# 10g Blyxa Tank.. Torn down :(



## Bk828 (Mar 11, 2008)

My 10g is heading in a new direction..

Tank: 10g
Lighting: 28watts (might add another 14w)
Filtration: AC 30 (thinking of changing)
Co2: 3.5L DIY
Ferts: Seachem line
Substrate: 2" SMS --- 1" Regular black gravel 
Decor: Stones picked up at a near by bay


Heres what it looked like say... 4 hours ago










And this is what I am working on at the moment
Front view









While tank was empty I planted the Dwarf Hairgrass...

















Time to filler up....

















So far im VERY HAPPY with the look.
Next week im supposed to be getting some HC. So will make that the foreground plant. And will probably put Rotala rotundifolia in the back right corner...
Until that day.............................

Let me know if you got any suggestions


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## Spiritwind (Feb 2, 2008)

What kind of gravel is it? Looks like the epoxy coated stuff I used to use. IMO before filter or light change, I would spend on substrate for a planted tank. I think the lights and filters you have are good already. Lots of good dark/black plant substrates only 20-30 bucks for a 10g tank.


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## Fishy_Fun (Feb 9, 2008)

hey looks very nice to me.keep us updated when you get those plants


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## Bk828 (Mar 11, 2008)

Thanks fishy

Spirit: I was about to get flourite but it being sold in 15lb bags i wouldve needed alot more. (used about 22lbs here) At the moment I seriously cant spend any more money on fish tank stuff considering school expenses arent so good. But ill see what i can do.

Thanks


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## Kayen (Oct 14, 2007)

Try something underneath the epoxy coated gravel might help..?


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## James From Cali (Dec 15, 2006)

I think plain gravel would work well. Just keep up with fertilization and you will be fine


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## Kayen (Oct 14, 2007)

Yeah, one thing that may be a problem is the plants may have difficulty rooting, as in my previous incarnation of my 2.5g my hygro couldn't root properly in my 2.5g so it never grew. It just grew tiny leaves floating.


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## Bk828 (Mar 11, 2008)

Viettxboii said:


> Try something underneath the epoxy coated gravel might help..?


me being such a broke a** i went ahead and asked on the S&S if someone has any spare 10lbs or so of sms or flourite they can spare.. will see how that goes. If anything can try those root tabs just to help the plants establish a faster root structure.




James From Cali said:


> I think plain gravel would work well. Just keep up with fertilization and you will be fine


Yup prior to this i had many plants growing in plain gravel and once the tank was established the plants were doing fine. 



Viettxboii said:


> Yeah, one thing that may be a problem is the plants may have difficulty rooting, as in my previous incarnation of my 2.5g my hygro couldn't root properly in my 2.5g so it never grew. It just grew tiny leaves floating.


Hygro? really? out of all the plants i have a green hygro and it tends to grow like a weed. One stem producing 10 more baby stems without a problem in regular substrate.


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## Kayen (Oct 14, 2007)

Well i'm using normal substrate too, cept much finer particles, now it's growling like a weed lol.
Love the stuff.
But it works for you.
You're not the only cheap bum.
I'm poor as heck, no job.
I begged someone else to buy my substrate for me!
So you asking for sms or fluorite isn't that bad lol.


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## James From Cali (Dec 15, 2006)

Isnt it great how many people are broke and have aquariums  

Jk Jk

I love using plain gravel. It doesnt cost much.


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## Bk828 (Mar 11, 2008)

funny James, i think its the hobby that makes one broke lol


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## James From Cali (Dec 15, 2006)

Hahaha yes lol. Although I was broke long before it xD


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## Kayen (Oct 14, 2007)

As was I.
Back in summer when i started my tank I was alright in terms of funds but i got fired haha.
Shame no funds, i just made a canopy for my 2.5 out of a shoebox : P.
Anywho expect it to be taken down, gonn a borrow cousins 10gal canopy lolol.


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## Bk828 (Mar 11, 2008)

lol viet funny.. I have done plenty of diy's to save a few bucks, from diy decorations, to diy canopy which also gave me a great advantage on lighting.


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## Kayen (Oct 14, 2007)

i got my friend to buy me a bulb splitter.
If you see my lighting fixture, it's infact something i mooched off my cousins because i found it in his basement LOL.
If i get some wood i might use it + the Y splitter i got and make a decent lightign fixture out of it : D.
But sicne i'm lazy gonna buy cousins 10gal canopy for my 2.5g lol.
DIY is pretty fun, except i'm lackign materials half the time!


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## Bk828 (Mar 11, 2008)

you can use the Y splitter or can just get rubber indoor/outdoor sockets that way you can place them how ever you want and not be limited. (what i used for my lighting)


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## Kayen (Oct 14, 2007)

Well i don't knwo anythign about electric wiring, and i'd be inclined to not do any myself.
So anythign new on the tank?


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## Bk828 (Mar 11, 2008)

lol wiring is pretty simple really, hard to really mess it up

Nothing new as of now, just cycling the tank with a few molly babies i had and just threw in a few other plants to float to speed up the cycle.

Talking with someone right now about getting some sms they have so if everything goes well will do a layer of it when i get it.

Also by mid week im supposed to be getting some hc so hopefully the new substrate will come days apart so i can go ahead and start planting.


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## Bk828 (Mar 11, 2008)

Today went ahead and added a bottom layer of sms. (thanks to gmccreedy who provided it)
For now the tank is still bare, supposed to be getting more plants tomorrow so I can start with the planting..


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## Bk828 (Mar 11, 2008)

Update

Got my plants today (thanks Macclellan)
And went right away to back breaking.. i mean planting
(ignore the hc in the pot, it will be removed later, and ignore the floating frogbit... Also ignore the ugly filter sponge, I will move the filter and heater to the other side of the tank so the taller plants block them)

First was HC - really tried to spread it out throughout the foreground.. did so much spreading that still had a good portion left..









Tied riccia to a piece of slate - first time dealing with riccia and wow does it look good









Then it was the Star Grass - Cant wait until it takes off , hope my tank is right for it









Heres a full tank shot during the planting 









And Finally a few hours later ended up with this:
Added a few shrimps, more riccia and anubia petite (plant position is not final)

















So heres the final break down.. 
*Tank Specs*:
Size- 10g
Filtration- AC30
Substrate- bottom layer SMS, top layer regular black gravel
Lights- 2- 14w cfl (may upgrade)
C02- 2- 2L diy diffused via wooden airstone (may change to filter intake)
Ferts- Flourish, Flourish Iron, Flourish Nitrogen, Phosphorous, Potassium

*Tank inhabitants*:
Red Cherry Shrimp

*Plant list*:
Dwarf Hair Grass - Back left corner
Star Grass - Back Right corner
Riccia - Bright green plant - center and right side
Anubia petite - Left side between rocks
HC - Foreground plant

Any comments/suggestions?


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## Kayen (Oct 14, 2007)

Nice start buddy, see you're doing like me : P.
Nice plants, may want to push the roccia piece a bit as it looks awkward being that higher up, if hte hc had filled in it would look less so, so maybe push that piece of slate down more?
Good luck with growth, looking forward to seeing it filling in.


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## FrostyNYC (Nov 5, 2007)

The tank looks really great, I want to say off the bat.

The substrate is worrisome to me because of its large grain size -- not necessarily because its inert. Your HC might have a hard time covering the gravel, as it tends to do better in a finer-grade substrate. 

The stargrass looks great -- I just planted some in my own new 10 gallon. And I'm jealous of your riccia -- I've always wanted to try it too.


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## Bk828 (Mar 11, 2008)

Thanks guys
Frosty, lets just hope it takes off.. let it be slow but i just want nice healthy growth..
Does one see a problem with the plants and my setup?
would 28watts over 10g (with that much substrate its probably 8g) be enough to grow those plants healthy? Under that lighting will the hc tend to get taller or will it maintain nice short bushy growth? 
Prior to this i have been dosing both of my tanks weekly with the whole seachem line.. would it be best to dose daily, or keep it as weekly?

Thanks


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## PhiShY92 (Mar 2, 2008)

interesting nice job so far


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## FrostyNYC (Nov 5, 2007)

Are you using spiral CFs? You may have a problem in that case, as they're somewhat inefficient at lighting a tank (but great at lighting a room), since they throw light in every direction. If you have a good reflector, this won't be as much of a problem. You may have to just wait and see. 

Daily dosing helps to ensure that there are always nutrients in the water column and never way too much. EI tends to keep nutrient levels higher than they might need to be and would probably be overdosing if you added it all at once, but I'm not sure if seachem's dosing chart overdoses nutrients as well. I'd say that dosing daily is better, but weekly is fine. Regarding nutrients -- I see you're using 2 DIY CO2 bottles. Do you know the ppm of the CO2 in your tank? 

I'll add this -- The sponge over your intake tube is a little bit of an eye-sore, but I know it's there to protect your shrimp. If you can find a black sponge, it'll be a lot less conspicuous. I'd move the heater over to the right where the stargrass will grow over it and hide it. 

Whats the plan for this tank? RCS only?


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## Bk828 (Mar 11, 2008)

FrostyNYC said:


> Are you using spiral CFs? You may have a problem in that case, as they're somewhat inefficient at lighting a tank (but great at lighting a room), since they throw light in every direction. If you have a good reflector, this won't be as much of a problem. You may have to just wait and see.
> 
> Daily dosing helps to ensure that there are always nutrients in the water column and never way too much. EI tends to keep nutrient levels higher than they might need to be and would probably be overdosing if you added it all at once, but I'm not sure if seachem's dosing chart overdoses nutrients as well. I'd say that dosing daily is better, but weekly is fine. Regarding nutrients -- I see you're using 2 DIY CO2 bottles. Do you know the ppm of the CO2 in your tank?
> 
> ...


Ive actually had pretty good results with the screw in type cfl, they are on both of my tanks. Though on the 10g it has a reflector, the 29 has a diy canopy i made and the inside is painted white.. And both tanks have been growing things pretty wild..
Heres 2 pixtures of 10g before and a shot of my 29g


















The 10 has 28watts over it and 29 has 79w.

At the moment im not sure what my ppm of the co2 is, I will need to get myself a drop checker soon... 

The sponge is there temporarily, I actually found a black sponge just need to replace it later on. At the moment im keeping the filter and heater at that location because the light hood has that stupid slot on the side for the filter.. I will be removing it and letting just the light strip lay on top. Also im debating upon whether if i should add another 14w to the strip. 

My plan is to keep the tank just shrimps for now, rcs and maybe if i get lucky will be able to land on some blue shrimp. As far as fish, I may consider adding a small school of either rummy noses or if i find some galaxy rasboras.


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## Bk828 (Mar 11, 2008)

Thought i would post an update...
*Full tank shot: 4/3/08*









And heres an update of the tank as of today
Changed a few things around. Removed the HC from the center and replaced it with Elatine Triandra. Cant wait until it fills in, from the pictures ive seen it looks amazing.
Well picture time.. (ignore the sponge lol i replaced it before with a black one i had laying around but it got clogged fast and actually looked fuglier.. Im thinking of getting a toms rapids canister filter.. Any comments??)
Full Tank









Left side.. Hairgrass is coming along, will be trimming it next week. The didiplis diandra is also getting nice and tall. Next week will trim and make it bushier..

















Right side... The Star Grass is getting very nice and bushy and is overlaying the rock nicely.. Moved the riccia to the top of the rock.. will see how it does there, if anything might get rid of it completely..

















Heres the center of the tank, the triandra will give a nice contrast between the hc and hairgrass.









And finally heres what the tank looks like from a distance.


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## FrostyNYC (Nov 5, 2007)

Great growth! The tank is really shaping up. 

If anything, I would either get rid of the riccia matt, or lay it over a portion of your substrate as a riccia lawn. It looks awkward on the rock like that.


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## Bk828 (Mar 11, 2008)

Thanks, I just really hope the HC fills in and doesnt get tall. 

About the riccia.. i decided to just hold on to it until i can trade it in for something else. No place to put it and hey the rock is the highest point with plenty of light so will help to keep it green and healthy.. . 

I will be considering lifestock soon.. As you know at the moment got cherry shrimps (will expand the population a bit). But im also thinking about some fish. Trying to decide on either silver tip tetra or rummy nose. Those 2 or unless the light shines on some other great schooling fish for a tank this size.


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## Bk828 (Mar 11, 2008)

Update...
After doing a trim on 4/14 and getting a few more plants i just let the tank be without much maintenance.. There has been alot of growth during the week, will have to eventually sort things out and make things "perty"
I had also moved the filter to the side of the tank so that the intake tube doesnt suck on the background plants. I had also cut the intake tube in half so it doesnt take up that much space. End result is pretty sweet, the sponge isnt much of an eye soar and it creates a nice full tank movement which will probably be perfect for some future schooling inhabitants. 


*4/10/08*









*4/21/08*










*HC on day planted 3/27/08










Hc today... I guess the back breaking planting of it paid off.. its coming along nicely









*


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## stargate_geek (Mar 31, 2008)

Wow, what a difference in the HC!


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## Riddler (Mar 5, 2008)

I really need to get some tweezers and spread my HC way out. I have small bushes now but I'm sure they'll take longer to spread then individual stalks.

Riddler


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## Bk828 (Mar 11, 2008)

yup, probably the greatest weekly growth so far. Normally when i trim the plants, it takes a while for them to kick back up and start growing, but not this time, they just kept going and going and growing.. I will need to thin out the background plants a bit, maybe add some color. 

Btw riddler, get tweezers, they will be your best friend. Not only are they good for tiny plants like hc/hairgrass but they are also very handy in planting stem plants.


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## waterfaller1 (Jul 5, 2006)

It looks great! I would consider swapping out that blue heater for a 50 wt stealth.:icon_cool


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## ikuzo (Jul 11, 2006)

you got a lot of determination planting those HC that way!!
two thumbs up, great effort. i know the pain planting those strands individually. backache pain that is.


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## Bk828 (Mar 11, 2008)

Thanks, I am thinking of maybe getting a stealth heater but lfs charges $25 for a 50w and at the moment i dont need to order anything online 

thanks ikuzo, sure is back breaking but now looking back at it, it was well worth it.


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## Bk828 (Mar 11, 2008)

Update time.. 

I switched things up a bit big time. The stargrass was just getting 2 wild for my taste so I had to move it to another tank (still got to get rid of the last stem of stargrass). Also as you can see in the previous picture i posted:









That the tank looked 2 green and was lacking color. 
Well thanks to the great SNS sellers I managed to get my hands on some BEAUTIFUL plants which broke that greenness. (thanks nemosreef and ashappar)

Heres a full tank shot:









I had also moved the ET from the center off to the right side since it was getting just 2 big and threw off the tank balance. I am still waiting for the HC to kick back up, I had a good amount die off since i had some trimmings floating and they blocked a good amount of light. 
The new plants i added are:
Rotala colorata (left side infront of didiplis diandra)
Rotala macrandra (right side by diandra)
Alternanthera Reineckii "rosaefolia" (center)
Limnophila aromatica (Right background)



Heres a shot of the bushy ET:









And finally a nice side shot:









Suggestions are welcomed..

Thanks


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

that is starting to look nice!


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## Bk828 (Mar 11, 2008)

thanks clwatkins

I hope to get some fish stock next week. Perhaps a school of 5 rasboras


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## James From Cali (Dec 15, 2006)

Pretty pretty pretty.....I dont have much to say except I want your skills. I think some rasbora would be nice but IMO some Ember Tetras or Gold tetras would look better.


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## Bk828 (Mar 11, 2008)

Thanks James.


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## Bk828 (Mar 11, 2008)

Update...
Since the last update the L. Aromatica has grown in nicely and will be trimmed in the next few days. I have removed the didiplis diandra and rotala macrandra/colorata from the left back corner and replaced it with blyxa japonica. Since the tank is not that tall, blyxa works great as a background/midground plant.
Another change is I finally have a fish stock. Which consists of 6 harlequin rasboras and 5 rummy nose tetras. Though the stock is not final, I am using this tank as a quarantine tank so in a week+ i will be moving the rummies to their new home (29g)

Well picture time..


















Future plans: I might be getting rid of the HC and replacing it with either dwarf hairgrass or glosso. So far leaning towards hairgrass since its doing so well in the tank.

Thanks for looking


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## innerchi89 (Mar 30, 2008)

James From Cali said:


> Pretty pretty pretty.....I dont have much to say except I want your skills. I think some rasbora would be nice but IMO some Ember Tetras or Gold tetras would look better.


haha, exactly what i have in my tank right now.


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## FrostyNYC (Nov 5, 2007)

I agree on removing the HC. It's frustrating to grow a plant that's not thriving when other things are doing so well.

This tank looks better than I ever thought it would. Great job. Your blyxa is so tall! Mine is incredibly short. I wonder why. 

How's that little doinoi doing?


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## Bk828 (Mar 11, 2008)

Thanks Frosty. The HC was thriving in the first month after planting but for some reason things just went down hill, some of the tiny stems are creeping across while others are melting. 

The blyxa is great!! lol It actually gave the tank more space and it can actually grow without problems since the stem plants i had previously in that corner werent getting enough light towards the bottom and were getting weak.

The downoi lol ohh boy, I had them previously in the tank but for some reason they werent thriving, then i moved them to my 29g to float and they started growing new shoots, so now i planted them back in the open so will see how they do.


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## Bk828 (Mar 11, 2008)

Been a While since I updated..
The tank undergone 2 scapes already from the time of my last update.
Heres the 1st:








Though as much as i liked the sand, I then started to hate it for one main reason, SILICATES. A week after setup i had one hell of a brown algae outbreak, covered the glass, stones, and plants forcing them to melt..

Well this week I went emo on the tank again and did a little (big) rescape. 
Took out all the plants and decided to try and have a species only tank. 
The species I chose is Blyxa Japonica. Though I didnt have enough to cover the whole area so for now temporarily I included Dwarf hairgrass and few stems of L. Aromatica in the back right..
Heres how it looks so far









I will be upgrading (or is it downgrading) the current lighting on the 10g from the current incandescent light fixture that gives 28w to an ahsupply kit which will only be 18w. You can find my canopy build for the ahsupply kit HERE


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## macclellan (Dec 22, 2006)

I don't think that 18w is going to be enough to grow blyxa well, at least not in the corners due to the small coverage of that lamp. Prove me wrong though!


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## Bk828 (Mar 11, 2008)

Yee I was thinking the same thing. But the light will be raised about an inch or so off the tank so the field of light will be a bit increased. 
Also the current fixture i have on there, the screw in cfl bulbs are right at the center as well, giving 4-5" empty space on both sides, and yet before i changed the scape the blyxa that was on the corners was actually growing pretty well. Then again it was 28w. 
But since my 29g is growing like mad now with only 55w, i will go with the ahsupply on this one and say that its one killer reflector!! Will see later in the week how things go.


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## nanojimbo (Jul 2, 2008)

it would even help if you just picked up a smaller bag of black sand and mixed it in ( although this would be a mess!) - the roots would be able to grow like crazy in a mixture like this if u could just get your hands on some root tabs and some flourish!


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## nanojimbo (Jul 2, 2008)

just kidding - didn't see you had 4 pages here ( i think i was on page 2) haha! your tank is looking beautiful! wow everything just went crazy! nice tank


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## Bk828 (Mar 11, 2008)

lol thanks nano.. 
Today hopefully will be finishing the new canopy with the ahsupply kit for the tank. Though it will be less watts(28w going on 18w) it will be more efficient than the screw in cfl i am using now. Will post updates hopefully by tomorrow.


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## zachxbass (Jul 6, 2008)

been a few days... any updates? and hows the new canopy coming? tank looks great


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## Bk828 (Mar 11, 2008)

I will try and snap some photos tomorrow. The tank looks somewhat the same since i somewhat forgot all about it, especially the co2. But today I hooked it back up and got pearling from the blyxa once again. 

The fixture came out pretty good. Though I shouldve gotten a 36w bulb instead of 18w. So now im using a regular 2x14w light strip with the 18w ahsupply. 

On the side note.. i think this tank will have to go down in a few weeks. Ill probably be upgrading to a 55g and will need to get rid of this tank and a 29.

Might sell the canopy (light not included) if anyone would be interested.. 

Well till tomorrow.


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## Bk828 (Mar 11, 2008)

Thought i would update the tank for the last time before tearing it down..

Since the last rescape I was in the process of looking for a larger tank to replace my current ones, well that made me neglect the tank somewhat.. Missed a few weekly water changes. stopped dosing ferts and completely forgot about the co2 (though i did recharge it right after rescape)
Heres how the tank looks now..









Tank is not in its best shape but hey its green enough..
Later next week will be tearing it down and transferring the plants to the new 55g i got. 

Thanks to everyone for looking/comments..


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

Shame this tank will be torn down. The blyxa certainly grew though


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## Bk828 (Mar 11, 2008)

clwatkins10 said:


> Shame this tank will be torn down. The blyxa certainly grew though


Yee im surprised by how much it grew with only 1.8w. The funny thing is that the corners of the tank didnt receive as much light and thats where the blyxa grew even more.


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## Aquarist_Fist (Jul 22, 2008)

Jeez...already 10 minutes after the last update. How many rescapes since then? :icon_mrgr

Just kidding, but I liked all your scapes so far and I'm sorry to see them going. Wish you kept one for a longer time.


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## Bk828 (Mar 11, 2008)

Aquarist_Fist said:


> Jeez...already 10 minutes after the last update. How many rescapes since then? :icon_mrgr
> 
> Just kidding, but I liked all your scapes so far and I'm sorry to see them going. Wish you kept one for a longer time.


lol my brother keeps teasing me with that saying "so when is the next rescape" "why you doing this scape when tomorrow it will be another" blehh lol just trying to find what works.. 

I gata say out of all these scapes ive gone through this was my favorite one:


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## Bk828 (Mar 11, 2008)

final shots of the 10g before it was tore down today..

















And finally a video


Tank was a ton of fun to have. Was my first tank planted tank, learned alot from it, was a shame to tear it down but will be experimenting further with bigger tanks..

I would like to thank everyone for the comments/suggestions.


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## Fishy_Fun (Feb 9, 2008)

you should send me some of blyxa


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

Thats a shame it got torn down  Oh well, On to another tank


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## Bk828 (Mar 11, 2008)

Fishy_Fun said:


> you should send me some of blyxa


lol will see what i have left over after i plant the 55 
(get your butt back on AC!!)



clwatkins10 said:


> Thats a shame it got torn down  Oh well, On to another tank


yup the spirit of this tank will be carried onto the next for sure.


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## mizu-chan (May 13, 2008)

Sorry you're tearing it down, but now is the time to move on to bigger better things! 
Whats the name of the song playing in the video? It's beautiful.


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## Bk828 (Mar 11, 2008)

mizu-chan said:


> Sorry you're tearing it down, but now is the time to move on to bigger better things!
> Whats the name of the song playing in the video? It's beautiful.


Thanks Mizu
The song was some random one i found on photobucket
"Sieur Demachy - Prelude En Re Mineur
Louis Couperin"


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