# 10 Gallon Project - 5,600K & 10,000K



## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

I've got a few pictures of my tank. 

The set up is in our bedroom on top of our taller chest of drawers (dresser).









This is the same front angle, but it's obviously a closer shot.









I needed to purchase a second light housing to go on top of this tank, so I had to do away with the original plastic lid. In order to support the two light housings on top of the tank, I cut two pieces of plexi-glass to fit down into the top of my tank. This worked out perfectly and I still have enough of a gap between the two pieces to get my hand/arm down into the tank. I know...it's ghetto, but it works!









Here's the main reactor chamber for my proposed DIY CO2 reactor. It's a 64 ounce juice bottle with brass fittings serving as the "bulkhead" in the white, plastic cap. I used a liberal amount of aquarium grade silicone to seal up the little gaps around the fittings. I'm not sure if it's going to work yet, but it's ready to rock and roll just as soon as I get my filter going and go to the grocery store for yeast. I put a one-way check valve in the silicone tubing that I decided to use. I have read that typical airline tubing will get brittle over time with CO2 injection, so I decided to go ahead and get silicone...Just in case. I haven't really decided what I'll do for the CO2 diffuser, but I'm leaning on an idea that I picked up from another thread. Somebody simply cut a small hole in their canister filter's water-return line just as it started to curve back down into the tank from the canister. They inserted the silicone airline tubing from their CO2 reactor into the hole and siliconed the insertion point to ensure a seal (i.e. NO LEAKS). I am, however, still undecided. Anybody have any suggestions? DIY would be nice, but I'm also looking for cost effective/efficient here.

























And finally, here are some photos of the driftwood accelerated "leaching" process. I have about five good pieces of driftwood which have been accumulated over the past decade of aquarium keeping. I am boiling them to not only remove excess tannins, but also to sanitize them. I doubt that this is going to get rid of ALL the tannin, but I'm hoping that it helps. I'm sure that activated carbon is going to be my best bet, but I am definately open to suggestions.


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## Sarge (Sep 29, 2008)

Not sure about charcoal soaking up tannins, so I won't comment on that, although other nutrients you put into the water the charcoal will soak up, so I would stay away from it. Charcoal over time is a great place to house bacteria. 

I use clip lights for my 10 Gal. when it's set up, with CFL's at my respective color temp, I like the mode it puts out when people see it.

I drilled a tiny hole into my outflow line of my eheim and it works great, the force of the water chops the bubbles up, I wouldn't trust it in the intake because of cavitation in the pump, and noise.

with anything over 20 watts in a 10 Gal, I've come to realize doesn't do too hot without CO2, just be wary of the stocking level, and how much CO2 ur dumping into the tank. Even with DIY CO2 you can overdo it in a tank that small, be sure to pull the line out of the water at night, or make a good amount of surface agitation.


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

Thanks for the advice Sarge. I will most likely have to just deal with some tannin staining of my water for a while. I have heard that it can/will go away with proper water management (i.e. water changes and such). Crystal clear water is nice, but it's not a necessity.

I'll definately follow your method of inserting my CO2 line in my filter's outflow pipe. That is the method that I had been considering, and it's pretty clear that it's the most efficient method for dispersing my CO2 gas without spending any more money or adding any more equipment to my already limited aquarium space. 

The only true concern that I have at this point is my lighting. I'm not sure if 30W will be ample to support the type of growth that I am interested in attaining. You mentioned something about "CFL's" and "color temp", but I am admitadly ignorant on the subject of lighting. Could you explain what you mean? Sorry if I'm being dense, but I'm just excited to learn from somebody with real experience here!

As for night time CO2 levels, I guess that I will have to monitor my levels very closely at first. I will remove the line from the aquarium at night if needed. 

Well I need to get back to my boiling pot of driftwood. Take care and we'll speak again soon.


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## Phoenix-cry (Dec 25, 2008)

Carbon soaks up tannis for me! You've got some nice driftwood.


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

Well I got my canister filter in today. I immediately began hooking things up and realized that it didn't come with enough vinyl tubing, so I had to run to Ace Hardware to get some. Once home, I hooked all the pieces up and got it going. So far it's working just perfectly. 

I have read some threads where people complained about Eheim filters, but I don't understand why. This thing is so simple and efficient. I think that I'm going to have to go with those of you out there who have given these filters so much credit. It's quite, powerful, and small. What more could I ask for? 

Anyhow, here are a few pics from today's work...

Here's the box that the canister filter came in.









My DIY CO2 system.









A closer look at the CO2 system with the newly added DIY bubble counter.









My CO2 ingredients.









My tank with newly added Eheim 2213 classic canister filteration system and a couple pieces of my driftwood.









Now it's time to sit back and wait for a few days. I'm going to probably give this system the weekend to cycle. I have a bottle of "Stability - New Tank Stabilization System" which I am going to use to accelerate the process a bit. I am planning on introducing my first plants within the next two weeks, and I'm not certain on what sort of flora I am going to use. Below is a short list of flora which I have seen in other tanks and really like:

For the foreground/carpet type plants:
Eleocharis Parvula (Dwarf Hairgrass) - Although it's been called eleocharis acicularis as well, I'm not sure which is the correct name.
Glossostigma Elatinoides (Glosso)
Hemianthus Callitrichoides (Hemianthus 'Cuba')
Vesicularia Dubyana (Java Moss)
Vesicularia Montagne (Christmas Moss)
Fissidens Fontanus (Phoenix Moss or US Fissidens): This one is probably my favorite of the mosses. I have read about it, and I like the idea of having a moss that stays put and requires less maintenance. 

Mid-Sized Plants:
Nanjenshan Rotala (My favorite of this bunch I think.)
Hemianthus Micranthemoides (Pearlweed or Pearl Grass)
Blyxa Japonica
Microsorum Pteropus (Java Fern)
Lysimachia Nummularia 'Aurea' (Golden Moneywart or Creeping Jenny)
Bacopa monnieri (Dwarf Bacopa)
Proserpinaca Palustris (Mermaid Weed): I want to add some color other than green to my plant life, and this plant has a gorgeous red tint to hit.

These have caught my eye over the past year from website to website, and I'm interested in knowing a little about these guys. If anybody has helpful information I'd love to hear it!


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## Madfish (Sep 9, 2007)

Looking good looking really good.


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## Sarge (Sep 29, 2008)

Compact flourescent, they have different wattage bulbs you can find these at walmart, homedepot, lowes, etc.

I use the clip lights with adjustable necks as I can focus on one area or raise the light above the water any height I choose. Trust me when I say lighting is a fun DIY, it's all up to your imagination, hang the lights from the cieling, clip them, rest them on the tank, etc. it's all up to you. If you think you can make it or buy it, do it.


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

Of course, another person in the hobby in Denton right after I leave!
But off to a good start! As far as plants go, from what I've seen Glosso is the easiest to grow but getting it to form a carpet takes a little patience and a lot of trimming. My personal experience with HC thus far hasn't been pretty, but with the right water parameters and upkeep on trimming and whatnot it shouldn't be to hard. And trust me people around here aren't joking when they say plant it plantlet by plantlet. It's a pain but the plants I planted that way already have spread a decent amount while the one's I planted in bunches don't seem to have grown any. Also I think some Java Fern would look good on that driftwood.


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

Thanks a bunch Ramos. I see that you're up in Illinois now. Wow, what a change from Texas! How are you liking your winter so far?!? I'll take your advice and plant each plant at a time. I've heard that it can be a pain, but it's worth it for better results. That's sort of why I chose a 10 gallon to start with. That way if this turns out to be a whole lot of work/upkeep I won't have too much to do!

Also, since you were a Denton resident, I was wondering if you have any advice on a good LFS. I've been going to Fish and Chirps on 380, but they don't usually seem to have anything beyond the standard flora/fauna and I'm not sure if I want to order things through them (Their stock always seems to be dying or ill).

My layout is kind of developing nicely in my head. I'll describe sort of what I'm thinking, and you can use this picture as a guide:









I'm planning on having some Nanjenshan Rotala just to the right of my driftwood, between it and the glass. I'm thinking about placing some "Mermaid Weed" (Proserpinaca Palustris) just behind the driftwood, kind of offset to the left though. To the far left of the tank in the back, I'm planning on placing some sort of broad leaf plant...Maybe a Java Fern (Microsorum Pteropus), who knows? I'm looking for a nice stone to place to the left of the driftwood, but I haven't found one yet. As far as a groudcovering plant, I'm thinking about going with either some Dwarf Hairgrass, some Glosso, or some HC (Hemianthus Callitrichoides). For the driftwood and proposed stone, I want a coverage plant that isn't too hard to maintain. I'm thinking about some Phoenix Moss (Fissidens Fontanus), but I'll go with Java Moss if it comes to it. 

I guess the best thing about Fish and Chirps is that atleast one of the staff up there has told me that if I get some Dwarf Hairgrass growing in excess, I could bring my clippings up to sell to them. I'm thinking that, since they have some planted tank guys, they would probably buy whatever clipping I bring so long as they're healthy.


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

Yeah winter up here is cold but its not a humid cold like down there so its much more bearable. As far as LFS' go, I found Fish & Chirps to be the best local one, at least for personability. Every so often they have something unique, and they tend to keep the best care of their fish in the area. I can say for a fact that I never lost a fish I purchased there! But the staff is their highlight they are always more than helpful. Other than that I think you're stuck to the Petland & Petco on 288
If you don't mind venturing a little bit there is a Petland on 3040/Round Grove in Lewisville that usually has a healthy supply of plants, albeit they _usually _only have run of the mill plants every so often they'll have something thats a little harder to find. Other than that you could go into Carrollton, there are a couple of privately owned places there that have some decent stuff, the names aren't coming to me though. 
OH and check a place in Garland called Botiquite Pet Shop & Aquarium. It's a bit far but it's got a huge selection and a knowledgeable staff.
What part of Denton are you at? Going to school there?


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

Yeah, my first experience with a "real" LFS was Boutique Pet Shop in Dallas. I really enjoyed those first three or four years of my aquarium life. They sold me a tiny peacock bass (cichlid) for real cheap and it grew to be two feet before it outgrew my tank and I sold it back to them. That place has EVERYTHING, and the staff actually is quite knowledgeable. Right now, I'm relying mostly on this site for my purchases. I just bought some nanjenshan rotala off a guy out of state. I sure hope it gets here alive, but I'll take that chance just to stay out of Petsmart or Petco. I broke down and went to Petsmart today with my wife to get a CO2 diffuser (cheapo, "just for now" thing). While I was there I saw some "Peacock Fern" that looked pretty cool and bought it. Low and behold, it's not even a true aquatic plant. I guess we'll see how it does though. It just rubs me the wrong way when you ask the folks in the FISH department if a plant being sold in the FISH department is meant to be fully submerged and they have no real answer for you. I guess it was a $4.00 lesson well learned.


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

I just bought some nanjenshan rotala and dwarf hairgrass here on the site. They'll be mailed Tuesday and I'll hopefully get them by Friday at the lastest. I'm going to have to find some ferts to use for this plant to make sure it grows in strong. 

Any advice on testing kits to use. I need one to test Kh, Gh, pH, CO2 levels, etc. I'm not very clear on all the water parameters I'm supposed to keep on top of. I NEED HELP! ha ha. Any good advice or sites that could let me know where I need to keep things? 

Any good advice on ferts to use? Solids or liquids? 

I'm currently using a typical ceramic airstone style diffuser on my DIY CO2 system. I see a steady stream of tiny/fine bubbles floating up out of the thing, but I don't really think that I'm getting much benefit from this. Should I invest in a quality glass/ceramic CO2 diffuser? Also, how do I monitor the CO2 levels accurately. Perhaps one of those nice, glass drop counters?? 

Thanks for the advice everybody...


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## Trallen44 (Dec 10, 2008)

Nice to see another person on here that is close. I know what you mean about Fish and Chirp's. I really like thier staff, although I haven't been over there in awhile. I haven't found a LFS that I am totally happy with. I can't give you any advise on the high tech set ups, but depending on what you are looking for fish wise PM me and I will see if I can help out any.


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

I just got some photos taken of the tank as it is currently. My wife and I went to her parents' house this weekend and went walking around their property. I found a nice little rock for the tank, and I just put it in the tank. Here the newest pic...










I've ordered some nanjenshan rotala, xmas moss, and some dwarf hairgrass for the tank. They should be in by this Friday. I'm hoping to find some information on dry fertilizers soon, and I'm working on getting ahold of a nice CO2 diffuser. This tank is coming right along. I'm anxious to get the new plants in there and see what the next few weeks worth of growth have in store. After I let this tank grow a bit I'll start making some decisions about fauna.


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## finfan (Jun 16, 2008)

looking good... cleared up nicely, i like that your journal is detail and has pix with most steps... 

one comment... just a personal taste... the rock and the driftwood seem very symmetrical and similar in shape... just my 2 cents


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

finfan said:


> looking good... cleared up nicely, i like that your journal is detail and has pix with most steps...
> 
> one comment... just a personal taste... the rock and the driftwood seem very symmetrical and similar in shape... just my 2 cents


I see what you mean about the rock and driftwood having a similar, if not identical, appearance. It's amazing how our tanks always seem to look SO different in a picture than in person. I will have either find a new stone or a new way to arrange the current one. I want to have a single focal point, but it's hard to do this in a 10 gallon. As soon as I get all my plants in and go through that "fill-in" stage of growth I'm hoping that the hardscape starts to look better. 

I went to my LFS and bought some java fern and an unidentified stem plant (Pretty sure it's Bacopa monnieri but I'm not sure....ID???:help I planted them, and I'm thinking that once the java fern grows up a bit it'll look really nice. The unknown plant looks pretty nice, but I'm sure that it'll look better when it grows in/fills out. The peacock fern between the rock and driftwood has been growing! The ends of the fronds have developed thin, tightly packed extensions. I'm thinking that this is the growth pattern of this plant. I'll watch and see. I have dwarf hairgrass, nanjenshan rotala, and xmas moss coming in this week. They should make a nice addition to the tank. Here's the newest pic of this tank:

This one is a front shot of the tank. You can see the new stem plant in the back/left corner (about 6-7 stems in all), the java fern in the front/left corner, and the peacock fern in the middle. 










I don't really have a super nice digital camera, but I used the photo editing software that comes with it to sharpen the pic up a bit. I think that this shot really does this tank more justice than the previous few. 

I'm thinking about getting my ferts in order, but I'm still having some trouble deciding what to do. I met a guy in my LFS, Fish and Chirps, who told me that Seachem Flourish should be all that I need for this tank. The bottle was pretty small and it said it could supply a 100 gallon tank for 6 months or so! At that kind of rate I would be set for a lifetime with my 10 gallon. Anybody have any experience using this stuff? What's your opinion. I want to know if it's going to cover my micro, macro, and trace element requirements. If so, it's definately going to be what I use. 

Tell me what you think....


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## demosthenes (Aug 23, 2008)

looks good so far! hopefully you won't have too hard a time planting the hairgrass, its a real PITA... the red plant that i have in my 10g is a nesaea something, i can't ID the exact species though. it needs crazy high lights and nutrients and stuff, and still grows unbelievably slowly. you could probably grow it in your tank. i have a few more watts than you, but other than that our tanks are pretty similar (except your filter actually works... lol my ghetto filter needs some work). One of my LFSs stocks nesaea a ton, i could get you some next time i'm there if you want. 

what kind of fish are you looking for in here? i saw your post for GBR's in the SnS, but anything else? you probably shouldnt have GBR's cycling the tank, they need a really established tank to do well. mine actually just spawned, i would give you some if any survive, but itd be a long drive to get some, haha


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

demosthenes said:


> One of my LFSs stocks nesaea a ton, i could get you some next time i'm there if you want.
> 
> what kind of fish are you looking for in here? i saw your post for GBR's in the SnS, but anything else? you probably shouldnt have GBR's cycling the tank, they need a really established tank to do well. mine actually just spawned, i would give you some if any survive, but itd be a long drive to get some, haha


I appreciate the offer to pick up some nesaea, but I'm pretty sure that I can just get some shipped to my LFS if it comes down to it. Unless you can get some to me for under $10. Just let me know...

I'm planning on putting some cory cats in my tank for a "clean-up crew" and some schoolers. I have read so much about GBR's over the past few days, and I'm pretty sure that they would be a late addition to this tank. I'm planning on getting some cheap cycle fish pretty soon. Probably some tetras or something like that. I'm at a loss for fauna at this point. I really like the thought of having my fish reproduce successfully. I am, like most people here, interested in selling my plant clippings and fish offspring. There are a bunch people down here in Texas raising GBR's. I guess I'll have to wait for a good deal to come around. 

You have any advice for tank maintanence fish? How about good looking schoolers? I'd like to have smaller fish due to my tank size...


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## demosthenes (Aug 23, 2008)

haha okay. if i can find you any for $4, i'll throw you a PM.

actually i got a school of about 7 hengeli rasboras in my 46g that i LOVE. theyre small and school really tightly and have a much brighter orange coloring than harlequins do, and its much more of a stripe than a blush. google image them, theyre cute lil things. idk about them reproducing though.

as for a tank cleanup crew, i'd get two or three otos and amano shrimp. i've got two of each, and they do the trick for me. i used to have a wild-caught michigan crayfish which took care of snails and algae (and sleeping fish...), but that got to be a little much. (he's in my friend's semi-aggressive tank now). amanos are awesome though.

have you had corys before? i've never had any, but it seems like _everyone_ has some. are they really that great? all i've got is a clown loach. He's awesome, but my other tanks need clean up crews for snails, too.


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

This is my very first planted tank. Before this little project all I have ever messed with was my 75 gallon aggressive cichlid tank. Consequently, I could never keep anything small! I've never had any cory cats, but my wife has definately fallen in love with the ones at my LFS. I'm thinking that what ever I can do to get her interested in the hobby is a good thing!!! 

I'm definately going to take your lead and look into getting some otos and amano shrimp along with the corys. My thought process tells me that more maintanance fish is better, and I would LOVE to have some berried shrimp to watch. Those hengeli rasboras look really nice! I'm not sure, but I think that my LFS has a good supply of these little guys on hand. I'm going to have to make a little pit stop sometime soon and make a written list of their stock. It's like I have alzheimer's already. I can't even remember what I saw at the LFS by the time I get home....maybe it's just my ever-wondering mind! 

Thanks for the advice bro! Yeah, if you find some plants shoot that PM and I'll be glad to shoot some cash your way! Talk to you later...


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

The nanjenshan rotala, xmas moss, and dwarf hairgrass that I ordered came in today. I'm pretty pleased with the condition that they came to me in. I planted them as soon as I could, and it was a major pain in the butt (Mostly having to tie the xmas moss to the rock and DW). I rearranged the driftwood in the tank so that I could put some of the xmas moss on it. Most of the xmas moss went to the rock though. Somebody shipped me an extra freebie I guess. I'm not really sure what it is, but it's really a messy plant. I'll post some pics later on. I need to wait for sunset to take quality pics.


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

Ok. New pictures!

I just visited the LFS and picked up some zebra danios and some other stuff. I'm hoping that these fish will help with the cycling process. I've heard that they're a good starter fish for any new tank. We'll see I guess.

Here we go with the new pics. First up, a front tank shot. Here you can see the new plants. To the far right you see the new Nanjenshan Rotala, the new xmas moss is tied to the DW and the rock, and the dwarf hairgrass is planted in the foreground (You might have to squint to see these guys):









And here's a nice, zoomed shot of the new DW setup. Notice the new xmas moss on the rock and DW. I'm hoping that it all fills in pretty thickly. I tied it down with fishing line, and it's a little ugly right now:









Here's a close up shot of the rock. I put as much xmas moss on it as I could. I forgot to save much for the DW, but I think that this rock will look pretty nice in a month or two:









Here's a close up of the new DW placement. I had some problems with the old placement, and this arrangement allows me to be a little more creative with things. I hope that the xmas moss starts to crawl down towards the substrate. We'll just have to wait and see I guess:









That's it for the new pics. You can kind of get a blurry glimps of a few of my new zebra danios in these pics. I'll have to borrow a nicer camera to get any good shots of these guys! I picked up some Seachem Flourish at the store. It won't supply the macros I'll need, but it'll work fine for the other stuff my growing plants require. 

Tell me what you guys think.....


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## Trallen44 (Dec 10, 2008)

It is looking good. Just needs some time to fill out.


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## ddtran46 (Jul 8, 2008)

Your not suppose to plant the java fern in the substrates it will eventually die. You can use sewing thread or something and tie it to the driftwood. The gravel over the eco-complete is kinda distracting to me. Otherwise, nice tank so far.


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

ddtran46 said:


> Your not suppose to plant the java fern in the substrates it will eventually die. You can use sewing thread or something and tie it to the driftwood. The gravel over the eco-complete is kinda distracting to me. Otherwise, nice tank so far.


Yeah, I read that java fern is supposed to grow on rocks or wood after I planted it in the substrate. I guess that I need to move it at some point. I'm thinking about moving it and replacing it with some sort of broad leafed plant which grows well in the substrate. I like the look of the java fern where it is in this tank. 

The gravel is something that I wish I hadn't added now. I guess that hind sight is always 20-20 though. It would be such a pain the butt to get out of this tank at this point. It's simply not an option as of now. If I do decide to perform a total rescape, I'll probably get it out. 

Thanks for the constructive criticism! This is what I started this journal for, and I welcome all suggestions/critiques. Keep 'em coming!!


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## redfalconf35 (Feb 24, 2008)

you can plant java fern in the substrate, but most don't. If you really like it where it is, just make sure that the rhizome is above the surface, and you'll be fine. However, i think it looks great strapped to DW or rocks.


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

can anybody ID that stem plant in the back left for me please?!? it's the fastest growing plant i've ever seen! i'm letting the tank grow out for at least a month before i cut anything, and i'm thinking that this one is going outgrow my tank's depth very soon. it's also got some little holes in the leaves. i know that it's a potassium defficiency, but is there ANYTHING else that can do this? i just want to cover my bases. my macro and trace elements should get here soon. hopefully this plant doesn't fall apart before then! 









Please pardon the old pic. I just grabbed the first one with the stem plant in question.


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## Harris36 (Apr 16, 2008)

Looks like Bacopa Monnieri. It can break the water surface and flower if desired.


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## FrostyNYC (Nov 5, 2007)

I found this post via your post in the Tank Journal folder. Maybe you can ask a moderator to move this journal into that folder?

Regarding the tannins, get some Purigen. That stuff works wonders at sucking up tannins, and it won't absorb micronutrients that your plants need.

I'll just answer a couple of your questions right now: Get dry ferts. You'll save money and they're very easy to dose. I bought a set a year ago for my ten gallon tank and I still have plenty, and it was only $20 for everything I needed. 

If you're using DIY CO2, get a limewood diffuser, or a nano glass diffuser (the kind they sell on ebay). If you get too large of a ceramic diffuser, there won't be enough pressure to adequately pump a fine mist into your tank, since the pressure from DIY doesnt compare to pressurized CO2. So stick to nano size, unless you go with the limewood. Limewood clogged for me after a couple months, which was annoying. I've been using the same nano glass/ceramic diffuser off ebay for the last year, with a peroxide or bleach dip to clean it when it gets dirty.

Edit: Wow, I responded to your post without realizing there was a page two! Oy.


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## demosthenes (Aug 23, 2008)

i second harris' comment, it looks like moneywort to me, too. And i also agree that you should take the java ferns out of the substrate, IME it doesn't do as well there. stick it in one of the cracks in your driftwood, it will look really cool. 

hows the hairgrass doing? is it a PITA yet? haha


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

demosthenes said:


> i second harris' comment, it looks like moneywort to me, too. And i also agree that you should take the java ferns out of the substrate, IME it doesn't do as well there. stick it in one of the cracks in your driftwood, it will look really cool.
> 
> hows the hairgrass doing? is it a PITA yet? haha


Ha ha! It's not all that bad really. I planted them as pairs and they began to grow pretty quickly. I'm really pleased with all of it! I'm not sure how it spreads, but I've noticed that some of the longer "blades" of grass have developed what I guess are "plantlets" (complete with roots). I don't know if I'm supposed to clip this plantlet from the mother plant and replant it or just allow it to do its own thing. Each plant I planted has grown at least double its original size. 

I think that I'll let the java fern stay where it's at for now. I'm letting my tank grow out for a month before I touch it again. When I do my first cut I'll move it to the driftwood. 

I'm thinking about doing a rescape on that first cutting. I placed some stem plants in the front, and they're already outgrowing their current placement. I'm pretty happy with the growth that I've experienced in just two weeks!! The only plant that isn't really growing much is my xmas moss. I've strapped it to the rock and driftwood, but it's not really doing much. I've read a bunch of threads where folks used xmas moss with great success. I guess that it's just going to take time to get to where I'm hoping.

It's looking like I'll be selling a bunch of stuff on the s&s pretty soon though. This hobby is a really "fast action" kind of thing. My tank isn't even really mature yet, and I'm already seeing amazing growth rates in many of my plants. I love this stuff!!!


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## demosthenes (Aug 23, 2008)

don't worry about it, the xmas moss will do fine. mosses grow slower than most other things. as for the hairgrass, let each plantlet grow up to the surface, and then clip it off of the mother plant and replant it. since i got them, i haven't done any replanting of the original plants, but it doesnt seem to me like they take long to acclimate, so you might be able to pull up the mother plants and put the daughter plant right in there with it (like, replant them both together). i've been trimming off about 20 plantlets each week (so basically twice so far, lol), but they seem to grow poptarts-crazy fast.


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

Ok, I've got some updated pics of the tank. Everything is coming along pretty well, and things are starting to grow pretty quickly. 

Ok, this one is a FTS from February 23rd:









And this one is a kind of angled shot. I don't know....I guess I need either a bigger tank or a better camera to pull this one off better (2-23-09):









Standard FTS (2-25-09):









Ok, so the rest of these are from today (3-2-09). I tried to take some different types of shots and get some of my favorite plants in there. Here you go....FTS:









Close up of the right side:









Good shot of my favorite stem plants:









Here's a shot of the rotala sp. 'green' I ordered off the s&s. This stuff started out just about 3" tall. Now it's about 6-7" tall. That's big growth in less than two full weeks IMO:









If you look closely you can see the dwarf hairgrass here. It started out about 1-1.5" tall. Now it's significantly larger. This stuff is amazing, and my zebra danio love to hang out in it:









Well that's all of the new pics. I'm letting the tank grow out for at least a month before cutting it. My xmas moss is just now beginning to show signs of growth. I'm sure that it is going to cover its fishing line holders soon, and it's hopefully going to develop into a nice mound of green on my rock and DW. 

I have five zebra danios, and they are very, very active. I'm pretty sure that I have two females and three males. I researched it online and found out that females are usually substantially larger (fatter) than the more slinder males. Also, I found out that they will get overly "fat" prior to laying eggs. Well, I had two really fat females before leaving for the weekend. When my wife and I got back home they weren't as fat. I'm not sure if that means that they spawned, but I'm betting that they did. I know we won't ever see any fry, but there is always that chance! I love the life developing in my 10 gallon! This is what makes this such an addictive hobby. 

Enjoy!


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## demosthenes (Aug 23, 2008)

looks good! although, might i suggest some more substantial plants in the background? try to cover up the back pane of glass with bushes of small-leafed stem plants. i could send you some ambulia, r. rotundifolia, or stargrass if you want it.

the hairgrass actually looks a lot better than i thought it would by now, its grown a ton! 

also, what is "your favorite stem plant"? the green needly-lookin' one i mean. and is the round-leafed plant in the middle lobelia cardinalis?


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

Yeah, I hear you. I'm going to try to use what I've got to fill in as much of that space as I can right now. I've got some good rotala macrandra green that's going to eventually fill in back there to the left of my purple bamboo. Plus I'm planning on cutting my poly praetermissum (ruby) and replanting the pieces behind the DW to fill that area in better. But yeah, I would really like something else back there. I'm just undecided on what would look best back there right now. I really like the look of that r. rotundifolia and the stargrass. PM me some pics of yours and maybe we'll work out a deal.

I'm hoping that the rotala nanjenshan (my favorite little needly-lookin' one) can take over that right side and become the dominant feature over there. If it looks too out of place there as it fills in, I'm concidering moving it to the back as well. 

That round leafed plant in the middle is called lobelia cardinalis. I got it along with my polygonum praetermissum (ruby), rotala macrandra green, and purple bamboo from TexGal on the s&s. You should check out some of her stuff. She's pretty good at this stuff, IMO. 

That dwarf hairgrass probably puts on a quarter inch everyday if not more. It must really like my tank I guess. I'm pretty excited to see what another month of growth does!


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

My macro nutrients and trace elements arrived today! I also ran out and bought a small syringe for measuring dosages and some flourish tabs for my substrate/plants' roots. I'm pretty excited to get a proper dosing regimen going in my tank. I went and found a "seachem flourish line" dosing calculator online. It's Microsoft Excel based, so that means that I can add other calculations to the spreadsheet!! I went ahead and put a calculator for determining CO2 concentration. 

This is where I need you guys to help out. I just replenished my DIY CO2 reactor, and I decided to go ahead and check my CO2 levels. I came out with ~12.8ppm. I'm thinking that this is pretty low, but I could have done the calculation incorrectly. Below is my equation:

CO2(ppm) = [3*KH(ppm)*10^(7-pH)]/17.8 ***Dividing by 17.8 converts KH from ppm to degrees.

This is a rough calculation which was found on the net. It's pretty basic and is based upon the fact that there is a linear relationship between KH and pH. My test kit is one of those dip-stick kinds of things, but it's going to have to work for now. I read that my pH is ~7.5 and that my KH is in the area of ~240mg/L (same as ppm). Being a doctoral student, I have taken several advanced statistics courses and have learned that any time you add a new variable to an equation already based upon estimations, you leave yourself with a large margin for error. I had to divide the standard CO2 estimation equation by 17.8 due to the fact that my test kit reads in mg/L (ppm), not degrees. I found that the conversion from ppm to degrees is as simple as dividing your known value by 17.8. IS THIS TRUE??

I'm sure that I'm overcomplicating this situation, but I'm trying to have a well maintained, high-tech tank. Next on the agenda is to save up for pressurized CO2. I already have a regulator from my old CO2 primed "Keg-erator". All I need is to get ahold of a CO2 tank, a needle valve, and one of those nice, glass/ceramic diffusers everybody and their dog has (except me of course :>/). 

Input...


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## mpodolan (Mar 27, 2007)

Yes, 17.8 is the correct conversion. 

There are online charts and calculators available to use the ph and kh relationship to estimate co2. Here's one http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_co2chart.htm

However, these are not considered to be very accurate in many cases, because of different buffers/water parameters that can skew the results. This has been debated/discussed many times on the this forum, if you are interested in reading more about it. Most folks use drop checkers to estimate co2, but even these have their problems (slow reaction time, etc.)


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

Ok. I have my first casualty. I _had_ five zebra danio before I created my little light fixture support legs. These allow me to have an open top setup so I can see the little white flowers on my stem plants. So back to the story....I was feeding the other day and noticed that only four fish came out to eat. I didn't really think much about it at first, but after searching for the other guy for about 30 mins I conclude that he jumped ship (only, the other way around I guess). The only problem is that I cannot find his dried up little body _ANYWHERE_. I searched high and low for this guy, but to no avail. He's gone, simply gone. I have no cats or dogs who could have gobbled him up. My wife vacuumed the floor that evening, but she didn't notice anything "fish-like" on the floor where she cleaned. It's amazing......Every time I set up a tank I lose somebody this way. I can't for the life of me figure this one out. He pulled a true Houdini on me I guess. 

Oh well, at least this is a $1 fish I'm talking about. Do you guys have stories like this? Please do share! This could get pretty funny.


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

I had a danio pantheri jump on me on friday. luckily I saw him sitting there and plopped him back in. He's fine


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## Trallen44 (Dec 10, 2008)

My 55 is covered except a small spot on the back for the hang on back filter, and I was cleaning around the side of the tank one day, and found a dried up swordtail. I have hachets, and they are supposed to jump and haven't had a problem with them at all. Go figure!


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## demosthenes (Aug 23, 2008)

well i've never had any tropical fish jump, but i kept a bunch of 2" bass and perch and big crayfish that i caught in a 20H this summer, and a few weird things happened (mostly because my parents didn't want to buy me a hood, so it was an open top). My mom came downstairs before me in the morning and saw crayfish scurrying around the carpet maybe 7 or 8 times, and i found three dried up rock bass on my floor one day. Another day, my dog got really sick and one of my fish was coincidentally missing... haha this summer i'm hoping to buy a hood.


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## houstonhobby (Dec 12, 2008)

I really like your tank project. It is looking really nice.

Over the years I have found acrylic to be unsatisfactory as a tank topper. The side that is toward the aquarium tends to pick up water vapor and become larger than the side away from the aquarium, causing it to curl. If you religiously turn it over every day or so that can help, but you might be better off to try to get some glass pieces. It used to be pretty cheap to get single-pane glass (haven't tried for a while, did the laws change about using glass in windows, and does that affect availability?). You can make it safe by getting some sand paper and sanding the edges smooth.


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

houstonhobby said:


> I really like your tank project. It is looking really nice.
> 
> Over the years I have found acrylic to be unsatisfactory as a tank topper. The side that is toward the aquarium tends to pick up water vapor and become larger than the side away from the aquarium, causing it to curl. If you religiously turn it over every day or so that can help, but you might be better off to try to get some glass pieces. It used to be pretty cheap to get single-pane glass (haven't tried for a while, did the laws change about using glass in windows, and does that affect availability?). You can make it safe by getting some sand paper and sanding the edges smooth.


I found a thread on here where "clwatkins" made some legs for his light fixture out of metal coat hangers. I decided to do the same, so I don't even use the acrylic pieces any longer. I really like having the open top. It gives me about a 4 inch gap between the waterline and my light fixtures. Many of my plants have breached the surface, and I'm pretty sure that in another couple of weeks I'll have to trim! I'm excited to see one of my stem's flowers (I've read that it's supposed to put out white flowers if allowed to grow out of the water). The only downside to the open top, as you may have read above, is the fact that I have lost one fish (I suspect to jumping, though I never found a body). Other than that, I absolutely love the open top. When I move in a few months, I'm thinking about removing the rim of this tank and going rimless!!:thumbsup::thumbsup:


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## kyle3 (May 26, 2005)

if he (your danio) was out even overnight he'd have been brown and shriveled up- you wife might have better recognized him as a dead plant leaf than a fish.

i had a betta jump once in the night, went over to feed him in the AM, stepped on a crunchy leaf -couldn't find the fish and then put 2 and 2 together-oh lord did i freak out- 

cheers-K

edit: if you go rimless you should look into lily pipes on ebay-they're so much less distracting than the ehiem tubes


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

kyle3 said:


> edit: if you go rimless you should look into lily pipes on ebay-they're so much less distracting than the ehiem tubes


 
Yeah, that's something that I've been thinking about lately. Since this setup is my first experience with this type of project, I've learned a bunch since initial setup (Mostly about what NOT to do in the future). I'm going to do some stuff differently next time around, and I'm definitely going with those lily pipes (Unless I decide to go with drilling the bottom to create a totally unobstructed view of my scape). 

I've been leaning towards drilling the tank recently, and now that I found this thread I may have made up my mind. My proposed plan is to drill the bottom of this 10 gallon in two locations, one for water-out toward the filter and one for return from the filter. I'll get some good bulk heads offline and then do the plumbing with schedule 40 PVC. I'll use union joints just below my bulkheads to make it easier to remove stuff and to do typical maintenance. I'm going to build my own stand with ample storage below the tank for the filter, a CO2 bottle, an inline heater, an inline CO2 reactor, and all the other miscellaneous fish tank stuff we all use/need. Also, as mentioned earlier, I'm going to de-rim this little guy and try to make something worth looking at.

We'll see I guess......:icon_wink


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## kyle3 (May 26, 2005)

sounds like you're fully enjoying the MULTITUDE of things we can do to our tanks 

cheers-K


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## demosthenes (Aug 23, 2008)

so, any progress on this project? give us some updates! haha


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

Sorry guys. I've been in Colorado for the past week on spring break with my wife and inlaws. I haven't been skiing in quite a while, but it's like a bicycle...you never lose it! I'll be back home on the 22nd, and I'll get an update ASAP. 

I'm just hoping that everything survives my week long absence. I performed my first trimming the day before my departure, and I'm hoping to see everything growing new roots and filling back in nicely. 

I'll get back to you guys in a few days...


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## kyle3 (May 26, 2005)

looking forward to it
cheers-K


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

DISASTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I got home last night to an awful mess. My tank had suffered from some pretty significant evaporation over the course of the week that I was gone. As the water-line fell below the level of the spray bar, water began to splash around and make its way out of the tank and onto the top of my dresser. My wife and I came home to a nicely discolored and slightly warped dresser top. I really, really should have left a key with a friend to come by and check the place while we were away. We cleaned up the mess as well as possible with pledge and clorox wipes. This took care of most of the discoloration, but I'm thinking that no cleaning agent can remove ALL of it. When we move in July, I'll have to take the dresser to my workshop and fix the damage. I'm pretty sure that a quick stripping, sanding, and refinishing should fix 'er right up! If I can't repair the damage on my own, my wife's grandfather is a furniture maker with years of experience doing this sort of thing. I have all the confidence in the world that we'll get this fixed.

On a positive note, my plants grew really well while I was away. My xmas moss is starting to take off. I can't even see the fishing line holding it to the rock anymore! It's beginning to "bush" out and fill in very nicely!! Most of the plants that I had to cut are regrowing nicely, but I may have to perform a significant "cull-out" process. A few things are looking kind of deadish, and I want to get rid of them before they melt and become a terrible mess for me to clean up! I'll post some new pictures this evening when I get home. 

Until next time...


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## ming30g (Mar 18, 2007)

sorry to hear that. It reminds me to have somebody take care of the tank before going on to a long trip. It sure can get really hot in dallas. and your tank looks great!


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## kyle3 (May 26, 2005)

wow that's a real bummer! good luck getting everything back into order!
cheers-K


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

I performed a major rescape this afternoon. I'm going to let everything settle down while I go exercise and then I'll get some pics up. I really think that this new scape is going to look nice in a month or so!


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

Ok....New pics!

As previously mentioned, I performed a major rescape, and I am very pleased with the results. So here we go...

First up we've got just a typical FTS. You can see the new arrangement of the plants. I took everything out of the tank and put a nice slope from front to back so that everything would display better. From right to left we have rotala sp. green, some purple bamboo, rotala nanjenshan, dwarf hairgrass up front, my xmass moss rock, some more purple bamboo, and baby lobelia cardinalis. I moved my driftwood around a bit and seperated the two pieces so that I could better hide my heater. I took some of the xmas moss off of the moss rock and attached it to my larger driftwood. I'm hoping that it fills in as nicely there as it did on the rock. I moved my java moss to where it's between the driftwood and the moss rock. I'm sure that it will grow better there since everybody has said that it does better out of the substrate. Here's the pic:









Here's an elevated FTS:









Here's a nice pic of some driftwood with newly attached xmas moss. I know, it's pretty tough to see what I'm talking about here, but my camera skills really, really suck! Ha ha!!









My wife's favorite plant is my lobelia cardinalis. She says that it has pretty, round leaves! I'm actually pretty pleased with its growth over the past few weeks. When I up-rooted the plant, its root system had grown tremendously. I was able to seperate several "babies" from the mother plant and replant them up front for a better view. I left the mother plant in the right hand rear corner because it's getting so tall it'll look good in the back. Here is a pic of the "babies" that I'm hoping will grow big enough for sale soon!!









I've seen several people attempt to make a sort of "moss tree" in their tanks, so I decided to try as well. When I seperated the two pieces of driftwood I used the larger one to hide the heater and "planted" the smaller one so that it is free standing. It looks pretty cool in person, but this picture doesn't do it justice. Oh well, here's what I got:









Here's a closer look at the moss rock. It's amazing how quickly xmas moss grows! It pretty much has the entire rock loaded down, and I am totally loving it! Here you go:









Last one of the day here. It's just a lower FTS showing off the dwarf hairgrass. I gave it a pretty substantial hack job. I hope that I don't have to keep trimming this stuff like I have been. It's starting to become a real PITA!!! Here you go:









I ordered Seachem Iron and Excel. I'm tired of messing around with the DIY CO2 injection, and I'm betting that I can get great results with excel supplementation. Carbon is carbon...right?!? Anyhow, I'm really happy with this rescape. I'm hoping that the urge to jack with this tank doesn't overwhelm me before I move in July!!! Why didn't anybody ever tell me that this hobby is so addictive?!?


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

My wife and I made a quick trip to our LFS and picked up a couple amano shrimp and a GERMAN BLUE RAM!!! It's a female, and she is absolutely beautiful. Once I get a good shot of her, I'll post pics. She's pretty small now, but she looks amazing. I'm going to go get some brine shrimp eggs or some frozen foods that she'll take more readily. I'm so excited to finally get to stock my tank with real fish!!!


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## kyle3 (May 26, 2005)

can't wait to see her!
cheers-K


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## connordude27 (Jun 14, 2008)

awesome looking tank

did you look in the filter for the daino?


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

Well, it looks like I've got some pretty significant algae problems going on. I'd post some pictures, but I just now noticed the problem. The algae in question is sort of brownish-green and looks like fuzz growing on most of the plants. It's not as fuzzy on the dwarf hairgrass, but it's making the blades look really bad. I think that it's the worst on my java fern, but it's making it's way throughout the tank. I'm not too upset about it though...I've read plenty of threads and it seems that algae is usually a problem with your nutrient/plant-load/light/water chemistry balance/CO2. My water is good, my plant-load is good, my nutrients are good, and the lights are good....Low and behold, my DIY junker CO2 setup is kicking the bucket. I guess that I'll refresh the system...OR I could just wait it out. My seachem excel is supposed to get here next week, and at which point I'll be switching from the current gas form of carbon to a more managable and less fugly liquid-chemical carbon source. 

Anybody have any suggestions on a fish or invert (preferably invert) that'll take care of any and all algae. I got some amano shrimp in hopes that they might take a "bite" out of my algae/dead plant matter problem. Looks like they pretty much don't do anything but hide from me...and make me realize the fun of spending cash on a pet you never get to enjoy! Ha ha!!

Pics coming soon...


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

connordude27 said:


> awesome looking tank
> 
> did you look in the filter for the daino?


 
Yeah, the first one that went missing is MIA totally. The second one that went missing was indeed in the bottom of the ol' eheim. He could have been in there for as many as 10 days! Funny thing though, when I put him back in the tank he sank to the bottom and lied there for an hour or so all pale and lifeless. I thought that he was a goner, but he pulled through. Now I couldn't tell him....or her from the rest. Zebra danio are amazingly resilient fish. I would totally suggest them to ANYBODY starting a new tank. They're little mini versions of the Sherman tank!!!


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

*Trimming and algae removal 4-4-09*

Well I just couldn't wait. I went ahead and performed another 30-40% water change this morning and trimmed most of the algae infested leaves off of my plants. I hope this takes care of that unsightly algae I had. I also decided to cut the tops of my rotala nanjenshan and replant them. I love that my stem plants are beginning to really boom. I've cut and replanted the tops probably about 3 or 4 times now, and the bushes that I'm creating are starting to look really thick and really good!

My xmas moss was also entangled with some sort of greenish ivy looking stuff. It was very tiny in diameter yet each strand that I pulled out was 1-3" in length. Does anybody know what this could have been? I thought that it was part of the reproduction process of the plant, but I also thought that it was very ugly.....so out it came! 

I also noticed that the ceramic diffuser of my DIY CO2 system is totally covered by some sort of white "cloud" of algae. I can't wait for my excel to get here so I can get rid of this crap. I hate DIY CO2, and I wouldn't suggest it to anybody working with a tank small enough to benefit (cost effectively) from excel.

I ordered some fissidens fontanus to use in my future moss wall. I also ordered some hemianthus callitrichoides to replace my dwarf hairgrass as the predominant foreground plant. I really hope that this plant takes off and makes that nice carpet everybody else has!


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

Well my seachem excel and iron got here today. I'm pretty excited to see what kind of impact it is going to have on my tank. 

I've got some pics of my new scape. I had to change a few things around once I decided to plant the new HC I got the other day, but I think that everything looks great. These first couple of pics are just FTS:








Left FTS:








Right FTS:








Elevated FTS:
























And here's a few diagonals:

































I don't know if you could pick it out, but I got some HC in the foreground. I pulled all of my dwarf hairgrass and replaced it with the HC. I'm hoping that I get some good growth with this stuff as I have been particularly unhappy with the dwarf hairgrass. 

I'm waiting on my fissidens to get here in the mail. I'm going to use it to make my moss wall. Here are a couple of pics of the build project for the wall:

















I'll get more up as soon as the fissidens arrives. I'm betting that my pics will suck while I wait for the fissidens to grow through this creation. Oh well, it'll be worth it once it does fill in and cover the mesh frame work.

What do you think?


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## ZooTycoonMaster (Jan 2, 2008)

Wow it looks awesome!

What are the stem plants in the front right and center left?

And where did you get the white "netting" for the Riccia?


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## organic sideburns (Dec 22, 2005)

really nice 10 gallon, that moss looks nice, cant wait to see the moss wall!


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

Nice light legs   :hihi:


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

ZooTycoonMaster said:


> Wow it looks awesome!
> 
> What are the stem plants in the front right and center left?
> 
> And where did you get the white "netting" for the Riccia?


Hmm....I think that you're talking about my rotala sp. 'green' (front right) and rotala nanjenshan (center left....behind the larger driftwood piece). I absolutely love these two plants, and they both grow well in my tank. I supplement the whole seachem line (even excel) plus DIY CO2 injection. I'm not sure what I'm doing right, but they grow like weeds.....pretty weeds. The nanjenshan actually looks pretty crappy here, but I think that it's because I totally uprooted all of it and moved it about 30 minutes before the picture was taken. I'm sure that it will "spruce" back up in a day or so.

I got the netting at WalMart. It's really a more rigid plastic type of grid pattern. My wife says it's for stitching work, but I thought that it was perfect for a moss wall that I didn't want to be a perfect rectangle. I love that you can cut it and make any shape you want.



organic sideburns said:


> really nice 10 gallon, that moss looks nice, cant wait to see the moss wall!


Me either. As soon as my fissidens arrives I'll be on top of that. I'm sure that it'll look nice after several weeks of growth, but it's going to be fugly at first!

I'm a little disappointed in my "moss tree" looking thing (To the right atop the driftwood piece). It's not really growing in as nicely as the same moss on the rock. I guess that I'll just have to give it more time and see what happens. 



clwatkins10 said:


> Nice light legs   :hihi:


I thought that you would eventually notice. I totally jacked the idea from your setup. I really like them PLUS they were totally free! You should patent them and sell the things! Ha ha. 


Thanks for the support guys! :thumbsup::thumbsup:

Charlie Mims


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## [email protected] (Jan 14, 2009)

ZooTycoonMaster said:


> And where did you get the white "netting" for the Riccia?


It's a stitching grid, any craft store that caters to needlepoint or craft stitching will have it for under a buck. Comes in various sizes too. Makes a great separator for media in a sump. 

Jeff


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

[email protected] said:


> It's a stitching grid, any craft store that caters to needlepoint or craft stitching will have it for under a buck. Comes in various sizes too. Makes a great separator for media in a sump.
> 
> Jeff


 
Yeah...what he said!

I got five 10" X 15" sheets in the package from WalMart for under $2, so it's definately not going to break the bank. Cut a couple of sheets to your liking, sandwich the moss of your choice in-between the two pieces you crafted, and add a little fishing line to hold it all together. It's so easy and cheap...unless you go with fissidens like me . I just hope that it turns out as cool looking as some that I have run across. Here's a few pictures of what inspired me to do this:




































US Fissidens (or fontanus) is so beautiful. I hope that my moss wall turns out similar to what you have just seen. 

Thanks for looking :thumbsup::thumbsup:,

Charlie Mims


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## kevbshields (Mar 4, 2004)

Hey, how'd you make those wire hanger supports for your lighting? And, are you just using two strip lights or what?

Your set-up is looking good, so that lighting might be an inspiration to me as I start my 10-gal. project.

Thanks!


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

kevbshields said:


> Hey, how'd you make those wire hanger supports for your lighting? And, are you just using two strip lights or what?
> 
> Your set-up is looking good, so that lighting might be an inspiration to me as I start my 10-gal. project.
> 
> Thanks!


Hey *kevbshields*, thanks for the interest. I stole the idea for those light legs from *clwatkins*. They're pretty simple to make. I just took some wire coat hangers and cut/bent them into shape with a pair of needle-nose pliers. I'm out of town for easter at the moment, but when I get home I'll take a couple of pics of the legs up-close so you can see how to do it. 

The lighting for this tank is pretty ghetto. I just used two of the light units that usually come with 10 gallon set-ups. They are those 18" flourescent bulbs, and I believe that I'm pushing ~3 wpg.

If I were you, I would look into getting some sort of light at home depot or lowes and do a DIY project. I would imagine that you could get better light at a cheaper price that way.

Good luck and thanks for the input! :thumbsup::thumbsup:

Charlie Mims


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## kevbshields (Mar 4, 2004)

CAM6467, I did that DIY stuff on a 55 I set up a couple years ago. I had drop ceiling in my apt and it worked terrifically, I could grow anything.

Without drop ceiling and utilizing a much smaller tank (10 gallon), I'd assumed I'd follow in your footsteps with the double light strips. Sometimes I find I end up spending more for DIY and then fixing problems I create than I would by just buying what's the most familiar.

I'll give it some thought. Don't even have the tank as of yet, so thinking out loud. Your tank is pretty neat, so good job and impressed at the progression it's made.

Good luck to you and thanks for sharing.


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

Thanks *kevbshields*.

I don't have any pics right now, but I got my moss in the mail and put my moss wall together. It's in the tank now, but it looks pretty crappy at the moment. I'm sure that it will fill in soon and will look great, so all I can do at this point is sit and wait. 

I can tell that the excel and iron are making a HUGE difference in the tank already. Most of my stem plants have grown dramatically since I first started using the stuff. I guess that it's the added carbon that's causing all the fast growth. I'm going to have to trim my rotala nanjenshan and rotala sp. 'green' tomorrow after work. I'll be able to use the trimmings to make thicker "bushes" in my tank. I'm so excited that the growth is booming!

Thanks for looking,

Charlie Mims


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

Hey guys. I've got a problem going on in my tank. ALGAE. I have what looks like some sort of greenish brown hair growing all over most of my plants. Especially my stem plants and mosses. It's starting to worry me because it's been getting worse and worse. I want to get rid of this stuff, but I'm at a loss. Water changes and proper nutrient levels are being kept up with, but the stuff still proliferates. Should I get some sort of algae eating fish. Perhaps a molly or something. Please let me know what you would do.

Thanks for any help you've got.

Charlie Mims


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

I don't really know who I need to ask, but I want this thread moved over to the "Tank Journals" section of the site. I think that it's a bit more appropriate there. Please either let me know who has to do this or how I can if it's possible.

Thanks,

Charlie Mims


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

New pics!

I went to the LFS and got two black mollies because I read that they may help with my algae problems. I'm not sure if they will do anything, but at least I'll get to see some babies out of the deal! I also picked up a new plant, but the shop-keep didn't know the name of it. I'm hoping that you guys can help me out. I actually have two plants needing an I.D. 

I want to take a trip back in time to 2-12-09 and make our way to today's additions...

2-12-09 - Baby tank, just starting out:









2-16-09 - Added a stone, some driftwood, and a crap plant from Petsmart:









2-19-09 - Added a few more things here and there and rearranged some stuff:









2-23-09 - Things growing in a little. Pay attention to the plant in the middle as it is of particular interest to me lately. It's growth is amazing IMO:









2-25-09 - Added some stuff and things growing in a bit. Nothing special here, I guess:









3-2-09 - Things growing in great. Plant in the middle is looking good, right?!? Just you wait:









3-25-09 - Major rescape. Things were moved all around, but at least its kind of in the same shape that it's in today...Kind of. See the three little plants in the front left? Well, they're babies from that plant that I'd mentioned earlier. The thing pops babies up every week. It's going to be a gold mine for me if I can find some folks that want some of this stuff:









Here are the babies as of 3-25-09. Momma plant is in the back left just chillin' and making new babies:









4-8-09: Plants growing in nicely. My pride and joy plants are growing nicely. Rotala sp. 'green' front right and the little plant I can't ID front left/back left. I'm loving the growth and beauty of my tank so far:









4-15-09 (today) - This is an elevated, diagonal shot of the tank. Things have grown in well, and I've performed several trims since the beginning of this thing. Take a look:

























































































Here are the babies from my little unknown plant. I love this little patch of them!









I hope you enjoyed looking at my pictures! I'm currently fighting some sort of algae, but It's looking like I'll need some expert help on it. It's kind of like thin hair growing all over my stem plants (purple bamboo mostly) and some mosses. I'm having trouble figuring out why it's happening now and not before. 

Hope you guys make some comments and/or have any suggestions for me.

Charlie Mims


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## Regloh (Jan 17, 2009)

Love your pictures...
I believe the predominant answer to all questions regarding algae is: Increase CO2 and circulation. All the nutrients in the world don't help if they cant get to the plants. I am having the same problem at the moment in my 55g. I seem to remember that you have a 2213, which should be plenty for a 10 ga tank, but maybe you have some dead spots in there. Try moving the spray bar around a bit and see what it does. 
Also, CO2 is key I think. 

I can't wait to see that moss wall filling in :bounce:


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

> Here are the babies from my little unknown plant. I love this little patch of them!


i believe that to be _Lobelia_.

i like your tank. you really have a lot going on in there.

hydrophyte


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## AF888 (Jul 7, 2008)

CO2 is probably the key to your algae problem. Since your plants have grown in so nicely, now they are starting to demand more and more CO2. That means 3 choices: you can shorten your photoperiod, add a carbon source, or trim the plants back (ACK!)

Good luck!
-Amy


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

Well, I guess that the mollies are doing some good. My wife and I left for the weekend for three days and when we came home the tank was much cleaner. I've caught them eating on dead plant material and some of the algae from time to time, so I guess that they resort to that stuff when I'm not there to feed them daily. 

*AF888*, I decreased my photoperiod to see if that helps as well. Also, ever since getting my excel I've noticed a sharp decline in the amount of algae growing on the glass surface. I'm not in the position to increase the CO2 in the tank, but it looks like I won't have to do that any time soon! I do trim every week, but the trimmings get planted right back in the tank so that isn't going to be applicable for me at this point in time. 

Algae aside, I'm pleased with this tank. Afterall, it's my first attempt at a planted tank. 

Thanks for reading,

Charlie Mims


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

I've been waiting since April 20th to trim or post pics or anything, but it's not really worth posting pics now. The tank is really thick and resembles a jungle of sorts. My only problem is that I have algae. I'm pretty sure that most of it is staghorn algae. How do I get rid of this stuff? 

I've stopped with DIY CO2, and I'm on excel as my sole source of carbon. Other than that, my setup is exactly the same as it has been since day 1. Any suggestions???

Thanks for reading,

Charlie Mims


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## Regloh (Jan 17, 2009)

It would be great to see what your moss wall is doing by now... I'm trying to decide whether I want to start one of those...
I won't be much help with the algae as I am having that problem myself still... maybe you could get someone in there that cleans it faster than it grows


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

Regloh said:


> It would be great to see what your moss wall is doing by now... I'm trying to decide whether I want to start one of those...
> I won't be much help with the algae as I am having that problem myself still... maybe you could get someone in there that cleans it faster than it grows


Yeah, that would be pretty stellar if the mollies I got would do that. I was told that mollies eat staghorn algae, but I guess mine are spoiled or something. They don't touch the stuff.

As for the moss wall it's doing fine. It's not really filling in so to speak, but it's growing right along. I'm sure that it'll do better once I get better lighting. It's fissidens, so it grows a bit slower than the xmas moss does. Xmas moss would probably be the best moss to put in a moss wall because of it's growth rate. I'll get some pics up later on...

Thanks for reading!

Charlie Mims


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

I am just having no luck with this algae invasion that's been happening to me for the past couple of months. I performed a major hack job the other day to weed out the algae, but it's already taken over again. I have recently learned that I should probably invest in a few otocinclus fish, a few ramshorn snails, and some Malaysian trumpet snails. What is your take on this?

Charlie


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## pinnacle2009 (May 26, 2009)

Nice tank! I'm loving the Rotala sp. 'green'. I'm gonna see if I can't find me a bit!

How's the GBR doing? I was trying to figure out what I wanted in my 10g, and I did want a GBR. Just wasn't sure how they would do in a 10g (I was planning on putting a pair in my 29g)


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

pinnacle2009 said:


> Nice tank! I'm loving the Rotala sp. 'green'. I'm gonna see if I can't find me a bit!
> 
> How's the GBR doing? I was trying to figure out what I wanted in my 10g, and I did want a GBR. Just wasn't sure how they would do in a 10g (I was planning on putting a pair in my 29g)


Thanks a lot. I'm really struggling with algae, but I think that algae is just a necessary evil for most non-Co2 planted tanks (maybe?). That rotala sp. green is by far the favorite in the tank. My wife hated it when I first got it, but she's grown to love it and it's the most prolific plant we have. It won't take long for you to have a huge shrub of the stuff once you cut & replant it a few times.

The GBR I have is doing fine. She's been the most fun to watch since we got her, and she's not nearly as "sickly" as most people make GBRs out to be. She's gone through poor water conditions as well as great water conditions. She even survived some horrible outbreak of fish death disease. Most of my other guys went belly-up, but the GBR did fine. I think that cichlids are just hardier fish in general. Go ahead and put a couple small ones in that 10G for a while. Once they grow up a bit, you could just move them to that 29G you've got. I'm sure that you'll love it just as much as my wife and I have loved ours.

Thanks for reading and the compliment!

Charlie Mims


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## pinnacle2009 (May 26, 2009)

CAM6467 said:


> Thanks a lot. I'm really struggling with algae, but I think that algae is just a necessary evil for most non-Co2 planted tanks (maybe?). That rotala sp. green is by far the favorite in the tank. My wife hated it when I first got it, but she's grown to love it and it's the most prolific plant we have. It won't take long for you to have a huge shrub of the stuff once you cut & replant it a few times.
> 
> The GBR I have is doing fine. She's been the most fun to watch since we got her, and she's not nearly as "sickly" as most people make GBRs out to be. She's gone through poor water conditions as well as great water conditions. She even survived some horrible outbreak of fish death disease. Most of my other guys went belly-up, but the GBR did fine. I think that cichlids are just hardier fish in general. Go ahead and put a couple small ones in that 10G for a while. Once they grow up a bit, you could just move them to that 29G you've got. I'm sure that you'll love it just as much as my wife and I have loved ours.
> 
> ...


Sweet. GBRs seem like they would be awesome. Hard to find around here, though.

If you ever have any extra Rotala cuttings feel free to send 'em my way! 

This thread has inspired me to do more with my 10g! :fish:


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

pinnacle2009 said:


> This thread has inspired me to do more with my 10g! :fish:


You think that my tank is an inspiration? Check this bad boy out! This is what I aspire to create one of these days.


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

Well, my wife and I have already started getting ready for our move this upcoming Monday. I had to tear down this tank for now so that we can get it over to the new apartment safely. I'll post a few pictures of the tank just prior to tear down. It's sad to see this thing go....




































































































Moss wall growth:



















I'll get pictures up of the new setup once we get moved into the new apartment. I'm planning a really cool new project, and I think that you guys will like it.

I hope you guys have enjoyed this tank, and I hope that everything survives the move.

Regards,

Charlie Mims


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## ryan_p (Mar 18, 2009)

your tank looks great the plants turned really healthy and flourishing :smile:. I just read the whole thread and its interesting to see how your tank goes from day one till now. too bad you have to tear this setup down, but hey at least you got a new cool set-up coming up :icon_smil.


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## Regloh (Jan 17, 2009)

Tank is looking nice! 

I always thought that your other 10g setup was something you wanted to do in addition to this one, not instead. Now I am re-reading your first post in the other thread, and it looks like you are scrapping this one in favor of the bottom drilled 10g. What are you doing with the plants and fish (note the order of mention here ) in the meantime, while the new setup is coming together?

I love all the moss, something that I have thus far have stayed away from. Maybe if I get around to setting up a small tank in my office I'll go all moss and shrimp *dream*

Anyway, good luck with the move!


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

ryan_p said:


> your tank looks great the plants turned really healthy and flourishing :smile:. I just read the whole thread and its interesting to see how your tank goes from day one till now. too bad you have to tear this setup down, but hey at least you got a new cool set-up coming up :icon_smil.


Thanks for the compliment Ryan. I'm hoping that the new setup doesn't disappoint anybody. We'll see I guess...



Regloh said:


> Tank is looking nice!
> 
> I always thought that your other 10g setup was something you wanted to do in addition to this one, not instead. Now I am re-reading your first post in the other thread, and it looks like you are scrapping this one in favor of the bottom drilled 10g. What are you doing with the plants and fish (note the order of mention here ) in the meantime, while the new setup is coming together?
> 
> ...


Sorry for the confusion. What I mean to say is that _this_ setup is going to become a bottom-drilled tank. I just figured that since we have to tear it down for the move, I may as well go ahead that drill the bottom to hide the plumbing. I'm going to get a 5 lb. CO2 cylinder off of ebay soon and run pressurized CO2. I just don't want to have the little diffuser in the tank, and this concept triggered me to think of ways to eliminate ALL components from inside the tank. I stumbled across some threads of bottom drilled setups and fell in love with the idea. 

Most of the mosses and rhizome plants are being held in a rubbermaid tub with water from the tank (~5 gallons). I have packaged up all the stem plants in zip-lock bags. The plants were bundled according to species and wrapped in paper towels before being thoroughly soaked and placed into a 1 gallon zip-lock. They've been stored for about a week now and they're doing fine. I check them periodically to be sure that everything is OK. The fish are all in a tea pitcher (My wife is NOT too happy about this). I have also taken the glosso, which was covered in some sort of algae matt, and placed it in a 1 gallon zip-lock bag with a solution of H2O and H2O2 (Water and hydrogen peroxide). Most of the algae has died and fallen off of the glosso leaves. I took my HC and planted it in some of the original substrate inside of a small, plastic "critter cage". It sits on a window sill to get sunlight. The HC seems to be spreading rapidly without any CO2 or any filtration/water circulation. It has doubled in quantity in a week. Interesting find...

Thanks for the words of encouragement. I'll let you guys know how the move goes.

Regards,

Charlie Mims


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

Well, I've finally got the 10 gallon up and running again! It took my wife and I longer than expected to move everything into the new apartment, but we finally got it done. We had a few complications along the way (A shattered aquarium for one...). I had an 18-wheeler lock up in the middle of the exit ramp in front of me, causing me to have to lock my brakes as well. My router table and 5 gallon bucket full of hand-tools slammed into my 10 gallon. There wasn't really much left of the poor thing after I got to Roanoke and began unloading things. It's ok though, a 10 gallon isn't a _major_ expense. I just ran down to the LFS and picked up a new one. 

Back in my younger days, I had a kegerator equipped with CO2. I decided to dig around through my dorm-daze junk and find my old 60psi regulator. That 5 lb CO2 cylinder I ordered earlier came in and all I needed to do was make a quick trip to Home Depot for $10 worth of brass fittings and Teflon tape to get my pressurized CO2 up and running. I didn't really think that a bubble counter and needle valve were essential, so I went the cheaper route and put together a simple setup to regulate my CO2 flow down to ~10-20bps using a brass ball valve and a 1/8" airline hose adapter. I've ordered a cheap drop checker from ebay that I'll be using to visually maintain adequate (if not proper) CO2 concentrations. The silicone airline is stuck into the intake of my Eheim 2213. Every so often the pump churns out a fine mist of bubbles (Once the gas levels rise enough in the canister filter to be pumped out I guess). I'll probably order a glass diffuser one of these days, but not right now.

Most of my plants didn't make the trip alive. For whatever reason, most of the stem plants decided to die one we got them over to the new apartment. My rotala sp. 'green' has been reduced to a tiny patch in the back corner of my tank. It was, at one time, a "bush" of ~7-8" high by 5-7" in diameter. Now it's just a small little patch of withered survivors. The only plant that seemed to thrive, not just survive, during the move was my lobelia cardinalis. They all grew like weeds and are now my tank's most predominant piece of foliage. My HC all died as well. That really sucks too because it was looking nice. I'll have to order some new plants soon. I guess that all the bad will result in good, though. I went ahead and threw out the plants that I never really liked that much. I'll be sticking with my favorites from now on. 

Pics to come....


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## Regloh (Jan 17, 2009)

Glad to hear you are back in business 
A word of caution though. A pressurized CO2 setup in a 10 ga tank can be quite lethal to the fish if not properly regulated as you know. I would definitely get a good quality needle valve. 
How did you count the 10-20 bps if you don't have a bubble counter? For reference: In my 55ga tank I run 2-3 bps in my home made bubble counter (Gatorade bottle). So it sounds like you may be a bit high there. 
I'm looking forward to the pictures


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

Regloh said:


> Glad to hear you are back in business
> A word of caution though. A pressurized CO2 setup in a 10 ga tank can be quite lethal to the fish if not properly regulated as you know. I would definitely get a good quality needle valve.
> How did you count the 10-20 bps if you don't have a bubble counter? For reference: In my 55ga tank I run 2-3 bps in my home made bubble counter (Gatorade bottle). So it sounds like you may be a bit high there.
> I'm looking forward to the pictures


 
I must admit that it is an estimate. Once I setup the tank and got the regulator/ball valve put together I opened the cylinder 100%. I had the regulator closed all the way but left the ball valve wide open. I then gently adjusted the regulator's adjustment bolt until I had ~1-2psi reading. It was a heavy flow, but it wasn't out of control. After that, I just adjusted the ball valve until I got a gentle stream of bubbles coming out of the end of the line. I did all my testing in a Mason jar over two days. I kept it regulated to what I could count as ~10-20bps (hardly credible estimation, but it's as good as my eyes can do). I shut the cylinder off for a while, then turned it back on 100% to see if I had any variation, but everything seemed to be perfect. It works great now, and none of my fish seem to have a problem. It's been about 4 days since I added the fauna and they're good to go thus far. 

Do you think that <5bps is enough? Should I go ahead and readjust my setup?

Once I get a significant amount of savings I'll concider a proper setup, but this is going to fulfill my needs right now. If I kill my fish....dang. But it won't be the end of the world IMO. I'm actually thinking about getting rid of the fish for now so I can focus on the plants without worrying about the fish. We'll see.

Regards,

Charlie Mims


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## Regloh (Jan 17, 2009)

CAM6467 said:


> Do you think that <5bps is enough? Should I go ahead and readjust my setup?


As I said, in my system I can kill fish with less than 5 bubbles per second. And that's in a tank that is 5 times the size of yours.
It also kind of depends on how effectively you are diffusing. I use a rex style reactor, so the CO2 is dissolved nearly 100%. The diffusion method using a canister filter can sometimes airlock the filter. Especially at higher bubble rates. 
If you have a tight budget at the moment, I would suggest you get a hagen mini and stick that in the tank to break up the bubbles. I am running out the door, but I can look for instructions later tonight how to do that. The investment is 10 bucks for that. 
I would start with one bubble (or chirp if you use the hagen mini) per second to start...and then very very slowly ramp it up... 
Gotta go...


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

Well I've moved into my new apartment, and I've suffered a major loss of plant life by doing so. I got this 10 gallon set back up with a few changes which I'll be listing shortly. It's really crappy that I lost most of my plants, but atleast I have the chance to start off fresh and new. 

I lost pretty much all of my rotala sp. 'green', which sucks because it was my favorite plant in the tank. I lost every last bit of my HC, but I'm getting a free sample through the S&S from a VERY kind TPT member. I also lost my rotala nanjenshan. I'm now searching for ROAKs up on the S&S to replace my supply. The rotala sp. 'green' that survived is really starting to show signs of life now that it's in the new setup. I've already seen 1/2" of new growth. I'm sure that it's going to be a full bush in no time. 

Some plants actually thrived during the move. I'm not really sure why some lived and others practically melted. My lobelia cardinalis, java fern, christmas moss, and fissidens fontanus really did well. The lobelia cardinalis did exceptionally well, and I now have a nice little "garden" of the stuff in the right side of my tank.

As for the changes. I dug my old kegerator's 5lb CO2 cylinder out of the junk box and matched it with my old CO2 regulator. The only thing that I had to purchase was a needle valve to get things going. I decided to skip the expensive needle valves and just go with a standard brass ball valve found at Home Depot. With adjustment, I got the flow down to ~5-10bps. I've ordered a drop checker from ebay as well as a glass bubble counter and glass check valve from the S&S. Everything should arrive before the end of the week. 

I decided to go with the "false river" look and put some white sand in the tank which divides the eco-complete into two parts. I've got a piece of driftwood bridging the gap with christmas moss and fissiden tied to it with fishing line. I tied the java fern to another piece of driftwood and put it up in the back right hand corner of the tank. The lobelia cardinalis is between the java fern driftwood and the front glass on the right portion of eco-complete. The left side of the tank will be reserved for HC, rotala variety plants, and some wisteria. I also want to place some anubias nana on the driftwood along side the java fern. 

Enough reading. On with the pictures. SORRY FOR THE CRAPPY PICTURE QUALITY. I have 1) No camera skills; and 2) A pretty cheap P&S digi. Enjoy...









































Standard FTS:









Lobelia Cardinalis "Garden":









Moss-n-Driftwood "Bridge":









Java Fern on the Driftwood. I'll be putting the Anubias Nana just below the Java Fern:









Closer look at the Lobelia Cardinalis:









What's left of my poor Rotala sp. 'Green':









This is the left side of the tank. It's definately a blank slate that need a bunch of work. Any suggestions???:









New pride-n-joy:









Regulator and home made needle valve pics:

















Everything is still just a little bit crazy for me right now. I'm still in the process of setting stuff up and getting plants put together in my mind. I'm really wanting a layered shrub of rotala and wisteria on the left side. I'm going to "stair-step" it down from tall to short, obviously. I want to have some blyxa japonica as the mid-ground plant and then some HC in the front. I think that it would look nice, but I'm totally open to suggestions. Please let me know what you think or would like to see here.

Thanks for reading,

Charlie Mims


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## Regloh (Jan 17, 2009)

Very nice!

Did you have any casualties in the fish/shrimp department? I remember you having cherries in there before the move. In the pictures I see a molly, a zebra danio and maybe a cory? Can't tell...

On the blyxa some people say they get quite large and may not really be a fore/midground plant for a 10g. I am a huge fan of java fern. One of these day's I'll set up a tank with only different java ferns  Yours looks great..

Did you replace the lighting as well? 

I don't want to be a nag, but the ball valve is really not consistent enough for a metering application such as CO2. On the positive side, your regulator looks like it may be a dual stage regulator. Check the label, that would help with the "end of tank dump" that happens to some of us (who, me?... that's right).


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

*Regloh*, I did lose some fish during the move. I had two otos that seemingly disappeared at some point during the move. I dug through every last bit of plant material and driftwood that I had in the tub I used to move the fish and found nothing. I'm not quite sure how their bodies went away but they were flat gone! I never had any cherries in this tank before. I did, however, have a couple Amanos. One of them died prior to the move and the other is doing just fine. I lost two snails (The large black type...not sure of their name), but that doesn't really matter. 

If blyxa gets too large for my application I may forget about it. I just really like the look of the stuff. I need something to go in-between my HC and the group of tall stem plants I plan on putting on the left side of the tank. Perhaps I'll just move some lobelia cardinalis over to that side. I just want more variety to this tank. Who knows, maybe I'll lay another piece of driftwood with Anubis attached to it in the space separating the stems and the HC. That might look good, too. 

The lighting is the same as it was. I used to have little wire "legs" made from coat hangers for the lights. I'm not using them anymore. I actually plan on building a canopy and base for this tank out of wood. I'll be gutting the current light housings and putting the lights inside of the canopy. That's another project for another day, though.

I agree with you that the ball valve is not as reliable as a needle valve, but it seems to work for me currently. I'll be on the look-out for a reasonably priced needle valve in the future. As for my regulator, I have no clue what type it is. I'll check that label later this evening to see if it is indeed a dual stage. What exactly is this "end of tank dump"?

What is your opinion of those mini diffusers (ADA style)? I've been considering either buying one of those or just running my CO2 into the intake of my 2213. If I do run it into the filter, is there any risk of the filter's impeller breaking or wearing out due to the CO2? These may be silly questions but I just don't know enough to make an educated decision.


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## Regloh (Jan 17, 2009)

Ok, the end of tank dump:
Here is a post that describes the differences between single and dual stage regulators. 
End-of-tank-dump occurs in single stage regulators. They are not capable of maintaining the output pressure when the input pressure drops. It sounds odd, but when the tank pressure goes down, a single stage regulator will actually increase the output pressure. That can be bad for fish for obvious reasons. 

For the diffusion I would probably go with a rex-style reactor or a needle wheel pump for diffusion. I have bubbled CO2 into a 2213 before and for the most part is worked, but every now and then the impeller would get air locked and make a horrible screeching sound. Sounded like stuff would break in there. I have no experience with the ADA diffusers.


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## ZooTycoonMaster (Jan 2, 2008)

What's with the random yellow pebbles?

And I had no idea how good Lobelia Cardinalis (sp)? could look until I saw it now!


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

*Regloh*:

I'll check out my regulator once I get home to see what style I have. I seem to recall reading in the past that most people with single stage regulators avoid the "dump" by refilling once they reach a certain tank pressure. Any idea what pressure would be safe to call a good refill point?

Thank you so much for those links. I'll get heading to Home Depot shortly to pick up some supplies to make a Rex reactor. If you're reading, THANK YOU REX for the simple, efficient, and wallet friendly design. I had planned on making something like this back in the day, but I began to think that those ceramic disk diffusers were magically "better" somehow. 

*zoo*

It's pea gravel from my old 75 gallon cichlid tank. I thought that it would look cool mixed with the eco-complete........until I mixed it. I know it looks pretty crappy, but it's there and I'm too lazy to pick through the substrate to remove it. 

Yeah, lobelia is a very prolific grower IMO. I got one small plant from a generous seller on the S&S several months ago. It grew very rapidly without CO2, minimal fertz, and under moderate lighting. Now that it's enjoying adequate lights, ample CO2, and EI fertz it's growing like a weed, literally. I could send you a small plant for the cost of shipping if you're interested.


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

Well, I went ahead and bought the parts to make a Rex style inline diffuser. All the parts at Home Depot were less than $12.00.










1. 1" PVC - Approximately 18" long.
2. 1/8" barb brass fitting with 1/4" threading.
3. 1/2" thread to 1/4" thread bushing.
4. 1" PVC plug with 1/2" threaded female adapter.
5. Coupled end piece made from #4 mated to #6.
6. 1/2" barb with 1/2" threaded male adapter.
7. 1" tee (1" openings all the way around).
8. Standard hose clamps.
9. PVC 90 degree elbow with 1/2" threaded female adapter.


































I glued it up and let it set out for a couple of hours. I used wet/dry PVC cement. It's typically what I'll use when I'm doing this type of project because it sets up strong and lasts forever no matter the environment it's being subjected to. It's set up on the output side of my 2213, and it seems to be working well. I'm waiting for my CO2 glass check valve, drop checker, and inline bubble counter to come in. After those arrive, this CO2 system will be complete.

Special thanks to Rex for this idea. It works wonderfully, looks great, costs less than $12.00 for ALL parts required, and went right to work immediately. I love a DIY that is that simple. Plus, it's supposed to be VERY efficient from what I have read. 

Thanks for reading,

Charlie Mims


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## Regloh (Jan 17, 2009)

Man you don't mess around  
From idea to reality in less than 6 hours. I envy you. A decision like this takes usually 3-4 weeks for me. LOL

I would say a full tank is somewhere around the 900 PSI range. I think when I experienced the dump I checked the pressure and is was still around the 500-600 PSI I believe? Maybe someone else could chime in. 
I also realized that the little protrusion that I interpreted as the second stage on our regulator may actually be a pressure relief valve that automatically blows at 65 PSI. It actually seems quite common on the beer setups.

For the record: I don't mind the pea gravel mixed in


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

Well, it's all worth nothing if I can't aquascape this thing worth a darn. I need some plants in a bad way right now. If anybody has any rotala sp. 'green', anubias nana, HC, wisteria, or rotala magenta that's worth selling, please let me know if you would. It's time for bed. I'm waking up early to make chocolate chip pan-cakes for my wife and three nieces!

Oh yeah, how long would you say a 5lb cylinder would last at <20bps?

Regards,

Charlie Mims


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

I'm planning on replacing my ghetto light setup with a nice compact fluorescent fixture sometime in the future. I'm just now so sure which one I should use. Most of them have wattages that seem way, way too high for a 10 gallon. However, I've come across several threads with 10 gallons using up to 70 watts! What would you guys say is the maximum that you would put over my 10 gallon. I'm running pressurized CO2 and dose EI method full line Seachem fertz. Check out these brands: Pet Solutions or Drs. Foster and Smith.

Thanks,

Charlie Mims


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## Regloh (Jan 17, 2009)

I have the same problem. 
I want to (eventually) setup a 10g, but don't really find a nice light for it. 
What I am thinking about now is to wait a little more and catch the LED bug from Hoppy 
This way I would be able to be infinitely flexible with dimable LED's. 
It's a whole project though, not just a light


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## eyebeatbadgers (Aug 6, 2007)

Your CO2 setup looks nice, and is certainly overkill for a 10 gallon tank!!! 

Nothing wrong with that, that tank should last a good long time. As for EOTD, with a good needle valve you won't have any. I use the same regulator you do, which is made by Cornelius. It is a single stage, and the working pressure will fluctuate some when the tank gets empty. However, if you use a needle valve made by Swagelok, Ideal, or Fabco, then you should be okay. People who say all single stage regs will get EOTD clearly haven't tried a good needle valve  I heard that quite a few times when I set my tank up.

As for the lighting, yes people do use 70 watt metal halide setups. However, they are generally suspended quite high over the tank to keep from boiling the water, as well as reducing intensity of light.

With the selection of plants you're growing now, the two strip lights will be fine. In my 10 gallon tank, I use two stainless steel clamp desk lights with spiral fluorescent bulbs. There is a link to the tank in my signature. Spending the money for an LED setup on a 10 gallon tank seems a little excessive to me. It doesn't take very much light to grow plants in 10" of water.

Good luck!


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## Strick (Apr 6, 2009)

Nice. Love the DIY diffuser - great idea.


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

Thank you guys. I'm really happy with the diffuser. Although somebody on the S&S got a little irritated that I call it a diffuser. Apparently I should call it a "reactor", but I feel that the guy was a little bit too serious about it. Ha ha. Anyhow, I'm really looking forward to getting some plants in and scaping this thing. 

Regards,

Charlie Mims


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## mgdmirage (Mar 30, 2009)

Loving it... and the reactor!


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

mgdmirage said:


> Loving it... and the reactor!


 
Ha ha! Thanks a lot, I needed a good laugh!


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

Ok, let's see. I've got rotala rotundifolia, rotala indica, rotala sp mini type I, rotala colorata, blyxa japonica, and eichhornia diversifolia on the way. I think that these plants will make a nice little addition to this tank. I'm planning on bunching them on the left side of the "sand river". Currently, I have some swords, bacopa, purple bamboo, a couple of stems I can't identify, and some plants collected from a local pond over on that side. I'll have to perform a pretty extensive rescape once the new plants arrive. I can't wait! 

Thanks for reading,

Charlie


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

Just wanted to put out a "picture of progression" post:

Day one (2/2/2009). It seems like such a long time ago that I first found TPT and decided that a planted tank was for me:









First "hardscape" and plant. It seems that Petsmart pulled the wool over my eyes with this "Peacock Fern" I got. Yeah...you live and learn:









Oh yeah!!! This was a big day for me. My first Eheim canister filter:









These were the ghetto days for me. I know that many of us have tried the DIY CO2 reactor...it's sort of a "right of passage" I think. I laugh now, but I was truely pumped about this back then:

















2/23/2009. It didn't take me long to get some plants in. I was so proud of the Bacopa that I was given at the LFS. It's still with me today! We've got some java fern, rotala sp. 'green', rotala nanjenshan, xmas moss, purple bamboo, dwarf hairgrass, lobelia cardinalis, and purple bamboo. This was a proud day for me:









3/25/2009. A slight rescape here. This was when things were really growing well. Too bad my aquascaping skills sucked so hard (And still do)! My rotala sp. 'green' was the pride and joy of the tank at this point. Also, notice the awesome rigged light stand legs! Yeah, thank you *CLWatkins*:









4/8/2009. Growing in. Minor rescape:

















4/15/2009. More growth. Moss wall added:

















Filling in (No Date). Everything seems to be doing well:

































Moved from Denton to Roanoke....most plants died for some reason. I have the java fern, xmas moss, fissidens, bacopa, nearly dead rotala sp. 'green', and lobelia cardinalis still, but the rest is KIA. It's a sad thing, but it happens. Now I have several new plants on order:


































Well there you have it. The mostly complete history of this 10 gallon. I'll post more pictures later this week once the new plants have arrived and I'm able to take some pictures. I'm sure that everything will make a complete recovery, but it'll just take a while. Any suggestions on where to put my new plants. I'm getting a bunch of stem plants in (rotala variety), and I'm wanting to put them on the right side of the tank. I think that I'll just bunch them and let them make a shrub.

Thanks for reading,

Charlie Mims


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## jinsei888 (Apr 20, 2009)

Charlie, thanks for the heads up on the DYI CO2! This looks like a promising method for me to save a bit of $$! Hrmm... Great tank btw!

You've got me leaning towards the Eheim now, haha, thanks!


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

an impressive progression from start to finish. it looks as though you really developed your gardening skills while working on this tank.


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

Ok, well my new plants came in the mail yesterday. I got some rotala indica, rotala mini type I, rotala colorata, and some e. diversifolia. I pulled everything from the left side of the tank and put the new plants down. It was a terrible PITA! I had to cut most of the stems and plant the cuttings so I could fill in what I wanted. Everything looks pretty crappy now, but hopefully it will fill in/grow out nicely over the next few days/weeks. Pictures:





































So there you have it. I'm going to let everything grow like crazy for the next month or so before I do anything else. I'm hoping that it all survives the transition. If all goes as planned, I'll be able to trim these groups of plants down into little bushes at differing heights. The e. diversifolia is going to be the tallest (Rear right corner), the rotala rotundifolia will be the next tallest (Middle left of tank, in front of the e. diversifolia), the rotala colorata is to the right of e. diversifolia and will be kept just shorter than the level of the rotala colorata, the rotala mini type I is in the front and will be kept fairly short, and the last plant will be the bacopa (Which will be trimmed shorter than the mini type I. I'm hoping that this makes sense to you out there, but I'm sure that it doesn't. 

I can't wait for everything to fill in and get a little growth going. It's going to be fun to actually have different levels of plants going on in here. I just hope that things don't die before they take root. 

On another note, I decided to do another DIY project. I wasn't feeling satisfied by using my aquarium water in my drop checker, so I researched the method for creating my own 4dKH standard solution. It was actually pretty fun. I work as a research scientist in a biological chemistry laboratory, so I have ample access to all sorts of fun tools. I found out that making 4dKH is basically the best way for determining an accurate CO2 concentration within your tank as well as pH. All you need are distilled water, sodium bicarbonate (baking soda), a digital scale (for weighing grams), beakers (500mL and 1L), and a pipetting device capable of measuring 10mL. Step one is to weigh out 6 grams of sodium bicarbonate and mix it thoroughly into 1L of distilled water (Which gives you a 200dKH solution). Step two is to pipette 10mL of this 200dKH solution into exactly 490mL of distilled water, giving you 500mL of 4dKH standard solution. This is what is ultimately used in the drop checker, mixed with the pH indicator solution, to give you an accurate measurement of both pH and CO2 concentration in your tank! It was really a fun little project.

Comments/suggestions are appreciated,

Charlie


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

The plants are growing in pretty well. They seem to have taken a root hold and new growth is everywhere. Everything looks pretty healthy except for some green hair algae I have growing on my xmas moss. I'm not quite sure why it seems to attack my xmas moss, but each time I try xmas moss I end up with green hair algae on it. Any suggestions on how to deal with this stuff?

Here's a little series of "then and now" pictures...

7-24-09 FTS:









7-29-09 FTS:









7-24-09 Left Side:









7-29-09 Left Side:









7-24-09 Right Side:









7-29-09 Right Side:









Green Hair Algae growing on my xmas moss. How do I get rid of this stuff?!?!?...









Lime Green. Isn't this what we're looking for?...


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## legomaniac89 (Mar 16, 2008)

CAM6467 said:


> Green Hair Algae growing on my xmas moss. How do I get rid of this stuff?!?!?...


SAE's and Amano Shrimp will eat it, you could also try a diluted Excel spot treatment. At full strength, the excel would probably melt the moss, but at maybe 1/4 strength, it should be fine. Keeping CO2 as steady as possible should help too.



> Lime Green. Isn't this what we're looking for?...


Looks like a perfect color to me


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

I got dry fertz in from Rex Grigg yesterday. I'm a little hesitant to mix the solutions myself, but I guess that it won't really be a problem. I'm using this concentration calculator offered by Chuck Gadd. Do any of you guys/gals have any experience with this particular calculator? I'm wondering if it's as good as I've heard around the board. I've been using seachem stuff, but it's running low and it seems to be WAY cheaper to buy dry fertz and mix your own batches. I'll be dosing KNO3, KH2PO4, K2SO4, and Plantex CSM+B. Hopefully I'll have good results with this stuff. Do you guys make solutions with these products to dose with or do you just simply add the dry amount required to your tank water? I'm wanting to make solution bottles, but if it's just as easy to pop a little clump in when needed then I'll consider that method. I sound like a noob, but this stuff is very foreign to me at this point. 

On another note, it looks like I'll be in need of a trim in a few days. I got home really late last night from a weekend away from the tank and as I shined my cell phone light into the tank I noticed that my stems had exploded. The new growth that I had seen last week is now 2-4" longer in just three days! It's incredible what pressurized CO2 can do. This is the same setup I had prior to pressurized CO2, and the difference in growth rate and algae problems is amazing. I'm so glad that I decided to switch away from DIY CO2. That stuff is such a hassle IMO.

Also, I noticed that I have some white film accumulating in my drop checker. It's right where the bottom bell opens up to the aquarium water. The surface of the aquarium water within the drop checker has a very ugly white film over it. Do any of you have this problem? If so, is it just something that happens normally, or should I be doing something differently? 

Thanks for any comments/suggestions,

Charlie


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

New pics of the growth. Nothing really interesting, but I wanted to post a series of growth pictures.

7-24-09:









7-29-09:









8-11-09:









I'll be trimming this thing soon. I'm planning on replanting most of the cuttings, but I may sell the e. diversifolia "heads". Check the SnS and you might find them there in the next few weeks.

I'm still dealing with thread algae on the xmas moss. I've been overdosing excel and I bumped the CO2 up a bit. I've been watching my dosing, and everything looks fine. Perhaps 10 hours of light is too much for this tank. Should I perform a hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) treatment? If so, how much would you add to the water column of a 10 gallon to do the trick? 

Also, I'm getting a KH reading of ~13.5 degrees and a GH over 10 degrees. Is that too high? I'm trying to calculate my CO2 concentration using the following formula: 

3*KH*10^(7-pH) 

My CO2 concentration calculates, by this formula, to be 64.2ppm. This is obviously wrong. My drop checker is a nice lime green color, so I know that my calculations must be off. Can somebody help me out?

Thanks for reading,

Charlie Mims


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## Digsy (Mar 4, 2006)

Nice progress! It's good to see that everything is starting to fill in. As far as your lighting, I've never been able to handle more than 8 hours on any of my tanks, even with pressurized CO2 so, maybe cut back and hour or two, in addition to spot treating and you should see an improvement in your algae.


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

Thanks *Digsy*! I'm going to turn my lighting down to 9 hours per day to see what difference that makes. I'm really disappointed that I'm getting this type of algae. It's just a constant reminder that algae is going to be a perpetual problem for me. I just hope that I can keep it down to a dull roar. 

I can't wait to see your 105 oceanic!


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## dj2005 (Apr 23, 2009)

Your tank is filling in very nicely, Charlie. I've been eagerly waiting for your tank to bounce back after your move and it looks like that has happened.


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

Wow, haven't checked this thread in a while, it's lookin good! 
As far as the algae goes, any idea what kind of thread algae it is? If it's only affecting a part of the moss maybe just remove that part. I had an outbreak of staghorn and once I removed the plants it'd taken over, I've yet to see it come back! Spot treating also helps but you've got to be careful or it can kill the plants you target as well (Excel might help with this, H2O2 killed a lot of HC on me!)
I saw a few posts back something about finding the right light for a 10g. I've got the perfect light. Current Satellite 1102. It comes with a 50/50 bulb I believe, but pair this with any other 40W bulb or the ADA 36W 8000K bulb and I truly believe that would be the best light for a 10g. Oh and yeah cut down the photoperiod. 8 hours is usually best for the first few months, after you're past that period you can sometimes add another hour or so. 
As far as ferts, are you dosing EI? If so you can dose according to the sticky in the Water Parameters forum for the "10-20g" dosing schedule and just toss them in dry. Making solutions for the ferts is only really necessary on tanks below 10g.


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

I went ahead and cut my photoperiod back to 8 hours last night like you suggested *rrrrramos*. I'm going to have them come on at 2pm and stay on until 10pm (That way I'll be able to enjoy the tank while I'm home). I've decided to go ahead and dose 5ml excel after lights out for as long as my excel lasts to see what that can do for me. Also, I'm trying to get rid of my lobelia cardinalis and some other plants to make room for more stems. While I'm doing that rescape, I'll go ahead and remove the driftwood that currently has fissidens and xmas moss on it because the xmas moss is the plant most affected by the thread algae in question. My plan is to remove the xmas moss and chunk it, replacing it with more fissidens because fissidens is a much more attractive plant IMO.

I'm going to remove the larger piece of driftwood that has the java fern on it and all the sword plants that I have. I'm hoping that I'll get a few bites on my SnS sale or trade thread so I can get some more stem plants. I'm going to have both sides of my little sand "river" covered with stem plants. So far, I have e. diversifolia, bacopa, and a bunch of rotala plants. I'm planning on having the same type mixture on the right side of the tank one of these days. I've been eyeing some Dutch style tanks lately, and that's what I'm seeing with this 10g. 

If anybody wants lobelia cardinalis, java fern, and various swords in trade for rotala plants or other attractive stems just let me know and we'll work out a trade.

Thanks,

Charlie


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## lljdma06 (Oct 16, 2006)

Looks really good, CAM6467. I like the little path, very cute. When I setup tanks or do a huge rescape, I'll often cut the photo period down to as low as 4-6 hours depending on the circumstances. Then, once the tank stabilizes, I'll gradually raise it. My dutch is running on 5 right now. It's frustrating, because it spends most of the day off, and I don't get to enjoy it as much, but they tend to do better. This is relatively new information for me too. I certainly never have them on for 12 hours straight anymore, and I've seen the small algae issues disappear. I didn't have much, but the little hair algae here, the little GSA there. They went away. 

llj


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## demosthenes (Aug 23, 2008)

hey charlie! actually, i've been looking for some lobelias. I have a bunch of stems that i could give ya, and a little hairgrass too. I've got some rotala mac. greens, lagarosiphon madagascariensis, HM, and mayaca fluviatilis if youre interested.


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

Nice progression. You really have a knack for creating depth in a small area, would like to see what you do with a big tank.



CAM6467 said:


> These were the ghetto days for me. I know that many of us have tried the DIY CO2 reactor...it's sort of a "right of passage" I think. I laugh now, but I was truely pumped about this back then


Hah, you say that now, but wait till you become infected with MTS and have 6 tanks in the house. You'll be using those little bottles again somewhere, going pressurized is the real "right of passage". And I bet your aquarist instinct had you store those bottles away in a closet for later use.


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

lljdma06 said:


> Looks really good, CAM6467. I like the little path, very cute. When I setup tanks or do a huge rescape, I'll often cut the photo period down to as low as 4-6 hours depending on the circumstances. Then, once the tank stabilizes, I'll gradually raise it. My dutch is running on 5 right now. It's frustrating, because it spends most of the day off, and I don't get to enjoy it as much, but they tend to do better. This is relatively new information for me too. I certainly never have them on for 12 hours straight anymore, and I've seen the small algae issues disappear. I didn't have much, but the little hair algae here, the little GSA there. They went away.
> 
> llj


I'll have to try that out once I rescape this tank. I'm tired of always having that thread or hair algae that I've got. It's the worst thing about this tank, but hopefully I'll get rid of it once I get rid of that xmas moss. It must have been a bad batch of xmas moss that I got ahold of. Thanks so much for the compliments on my tank. I'm really happy that the sand "river" turned out pretty well. We'll see how this goes as time passes by...



jaidexl said:


> Nice progression. You really have a knack for creating depth in a small area, would like to see what you do with a big tank.
> 
> 
> 
> Hah, you say that now, but wait till you become infected with MTS and have 6 tanks in the house. You'll be using those little bottles again somewhere, going pressurized is the real "right of passage". And I bet your aquarist instinct had you store those bottles away in a closet for later use.


Yeah, it's also a pain that this thing is probably going to need weekly trimmings once I get the proper scape that I'm looking for. Pressurized CO2 and dry fertz really turn these planted tanks into organic bombs! And yes, those bottles are tucked away in my utility closet at the moment. It's tough to toss something that can work in a pinch if needed...



demosthenes said:


> hey charlie! actually, i've been looking for some lobelias. I have a bunch of stems that i could give ya, and a little hairgrass too. I've got some rotala mac. greens, lagarosiphon madagascariensis, HM, and mayaca fluviatilis if youre interested.


Definately! I'll PM you right now. I'm sending out two batches of the lobelia in the morning (8-17-09), but I'll save a batch just for you. I would love to get my hands on a bit of each of those plants. I'm pretty sure that I officially have collectoritis. Oh well, it's all good!:wink:


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

CAM6467 said:


> yes, those bottles are tucked away in my utility closet at the moment. It's tough to toss something that can work in a pinch if needed


Bwahahaa! I'm glad I'm not the only pack rat with a closet full of "maybes". :hihi:

My wife was just telling me I need to get rid of all my unused lights... really now, I don't think I have to explain here why I should have a bunch of extra lights stored away. But she wasn't feeling any of my answers. The lights are staying, anyway.


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

I performed the first trim last night. I decided to do away with the larger piece of driftwood on the right side of the tank that used to be home to a java fern. The fern is going into my cichlid tank along with some swords. Hopefully they'll live fine in there and help keep the nitrite/nitrate/ammonia levels in check.

I trimmed back a bunch of the e. diversifolia, bacopa, rotala sp mini type 1, rotala macrandra, and rotala colorata. I replanted the cuttings where the driftwood that I removed used to sit. 

On a different note, I finally got around to taking my dry fertz to work for solution preparation. I used a magnetic mixer/stirrer to do the trick. Now I'm working with KNO3, KH2PO4, and CSM+B in solution bottles. I didn't make a solution of K2SO4 because I've read that it's easier to dry dose it. I'll just mix 1/4 teaspoon of it in a jar with tank water and dump it in 4x per week. 

I'll get some pics of the new scape up in a few days once it sort of looks good.

-Charlie


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

What dosing regime are you using? That doesn't sound like a lot of K, 1/4tspn in 500ml will only give you about 0.04ppm per mL. It takes so many grams to make a potent solution of K, I think it's easier to just dose it dry into the tank.

Edit: never mind, I see what you're saying, your going to dose 1/4tspn each time. Duh


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

jaidexl said:


> What dosing regime are you using? That doesn't sound like a lot of K, 1/4tspn in 500ml will only give you about 0.04ppm per mL. It takes so many grams to make a potent solution of K, I think it's easier to just dose it dry into the tank.
> 
> Edit: never mind, I see what you're saying, your going to dose 1/4tspn each time. Duh


Ha ha. Yeah, I'm dry dosing K 1/4 tsp at a time 4x a week. 

My KNO3 solution is ~46.3 grams KNO3 powder mixed into 250ml distilled water (1ml of solution raises nitrate levels in 10g of water by 3ppm).
My KH2PO4 solution is 20 grams KH2PO4 powder mixed into 250ml distilled water (1ml raises phosphorus levels by 1.48ppm).
My CSM+B solution is ~15 grams CSM+B powder mixed into 250ml distilled water (I dose 4ml of this 4x weekly. Each dose raises iron by ~0.1-0.5ppm).
I haven't been using this dosing regimen a week yet, but I'm hoping to see some good results eventually. I guess that time will tell...


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

Here are the new pics after the first trim. 

First up the FTS...









Angled shot I sort of thought was ok...









Left front...









Right front...









Another right front that I thought was pretty awesome...









I removed the xmas moss from this piece of driftwood and replaced it with the remaining portion of fissidens I had. It looks a little bad now, but I'm hoping that it makes a full recovery for me...









8-11-09 FTS followed by 8-19-09 FTS:

















You can see that I got rid of the larger piece of driftwood on the right side of the former FTS. I really hacked pretty much all of my plants and replanted most of the cuttings over on the right side. Also, you can probably notice that I've sold and traded off several portions of my lobelia cardinalis. I'm trying to work out a deal to pick up some HM, and I've got some rotala willichii on the way from *AZfishkid*. They might even be in the mail-box right now. I should probably go check since the temp here in Texas is a little ridiculous! 

Today makes the third day that I've been using my own fertilizer solutions made from Rex Grigg's dry fertz. So far, it's much easier to dose this stuff since it's only every other day. I'm hoping that the plants which were cut and replants make a nice recovery. I guess that we'll see in a few days.

Comments are always nice to read!

Charlie


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

*I need new lights!!*

:help::help::help::help:

I'm really wanting to get away from the ghetto light setup I'm working with. I currently have two plastic light housings sitting on top of my tank which each hold a 15W T8 fluorescent bulb. This is pretty ugly, and I'm wanting to get something better.

I found this 40W PC setup on Big Al's today that I'm kind of concidering. Tell me what you think about it.

I know that 40W over my 10g may be a bit high, but I doubt that it would be a deal breaker. The only real problem that I have with the light is that it is a 10,000K/460nm combo bulb. Since actinic is of no value to me I would have to get a new bulb. Perhaps I could find a replacement bulb with 10,000K/6700K (Not sure if that's the combo I would benefit from most). If anybody knows of a better light for my situation (i.e. Less than $80.00) please let me know.

Thanks,

Charlie


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## rrrrramos (Jan 24, 2008)

CAM6467 said:


> :help::help::help::help:
> 
> I'm really wanting to get away from the ghetto light setup I'm working with. I currently have two plastic light housings sitting on top of my tank which each hold a 15W T8 fluorescent bulb. This is pretty ugly, and I'm wanting to get something better.
> 
> ...


I've got that same light, was using it over my Mini M for a bit to grow emmersed. I totally dig it, it's a pretty good light and not really expensive either.
I'd say get that and then get the ADA 36W 8800K bulb, especially if you can find a deal on the light. Actually, I'm gonna PM you something. But look into that bulb!


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

Well I won a RAOK game for some needle leaf java fern and some anubias nana 'eyes' from *mgccreedy*! I also purchased some HM from *coltonorr*. Both packages should be here by Thursday next week if they ship out on Monday. I'm excited about the HM and nana 'eyes' for my 10g, and the java fern will be headed to my 29g cichlid tank. I traded some of my lobelia for some willichii from *azfishkid*, but the package never showed. He shipped this Monday but it hasn't arrived yet. He said that he's going to buy some more willichii from another TPT member and send it over my way to make up for my loss. That's a hell of a nice move on his part, and I respect it greatly. One thing's for sure, TPT has got some good people as members (For the most part).

I'll post some pics when the new plants get here.

Charlie


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

Ok, so I've been going over lighting lately. I'm kind of getting the impression that T5 lighting is much better than PC (Atleast that's what I've read). I need some opinions on this..

Also, I've found this fixture that I like. What do you think? This is an 18" fixture which will sit atop a 20" tank. Would going with a shorter fixture make problems for me?

I also found this one. It's the same brand fixture as the one above, but it's designed a bit different. I really like this one.

I just really have decided to go a different route than with PC lighting. I don't like the things that I have read about them lately. I want to get a T5HO fixture, but the pricing is a little crazy to me. Oh well, at least I'm not a reef guy looking into MH lighting. That stuff is CRAZY expensive!


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

Well, those two lights are virtually the same. You'll see in the second description that it takes 18 or 20w bulbs, the difference between the wattages will be totally negligible. The length could cause a slight shadow at each end of the tank which may or may not be a big deal. The problem is that almost all fixtures have some extra length after the bulb ends that can cause this, so the fixture being shorter may compound it. If it's a really big deal, you can keep low light plants on the sides. I don't think it'll be that big of a deal in a 10gl, though.

IMO, 40w of T5 is too much for a 10gl, might be comparable to 50w or more from another type of lamp. But if CO2 and ferts are strong and steady then I'm sure success is possible, it's just a matter of staying on your game and not allowing success to slip away. There are a lot of ways to block some of the light, too. 

Personally, I would build a wooden canopy and mount a makeshift reflector and two screw-in light sockets, with 15w GE energy saver 65k pc bulbs. They are self balasted, so you don't have to wire a balast up, just some chords w/ switches onto the sockets. Paint the canopy real nice or even apply some formica.

Another good T5HO light that doesn't break the bank is at fishneedit.com. I can attest it looks and works great, stays very cool, but I do have one where a solder point broke and shorted a ballast. I haven't bothered to see if it's in warranty because it was so cheap, I don't care, and it has four bulbs while I'm using only two, so one lamp not firing doesn't matter.


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

jaidexl said:


> Another good T5HO light that doesn't break the bank is at fishneedit.com.


Never mind, 24" is the shortest, but now you know in case you ever need one.

And as for what you heard about T5 vs PC, it's true but really doesn't matter on a 10gl. It's very easy to 'adequately' light a 10, the extra efficiency of T5 over PC plays more of a role in lighting big tanks.


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

Thanks *jaidexl*. I have to head over to Home Depot later for some household stuff, so I'll just take a look at spiral CFL lighting while I'm there. I like the DIY projects, so I may go ahead and make my own canopy and lighting setup. 

General questions: Would 30 or even 45 watts of CFL lighting be too much?


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## Regloh (Jan 17, 2009)

Hey that's exactly what I am going to do (time permitting)
I already own the sockets  
Funny story I picked those up last week for the incredible amount of 1 (one) penny each 
Couldn't believe it, but it's true...

I am actually trying to do a low tech 10 and I am also trying to answer the question how much light to put on this. I was going to use 1 or 2 daylight bulbs, but I forgot what the wattage is on these. I'm going to start a journal soon, so watch for it


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

I'll definately take a look at your journal once it's up and running *regloh*. I need some inspiration on this project. It just sucks that the only time my tank looks at all appealing is in the pictures that I take of it (Which exclude the outside of the tank). I want to be able to enjoy the entire aquarium, not just what's behind the glass. Having two perfecto hoods on it just looks ghetto. Also, I would love to do another DIY project and make a canopy for this tank. 

I guess that the best way to do this is to put the bulbs in on a horizontal plane. I'm also guessing that I could make a decent reflector out of any tub shaped object lined with a reflective surface. I've read that some people use standard white paint while others use reflective material such as aluminum foil.


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

Well, I have some new shots of the tank for anybody who's interested. Sorry, but this is going to be a long post with LOTS of pictures.

FTS as of 8-28-2009:









New plants from RAOK game and a trade:









ID???

















Rotala Rotundifolia Green:









Rotala Willichii:









Some aerial shots of the tank and Water Lettuce:

















Left side aerial:









Right side aerial:









FTS as of 8-31-2009:

































Close-up of Rotala Willichii:









Close up of new Dwarf Sag trimmed and planted:

















Close up of new Hemianthus Micranthemoides (HM):









Shot of some rotalas on the left side:









E. Diversifolia on left side:









Right side jungle:









And now my favorite...The evolution of my 10g as seen through the ol' faithful FTS:

7-24-2009









7-29-2009









8-11-2009









8-19-2009









8-28-2009









8-31-2009









Sorry that you had to see all of that. I just like seeing progression in other's journals, so I figured that somebody out there would like to see the progression in mine. I'm going to be doing a trim this week for sure, so hit me up if you're interested in any of what you see.

I hope that my new DIY idea pans out here. I'm going to be making the new lights sometime this week. They will be spiral screw-in CFLs in a wooden canopy that I'm in the process of designing. Keep an eye out as these changes will probably be taking place within the next two weeks. I sure hope my plants like the new lights and grow as well as they have been with the current setup.

Thanks for reading and comments are appreciated,

Charlie


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

CAM6467 said:


> General questions: Would 30 or even 45 watts of CFL lighting be too much?


I think 30 is plenty, That's what I'm using on my 10 (2 x 15 GE) and it's enough to cause a hair algae storm on the surface if I don't stay on top of CO2 and ferts, and would never fathom adding more light. 2x 10w would probably suffice, too. The plants grew just fine and even showed some color, if the light had anything to do with that.

For the reflector, you can get as fancy as you want, or you can just buy a shallow foil baking pan from the grocery store. I have an old reflector from a crapped out light that I chop up for things like this, here's the same concept, similar bulb type and socket, but used on a chameleon cage.


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

This pic might help with your canopy build and light placement. These are GE 15w 65k (or 67?) bulbs in my 10gl All-glass hood. And below that are two images of the tank so you can see how it lights up and how much growth happened in a week. No further tank shots from there because I let CO2 and ferts die, and algae took over.


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## Regloh (Jan 17, 2009)

What do you actually use to select the CFL bulbs, the actual wattage or the wattage of the incandescent it would replace? Sorry for the hi-jack, but the answer may be of interest to you as well Charlie.


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

Regloh said:


> What do you actually use to select the CFL bulbs, the actual wattage or the wattage of the incandescent it would replace? Sorry for the hi-jack, but the answer may be of interest to you as well Charlie.


Great question. I was just wondering that myself.


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

It's the actual wattage that matters to us, sorta. The replacement thing is a comparison to the regular incandescent bulb wattage, the ones people are replacing to "go green", selling you on power consumption. We're using the lumens not the watts, and the regular watts listed on the bulb seem to correlate better with the WPG thing, at least the lumens from the low wattage coils have proven to suffice over 10gl. The K rating is important to look at too, a lot of these coil bulbs come in the 2-3000 range. You'd be surprised what can grow under that, though, but it's really ugly.


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## Regloh (Jan 17, 2009)

I found (actually I accidentally bought) daylight spectrum bulbs that I am planing on using. They should be a little higher in K but not by much...


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

I did find a few more pics of that tank in the swap n shop forum.


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

Regloh said:


> I found (actually I accidentally bought) daylight spectrum bulbs that I am planing on using. They should be a little higher in K but not by much...


Those should be good, they sell those for book readers and people who want more life-like lighting in the house as opposed to the yellowish colors of other bulbs. If I'm not mistaken, they are usually rated around 5 to 67k, maybe even 10,000.


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

jaidexl said:


> Those should be good, they sell those for book readers and people who want more life-like lighting in the house as opposed to the yellowish colors of other bulbs. If I'm not mistaken, they are usually rated around 5 to 67k, maybe even 10,000.


Hmm... I think that I'll have to take a trip to HD sooner than I thought and check some stuff out. I'd like to get some light in both 10,000K as well as 6,700K if I can find them. Thanks for the wonderful pictures! I'm surprised more people don't do this on smaller tanks. It just seems to be so much cheaper.


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

CAM6467 said:


> I'm surprised more people don't do this on smaller tanks. It just seems to be *so much cheaper*.


Me too, that's the main driving factor. Of course, a DIY job can easily add up to the cost of a fixture. If you wanna get real fancy, check out wood veneers for covering the canopy.


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

Here you go, not just one type of veneer used here, more like eight or nine, and a serious amount of creativity. How far do you wanna go is the question. Save the money on the inside and put it on the outside.


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

Ha ha! Yeah, that would be just about typical of most of my DIY projects... I usually tend to spend just as much as if I bought it outright. It's just the feeling that you made it yourself that keeps you feeling thrifty. 

I'm not a veneer kind of guy. I do, however, own multiple wood working tools which do not get nearly enough attention. I'll make my canopy from trim-quality pine and put nice edges all around using my router table. I kind of want it to match the stand that I made for my 29g....









Also, I'm going to make a little wrap around piece to cover the bottom plastic rim of my 10g in the same fashion that I'm going to make the canopy. I think that it'll turn out quite nice. Best part...no more ghetto stuff to look at!


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

Nice, I'da guessed you bought that.  I still haven't built anything... need tools and space. :icon_cry:

What kind of fish is that in the middle?


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

That's my wife's baby. It's a Texas Cichlid who is absolutely pampered. I've had it for going on 4 years now. I should be ashamed by the appearance of that tank though. I've been so wrapped up in my 10g planted that I've totally neglected the 29g cichlid tank.

You may have noticed that the canopy hasn't been stained yet. I've really been putting that off. I mean, it's getting a bit ridiculous how lazy I've been with that project! One thing that you may observe once you do acquire some tools is that many half finished projects will begin accumulating. I guess that the reason I've never finished the canopy is because it was designed to sit on top of the plastic trim of this tank flush. Well...I had to get a HOB filter for the tank, and that piece of junk doesn't allow my canopy to sit down onto the tank as desired. I have to take it to my shop and modify it. That is a major problem as I have literally no time to spare between my doctoral degree requirements and the continuous tasks assigned by my boss, supervisor, and general manager (wife). Ha ha!

Thanks for the compliment on the stand. I really worked hard on that project and it actually turned out well. That's not usual for me!

Charlie


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

Just trimmed the *rotala rotundifolia "green"*. If you want some please check this SnS link. I'm selling this package ASAP, and I'll have another one up in a few days. If you're interested in something just PM me and I'll hook you up. 

Thanks,

Charlie


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

jaidexl said:


> I did find a few more pics of that tank in the swap n shop forum.


What type of floaters are those in that second picture? I got some water lettuce as a freebie from a previous purchase and I'm not a huge fan of it. The roots just get too long for my little tank. I'm looking to replace it with something a little smaller like whatever this is...

On another note, I sold the rotala rotundifolia package tonight. I hope that I can get another package on the SnS within the next couple weeks. 

I ordered a 10,000K fluorescent bulb from AquariumGuys.com today. Here's a link to the bulb that I got. I read the box for the two bulbs that I have currently and it appears that I have two 5,500K bulbs running right now. I'm betting that they are adequate for good growth (obviously), but I'm hoping that the addition of 10,000K will enhance the growth that much more.

I've decided to stick with the T8 fluorescents for now since I already have most of the setup. I'm just going to take the perfecto hoods apart and place the "guts" of these two units into a canopy that I plan on building. I'm going to make reflectors for the new canopy. I'm thinking of using 4" PVC. I'm going to cut the PVC pipe to the appropriate length for the canopy I'll make, then I'll cut the pipe into two seperate half circle "tubs" which will then be lined with some reflective surface (Perhaps foil tape). Somehow I'll cram the ballasts and the rest of the lighting equipment into the canopy. It's going to be a chore, but it'll probably be a fun DIY project!

Thanks for reading,

Charlie


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

That's giant duckweed (Spirodela polyrrhza). It's way easier to deal with than actual duckweed or watermeal, stay away from that stuff. You might like Azolla too, you should be able to find both floating in a canal.


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

Cool deal *jaidexl*! I might have to go on a little river trip to see what I can find. My house is near a stream that's full of some sort of grass like ground coverage plant. I may have to pull some up and take a look. If it's something of value I may have hit the jack-pot! 

Also, I'm trying to sell some 4dKH standard that I've made. Some folks on the SnS have been interested, so I thought that I'd open it up on my thread as well. I can make you ~50ml or so for $15 shipped. It's a little bit costly, but it's totally worth it to get true 4dKH standard for use in your drop checker. 

Let me know if anybody is interested. Thanks!

Charlie


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

Got my new bulb in yesterday. I hope that 5,500K and 10,000K compliment one another nicely.

On another note, I've been totally neglecting water changes lately. I haven't really performed one in a couple weeks. I'm starting to see that damned thread type algae again. I've been dosing EI for a while, but without the water changes I'm seeing that things can do down hill real quick.

Things are growing in well. My rotala rotundifolia green is really taking over, and my HM is doing very well. My lobelia is getting HUGE, so I think that it's about time to thin it out again. The water lettuce seems to double in number weekly! The e. diversifolia is starting to rebound after its first major trim and replant. I tried HC and had no luck with it just after setting this thing up, but it's starting to make a come-back on me. I can see little patches of the stuff through the jungle of stems and dwarf sag. I hope it comes back in full force eventually. The only thing that's not doing so well is my dwarf sag. Most of the plants that I put in have melted, but new growth is starting to show through. Maybe it's just its way of adjusting to my tank.

I'll try to get some pictures up eventually...


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## demosthenes (Aug 23, 2008)

hey charlie! any updates? how are the new bulbs doing?


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## VadimShevchuk (Sep 19, 2009)

I like it really well for a ten gallon. I am also in the proccess of setting up a ten gallon low tech but it cracked. I think you should take the time and make the substrate just eco. I have that as well in my 10 gallon and 15w light. It got cracked due to diy co2. It leaked so i took the whole tank dow and fish to get it out as fast as possible. Then tank cracked =/ Read the whole thread! Nice btw.


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## HastyPees (Mar 18, 2010)

Great tank, the moss wall will turn out nicely, the algae could be thread algae use a toothbrush to remove it manually.


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

Well it's been quite a while since I posted. The 10 gallon is now home to a young bearded dragon (for my 8th grade US History class), and, since I'm teaching, I have the funds to start something new/better. I just picked up a Milwaukee regulator/solenoid/needle valve/bubble counter from aquariumplants.com to go along with the bottle that I was using on my 10 gallon planted.

I'm thinking about setting up a 20 long this time, but I'm not totally decided. We'll see if my wife goes for a 40 breeder or not because that's what I really would prefer. 

I'll be trying to decide on substrate, lighting, and a few other essentials for a while and suggestions would awesome! I'm wanting to do as few stems as possible and stick with rhizome plants, moss, and grasses/carpeting plants. 

Let me hear some opinions...


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