# Rrrrramos' 2.5g Rimless



## iluvbetta (Feb 11, 2009)

I myself am planning on making a 2.5g with the same tank (i believe), however the ones I find for sale at the big chain stores look like someone got a little too happy with the silicon gun.

Did you have to scrape the silicon off the edges and corners to make it look neat like that?

Keep us updated on what you do!


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

Yeah this one was covered around the edges with excess silicone. About half an hour with a razor blade produced the results I got, though there are some parts I still need to hit to have it look cleaner. Also I noticed on the glass build of this tank the bottom piece is flush with one side (that I deemed to be the front) and maybe 2 or 3mm out on the other side. I do like that the 4 walls sit atop the bottom glass unlike I've seen on larger tanks where the bottom glass is encased by the 4 walls and the bottom is a few mm above the surface.

BTW I filled this last night to check for leaks, let it sit 24 hours on top of a towel. After emptying it the towel was nice and dry, just like when I'd put it in! So far so good.

Any suggestions on filter options and/or light options?


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## iluvbetta (Feb 11, 2009)

Glad it worked out for you. I was scared of attempting this because I was worried that by removing the excess silicon it would result in leaks later down the road (this is my first tank). Hopefully that's not the case!


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

So tomorrow I'm looking to start work on this tank. Tonight I laid out some hardscapes and decided on the one to follow. Also made some decisions on equipment and plants for it as follows:

Equipment:
Lighting: Finnex Lamp with 6700K and/or 10000K 13W bulb 
Filtration: ZooMed 501 Canister Filter or Hagen Mini Internal Filter will try Hagen first 
CO2: DIY out of a 1L bottle via Glass Nano Diffuser
Substrate: Eco-Complete

Plants:
Hemianthus Callitrichoides
Blyxa Japonica
Possibly a short stem plant for the far corners

Here are some pics of the hardscape I've decided upon. I'm going with some slate that I found around the house that's from a previous tank. If I can find a nice piece of driftwood I may go about incorporating that as well:



























Also, here is a picture of the light I will be using, though I'm likely going to rig something up to hold it from the back









Like I said before, in place of that towel I'll be using Eco-Complete, probably only gonna let a small part of the sides of the slate show. As far as placement of the plants, I'm going to try to get a decent amount of HC in the area between the two rocks, then put the blyxa on the sides. Depending on how that comes out, I'll then decide on a stem plant.

Also the plan is to just run the tank without livestock and dose Excel alongside running the CO2 for likely the first month or two. I may even attempt emerrsed growth of the HC as it doesn't seem to be propagating at any pace in my 12g.

Any feedback is welcome!


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

Will be posting a semi big update later in the night or early tomorrow morning, I got most of the supplies barring the plants as the LFS didn't have anything I liked. Also the ZooMed was out of stock so I picked up the Hagen Mini Elite Internal filter but for the generally short plants I've decided upon for this tank they won't hide it well and it's kind of unsightly in this tank. I'll use it for clearing up the water and whatnot but as soon as I can get the ZooMed I'll be using this for CO2 diffussion in my cube. 

Also a LFS around here was having an amazing deal today, %50 off all fish and plants, and I saw some CPD's that looked amazing and couldn't pass up the deal they had so I picked up 5 of them. They are in my Nanocube for the time being, but will eventually be the inhabitants of this tank.

If you guys have any suggestions, any comments, compliments or criticisms at all please let me know!


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

I can't wait to see the updates!


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## FrostyNYC (Nov 5, 2007)

I think your slate is too flat. Maybe I'm not grasping how you're going to work them into your substrate. Post pics again once you have the eco in there. I used slate in my tank with success. I actually took a hammer to it to get it more texured and then stacked it and used slope to make it more interesting.


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

FrostyNYC said:


> I think your slate is too flat. Maybe I'm not grasping how you're going to work them into your substrate. Post pics again once you have the eco in there. I used slate in my tank with success. I actually took a hammer to it to get it more texured and then stacked it and used slope to make it more interesting.


I guess I didn't explain how I was going to go about it, did I?
I put about an inch of eco-complete down then placed the slates on top of them, then put eco complete on top of the slates, about 1/2". This all has a slop that is about an inch difference. I'll edit this post with pics once I fill it and its settled and all.


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

FTS. Hagen filter is just in there to provide circulation I personally think its taking up too much room:


















Side shot to show the highest point of the slope. You can tell from these photos that the front center is the lowest point as I have a slight slope to either side as well:









Here is the best photo I could get of the future inhabitants of this tank, one of 5 CPD's. I had read a lot of places that these guys were shy but 3 of them are schooling with my Endler's and the other two are makin their way exploring all the tank. These guys look amazing too! This is one of two that is starting to get red on its fins:


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## sewingalot (Oct 12, 2008)

This is going to be super cool!


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

I went ahead and planted a 1x1 patch of HC that was in my main tank in here, spread it out plant by plant at about an 3/4" apart. I also tossed a background on it, its a dark navy blue, but its dark enough for my liking and goes well with it. It also makes the Mini Elite less pronounced so I may end up keeping that in here. 
I also went ahead and hooked up CO2 to the tank, put the tubing where the breather valve was on the filter and its doing great at dispersing the CO2. It still has only the 6700K 13W lamp over it, hopefully that's enough for the HC. If I can find a better bulb for this fixture I'd rather that but I'm going to look into a better light solution as once I get my other plants I don't think this bulb will cut it.


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## Phoenix-cry (Dec 25, 2008)

I have a school of 7 CPD and I just *love* them, such wonderful little fish!


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

I got a new light for this tank, its 27W and looks MUCH better than my other one did, plus its not putting anything unnecessary into the tank so that makes me happy. Here are some pics of the tank as it currently stands:









Close up of the tank:










I'm currently trying to get a few more plants for this, also if this is strictly planted is there any need for a heater? The water is staying warm but not as warm as my other tank.


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## luckydud13 (Jun 21, 2008)

As long as the tanks dont fall below like 65 they should b fine.


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

I got my Blyxa in, courtesy of gmccreedy, and these pictures don't do it justice, it looks great in the tank. I'll need to mess with the settings on this camera sometime. I snapped a few: 





































One thing though; how do I keep this plant in the ground?! I've yet to have any of the HC float to the top with the Eco-Complete, a problem I was having using Flourite, but this Bylxa won't stay in the substrate in either tank!


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## Gatekeeper (Feb 20, 2007)

Give it a day or two. The plant will "dry out" a bit in transit. Just keep replanting it, it will eventually stay down.

If you get really desperate, you can use a lead plant weight around the base to give it some weight and "meat" to hold it down, but it should be fine after a few days.

Looks good so far. what did you do with the rest?


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

As of now they are staying planted. Took about 4 replants over the course of the night but the whole day they've been stickin down in the substrate. 
The other plants got spread out between my tank and my brothers. My cube is currently housing the one's that didn't fare so well in their extended mailbox stay in hopes that they'll survive.


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

dude. if you ever get tired of having that filter in your tank you should look at some micro canister filters. I've never used one, but I love the idea of seeing one on your nano! 

Check 'em out:
ZooMed 501 Turtle Filter
Rapids Mini Canister Filter (This one can be a HOB or sit beside the tank)
Azoo Palm Filter (HOB)


I've seen some threads people started that used these things. I'm not sure how well they work, but I'd bet that they could free up some highly limited space in your nano!

Check these threads out...
5.5 gallon rimless AGA journal
WTB: ZooMed 501 or Tom Rapids Mini Canister Filter
My 1Ft Cube Tank

Good luck with your tank.


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## pandapr (Nov 10, 2008)

rrrramos: I actually have one of those internal filter you are using. They work great as a CO2 reactor...with little holes on the impeller.

my question is: where did you get it? I haven't found another one and I need at least 2 more !!


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## Kayen (Oct 14, 2007)

I agree with pandapr, it's small so easily concealable, and it's really cheap, and very effective, filter, water flow, CO2 reactor. It's great.
Once the blyxa fills in you won't even notice it.


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

I picked this one up at a Petco up the street, also saw them at Petland as well. 
If anyone saw my post in the General Planted Tank section I posted that I was getting some sort of strange white film on the glass inside the tank, and it was also along a thing layer on the substrate and spotty on the plants. The answer I was given was that it was likely due to the fact that I had my Co2 running straight to the filter from the reactor, with no bubble counter and yeast solution was getting into the tank. I added a bubble counter/gas separator and it seems to still have a layer on the side. Tonight I took the filter out and cleaned it, I'm guessing a couple of sprigs of HC that uprooted made it really dirty, and am hoping that was the cause of the thin layer. The water was a bit cloudy (as you can see from the pics above) and its starting to clear up a bit already, hopefully this fixes both problems!
Thanks for the replies thus far everyone, I'm hoping to have this one turn out looking nice, as I'm currently dissatisfied with the state of my other tank :/


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

Ok, this tank is losing its fun value. Its not that its tough or anything, or boring, or hard to keep or anything. Its the fact that after fixing something like an uprooted plant or weird crap on the glass, I put the water I took out so I could work on this back in, only to have the bylxa uproot itself again, and not thinking I reach in and grab it, water spills over the sides, ruins the background since its just paper, and gets water everywhere. So no more background as this would be like the 5th one I'd have to make and its not worth the trouble anymore. I also, out of frustration just poured the water into the tank haphazardly, shook up the gravel pretty well and probably uprooted some of the HC, or burried it, either way I can only see about half of what was in there. The plus side is that it put most of the substrate deep enough on the sides to hold the bylxa down. I might go search for all the HC but not until I"m not as pissed at this tank as I am right now. I'll keep ya updated.


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## Gatekeeper (Feb 20, 2007)

LMAO!! Take your time. Your supposed to be having fun. If its not fun, step back from it and come back to it later.

As far as the back goes. Have you considered painting it instead?


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

gmccreedy said:


> LMAO!! Take your time. Your supposed to be having fun. If its not fun, step back from it and come back to it later.
> 
> As far as the back goes. Have you considered painting it instead?


I got over my anger with it quickly. It looks better now, I think. Or maybe I'm just telling myself that haha. I flatened out the substrate a bit and re-exposed most of the HC. And like I said the bylxa is staying down now, except for one unruly little bugger that found its way to my 12 haha.

And actually yeah, I just came back from Wal-mart looking for some paint that would work well on glass, since I don't want to have to empty, cover up and spray paint and all. I didn't find anything I liked but I"m off tomorrow so I might see what I can find then.


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## Gatekeeper (Feb 20, 2007)

Spray paint = Krylon Fusion (its promoted for painting plastics, but it paints glass well)


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

Yeah Krylon Fusion has always been my spray paint of choice, was great way back when when I was modding and painting Xbox's for myself and friends. Good times, good times.


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

Well I can always count on this tank for something: to be unreliable. After cleaning the filter sponge less than a week ago I started getting the white film on the glass I talked about again, and had to clean the sponge again, this time it looked even worse. Then, after cleaning all the floating dead bylxa leaves out of the tank, replanting whatever HC may have been floating around and doing my best to generally clean the tank up nicely, I put the filter in only for it to uproot all the bylxa again.
Its not all bad news though. While every leaf of the bylxa is dead, there is some new growth from every stem in this tank, even though I think I'm down to only 4 plants in here. Plus all this frustration is making me consider going ahead and getting an ADA tank that I was gonna wait till I moved to get, along with proper filtration and all that other stuff.


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## luckydud13 (Jun 21, 2008)

Well............
I dont really have much to say about the problems, but I think you scape needs a little tweeking (my two cents)

I think the size of the hardscape isn't proportional to the size of blyxa. It looked funny to me.


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

Care to expand on that any? Are you saying it needs more of a hardscape than just the two rocks? At the moment I'm a little confined as to what I can do, due to the filter. I'm considering replacing it with a mini canister, don't get me wrong the filter is good but right now in this tank its doing more bad than good.
Maybe some bigger rocks? I'm hesitant to try anything with driftwood in here because of the small size. I do have some branches that look nice though. Regardless, I have to wait until my bylxa bounces back to do anything, but I'm already considering a total rescape.

EDIT: Major overhaul started to tank, updates when its worthy of showing, haha.


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

I did some modifications to the stand that this tank is on. When I first put it on and filled it, it made the wood bow some, and even though this previously held a 10g vivarium, I was uncomfortable with the bowing and needed something to reinforce it. I added a simple board of wood under it to hold it up, the same thing we have used for large tank stands in the past. With the new plans for this tank, I needed something with a little more room underneath, and I liked the look of this thing as it goes well with my room, I figured I'd modify it to fit my needs. I personally like how it turned out, though at first the room underneath didn't seem like it would fit the stuff I needed it to, with my most recent plans, it should work out just fine! Onto the good stuff:


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## DarioDario (Nov 8, 2008)

Its important to note that CPD's will jump. I'm assuming your going for an open top design, seeing how you took of the rim. Just a word of warning.


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

CPD's have established themselves in my other tank at this point. As of now, I've got no fish planned to go in here.


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

I may as well let it be known what is going on with this tank. Most of the blyxa didn't make it, but what did is propagating in my other tank, and is bouncing back pretty well too! I had that film keep appearing on the side of my tank as well, and it seemed as though it was some sort of mulm from dead plants being sucked into the filter. So I drained the tank, wiped down the edges, and lemme tell ya, that was a pretty gross paper towel...
I then decided to do something I'd wanted to try for a while before and grow out my HC immersed. I had a couple problems with this originally as I had no cover for the tank and had to make a makeshift cover out of two thin acrylic pieces taped together that were too thin and were constantly warping, thus letting out humidity. After a few days I went and got a 1/4" sheet, had it cut to size, and it's kept its shape since then. I'm still using the 27W lamp overhead, and I'm misting with a solution that is about 1:30 iron to water, 1:20 K to water and 1:50 Excel to water. This is only used if I see a yellow leaf or anything like that otherwise I mist with plain water from my other tank, and I only mist if the substrate is beginning to look dry. This has been set up since the top of the month I believe, maybe a few days in, the plants have adapted to their immersed state and are beginning to show new shoots almost daily. 
I also tried to grow what I've concluded to be Micro Sword Narrow in here but out of the ~20 plants my brother gave me all but two turned brown and the other two had small shoots that stayed short till they died. So for now its just HC in here.
I'm currently building up the parts for a pressurized system for mainly this tank, which may get split to both my tanks, but is really being setup for use when I get my ADA tank later on this year. 

I got some pics the only new ones are aerial shots as now that the top is staying on the humidity is staying in, and all I'd be able to get are pictures of foggy glass haha.

This one is from 3/3, note that theres no fog and my cheap way for holding down the lid:









This is from 3/10, a week later, and you can see how its just now starting to take off:









And also, if you haven't seen the pics in the Victor thread, here is some of the new equipment I've got for this tank so far:









Its a Victor VTS-253A Dual State Regulator, and a 2.5# CO2 Cylinder. So far this is all that I have for a pressurized setup, and will probably not be ordering a post-body kit for another 3-4 weeks, hopefully by that time my HC will be nice and carpeted. I will not be filling this tank until I have CO2 running as per Tom Barr (plantbrain) the only difference between the submerged and immersed forms are gas exchange so I'd like to introduce it into an optimal environment once I add water.
I'm glad I have my other tank to keep me occupied while this one grows in, otherwise I'm sure it'd taunt me to fill it night and day and in my dreams! Haha!

If you've made it this far down, thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed and am looking forward to this as much as I am. I'll do updates as I see fit, maybe weekly?


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## lookin_around (Dec 18, 2005)

Tank is looking awesome! I'm beginning to think that we're going to have very similar scapes in our little 2.5 club. I was thinking about doing HC emmersed in my tank as well but then couldn't hold out and just decided to do it immersed.

Nice Co2 system you've got going there. I want to go pressurized sooooo badly, but I'm actually pretty proud of the DIY mix I've got going right now. It slowed down a little bit yesterday but now we're back up to full-tilt-boogie and rockin' 5-10 bps.

There, now I'm "in the know" lol.


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## coolnick (Oct 28, 2006)

Add me to the club lol. I just got my 2.5 up and running last night, but my Fluval 1 internal filter is overpowering the tank. The shrimp just blow around the tank when I turn it on. It looks like the Wizard of OZ. I'm going to seal off 80% of the inlets tonight and see if that does the trick.

I can't believe you would do pressurized on that tank. I'm just scaling down a DIY setup and adjusting my mix for a target of 15 BPM (I am doing 1 bps on my 10 gal with great success, so I figure 1/4th that on my 2.5 should work great). I ran a hard piece of airline tubing into the side of the Fluval just under the impeller. That should diffuse everything pretty well.

I too tried the HC emmersed, but gave up after a week of absolutely no results. I don't have much luck with it submerged on my 10g so maybe I am one of those people that just can't grow HC. I'll give it another couple weeks and see if it does anything, if not I'll get some glosso. I'll take some pics tonight.

lookin_around - I hope you mean 5-10 bubbles per minute, I don't see how 5-10 bps is even possible on a DIY setup unless you have like 10 bottles all daisy chained. If you do, take some pics lol.

I don't mean to threadjack, but this is one of the many 2.5g tanks that inspired mine. :icon_smil


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

coolnick said:


> Add me to the club lol. I just got my 2.5 up and running last night, but my Fluval 1 internal filter is overpowering the tank. The shrimp just blow around the tank when I turn it on. It looks like the Wizard of OZ. I'm going to seal off 80% of the inlets tonight and see if that does the trick.
> 
> I can't believe you would do pressurized on that tank. I'm just scaling down a DIY setup and adjusting my mix for a target of 15 BPM (I am doing 1 bps on my 10 gal with great success, so I figure 1/4th that on my 2.5 should work great). I ran a hard piece of airline tubing into the side of the Fluval just under the impeller. That should diffuse everything pretty well.
> 
> ...


Go 2.5! I had an internal filter in this tank before and even on its lowest setting there was too much flow IMO. It constantly uprooted my blyxa and sent substrate all over my HC. Not to mention having to clean the sponge out pretty much daily. As for the pressurized system, like I said I'll probably split it between the two tanks I have now, but as neither of them are coming with me when I move towards the end of the year & are getting broken down so I can have the plants I want, this will see most of its lifetime on the Mini M I plan to get when I'm settled. 
As for the immersed growing, at least with HC, it does need a little time to adjust, therefore _most _people won't see too much growth for the first 1.5-2 weeks. As you can see from the pics I posted earlier, mine _just _started to show some growth, and I can already see some new stuff poking its head out since yesterday. The same is true, at least for me with growing it submerged. I put my HC in the tank at the begining of January, and the last time I replanted or did anything of that sort was probably around Valentines day. I kept it in there figuring 'what the hell, if it grows it grows if not, oh well' Now its spreading really well, and whereas before if I accidentally moved my hand over it too quick it would uproot, it now takes me actually pulling on it to make any movement. 

Also I just wanted to note that the slate is only in there currently as I didn't remember to remove it when switching to submerged, and as to not disturb the growing or anything I'm going to leave it in until I plan to fill the tank. You can see some of the rocks I'm considering in the pictures of my stand a few posts up.


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## lookin_around (Dec 18, 2005)

coolnick said:


> Add me to the club lol. I just got my 2.5 up and running last night, but my Fluval 1 internal filter is overpowering the tank. The shrimp just blow around the tank when I turn it on. It looks like the Wizard of OZ. I'm going to seal off 80% of the inlets tonight and see if that does the trick.
> 
> I can't believe you would do pressurized on that tank. I'm just scaling down a DIY setup and adjusting my mix for a target of 15 BPM (I am doing 1 bps on my 10 gal with great success, so I figure 1/4th that on my 2.5 should work great). I ran a hard piece of airline tubing into the side of the Fluval just under the impeller. That should diffuse everything pretty well.
> 
> ...


I think its that many BPS. Although they are smaller bubbles, so then maybe it's less. Oh well, here is a link to a video so you can see for yourself.


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## coolnick (Oct 28, 2006)

lookin_around said:


> I think its that many BPS. Although they are smaller bubbles, so then maybe it's less. Oh well, here is a link to a video so you can see for yourself.


When people talk about bubbles/second or minute they are usually referring to the bubble counter, or in my case gas separator. Like so:









You run the tube from your DIY bottle down into a 20 oz bottle with the tube below the water level. Then you have the output tube in the lid above the water level. This makes your DIY CO2 go into the water first cleaning up whatever gunk can sometimes come from the CO2. This might help for you since DIY setups are known for clogging up airstones. It also gives you a simple way to count your bubbles.


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

Update for the week. Not blasting off as much as it seemed as it was at first but there is still decent growth. I also tossed some aunbias nana & some Lilaeopsis brasiliensis in here to see if they grow. Its been almost a week so far and they aren't dead, so my hopes are high, haha
Anyways here is a pic of it earlier today, followed by a side by side of last weeks and this weeks.


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

Just a small update, was taking pics for my other tank and figured why not on this one too. I took one of the slates out and put all the Lilaeopsis brasiliensis from my big tank into here. It's doing exceptionally well, much better than it did the first time I tried it in here. I also added a stem of Rotala indica just to see what happenes, it just went in today so nothing to report on that one. Not much change on the HC, if theres not too much change with it within the next two weeks, I'm going to pick up a Zoomed for this (on payday ) and flood it. This is being kept at a humidity of 95%, the only thing I can think of is that there is a little bit of air (nutrients) escaping on the millimeter on one side and an opposite corner that is shorter than the rest of the sides, and the HC is taking the hit?


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## lookin_around (Dec 18, 2005)

rrrrramos said:


> Just a small update, was taking pics for my other tank and figured why not on this one too. I took one of the slates out and put all the Lilaeopsis brasiliensis from my big tank into here. It's doing exceptionally well, much better than it did the first time I tried it in here. I also added a stem of Rotala indica just to see what happenes, it just went in today so nothing to report on that one. Not much change on the HC, if theres not too much change with it within the next two weeks, I'm going to pick up a Zoomed for this (on payday ) and flood it. This is being kept at a humidity of 95%, the only thing I can think of is that there is a little bit of air (nutrients) escaping on the millimeter on one side and an opposite corner that is shorter than the rest of the sides, and the HC is taking the hit?




I don't know how you're doing it man, but keep goin! I for one, could not wait all that time for some HC to grow in emerssed. I wish I could give you some advice on that, but I have no experience with it. Heck I havn't had any experience with any of the plants I currently have in my tank, haha. I do have to say though, if I had not received so much HC, I could see how much of a PITA it could be to try and plant it stem by stem. 

What are your plans for this tank once it is filled up?


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## coolnick (Oct 28, 2006)

I found that my HC grew in a LOT faster once I filled it with water.


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

Well I saw that we had a 10% off coupon for Petco so I went down there to cave and buy a Red Sea Nano filter. Just my luck when it scanned it showed up as a $10.00 off coupon, so I got the filter for 4.99  
I had the day off so I worked on this tank, took out the slate, put one of the rocks in here and replanted the Lilaeopsis as necessary. The other rock is currently growing out in my other tank, should be ready for this one in a couple days.
I gave in and filled the tank. Well actually, after "testing" the root structure on the HC and the Lilaeopsis, they were rooted enough to the point that they wouldn't move easily at all. I'll have to set up a DIY for this until I get my post-body & manifold ordered (hopefully tomorrow) I'll take a pic or two soon


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)




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## Outlawboss (Dec 30, 2008)

Your diffuser seems to be confused. 

Looking really good. That's going to be one nice carpet there.


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

Outlawboss said:


> Your diffuser seems to be confused.
> 
> Looking really good. That's going to be one nice carpet there.



I was wondering if someone was gonna catch that! It's outside the tank and upside down so that it wouldn't collect dust on the top of it (one less thing to worry about) while the tank was unfilled. I'm gonna throw together a strong DIY mix till the rest of my pressurized stuff gets here, might as well overload the tank while I can right?


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## lookin_around (Dec 18, 2005)

Tank is looking good. I want to get a diffuser myself, but can't convince myself to spend the extra money and risking not having enough pressure with my DIY system to make some bubbles.

You're placement on the Red Sea is good. I had mine on the back wall and I think I had problems with flow. I noticed some developing GSA on the glass and leaves of my Blyxa in the low flow area so I recently scraped it off the glass and moved my filter to the same spot that you have yours. Hopefully it will take care of the GSA problem.

How long are you making your photoperiod on your tank? I think we have the same light. Upon noticing the GSA I also reduced my photoperiod to 7 hours, so we'll see how that goes. I may, after a while, increase it back up to 8 or something, but I'm hesitant at the moment. With no inhabitants at the moment to help with algae, I'm left fighting it all by myself.


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

That diffuser is in the optimal position!


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

Light comes on when I get home from work, around 3pm or so, and I shut it off when my other light shuts off, around 10 or so.


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## coolnick (Oct 28, 2006)

lookin_around said:


> Tank is looking good. I want to get a diffuser myself, but can't convince myself to spend the extra money and risking not having enough pressure with my DIY system to make some bubbles.


There are quite a few people using those nano diffusers with DIY. A couple of the eBay listings show them running on a DIY setup with bubbles coming out. If you look around a little you will find them for like $5.


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

I used that diffuser with a DIY setup, it worked fine, though constant cleaning was necessary. 
Unfortunately while putting it onto the setup I just cooked up for this tank, I used a weeee bit too much force. The diffuser now has a new home: the trashcan :/
For now I'm just using the discard-a-stone diffuser, right under the filter intake. Looks like its working so far. Guess I'll pick something else up soon.


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

Took some pics as I'm trying to see if I can capture just how clean this tank is. I've never had water look like this before. But we'll just say I'm posting new ones because I didn't have any with the riccia rock in here. 

FTS









Basically so you can see whats behind the rock









3/4 Shot









HC is doing well in here









Close up of the HC







​
I'm experiencing so far very little die off in the HC that was grown immersed. In fact the only part that's really doing iffy at all is a small patch that wasn't in the best of health to begin with when I filled the tank, and most of it is actually doing better! I like how this is coming along, although I accidentally went iwagumi in here, so I'm thinking of getting some sort of stem to maybe go behind the riccia?


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

So while I was at the pet store, I saw some glosso, and seeing how its probably the only time they'll carry it, I had to pick some up. Problem is, I have no idea where to put this. I have a grow out tank but I'm hesitant to put it in there so right now its sitting in a jar filled w/ tank water behind this tank. I'm undecided if i want to try to incorporate it into this tank, or see if I can get it to work in my cube.


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

I started building a new stand for this tank, because a) I want something to go with my room better, so I'll be staining it a dark cherry color, b) I want somewhere to hold my CO2 system when it is all set up and going, and c) I might have accidentally dropped the fold down panel I built which may or may not have snapped the wood on the part where it connects to the hinges which would make it potentially not safe.
_Anyways...
_Here are some pics of the stand as I go. Today the framing was built, hopefully I'll have all the plywood wrapped around this thing by tomorrow and just waiting on the stain to set, I do have the day off... I'm contemplating building a shelf but I'm not sure.


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

New plants, new post. Plants courtesy of imeridian 
New plants in here include 
Rotala sp. 'Mini' Type I
Blyxa Japonica

The rock is covered in brown diatom algae, but I don't mind how it looks and it's not really going anywhere else so I'm letting it be. I get pearling on the HC every day, which I'm not used to at all. The Lilaeopsis brasiliensis is spreading better than I'd thought it would, it's a slow grower but it's faring well in here. 
I wanted a stem plant and figured that Rotala Mini would be the best bet, plus I like the look of it. I've only had it in here a couple days, along with the Blyxa so I can't comment on how they are doing in here. Anyways here are some pictures, I'm still working on the stand for this, should finish withing the week. 

FTS









Corner shot









3/4 Shot









Some of the HC









Lilaeopsis & the diatom rock









Shot with the top









Hope you like em, let me know what you think!


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## ch3fb0yrdee (Oct 2, 2008)

Love the tank. Your HC is growing out very nicely. I am having the same problem that you had in the past. HC kind chilling there, not too much going on. I switched my light and positioned it a bit higher, hope it likes that. HC is so picky. It's lucky that its the perfect nano size carpet plant. 

Nice project however. Similar to something I am setting up right now too. Mines about 3 gallons. Quick question, What is the exposure for your light, how long each day and what watts.


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

It varies, usually 7 hours but sometimes more, never less though, and also never goes over 10 hours. Bad practice but I can never remember to pick up a new timer, and I've yet to see any drastic negative effects of doing this.
Also I've found that while it's not _necessary_ for growing HC, CO2, be it pressurized or DIY, makes a huge difference. I attribute that, and the previous emmersed growth to the recent growth spurt.


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## lookin_around (Dec 18, 2005)

Tank is looking good. You were right about ours being similar, although with your rescape they don't look so much the same anymore, haha. Hopefully your Blyxa doesn't melt away too badly. I hated how much my friends would comment on it

_Buddy: Hey dude, those ones look like their dying. I thought you said you knew what you were doing?
Me: Yes, yes, its called melting, and they do it while they're acclimating to new conditions.
Buddy: Oh that sucks, Dude, last night this girl gave me the best..._

And then it goes off on a tangent from there.

With GLA's spring discount thing, I was really tempted to get a regulator...but then I realized that if I bought that, I would still have to wait another month before I could afford the Co2 tank, and other accessories. So instead I just bought some tank pads for my bike. Although I do enjoy this tank, I do have to say that my real passion is in my riding. Gah, so many things I want to buy, but not enough money to buy them. But hey, thats why we have Economics right, to study how people with an unlimited number of "wants" make decisions with limited numbers of resources. Gah, I need to start making money using all this crap I'm learning school already, lol.


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## B16CRXT (Feb 7, 2009)

I have your exact same setup minus substrate and rimless. I'm not going for hard to grow plants in mine. Going with java fern and some mosses, since they don't need substrate to grow. I am just using black gravel and some white sand. I just ran a line from my pressurized setup into the filter intake and this nano filter takes in every bit of co2 and chops it up and spits it out. It does it better than my tom's rapids canisters too! I also love how you can adjust the flow rate and the angle of output.

yours is looking very good! how's the new stand coming along?


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

Chris. said:


> I have your exact same setup minus substrate and rimless. I'm not going for hard to grow plants in mine. Going with java fern and some mosses, since they don't need substrate to grow. I am just using black gravel and some white sand. I just ran a line from my pressurized setup into the filter intake and this nano filter takes in every bit of co2 and chops it up and spits it out. It does it better than my tom's rapids canisters too! I also love how you can adjust the flow rate and the angle of output.
> 
> yours is looking very good! how's the new stand coming along?



New stand is about halfway, haven't done much to it lately, gonna try to get it done tonight. It just needs a top and a door and some color. 
I was going to set up my CO2 like that, having the throw away diffuser jammed up into the intake but I didn't want to drill this one as I threw my old one away so this is the next best option. When I do get around to setting up my pressurized I'll likely be using a glass diffuser like I was before. 

Also GSA has been having its way with my tank as of late, and since the only scraper I had would send water everywhere and uproot everything and probably not even scrape algae in here, I made my own. You can see it in the last posts pics #1, 2 & 3. It's a chopstick with a regular dish sponge cut to size and taped on. And it works wonders! 
The rock is starting to look gross, if I can find a tank-safe alternative that keeps the same shape & size I'm going to replace it. The pictures don't do this tank justice, and getting the best angle, the one I'm always viewing it from, is impossible since its when I'm laying down on my bed haha. I like this tank a lot small tanks are a lot of fun to work with.


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## B16CRXT (Feb 7, 2009)

I meant I used a suction cup to hold the end of the open hose under the filter intake and it sucked up every bit of the bubbles that came out and diffused them very well by the impeller.


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## lookin_around (Dec 18, 2005)

Chris. said:


> I meant I used a suction cup to hold the end of the open hose under the filter intake and it sucked up every bit of the bubbles that came out and diffused them very well by the impeller.


I tried that for a while, and I think I get better results with the disposable diffusor. This way the bubbles are smaller going into the filter, and therefore even smaller coming out.


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

Ordered an Eheim 2211 from LFS. Should be here either this or next Wednesday. Thinking about putting it on this tank. Not sure yet.


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## Francis Xavier (Oct 8, 2008)

Totally do it man, I'm a huge proponent of massive over filtration of your tank. Any updated shots of how the HC is doing?

By the way - HC is about one of the coolest growing plants ever. It forms a criss-cross across the substrate, then criss-crosses again over itself until it forms those nice thick layered carpets. You can always tell the age of the HC (pre-trim periods) by how thick the carpets have grown. They -almost- prefer to criss-cross themselves than to expand. Which is why I think most people think it's a slow grower. It's like, in my tank, for every 2 growth points over itself it'll creep .5 towards a new, unclaimed direction.

Where as glosso seems to expand, then fill. My experience with glosso was that it expands on it's linear line out for a good distance, then fills in holes when it reaches its max it can/wants to grow in one direction.


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

I don't have a pic but it's grown a little bit more since the last pic, not nearly as drastic as it'd been over the past couple of weeks. I think this has part to do with me changing my CO2 diffusion method from discard-a-stone under the filter intake to putting the tube right into the intake no diffuser and no intake guard. 
What's odd is when I take it out at night (too loud, impossible to sleep with it chopping bubbles up constantly) there are never ANY bubbles coming out of the diffuser (I put it back on at night) The only thing I can think of is that there is a leak somewhere in the setup since I added the second bottle and put a check valve after the gas separator. What's odd is that it comes out pretty well when I have it inside the intake but that may just be pulling air out which I guess would explain the seemingly low amount of pearling I now get. I'm thinking it might be a problem with the T-valve I'm using. 
And yeah HC is one of my favorite carpet plants. Glosso is nice but in my tanks which are all nano tanks it seems too big. I really like all the plants I have in here, the Rotala sp. 'Mini' is so unique and the Blyxa (I've added a few more since last pics) adds more size to the tank IMO.

Also a quick question about the 2211. When I move back to Texas, or even possibly before then, I'm going to be getting an ADA tank. I'm thinking a 45-P as I'm more into smaller tanks and 10g is not too big but not too small. Question is, would the 2211 be adequate for that tank, or would that not be enough flow? I got a great price on the filter, I couldn't pass it up, so I'm hoping it's enough for a medium to heavy planted 10g.


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

I posted this on lookin's thread, but I'll post it here too. When I was adding a second bottle to my CO2 setup, the hose that was stuffed into the filter intake kept pulling out air, even though there was no pressure (I'd cut the line in half to add a t-valve)
On top of that, when I took the tube out at night as the impeller chopping bubbles was wayy too loud to sleep to, it never produced one bubble. 
As far as I could see it, and from how my tank started looking over those few days, I concluded that it was pretty much just pulling out air and there was a leak in my setup (the t-valve turned out to be the culprit)
I've since separated the two bottles into two different setups, both going into this tank and having the bubbles from the diffuser sucked up into the filter. This ensures that its all CO2 getting sucked in and chopped up, and my HC started to pearl again to lay claim to that. 
I did lose a couple little guys in this little endeavor. The large purple Blyxa stem didn't keep but one leaf, and is currently in recovery mode in my cube. There is a LITTLE die-off in the HC, and discoloration on some of it, but nothing that I'm too worried about it should all recover quickly. The Rotala is showing new growth, it didn't seem too effected by this, and the LB (Llilaeopsis brasiliensis, as it will now be referred to as) is growing like mad and poking it's runners into my HC! 
Hopefully the 2211 gets here tomorrow, I had to take one of the filter pads off of nano filter as it was limiting flow and backing up the water to the top of the filter.


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

No call from the LFS so looks like another week until I get my 2211 in. 
Plants look happy though, the LB just won't stop growing it must be liking something in here. But the best part is that its been about 4 days since I've seen any GSA on the glass. Usually there is a small bit coming back a day after scraping. Maybe its got to do with the double CO2? I tossed a little bit of Riccia in here, floating, I figured eh, what the hell lets see where it goes haha.


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

I can't, for the life of me, seem to keep any livestock alive in this tank. I put in a lone cherry shrimp about two weeks ago and couldn't find him in the morning, I just assumed he'd jumped and became a snack for the cat. 
Over the weekend I tossed in two cherries, figuring it'd been a while since the last one, and they did quite well throughout the day, but lo & behold the next morning they are all white and dead. I have no idea why this is, as the shrimp are so happy in my other tank they have jumped on my hand when I'm doing stuff in the tank! 
I just can't think of any reason why they can't survive in here. I'm not overdosing CO2, the tanks been set up since back in March so it's well past cycling. The only thing I can even consider is that there isn't a heater in this tank, but that's the same as my other one where they are happy as can be. I can't be certain of the temp as I don't have a thermometer on this one, but they are relatively the same to the touch, which is about 72°


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## B16CRXT (Feb 7, 2009)

do you have water testing equipment?


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## lookin_around (Dec 18, 2005)

Pictures! Haha, I haven't seen this tank in a while.

Hmm, sucks about not being able to keep any livestock. Maybe the fluctuations in temperature due to no heater are causing problems. I've been hesitant to add livestock to my tank, mainly because I don't want another thing to worry about with this tank.

With my first planted aquarium I had livestock in the tank almost immediately after the plants were in, and I think that having them in there only caused me more frustration in keeping everything balanced. I had lots of problems with algae with that tank, although I was 15 at the time so my habits at the time may have caused the problems.

Hmm, seems like temperature fluctuations are the only thing I can think of that might cause your problems.


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

Normally I would think that would be a problem but like I said, there is no heater in my 12g and there doesn't seem to be a problem. In fact the shrimp & CPD's love it. I got a betta to put in here to see how that fares, we've had a bunch of those that withstood the worst conditions. I'll update in a few days about how it fares and maybe I'll even include pics!


On second thought, I'm gonna move the betta to my extra tank downstairs. It's way to hyper in this tank, and once I add the new filter that'll probably be too much flow for this fish.


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

Plants are bouncing back and the betta is swimming nicely in here now, but still won't be staying in here, gonna get my mom a betta tank and give it to her.
Took a couple pics, I think there is a little bit of growth since the last time in regards to the HC but I'm not sure. You can see the LB invading the HC in here pretty well though. 

FTS









HC









3/4 Shot









Zoom in on the Betta










It's kinda a mixed bag with the Blyxa in here, some is doing well while some are dying off. The Rotala is growing nicely, couple new shoots showing up here and there. There is some Riccia floating in here, but its actually stuck in the Rotala right now, I'll have to fix that. Stands not close to being done yet, I haven't really worked on it since wrapping it in plywood. 
Anyways, I want to find a better way to diffuse the CO2 in here, maybe it'll be more efficient when I hook up the canister filter.


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## mithrius (Apr 28, 2009)

what a happy looking betta.. hes all spinny!


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## B16CRXT (Feb 7, 2009)

What canister filter are you going with?


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

B16CRXT said:


> What canister filter are you going with?


Eheim 2211, should be here next Wednesday, and lucky me I have that day off so I'll be getting it then. And unless the guy at the LFS greatly misquoted me the price, I'll be getting it for a bargain opposed to what I've seen anywhere else. 

Edit: Just got off the phone with them, could be here as early as Monday!


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

That is a good looking stand that you built :thumbsup:
Your plants are growing great


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

Yeah if I ever get around to finishing the stand haha. I just need the top door and trim, stain and it'll be done! I'll prob post a few pics of it later today actually.


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

Pics Finally! I actually snapped some pics of the stand as it is right now, I got tomorrow off so I'll say I'm going to try to finish it tomorrow. It's been stained and will have black accents. I'm still unsure of how I'm going to go about doing the door on this, I've only got what is shown and thats wayyy too flimsy for a door. I didn't get any pics of the tank as there was somewhat of a disaster today (Had to work about 4 hours over today and it slipped my mind to tell anyone to turn on my light, and the HC did NOT look happy when I finally got home! The Blyxa wasn't sitting pretty either!) Other than that small problem, I did replace the sandstone with one of the rocks I got from CL. And now there is less algae in the tank. Go figure. I also took some advice from a thread I read on here yesterday and raised the light up 1.5" and it seems like that is benefiting the plant a lot too. 

Did't stain the bottom as it seemed pointless to









Inside with holes drilled at top and bottom for whatever need be









The wood I'm going to use for the door. Somehow. Suggestions?









There it is. Comments? Criticisms? Anything?


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## B16CRXT (Feb 7, 2009)

Why not use some (I think they're called)French hinges(the ones that you can't see unless it's open) with a roller catch or magnetic catch?


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

I was thinking about that, but now I'm kinda thinking I might break down the stand I have it on now and use some of the wood from that behind this door and use offset black hinges. I'm also trying to decide if I should stain the trim the same color as the stand, or spraypaint it black along with the 1x2 I'll be trimming the bottom with. Also that would kinda make it mandatory to make the top of it black too, huh?


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## lookin_around (Dec 18, 2005)

The stand and tank are looking good. Since I have no experience with wood work (other than a subwoofer box) I can't really give any advice on it. Just remember like you told me; Give the Blyxa time! Lol, it has definitely held true on my tank.

How much did that Eheim run you? I can't even find it for sale online for some reason. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong places haha.


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

lookin_around said:


> The stand and tank are looking good. Since I have no experience with wood work (other than a subwoofer box) I can't really give any advice on it. Just remember like you told me; Give the Blyxa time! Lol, it has definitely held true on my tank.
> 
> How much did that Eheim run you? I can't even find it for sale online for some reason. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong places haha.


Thanks man, its the first time I ever built anything, well, anything like this. 
The Blyxa isn't worrying me, its temperamental in this tank but its still alive, so we're cool. I'll have to get ferts I think though. And do something about my CO2 as that changes how it wants to work on a daily basis. 

As far as the Eheim, they told me $55-60 for the 2211 and ~110 for the 2213. Not only would the 2213 be overkill on this tank, and still somewhat overkill on the next tank I plan to go up to, the 2211 seems like the perfect choice to work on a 2.5 then to a ~10g. Plus I've never seen it available anywhere, let alone for $55! I'd have to get that even if I didn't plan to use it!


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## mithrius (Apr 28, 2009)

you can get iron on edge tape so the edges dont look so rough 
you just iron it on, it comes in many diff widths and colors and its actually made out of wood...
then u sand it down on the very edges so it's not rough
i think it'll make ur stand look more 'finished'.
looks good!!!!


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

:angryfire:angryfire:angryfire:angryfire:angryfire:angryfire
:angryfire:angryfire:angryfire:angryfire:angryfire:angryfire
:angryfire:angryfire:angryfire:angryfire:angryfire:angryfire

Well the filter should still be here. Sometime this year. I hope. 
I was told they would try to order it to be in last Wednesday, if they hadn't already sent out the order. If that wasn't possible, it would be here in no more than 10 days from the 26th. Do the math, that's today. After a couple calls over the weekend to see if I got lucky for it to be there early, and being told it would be there from Monday-Wednesday, I decided to wait until after noon today for a call, and when I didn't receive one I called them up. 
After speaking to about 4 different people I find out OH! They haven't even put the order in for it yet! SERIOUSLY?! Um hello, customer satisfaction? Especially in our current economy, do whatever it takes! I just really can't believe that I've been waiting in anticipation this past week and a half and the only progress that's been made has been when they wrote the damn order down!
Sorry for the rant but this has NOT been my week and this does NOT make it any better.


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## B16CRXT (Feb 7, 2009)

I HATE when that happens!


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

I just can't believe that even with me calling over the weekend they didn't make a move on it. What if I'd never called them up. How long would I have had to wait for then? You really shouldn't give definite dates if you can't guarantee it...

Edit: 
There are two of the same stores here, for anyone in the Chicago area there is Aquarium Adventure in Bollingbrook and one in Hoffman Estates. Bollingbrook is closer so thats where I get all my stuff. I decided it couldn't hurt to call the other place and see what they could do. 
Not only did they tell me that I was GREATLY misquoted on the price, they can get me one by tomorrow. I was told it will run about $90 w/ tax. Seems about right. Plus I finally get to hit up a new LFS! Lets hope this time it works out!


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

Filter arrived at the LFS today as promised, didn't feel like driving out there just yet so I'll be going there on Saturday after work or Sunday. Also going to order ferts for the tank sometime soon I think. I finally have CO2 back in working order on here as well, hopefully that starts a turn around for my up & down HC & Blyxa. 
And for the comment on the stand, thats not a finished product. The stand will have trim along the edges, bottom and door. And the top will be 1/2" pine, most likely with black accents. I attached a holder for my CO2 tank to this today, just a basic wooden box, nothing flashy. But it works, thats what matters!


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

Finally finished the stand the other night, just moved it into the room and set everything up. I like the height of the stand much better now, it's about 6 inches taller than the stand I had it on before. 
As far as the tank goes, it's hanging in there, I added a pair of oto's to work with the diatoms that are taking over the tank currently. They actually like chasing the Betta more than eatting right now haha. I included a pic of the tank but it's not really worth showing off right now. 
Here are the pics of everything



















Ignore the mess, please









2211 









CO2 as it stands now










I've decided that I need to get lilly pipes, that I can carry over to my next tank, for this one as the green is pretty unsightly


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## B16CRXT (Feb 7, 2009)

that 2211 is soo tiny! I can't find any online. I like the stand. did you decide not to trim it with black, then?


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

B16CRXT said:


> that 2211 is soo tiny! I can't find any online. I like the stand. did you decide not to trim it with black, then?


I wouldn't say I decided not to trim it with black. I just wanted to get it done and think this wood contrasts better with the stain than black would. 

On another note, I learned a valuable life lesson last night. At around 1:45am. My faithful cat woke me up. That's when I heard the water from the spraybar spraying onto the top of the water. When I looked up, I noticed that it was spraying down a lot. That's because the water level was about 1/3 under full. When I'd fallen asleep 45 mins earlier, I'd had it topped off. Turns out that I'd forgot to pull the tube that was bubbling Co2 into the tank out (just a tube, no diffuser) when I'd hooked two bottles together with a t-valve. So there was the tube, going to the bubble counter, then the tube that went from the bubble counter to the original DIY bottle hanging empty. Except the bottle was full, and it was shooting water out from the tube. I'm just glad I caught it when I did, and that it was coming out from such a small tube. The only reason I can think it would have done this is the tube somehow got sprayed with the outflow causing a siphon. Good news: nothing was ruined, well, besides my good nights sleep. I'll just have to be more careful next time, or maybe just get around to getting pressurized already. 


On a second note, my battle with brown diatoms in this tank is getting worse. The ottos have cleaned the walls of any algae but are staying clear of the plants. My Lb and Blyxa are apparently immune to it, but the HC and Rotala are taking huge hits. I threw some stems of R. rotundfolia and R. 'Green' floating in there to compete with it, but it just seems to have made matters worse. I'm going to be dosing as soon as I get my ferts in but until then is there any way to get rid of this stuff?


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## lookin_around (Dec 18, 2005)

Uh oh, good thing your cat woke you up before it got any worse. I have had problems like that before. Sometimes I tend to fill the tank up a little too much, basically to the point where if you look at it straight on, you can see the bubble of water just above the tank.

I had this happen and figured "Ehh, it'll evaporate", but I was wrong, it actually started siphoning out on the bottom of the filter somehow, and didn't stop until the filter outlet was above the water level.

I had a nice pool of water to clean up after that one.

Sounds like your tank will definitely benefit with the addition of ferts. I don't know of anything you can do then, maybe try reducing the photoperiod a bit.

Did you go with dry ferts? If so, shoot me a PM if you have any questions


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

Yeah I'm placing the order for the ferts tonight, and I'm planning on dosing similar to what you posted on your journal. 
I'm just glad I covered this thing with polyurethane which seems to be protecting it from water pretty well.


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## B16CRXT (Feb 7, 2009)

How are you guys dosing dry ferts to the 2.5's? I've got pre-mixed 250ml containers of ferts that I dose my bigger tanks with. I've been using Chuck's planted aquarium fertilizer program to calculate how much to dose to my tanks, but I am still unsure of how much Iron, GH booster, and CSM+B to dose. It doesn't have calculations for those.


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## lookin_around (Dec 18, 2005)

B16CRXT said:


> How are you guys dosing dry ferts to the 2.5's? I've got pre-mixed 250ml containers of ferts that I dose my bigger tanks with. I've been using Chuck's planted aquarium fertilizer program to calculate how much to dose to my tanks, but I am still unsure of how much Iron, GH booster, and CSM+B to dose. It doesn't have calculations for those.


I do the same thing, except my containers are 500 ML .

as far as Iron and GH Booster go, I don't mess with those. If I remember my GH was pretty high a while back when I measured water parameters, and I think there is enough Iron in the Plantex.

For my plantex I just looked at another much larger, and very healthy planted aquarium, took the amount of Plantex they were dosing, and just divided that so that I'm dosing the same amount by water volume. I currently have a solution so that I dose 3/100 of a teaspoon with every 5 ML of solution.


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

Anyone got any idea how to better combat this brown diatom? I've read over the "Cheat Sheet" that says causes are low light and excess silicates. I've got 27W over the tank, and removed the sandstone that was feeding it. I've done two water changes since it started appearing with such force, and added two otos. They are cleaning the glass but the plants are still covered! I have ferts on the way that should be here tomorrow or Monday but will that help? I really want this tank to be looking nice and green, not brown & ugly!


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## Ugly Genius (Sep 27, 2003)

How long have you had the brown algae? 

I've found that it usually has nothing to do with silicates. Usually it's light for me and usually it goes away of it's own accord after about two weeks.


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

It started when I had the first stone in there, it was pretty much confined to just the stone. Once I took it out I noticed it starting to form on the plants. I'd say its been on the plants in any form of intensity for about 3 weeks now. It has been back and forth through that time but it seems like its at its worst right now. 
Do you find that a lack or light or surplus of light is the culprit?


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## B16CRXT (Feb 7, 2009)

Got any pics? I got some sort of brown spots on the bottom side of a java fern leaf. Never seen them before. This tank has been unchanged for like 6 months too, besides the addition of pressurized co2 5 months ago.


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

:/


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## B16CRXT (Feb 7, 2009)

ohhhh, that! I got that in my 2.5 when I removed the filter(for a few days) and used only an air stone for water movement. Not sure why you would have it...


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

Yeah I have a lot of water movement in here, any more and the plants would be floating all over the place. I just read some stuff about how to get rid of this in a few other threads on here, so I'm gonna try whats suggested and hope it works. Tons of water changes, gonna try to get my CO2 diffused more efficiently, dose ferts when they get here, the other suggestion was adding more plants to outcompete the algae, but floating them didn't help much and I really can't plant anything else in here...
If all else fails, I'll remove it manually but I hope it doesn't come to that...


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## lookin_around (Dec 18, 2005)

I think daily water changes will be a good thing until you can get those ferts going.

If you its not lighting or water movement, then it's either Co2 or ferts. I'm guessing the ferts will help. Not sure if your doing pressurized or DIY for your Co2 since I see both in the pics.


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## B16CRXT (Feb 7, 2009)

do you guys put like 1ml of prime in the tank when you do wc's?


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

I toss in a little bit of Stress Coat w/ the water, that's really about it. Every so often a little extra Excel too but that's about it...


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## luckydud13 (Jun 21, 2008)

rrrrramos said:


>


So how do you like little Big planet? Good game ha


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

I was wondering when someone was gonna notice that! I'm bored of my PS3 now, I don't even watch Blu Ray on it anymore...


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## luckydud13 (Jun 21, 2008)

LOL, if I hdan't played it earlier I probably wouldn't have noticed. I love my ps3 though. COD4 rocks


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

I think the daily WC's helped out a bit. I got my ferts in today so hopefully that'll help out too. I am worried that my CO2 isn't getting diffused the way I have it right now (getting sucked up into the intake of the filter) as A- I don't see ANY bubbles coming out of the spraybar & B- I see no pearling anymore. Part of me is kind of thinking about tossing the Nano filter back on here and shoving the diffuser up into it to use it as a diffusion method again. That seemed to work the best for me. It just seems like that'd be too much going on in here...


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

nice stand and 2211! The tank looks good too!


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

Thanks CL, I'm not really too fond of the tank right now, but I do like the 2211 and am happy how the stand turned out! I just REALLY hope everything I'm doing right now works out!


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

It's going away!! The algae is finally on its way out! Or so it seems, the Rotala mini is clearing up a lot, that one that was really bad in that pic I posted is now almost all clean! The HC is still pretty ugly but should be on its way soon enough. Ah I'm excited!


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## B16CRXT (Feb 7, 2009)

What did you do besides daily wc's?


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## lookin_around (Dec 18, 2005)

Ahh, sounds like those ferts are working!

I've been testing my tank this week to see how much I can neglect it. I've managed to still dose it when needed, but my lighting has not been consistent because I haven't been here to make sure it turns on. For example, yesterday I had a blackout, lights didn't come on when they were supposed to, and I didn't get back until after the timer shut off.

I have the same home depot light that lots of people here use, but instead of a switch to turn it on, it has one of those stupid "touch" buttons, kinda like those lights where you just touch the base to turn it on. I might have to take it apart sometime and install a switch.

Work has been crazy, as you can see since I am posting at 3:50 before I head out. Today is the day my weekly WC is due, but thats not gonna happen. Luckily I haven't committed to any inhabitants in the tank so I don't have to worry about my fert levels building up.

Good luck with your tank, just stay consistent with the dosing and I think the algae will be well on its way out!


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

B16CRXT said:


> What did you do besides daily wc's?


Started dosing ferts, put the Red Sea filter back on here alongside the 2211 using the nano filter as a CO2 diffuser and also took out the Betta. 
The oto's are keeping the glass spotless, any Blyxa that was affected is all clear now, most of the Rotala is cleaned up barring a few pesky pieces, the LB is almost all green again. The only one that is taking a while is the HC, there is a noticable amount gone but hopefully that starts clearing up quick soon. 

Yeah lights are still somewhat of a problem on this tank as I've also got to turn it on manually, mostly because I'm too lazy to remember to buy a timer when I go out. I'm usually out of work by 3, so lights are _generally _on by 3:30 or so, till 11, but with my new position at work I'm sometimes there 9, 10 hours and lights don't go on until when I get home sometimes as late as 5:30.


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

I came home today to the best sight I could wish for on this tank; new growth on the HC and bright green leaves on the Rotala! I added a couple more blyxa shoots from my bigger tank in here, and am "training" the LB to stay surrounding the rock, which is pretty easy. 
I'm going to be heading down to the LFS after dinner, will be picking up some RO water to start doing water changes with. Hoping they'll have some Amano shrimp there!

Edit: forgot to add pics of my new tank!
This was getting too big in my 12g, so I filled a clear bowl with water from the tank, and set it up, will place near a window or get a light over it sometime soon. I think its around 6 or 7 inches across? Sorry for the pic quality its from my phone


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## lookin_around (Dec 18, 2005)

Great to hear that things are improving for you. So now we know that ferts (or rather a lack thereof) were the culprit for the demise of your tank. Just keep up with them and I think it'll grow in great.

Did you ever get that pressurized Co2 going?

Time to go update my tank thread, whew, just finished a big water change.


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## B16CRXT (Feb 7, 2009)

It's weird. I started dosing EI to my 20 and my 10 and I got TONS of algae growth. Some sort of long dark algae. I would call it BBA, but I've had that befoer and it was much shorter. I think my problem was an OD on a couple of the macros. I'm still just dosing excel and flourish to my 2.5. I might have to steal some tips and stuff from you later on for EI on the 2.5.


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

lookin_around said:


> Great to hear that things are improving for you. So now we know that ferts (or rather a lack thereof) were the culprit for the demise of your tank. Just keep up with them and I think it'll grow in great.
> 
> Did you ever get that pressurized Co2 going?
> 
> Time to go update my tank thread, whew, just finished a big water change.


Seems so, huh. I'm trying to get some amano shrimp to take care of it quickly but none of the stores around me have any, and no luck on the S&S yet. Hopefully it'll all be gone within a week or so though.
Co2, nope, still only got the tank and regulator. Many times as of late I was getting ready to jump the gun and get the rest of the stuff needed, but either a) my desires to stop spending and start saving so I can get out of this awful town got in the way, or b) I wanted an iPhone more 
Probably won't get the rest of the stuff till I move back to TX and set up a 10g there. So for now, I'm not planning to get anything else for either of my tanks. Unless I come across some amano shrimp. Or a great deal on something in the S&S. This tank will still have tons of stuff going on though so expect this thread to be around for a good while longer


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

New shots of the tank, the glass is a little dirty, sorry about that.

FTS









The HC looks to be recovering well, it gets angry if I skip out on an Iron dose though!









Pic trying to show the LB density, the main filter setup, Co2 diffusion method, Mr. Oto and some of the older Blyxa getting rid of what it doesn't want and keeping what it does









New Blyxa that I got from *imeridian*, took the place of the Rotala sp. 'Mini' Type 1, if you look reallllly hard you can see all 4 of the new shoots I got from my big tank growing in here. 









Well thats it. There is a Cherry Shrimp in here alongside the two otos, there used to be two of each but one of the shrimp molted then died.


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

rrrrramos said:


> I


This looks cool. What is it? It looks like mp?


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

Haha thats just Riccia. 
It's only got about an inch on each side now before it fills up the whole bowl. I put liquid diluted ferts into the bowl once a week and change the water in it weekly too. It's absoring all the overcast light from the HD light and was pearling like crazy earlier today!


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

Alright a couple days after putting the Blyxa in here, usually a good period to tell how it'll fare. The verdict? I've got one stem that is having about 5 or 6 leaves melt off. But to be honest I expected that. The double filtration seems to be taking care of most of the dead plant matter churned up from these. Add that with the Oto's doing their work (I caught them cleaning the glass late last night after lights out) and this tank is one of the easiest to maintain and it is starting to bounce back strong which I like. I added a 2L bottle to my DIY setup and it seems to be doing a great job so far. I'm gonna have to replace the other 750ml bottle I have with another 2L, since I wasn't surprised with a post body kit for my birthday


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

Sorry for the poor quality! Camera battery was dying, just wanted a quick snapshot of this tank so far!











Edit: 
Was just looking in the tank and only saw an otto and my lone cherry shrimp. I looked behind the stand and sure enough found a crispy little otto. RIP little buddy. Is this too small a tank for a dwarf puffer? I'm aware I'd probably have to remove the shrimp but I saw one the other day at the LFS and didn't buy it cuz I wasn't sure how big a tank they should be in.


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

Quick FTS should have pressurized going into this tank in a matter of days.


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## B16CRXT (Feb 7, 2009)

everything is filling in very quickly!


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## KentCurtis (Jan 22, 2009)

rrrrramos said:


> Quick FTS should have pressurized going into this tank in a matter of days.


Where did you get the suction cup to hold the airline tubing? I don't think I have seen suction cups small enough to hold tubing like that.


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

It's holding the diffuser, not the tubing.


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## KentCurtis (Jan 22, 2009)

Did that suction cup come with the small diffuser? I have seen them at petsmart, wasnt sure if the suction cup came as well


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

I don't believe so, I think that one came with my glass diffuser. 
I'm currently using a black suction cup thing I found to hold the tube in this tank. Not sure where it came from, but it works!
My brother also put a dwarf puffer in this tank, and about a week or so ago I moved the tank to the kitchen. It's doing good, kinda on auto-pilot right now. HC could use a trim but I'm gonna hold off on that for a bit.


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## B16CRXT (Feb 7, 2009)

petsmart sells a 6 pack of airline tubing suction cups. would do the same thing with a little more effort.


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## lookin_around (Dec 18, 2005)

B16CRXT said:


> petsmart sells a 6 pack of airline tubing suction cups. would do the same thing with a little more effort.


Those are what I used in my 2.5.

The tank looks like its coming along great and everything is looking healthy. Looks like you finally got this one figured out ramos :thumbsup:

Now what are we gonna do about livestock?

Time to go update my thread....Major trim and a couple of days off, woot!


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

Yeah this one is doin good man, just keeping up with the routine and its doing well. I ended up putting the pressurized system on my other tank and moving this one to the kitchen with a 3L bottle of Co2. The tank is still doing really well, the HC is a full carpet now and is probably close to an inch high!  
Blyxa will be trimmed soon, and my LB is mixing with my HC slowly but surely. 
As far as livestock goes, I think this tank is going to remain plants only. The Oto that was in here was moved to my 12g, the lone RCS got stuck in the slits on the filter intake, after saving him from that he was never the same and died about 3 days later. My brother bought a dwarf puffer to put in here, but he only lasted a couple of days :/ 
So for now the only life will be the snails and other pests in here (daphnia?)
I'm going to wait till my dad brings home his DSLR to take pics of the tank, hopefully within the week.


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

pictures!
pictures!


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

LOL I'll post pics later on tonight my Dad just told me he's got the DSLR here now.


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## B16CRXT (Feb 7, 2009)

the livestock in mine are bloodworms. I want to put my dwarf corydoras back in there, but the water conditions change pretty erratically in this thing.


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

Agreed. I think that's why the puffer didn't do so well in here. IME Betta's could live happily in a big cup of water, conditions regardless, so having him in here first probably made conditions better for the shrimp and Oto I had in here, but after they were removed things jumped and conditions weren't ideal. Oh well. I like the plants anyways.


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## Phoenix-cry (Dec 25, 2008)

tank looks great!


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

Can't find the DSLR but I snapped a pic over the weekend for this very reason. Believe it or not, its actually grown quite a bit since I took this picture, I've removed the Blyxa from the left and just pulled out all the LB that isn't behind the rock. I'm also going to likely be removing that whole area of HC in the back, about 3x3. I also just tossed in some tiny stems of Limno. aromatica in the direct middle of the background, just to see what that does and if I can force them to stay tiny and thin. Without further ado, here she is









​


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## B16CRXT (Feb 7, 2009)

I'll buy that 3x3 patch of HC from you


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

B16CRXT said:


> I'll buy that 3x3 patch of HC from you


Lol I'm trimming it for someone who is looking for some in the SnS

I'll probably have a ton of it when I get around to taking care of my 12g though.


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## B16CRXT (Feb 7, 2009)

Let me know when you are ready to trim again.


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

The growth in this tank is insane, especially due to the relative lack of maintenance it requires. The Blyxa is about twice as bushy as that last pic, any HC behind where the rock starts is no longer there, along with all the LB in that area. 
Part of me REALLY wants to drain the tank and take out all the HC and dry start some Glosso or totally rescape it. I'll try to get some pics soon


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

Alright so this tank is, well, lets say the oddest I've owned. Ever since moving it to the kitchen, however long ago that was, I've kind of neglected it. It gets dosed _almost_ every day, but I haven't TOUCHED the Co2 on here, and done maybe a water change or two. I figured by this point I'd be growing a nice farm of algae and dead plants. To my surprise the HC is still growing great, the Blyxa already needs to be trimmed again, and the LB is taking over its rightful spot. All algae free mind you! Still have the 27 watts over it, RS Nano filter, same setup as usual. I'm so proud of my little guy!


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## B16CRXT (Feb 7, 2009)

is it near a window?


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

B16CRXT said:


> is it near a window?


Nope. In fact, there is only one exposed side of it. Actually in part of my neglection of this tank the lights stayed on for like, 16 hours. I'm starting to think the whole "less is more" deal is true in this tank haha


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## B16CRXT (Feb 7, 2009)

The HC got here today! Looks great. thanks!


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## Phoenix-cry (Dec 25, 2008)

Is the HC as much work to trim as it looks?


PS- Rrrramos, I love your avatar! Although Captain Hammer is first in my heart.


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

I haven't really trimmed it all that much with the exception of cutting the back portion up. I've been letting it grow, it's still sending shoots to where it hasn't covered yet but it's not getting too high. As far as that back portion, it was pretty darn easy to trim & get out!


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

Like I've said before this tank is essentially on auto-pilot. It had murky water, well, a little cloudy. There were some sort of micro-organism living in here as well. I decided that I'd just do a 100% WC and wow! It's really made me more excited to keep this tank. I'm sure the plants will have a few negative effects but they are surviving pretty well in the inadequate conditions they had been growing in. I'll get some pics when I get home if I remember haha


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

Got bored, rescaped. No new plants, but added another rock & some driftwood. To be fully honest, I kinda just threw everything together, but I like how it turned out. While taking out the Blyxa I found out that in one of the batches I got, there must have been a sprig of Echinodorus tenellus because I pulled out what I thought was a stem of Blyxa followed by 5 nodes, and stems don't grow nodes! At least that gave me a replacement for the HC in my other tank, haha. I'm gonna give in and take pics of this tank with the crappy camera tonight or tomorrow, I have no idea when the DSLR will be here again...


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## lookin_around (Dec 18, 2005)

Hey ramos, been a while since I've been able to chime into your thread. The tank is looking great and I can't wait to see the rescape. My tank is currently recovering from my little episode...Be prepared to experience more melt from you're Blyxa after uprooting it. Although I do have to say I think the process will be much quicker this time...so the melting an the growing back will take place in a much shorter time period.

Can't wait to see the pics!


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

I don't think I'll have too much melt. I've moved this batch between tanks with no side effects and moved a couple around this tank as well with all of them staying in good shape. I _did_ however keep a couple of these out of the water for about 15 mins or so, and a couple started to look ratty so while I'm not really worried about it, those are the ones that would kind of concern me. 
The left side of the tank still looks the same, I just added stuff in the middle and back right corners. I didn't really care to disturb the HC carpet and have to replant it as I don't plan to have the tank up for too much longer than a month. Pics after lights on tomorrow guys!


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

Sorry for the quality!


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## Kayen (Oct 14, 2007)

Is it me... or Blyxa's got algae.

And the wood looks sorta .. bleh IMO.


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## plantman119 (Jun 7, 2009)

Kayen said:


> And the wood looks sorta .. bleh IMO.


yeah i would move the peice coming out of the water. I do like the scape in general though A+:red_mouth


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

No algae in this tank man. I think whatever those floaters I have there are take care of that or something, I've only had GSA on the glass every other week or so! A couple of the leaves on the Blyxa are a little ratty, but I think that's because I left them out of the water for too long. 
I stopped running Co2 on this tank, I took the actual equipment out out today, but realized that the DIY had run out like weeks ago.


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## Reginald2 (Mar 10, 2009)

I really like the rocks, and the black background makes everything pop nicely. What is that little plant in front of the rock on the right?


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

It's just a small Blyxa. The only plants in here are the Blyxa, HC and LB. And whatever that floating plant is. I've got a couple other pieces of driftwood I might try to get into here. I want to have some more Blyxa in that bare spot behind the rock on the right but there isn't enough room for it to fit there...


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## Damian (Jun 17, 2009)

This looks amazing.


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

Well it's grown in a little bit, all the ratty Blyxa is taken care of, for the most part. 
This should grow for the next month, then I'll be taking it down. I'll provide updates when I can!


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## Outlawboss (Dec 30, 2008)

I keep forgetting this is a 2.5 gallon. Looks really good, a lot more depth than you'd expect to get out of 2.5 gallons!


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## SamH (Jul 17, 2009)

This tank looks really awesome, great job.

What was that tube going into you internal filter on the first page of your post?

Thanks


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

SamH said:


> This tank looks really awesome, great job.
> 
> What was that tube going into you internal filter on the first page of your post?
> 
> Thanks


It's an aeration valve. It came with a tube with some little plastic thing to provide oxygen to the water, later in that setup I put the Co2 tubing in there and that way worked _ok_.


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

After all the problems this tank gave me, all the trouble I had to deal with in fighting algae, plants not doing their thing, in the past month I've done NOTHING but top off the water, tied some Mini Pellia to the driftwood and dosed it maybe once a week. It still looks great. After everything, this tank is to my liking by me not doing anything. I guess that is what we aim for, so I can't complain! Here are some new pictures, things have moved around on their own some, but for the most part its the same. Also as you can see there was a rouge strand of Riccia that found its way into my HC... for a plant that I really used to like, that I always wanted, I'm pretty sick of it now, it just shows up and is a PITA! But I'll keep it there until it starts to get too thick and uproot the HC. Then it's curtains, gently wafting curtains for it! 

Anyway, here is what you want:




























​


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## ddtran46 (Jul 8, 2008)

I thought you tore this tank up after you got your Mini M. Haha
Dangg..your Hc is Thick!


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

Wow, everything looks great! Gotta love that hc


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## B16CRXT (Feb 7, 2009)

Your tank is looking great man! Afraid to put livestock in mine because every time I do, they just seem to die. There are some ramshorn snails and bloodworms in mine though. I pulled the Riccia out of the hc I bought from you lol. My 2.5 is already suffering from collectoritis as is. LOL


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## Kayen (Oct 14, 2007)

Looks great.


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## zzyzx85 (Feb 13, 2008)

Awesome tank. I'm getting ideas of an Azoo 3 gallon I just got and I might have to "borrow" some of your ideas.


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

ddtran46 said:


> I thought you tore this tank up after you got your Mini M. Haha
> Dangg..your Hc is Thick!


Haha nope! Still up and running! Auto-pilot is sure making this a great tank!




B16CRXT said:


> Your tank is looking great man! Afraid to put livestock in mine because every time I do, they just seem to die. There are some ramshorn snails and bloodworms in mine though. I pulled the Riccia out of the hc I bought from you lol. My 2.5 is already suffering from collectoritis as is. LOL


Yeah Riccia is the worst hitchhiker. We found some growing emmersed in some HC my brother is dry starting, I've already pulled out 8 or 9 pieces from the UG I'm growing in my Mini-M, and there is some growing in the filter in my 12g. Its literally EVERYWHERE! At least its growing nice and slow in here, and it works, so I'll keep it till it gets on my nerves. 



zzyzx85 said:


> Awesome tank. I'm getting ideas of an Azoo 3 gallon I just got and I might have to "borrow" some of your ideas.


Feel free! If you need any plants or anything send me a PM! 

Thanks for the compliments guys! If anything changes before I leave I'll be sure to post!


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## Damian (Jun 17, 2009)

Good looking tank! Im starting one that is almost the same exact set up with the rimless and light. That HC looks really good. I might have to try that. What happened to the black background?


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## lookin_around (Dec 18, 2005)

Everything looks great, except for the Blyxa. Looks like there is some melt going on there, but I guess it is looking awesome for not doing anything for a month.

I've been pretty sporadic on my dosing as well lately. Working out of town a lot has given me no choice. (I'm typing this in my hotel room at the moment).

I'm almost afraid to add anymore plants for fear of snails. I really have no clue how I did it, but all my snails just disappeared one day, and I haven't seen a single one in months, which has actually been pretty nice. Hopefully I can get some livestock soon. What do you have for livestock in here currently?


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

lookin_around said:


> Everything looks great, except for the Blyxa. Looks like there is some melt going on there, but I guess it is looking awesome for not doing anything for a month.
> 
> I've been pretty sporadic on my dosing as well lately. Working out of town a lot has given me no choice. (I'm typing this in my hotel room at the moment).
> 
> I'm almost afraid to add anymore plants for fear of snails. I really have no clue how I did it, but all my snails just disappeared one day, and I haven't seen a single one in months, which has actually been pretty nice. Hopefully I can get some livestock soon. What do you have for livestock in here currently?


Does it count as melt if its been that way for like 3 weeks now? Haha

I've got a good stocking of snails in here, and the one lonely guppy. I had a fry in there, but I found that one sticking halfway out his mouth a couple weeks ago. It actually survived for a couple days after that too! The guppy seems to have ate most of the micro organisms in here so that, plus running the filter at full strength has helped with the mulm buildup I had before.


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## B16CRXT (Feb 7, 2009)

Yea one of my guppies has been having fry lately. I'm thinking about putting her in the 2.5 to finish up.


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## welchrock (Jun 12, 2008)

ramos have you had any luck preventing the 'toupee effect'? by my definition, this is where your HC gets so think and dense that the roots begin to weaken as the light can no longer reach the plant near the base, and the majority of the HC simply rests on the bottom, with limited rooting. 

I ask because your HC looks very similar to mine before I had this problem. Hope you were able to prevent it better than I!


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

I removed the HC from this tank and replaced it with M. minuta. This tank is gonna be staying here with my family when I move so I wanted something easier for them to deal with.


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