# AquaHo Update (56k!)



## Guillermo (Dec 19, 2005)

Hi Marimo, you have to fix the links, only the first one works.


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## MARIMOBALL (Mar 18, 2007)

sorry I feel dumb:help: Im new to this can you PM and show me how to post pics w/o a link just display them.


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## yoko (Mar 16, 2007)

It looks great!

Where did you get your "Art Rock"? I have never seen that. It looks good!


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## yoko (Mar 16, 2007)

Before:


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## MARIMOBALL (Mar 18, 2007)

LFS in Monterey park CA only its old stuff but they still have it.


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## MARIMOBALL (Mar 18, 2007)

thanks for posting my pics. hat i have in there is riccia taiwan moss some stems 1 otto 3 green tetra 2 gold tetra 5 ghost shimps ( my scrimps)


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## starrystarstarr (Sep 6, 2006)

What type of rock is that? it looks really nice.


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## MARIMOBALL (Mar 18, 2007)

I think its black lava rock. I bought too much so just threw some in i will be rescaping soon and change the rock to a nicer better proportin with the tank


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## MARIMOBALL (Mar 18, 2007)

these are the details 3.5 gal tank, 24w realux 8k/10k pc bulb. diy co2 ph6.8 temp 77F, Excel, macro and micro 1/3 weekly water change


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## Guillermo (Dec 19, 2005)

Hi Marimo, sorry for the late response, I see yoko has fixed the links, thanks.

The tank is doing great so far ! I like the Art Rock, it fits perfectly in your setup.

Good Luck.


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## MARIMOBALL (Mar 18, 2007)

thanx everyone for the nice words, but Yoko posted them for me I still dont know how to post pics w/o a link I have new pics with the tank cleaned up a bit and ill try to add another rock and move the stems futher back add more glosso in the foreground and more hairgrass in the background.thanx everyone, any sugestions let me know.


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## Yoshi (Apr 5, 2007)

MARIMOBALL said:


> thanx everyone for the nice words, but Yoko posted them for me I still dont know how to post pics w/o a link


http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/photo-album/3823-image-editing-insertion-guide.html#post204530
(Scroll down to post #3 for instructions for PhotoBucket)

Make sure you're copying and pasting the correct thing, you need the *







* tags surrounding your picture :smile:


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## MARIMOBALL (Mar 18, 2007)

thanx yoshi for the help I look aroud but could not find that thread ill try it now.


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## MARIMOBALL (Mar 18, 2007)

ok now i got the hang of it.


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## macclellan (Dec 22, 2006)

I love the tank....the "2" in the logo is small enough that is says AQUA HO... which is just great!


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## dufus (Nov 13, 2006)

MAn! i liked it as a reef, but it looks nice planted too.


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## MARIMOBALL (Mar 18, 2007)

thanx everyone but i think there is somthing missing. more rock? give me some suggestions. Im thinking of getting crs for the tank.


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## MARIMOBALL (Mar 18, 2007)

lol macclellan never thought of it that way, but thats what it says from far away.


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## RESGuy (Jan 15, 2007)

macclellan said:


> I love the tank....the "2" in the logo is small enough that is says AQUA HO... which is just great!


OMG man that's how I read it the first time too :hihi:


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## Yoshi (Apr 5, 2007)

Does CK Aquarium normally keep those tanks in stock? Are there different sizes? I think I'm going to drop by and check them out some day.


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## MARIMOBALL (Mar 18, 2007)

ck aquarium is a family owned shop their fish selection is limited and no plants, but they carry really nice discus and flower horn fish supplies are really cheap bc i think they supply local stores. If you want koi this is the place they have a huge selection at incredible prices. as for the tank they dont carry it this tank it was given to them as a test product. I beged them for it and i buy so much stuff i got it for free with 13w light ,glass cover and filter. note it was used. Im going to push them to carry it cuz ive never seen it. there are similar ones i have a 5 gallon and they go for 20 bucks.


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## yoko (Mar 16, 2007)

[email protected] HO :icon_lol: 

YAH! you figured out how to post pics!:angel: 

Are you using "Catfish Lighting"?!?!? WOW I have never seen anyone use that brand! They make a pump/powerhead that I want to try.
What diffusor are you using for your CO2?/

Looks so good- !roud:


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## MARIMOBALL (Mar 18, 2007)

thanx yoko and yoshi for the help. the light is catfish they sell on ebay but cheaper on their own site. the quality is good i believe they offer a waranty and prices includes shipping. I ordered mine with a 24w 50/50 for my reef, but later switched to realux 8k/10k for the planted tank. diffuser is a cheap one i bought at ck aquarium the co2 bottle is nutrafin. The nutrafin ladder i use for my 8 gal tank with the old school tetra co2 master system with a paintball co2 tank.


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## Storm_Rider (Sep 30, 2006)

how long have you used the catfish lighting fixture? a little while back while searching for a cheap light, i read lots of bad stories about cheap fixtures such as oddysea and catfish lighting. yeh only a few blow up and catch on fire, but of thousands or millions produced, its bound to happen, even to a great fixture i think.. stastically speaking.. not sure.. hmm.. anyways, be careful with it

tank looks great by the way, i noticed your drop checker is kind of blue.. is it usually like that? 

and i thought it really was aqua ho until mac pointed out it was h20


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## yoko (Mar 16, 2007)

Is Catfish Lighting a cheap brand??? I thought it was a good brand, just not "popular". Am I mistaken??!?!
I have a 18w Oddysea light fixture for cheap, the only thing that bothers me so far is the legs are poorly constructed (flimsy). 
I guess we'll see what happens :eek5:


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## MARIMOBALL (Mar 18, 2007)

carfish offers a one year waranty against defects and 30 days on the bulb. the bulb i recieved was oddysea or jebo can't remember it looked good for the two months i used the bulb. I have coralife on my 120gal tank and the quality is far superior, but for the price you cant beat catfish same waranty as coralife. Ive had no problem with catfish and construction is good.


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## MARIMOBALL (Mar 18, 2007)

*Aqua Ho update! (56k!)*

Now everytime i see the tank i laugh when i see Aqua Ho on the tank. Ok im back from Coachella. Before leaving i did some rescaping. I added another rock removed some stems and replaced it with more riccia, added more glosso in the foreground. Im going for the Iwagumi look. Im planning to get some CRS for tank.




























the Let me know what ya think.


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## bwagner (Apr 18, 2007)

I really like the look of that Art Rock, I can't find it anywhere online...Do you have more info on it?


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## ianmoede (Oct 1, 2004)

Im pretty jealous that you got to go to coachella. Thats a left nut kind of concert. How was rage? I seriously considered selling prized possessions to go to that.


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## MARIMOBALL (Mar 18, 2007)

most small LFS here in SoCal carry Art Rock but the regular gravel kind. The one i used is fine like sand if not finer, ive seen it in baige, white, black, and brown/red. 
ianmoede Coachella Rocks year after year this time i sa license plates from Ohio and Tennisee and Florida so you know its worth it, Rage blew the place up.


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## erodstrom (Apr 9, 2007)

beautiful tank! I like the greens, my tank has waaaay too much lighting and all my plants are turning red! 

For people looking for lava rock; try finding wholesale landscape suppliers. I paid literally like $0.08 per pound for lava rock and feather rock (which is a lot like lava rock except even more holey) when I lived near Sacramento. the pieces are much nicer than what you get at pet stores too, and they'll charge you like $12.00 for something that should basically cost a dime.


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## yoko (Mar 16, 2007)

[email protected] nut

How's that heater workin for ya?

I got the same one and tested it out for several weeks on my 6.6Gallon and it kept a pretty consistent 78F....
Was wondering how it does in a smaller tank like yours?


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## MARIMOBALL (Mar 18, 2007)

thanx everyone i think i paid 1.19 a pound for the rock still have some left over. I found a nicer rock similiar to the rock used in the ADA catalogue but is too big for this tank I have a similiar 5 gal tank that i was thinking of using but may only use HC or HM. but im seriously considering an ADA cube.erodstrom i have a 24w pl lamp on this tank and its 3.5 gal so some stem plants will turn almost brown under this light. yoko the the heater i had before was very cheap i had it set @72 F and water would still reach 84 F after 2 months it stoped working. this is a tetra whisper heater made for 2-15Gal pre set @ 78 and now water never goes over 78F and its smaller. tank looks better now riccia has really grown and glosso is spreading.


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## yoko (Mar 16, 2007)

*MARIMOBALL*, you know your old heater (that stopped working), was it by any chance the "Junior Heater" It's a tiny heater, looks "stealth." That has a thermostat and when it reaches in the 80F range, it auto shut-off and stops working---
I have the same Tetra Whisper Heater but was using it in a bigger tank.
I am gonna move it to my 3.5-4 Gallon tank, just worried it will go over and over heat my frogs~


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## MARIMOBALL (Mar 18, 2007)

*Aqua H2O update! new pics (56k!)*

yoko it was a cheap jebo brand and one early morning before going to work i noticed the temp @60F and the heater light wasn't lit. the new tetra keeps the water @77F all the time im very happy with it. new pics are comming soon.


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## MARIMOBALL (Mar 18, 2007)

*Aqua H2O update! new pics (56k!)*

OK the riccia is all grown up now and pearling. it grew so much it covererd the hardscape im going to trim the riccia or replace rocks with bigger rock. glosso is finally spreading. the tank was moved to an air conditioned room and heater is off. Temp is now a cool 74F to accomidate some CRS:bounce: let me know what you guys think.


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## will5 (Sep 30, 2005)

*Hi*



yoko said:


>


This might be a dumb but i did not know that you could use the peat pellets from the gardening section. So are they all aquarium safe or just certain ones?


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## danepatrick (Jul 17, 2006)

what did you tie your riccia onto?


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## MARIMOBALL (Mar 18, 2007)

will5 I know some poeple that have used peat with good results the black sand I used is inert and has no nutrients in it. I used 2 pellets for this tank. I rehydrated the peat and spread it around the bottom along with some mulm, that brown organic stuff you suck up with your gravel vac. The mulm was set in a shallow tray out in the sun for 2 weeks. The water evaporated leaving dry brown dirt like residue (my cheapo version of ADA power sand:biggrin: ). I scraped it out and placed it with the peat, then a layer of art rock sand. The tank cycled faster, and the peat lowered the ph to 6.8. Dane the riccia was tied to thin pieces of red slate from LFS they were 1" pieces that I formed by breaking the rock with pliers. I used fishing line to tie it only on the top side. Use fishing line that is rated for 4 pound or less fish cuz its very very thin. I got mine @ walmart for $3.00 slate was free from LFS.
one more pic.


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## MARIMOBALL (Mar 18, 2007)

Ok its been a while so heres an update. CRS were moved to the 60cm tank, at least the only two that survived, the ph dropped to 5.5 cuz I dont have a needle valve and my new tank was not cycled. the 120g was not a good option cuz I have discus and temp is 86F. I had some aquasoil left over so I added a larger rock, soil, and trimed the glosso and replanted the tiny stems. glosso did well in regular sand. Glosso should spread faster with the new soil. The fish in the nano are three white cloud. Will be adding RCS when I find a good deal. here are some new pics.


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## Storm_Rider (Sep 30, 2006)

Looks great man! should get a razor and scrape off the "2". i'm sure you know what i'm talking about


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## mrbelvedere (Nov 15, 2005)

Very nice. 

How's the Riccia treating you? Do you hate it yet?

I love the crystal blacks, where did you get them?


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## MARIMOBALL (Mar 18, 2007)

MR. B. ive had riccia for a while in my 120gal I let it float into a really thick mat then feed it to my koi outside they love it. the riccia in this tank will look better in a week when it starts growing twards the light. The black CRS are from Kiangchian he sell them regularlly on the SNS. Fortunately Im only 10min from him so I save shipping and have a no DOA guarentee LOL.


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## mrbelvedere (Nov 15, 2005)

I got mine from Shaun too. Great shrimp, no?

Riccia is always been a pain for me. 

Have you given any thought to using dwarf Riccia? It would make your tank look a lot bigger.


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## MARIMOBALL (Mar 18, 2007)

Shawn is a good seller hes very generous with the shrimp gading. yeah I thought about D. Riccia havent seen it up close thow. I was also thinking of M. minuta instead of glosso.


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## mrbelvedere (Nov 15, 2005)

I can definitely see where M. minuta would be a good advantage over Gloss in such a small tank. HC or E. triandra would be cool too.


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## MARIMOBALL (Mar 18, 2007)

I have HC growing in my 60p and its doing good in the aquasoil and excel. I may plants some on this tank when I have enough.


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## MARIMOBALL (Mar 18, 2007)

ok i let this tank go for a while cuz i knew it was due for a rescape. this is the way it looked before the rescape.


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## MARIMOBALL (Mar 18, 2007)

my first SCAPE meet yesterday motivated me to start right away. Here Mr. Scrimp and his girl checking out the empty tank and gathering ideas.








next was the layout plan


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## MARIMOBALL (Mar 18, 2007)

after carefully filling with aquasoil and sand. Mr. scrimp gave the thumbs up. he thinks this is for him lol but some micro rasboras and RCS are waiting in the 60p








next is the rock layout.








then came the drift wood. 
heres Mr. scrimp supervising.


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## MARIMOBALL (Mar 18, 2007)

now tie some Taiwan moss to the wood.
















now its time to fill the tank.








today i planted the stems glosso D. hairgrass microsword and other will post picks tomorrow after water change even thow i dont need to cuz the soil was briefly used.


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## Halibass (Jan 29, 2007)

That looks really nice! Can't wait to see it develop.


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## Haeun (Mar 9, 2007)

Squee, Mr. Scrimp is cute. Makes me regret not buying one.

My reaction to the moss-tying picture was: "WOAH! It got fuzzy."
Sweeeet, will look forward to further pictures.

 I want to rescape (and start my mini-m!) mine too, but I have to wait. I move back to school in a month, and I definitely want to take my tanks to school, so I have to be patient.


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## MARIMOBALL (Mar 18, 2007)

thanks guys and gals. The meet was a great. I cleaned up the sand it looks better now. forgot to mention i also tied moss to some rocks along the edge of the sand. Haeun be patient it will give you time to gather all your supplies and more time to plan your scape and study hard don't let those mid terms creep up on you.


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## MARIMOBALL (Mar 18, 2007)

ok water is still cloudy cuz i added some cycle bacteria to cycle the tank. ill also begin to trim the browning moss tips and clip all the dead leaves. soon plants should bounce back. it will be at least 5 more days and more 30% water changes before i add the shrimp. Then in two weeks ill add the rasboras. feel free to give me any suggestions.


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## SearunSimpson (Jun 5, 2007)

Yeah, can't wait to see it trimmed and cleaned up. It's looking good though.


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## MARIMOBALL (Mar 18, 2007)

water is still a bit cloudy. having trouble with co2 leaking from canister. ill have to replace with pressurized co2 from a tetra paintball co2 kit i have will post pics later. thanx for all the comments.


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## aquafloyd (Jul 3, 2007)

looking great Marimoball!!! 

Where did you get Mr Shrimp from? can you buy them online?


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## Yoshi (Apr 5, 2007)

aquafloyd said:


> looking great Marimoball!!!
> 
> Where did you get Mr Shrimp from? can you buy them online?


http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/swap-n-shop/47872-crs-model-group-buy.html


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## garuf (May 30, 2007)

this tank looks beautiful can't wait to see it fully grown out.


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## gotcheaprice (Aug 29, 2007)

nice thank, can't wait to see more pics. i wish i had a better tankxD


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## MARIMOBALL (Mar 18, 2007)

Well the last 5 days have been HOT! :angryfire here in Los Angeles. Its been over 100F or more everyday. Yesterday the temp in the tank was 106F so I did a 80% water change and turned of the light to cool the tank down. Now the moss looks brown and dead, at least there are no fish or shrimp in there. my CRS would have died, fortunately there in a air conditioned room. Now does anyone know if the moss will bounce back Ive heard i does not do good in the heat. I have more moss available, but removing the wood and re-attaching the moss will be very difficult to do without disturbing the layout. I can also leave the wood bear, but Im hoping the moss will grow back. Anyone have any suggestions or ideas.
here a pic before I do the first trim. will try to trim the fore and mid ground plants tonight.


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## MARIMOBALL (Mar 18, 2007)

Ok the moss was completely replaced with fresh Taiwan moss I noticed Amano does not completely cover the wood with moss to highlight some of the woods character moss was also replaced on the rocks around the edge of the sand and substrate (PITA). I also did a trim added HC to the right foreground. Now tank is cycled and I added three RCS. Here are some pics let me know what you think.


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## guppy (Oct 30, 2004)

I think you need more shrimp =]


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## Halibass (Jan 29, 2007)

guppy said:


> I think you need more shrimp =]


Yikes, all saddled females. He'll have a population explosion in a month or so!


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## MARIMOBALL (Mar 18, 2007)

Two of the shrimp have disappeared, only one remains. I added micro rasboras about a week and a half ago. The fish are doing fine, water parameters are fine. Ill add some more RCS later I have about 30 in the 60p. Ill post new pics soon.


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## MARIMOBALL (Mar 18, 2007)

Time for an update. I added 5 micro rasboras. Rasboras have been there about a month now. I also added 2 green shrimp, only one survived. Planted HC to the right foreground and HM to the right background. Moss now is bright green and growing. Ferts is ADA green brighty 2 half a squirt a week. Ive trimmed the plants twice already. next water change I will siphon the sand to clean it up. Pics are in chronological order. Please give me you feedback. BTW what free photo editor is available to add black around the tank for a cleaner look.


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## MARIMOBALL (Mar 18, 2007)

quick update now Im using paintball co2. notice the HC growing emerced on the top of the drift wood.


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## Haeun (Mar 9, 2007)

Wah, growing wild.  Give it a trim!

Coolio, paintball CO2 sounds good. I only have a 20# one and it's just slightly ridiculous to have it on a 5 gallon tank.


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## MARIMOBALL (Mar 18, 2007)

OOPS forgot to mention these pics are before the trim. I intentionally let the plants grow for two weeks withought a trim B/C I gave some stems to someone. Ill update the after the trim pics soon.


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