehy (Feb 5, 2012)

I've fallen a bit behind in updating this thread, which is a bad on my part. School's been starting to pick up the pace, so it can get a lil hecktic. 

On the algae front, seems to be improving, I've continued using Excel to wipe out what I can. The snails I've been moving over seem to be helping munch dead algae. Have noticed a spot or two of cyano popping up, so I'll need to get that taken care of quick, before it gets much bigger. 

Plants seem to be doing ok, except for one of the amazon swords. I added a stem of Ludwigia Gladulosa that wasn't doing well in another tank, and a stem of willow hydro to help fill things out. They seem to be doing ok. Marselia is still growing strong, and I've begun noticing much smaller and shorter leaves than before, a few with single lobes instead of the 4-lobes clovers. Considering adding more to help things fill out faster, but it's probably not necessary. 

The fiance was getting antsy just having a glass cube of water and plants, so I added 3 male Heterandria Formosa. These are very tough little fish with a TON of attitude, and he's started to enjoy having them as his roommates. I hope he'll like the future bettas as much. One thing I did notice was that the current from the AC20 filter was really strong, and the lil guys were struggling. I happened to still have the mesh I used for the rock wall, so I bent it into a shape to weaken the flow, and seeing how ugly that was, I put gravel and plants on top. There's marselia, dwarf hairgrass, a couple random stems of alternathera reineckii, and a bit of random moss. As I've now come to expect from the marselia, it decided to start growing within hours of being planted. The moss seems to be doing well also. 

Forgot to take a full tank shot this time, sorry!
Our favorite marselia patch is doing well, but the boy is over feeding the fish a little. Yay for snails.

It's hard to take pictures of fish. Especially tiny, fast moving fish


Here's the filter baffle before and after planting


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## cbachmann (Aug 6, 2013)

I too have been working on my college nano, and reading your thread has inspired me to actually start a journal for it. Also, if I may, having read it through from the beginning, I like the new scape way more than the slate stack, except for that waterfall effect. Bravo though, I must say!


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## Kehy (Feb 5, 2012)

cbachmann said:


> I too have been working on my college nano, and reading your thread has inspired me to actually start a journal for it. Also, if I may, having read it through from the beginning, I like the new scape way more than the slate stack, except for that waterfall effect. Bravo though, I must say!


Thanks a lot, it was something I'd never tried before, and while it didn't last as long as I would've liked, it gave me a chance to try something new. Really did love the waterfall...oh well. I agree though, the pile of rocks just feels so much more natural. Gives the fish lots of hiding spots, which may or may not be a good thing, but they seem happy with it. It'd be nice if I could actually see the fish, they blend into the rocks really _really_ well.


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## Canadian_MrT (Mar 21, 2013)

Hey Kehy,

I made a slate-decorated tank many years ago, and I used silicone to adhere the pieces together. The tank ran for about 8 years and everything remained secured.
Be sure to clean the slate well with hot water and let it dry completely - either by waiting overnight or by warming it with a hair dryer or in the oven. The silicone I used was the vinegar-curing type (Silicone I). You need to wait a few days before adding water to ensure it has cured. 
Picture of the build is attached.

MrT


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## Kehy (Feb 5, 2012)

Very nice, I think that would have definitely held up better than what I did. I'm guessing my first problem was not washing off the slate before I used it, it was gritty and dirty from being outside for a couple weeks (it lived there when I was trying to find the time on weekends to break it). 
Your slate also looks much flatter than what I had. Mine was irregularly shaped, and it was somewhat difficult trying to get everything to stack together. Oh the things I could have done differently, hahaha


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## Canadian_MrT (Mar 21, 2013)

My slate was the kind you use for floor tile....it was fairly flat.
Now that I'm thinking about this tank I think I'll pull it out of storage and set it up again...I have some ideas that need exploring including some REALLY bright LED lighting, nano bubble generator, and a fertilizer dosing pump...I could go on for hours...
My wife won't be happy 

Good luck!


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## Kehy (Feb 5, 2012)

Not too much plant growth to report on, aside from the marselia starting to spread, and the new growth having smaller, 1-lobed leaves. Looks nice, but I'm not sure how well that will look when seen with the larger early growth. Still, I'm happy it's growing well. Starting to see more life from the crypts, but the tank is still too bare for me. I'll see what I can do about that, I've been getting more more plants, and especially moss, in the mail. The planted filter basket is doing well, the marselia seems to be growing in more compact and well-behaved than I've ever seen with emersed marselia. Seems the current from the filter is keeping it in line. 

In the fish department, the boys are having a blast. They're so much more active and outgoing now that the filter has been slowed down a bit. One of them does have an unhealthy interest in going caving under the slate, so I'll be trying to keep him from doing that, but other than that little problem, the boys are doing well. 

I also ended up adding a bunch of male cherry/rili shrimp last weekend, and one oddly colored male. I don't have many female shrimp, so the tank is a boy's only club for now. Fitting  I've continued using Excel, and now Flourish as well, but at low doses only, and only a couple times a week. The plants do seem to be responding, slowly. There doesn't seem to be a need to continue with the heavy excel, especially with the floating plants going nuts. Pics...maybe


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## Kehy (Feb 5, 2012)

So this week I ended up not dosing Excel or Flourish at all. Everything except the needy Ludwigia Glandulosa seems to be doing fine. The sickly looking sword I was going to pull out has actually started putting out new roots, so maybe it will pull through. The marselia is doing the usual marselia thing and is being happy. The filter basket is doing fantastic, and while the alternathera still looks dorky, it's growing on me. I uhh kinda broke the glass top for the tank though, so I hope it's adjusted enough to handle low humidity, cuz that's what it's getting for the next couple days at least. 

As far as the fauna is doing, I actually found a female shrimp, which is fantastic because I thought I'd lost all but 2 of them in another tank. 

I got in faaaaar too many plants after trading some stuff away. I ended up with enough moss to carpet a 20, but I managed to use it up mossing this and another tank. I just wrapped the moss around extra chips of slate I had lying around. I get the feeling the rock pile will turn into a big fluffy hill, and I'm actually fine with that. It's really hard trying to get anything to look decent with the cave, but hey, I like the cave, and I hope the critters at some point do as well. Never seen the fish using it so far though, hmm.. Also added some sunset hygro (don't know how well that will do here), and some crypt balanese (leaves trimmed) to the back. Also, some hydrocotle 'Japan' in the middle, and moved the sprouting lilly bulb.

Pre-floater clearout

The alternathera stem in the back is sprouting more leaves, so it shouldn't look quite so goofy soon

Our Marselia corner. The floaters blocked out a TON of light.

Sorry for blurry!

A closer look...

Only "eh" quality shrimp, but they're alive and doing their job. Also, one is female, so no complaints.

I like this funky purple snail. Kinda fits me


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## kman (Dec 11, 2013)

Kehy said:


> Pre-floater clearout
> 
> <snip>
> Our Marselia corner. The floaters blocked out a TON of light.


No kidding they blocked a ton of light! More like blocked everything but ambient light from the front and sides of the tank!


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## Kehy (Feb 5, 2012)

Solved that algae problem! Didn't have to clean the glass at all this week


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## kman (Dec 11, 2013)

Kehy said:


> Solved that algae problem! Didn't have to clean the glass at all this week


Interesting. I wonder if the plants solved the problem directly (out-compete) or indirectly (blocked light from the algae, too).


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## green18 (Jan 6, 2014)

Your tank is really looking great! It has been cool to watch the ups and downs and those floating plants are just amazing.


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## Kehy (Feb 5, 2012)

So I asked for a jungle, and got a jungle. Pretty sure I'll never be able to remove the het formosa boys now, LOL. Shouldn't have worried about the sunset hygro, it's not particularly red (the top was totally grown over again), but it's been growing well. The leaves closest to the light were actually fairly orange. The crypts are doing well, the lilly is doing well, everything seems to be doing well, except for that one sickly sword. I pulled that, and trimmed and planted the hygro, I'm getting to the point I'm pretty happy with the plant growth. The crypt balanese is growing as well, very pretty red leaves.

Not a whole lot else to report on, the shrimp are growing well, the fish are overjoyed, and while there was a TON of evaporation from not having a lid, pretty much everything did ok. The filter basket is thriving, although the marselia took the chance to stop behaving and grow tall. Ah well, I think it's starting to look pretty cool. Algae has been reduced to a nice bit of green on the rocks, and a few hardly noticable smudges on the glass.

Pre-floater clearout

Cleaned up

Not much to report on the marselia corner

The filter basket is doing well

What I see when I walk into fiance's apartment (noticing the mess comes 3 seconds after)


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## Kehy (Feb 5, 2012)

Been awhile since an update, eh? I don't have time for a full rundown, but let's just say I should've been careful when I asked for a jungle! The filter basket thingy is doing fantastic as well, and I'm contemplating if I should try and figure out how to make another to fill that gap by the filter. Also, found a random giant snail after I was gone on vacation for a week. Freaked. Me. Out. It's still in there, but still kinda scares me every time I see it unexpectedly.

Also, playing with "new" camera.


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