# My Desk Spec



## Geniusdudekiran (Dec 6, 2010)

Sweet fish man!


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## GMYukonon24s (May 3, 2009)

You have some nice tanks the spec and the one behind. Also nice betta.


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## CrazyCatPeekin (Aug 15, 2011)

Geniusdudekiran said:


> Sweet fish man!


Thanks! I spotted him at Petco. He has this iridescent thing going on where his color looks different depending on how the light is hitting him...light purples, blues and greens always touched with some pale yellow-orange. I am really growing quite fond of him. He might get to stay on my desk permanently.



GMYukonon24s said:


> You have some nice tanks the spec and the one behind. Also nice betta.


Thank you so much! Everyone's tanks on here always look so great that I have been very reluctant to post any photos of mine. The one in the back is my 29 gallon. It was my first real planted tank. It is a real mish-mosh of stuff. I tend to just put stuff in and see if it grows with little to no planning. :hihi:


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## daphilster08 (Oct 21, 2009)

Cool little tanks!


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## Chrisinator (Jun 5, 2008)

Awesome tank!


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## acitydweller (Dec 28, 2011)

great work on both tanks... need a closeup of the 29g


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## GMYukonon24s (May 3, 2009)

What are the two plants the front left and the front right?thanks


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## CrazyCatPeekin (Aug 15, 2011)

That's blyxa jap. on the left and Hydrocotyle sibthorpioides on the right.


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## skindy (Jan 30, 2012)

Nice tanks! I'm so jealous of everyone and their desk tanks!


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## zoragen (Nov 3, 2009)

The tank & the betta are beautiful!!


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## Basil (Jul 11, 2011)

Sweet Spec. Are you dosing anything in the tank? The Fluval light looks great over the Spec.


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## CrazyCatPeekin (Aug 15, 2011)

I dose Pfertz and use Excel...both sparingly in the Spec due to its size.


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## gbose (Nov 21, 2010)

*Nice!!*

Crazycat,

Great tank and beautiful plants and betta!

GBose


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## pedropete (Feb 27, 2012)

so nice! thank you for sharing! i'd love to see your other tanks, too


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## CrazyCatPeekin (Aug 15, 2011)

Aaack! Diatoms & hair algae! Oh my!


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## CrazyCatPeekin (Aug 15, 2011)

OK..cleaned it up some. Looking much better now! I hacked the stem plants, too. They were poking out the top!










Playing around with the camera settings. Maybe I don't need a new camera; maybe I just need to learn how to use the one I have! LOL! This shot actually looks pretty clear.


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## CrazyCatPeekin (Aug 15, 2011)

So this tank started out looking really good, but is not doing so well these days. The light was too much without CO2 and I don't want to add it on this tank. It is in line for a re-scape. But it is like 3rd in line, so it could be a while. 

In the meantime I am playing with reducing the light to see if I can find something that will support these plants without encouraging so much algae. I have access to the stock light from an Aqueon Evolve 8 gallon. I am sure it will be less than the Fluval PCL, but I am not sure how much brighter than the stock light it will be.

The plants have actually grown a little wild in there. The scape looked good, but the position of the wood makes it hard to maintain. Severus, my little pea puffer, seems to dig it though. He is hanging out in there until a new 10 gallon is ready for him.

I'll post some pics of the re-scape once it comes around!


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## battered (Jan 1, 2012)

I had the same problem with the 13w light on the spec being too much without co2, experiencing algae everywhere (especially on the glass). After I added 1 nerite snail, though, the tank seems to be in balance. A while ago, I took the snail out so I could treat for hydra, and the tank crashed again. After adding the nerite back in, it bounced right back. I'd love to hear if you find another solution, though!


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## SpecGrrl (Jul 26, 2012)

battered said:


> I had the same problem with the 13w light on the spec being too much without co2, experiencing algae everywhere (especially on the glass). After I added 1 nerite snail, though, the tank seems to be in balance. A while ago, I took the snail out so I could treat for hydra, and the tank crashed again. After adding the nerite back in, it bounced right back. I'd love to hear if you find another solution, though!


Would love to hear how you handled the hydra.

I bought fenben last night and a big syringe thing. 0.1 gm of fenben to 10 gal so need to measure out 0.05 gm for my 5 g spec.

My plan is to do a blackout cover except for on 2x2 inch square for 2 hours, let all the hydra congregate there and then squirt and sponge them away.


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## MABJ (Mar 30, 2012)

The fenben is great. It worked for me on my planaria. 

It did miss a few eggs, as months later, I see one new one crawling around. 

The tank is great, but coming from a fellow speckie, the cabomba doesn't work great. It gets too tall, needs to be replanted too often and is too flimsy to stand up to the lowest blower setting. 

I'm looking for drift wood for mine... But I'm at a loss for now.. Idk where to find spec sized things. 


From MABJ's iPhone
2G Fluval Spec ~ fauna and flora in the works!


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## SpecGrrl (Jul 26, 2012)

MABJ said:


> The fenben is great. It worked for me on my planaria.
> 
> It did miss a few eggs, as months later, I see one new one crawling around.
> 
> ...


Plantbrain has nano sized manzanita he will send a box of pieces shipped for $25.

He has a current sales thread.

I have been writing to him about specific higher end pieces which are more like 
$25 shipped each.


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## SpecGrrl (Jul 26, 2012)

battered said:


> I had the same problem with the 13w light on the spec being too much without co2, experiencing algae everywhere (especially on the glass). After I added 1 nerite snail, though, the tank seems to be in balance. A while ago, I took the snail out so I could treat for hydra, and the tank crashed again. After adding the nerite back in, it bounced right back. I'd love to hear if you find another solution, though!


So I need to take my snails out?


http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/...-planaria-hydra-elimination-shrimp-tanks.html


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## CrazyCatPeekin (Aug 15, 2011)

SpecGrrl said:


> So I need to take my snails out?


If you are using dewormer to treat hydra, then, yes, you will need to take your snails out of the tank.


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## CrazyCatPeekin (Aug 15, 2011)

battered said:


> I had the same problem with the 13w light on the spec being too much without co2, experiencing algae everywhere (especially on the glass). After I added 1 nerite snail, though, the tank seems to be in balance. A while ago, I took the snail out so I could treat for hydra, and the tank crashed again. After adding the nerite back in, it bounced right back. I'd love to hear if you find another solution, though!


I ended up trading lights with someone. I gave her my 13W light and I took the stock LED from her Aqueon Evolve 8 gallon.I am going to rescape the tank with low light plants and see how it goes. I am just waiting for my plant order to arrive. (Blasted USPS!) Will post some updated pics when it is done.


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## MABJ (Mar 30, 2012)

SpecGrrl said:


> Plantbrain has nano sized manzanita he will send a box of pieces shipped for $25.
> 
> He has a current sales thread.
> 
> ...


Thank you so much!!!

And I will just say I did NOT take my snails out and they did fine. There was too much hassle to take 50 ramshorns out, so I just left them in. Survival of the fittest I guess? They all survived as far as I know. 


From MABJ's iPhone
2G Fluval Spec ~ fauna and flora in the works!


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## SpecGrrl (Jul 26, 2012)

MABJ said:


> Thank you so much!!!
> 
> And I will just say I did NOT take my snails out and they did fine. There was too much hassle to take 50 ramshorns out, so I just left them in. Survival of the fittest I guess? They all survived as far as I know.
> 
> ...



You're welcome!

Thank you!


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## Basil (Jul 11, 2011)

Any new updates on this? Tank looks amazing.


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