# Glass enclosed worlds, dual 5.5 gallon tanks.



## Dollface (Sep 30, 2008)

This may or may not be a journal.
I posted a shot of this tank in another journal a while back, but I've since given up on that tank, so this one is getting it's own thread.










Where to start, oh boy.

Besides the delicious looking green water, I've got a nasty case of thread algae that's tangled in everything. As well as a bunch of fuzzy hair algae that's coated my blyxa. There's also these short hairy strands stuck to the glass that don't want to come off.

I'm pretty sure most of this is due to my lights being on too long, and my lack of co2. Solution being digging up an old timer soon, and making a new diy reactor next weekend since my old one developed some leaks. And maybe get some amanos. 

Otherwise there's not much to say. I recently upgraded the light to a 27watt archea fixture from AFA, and a zoomed 501 canister. Next on the list are some lily pipes, and maybe eventually painball co2.

I also really need to get some trimming scissors, the HM is getting a bit out of control.

oh yeah, anyone have suggestions for what plants to put in the far right side behind the lantern? I've got some giant hair grass along the back wall, and some more blyxa back there too, wich I might pull eventually and put it in a slightly more visible spot. I'll also prolly pull that little piece of blyxa in front. 

I want to get some purple bamboo to grow out of the water, but after that I have no idea.


----------



## Ariel301 (Sep 7, 2009)

I like the idea of the bamboo in there, to kind of keep with the oriental theme of that lantern decoration. (Is it a lantern? I was thinking it was some sort of building lol...) Maybe keep it really simple with the bamboo and the hairgrass, sort of like a japanese ink painting.


----------



## Bonefish (Mar 14, 2009)

Purple bamboo would be rad. Maybe some Diplis diandra in the back left and right corners would look nice, too.


----------



## Dollface (Sep 30, 2008)

dipilis diandra looks nice, I think if possible I may get either that or some sort of rotala (wallichii or nanjenshan)


----------



## Bonefish (Mar 14, 2009)

Wallichii is GORGEOUS, but apparently it's also a toughie to please. I'm thinking of trying it or Rotala macrandra v. narrowleaf "magenta" (see here) in an 8" cube. No idea if macrandra would be any easier than wallichii. Texture's slightly different, but it still has the nice red hues that would look lovely offsetting the green of the DHG and blyxa. 

Have you tried a (clean) toothbrush to get the algae off the blyxa? You can kind of twirl the brush around and wrap hair algae up in it, worked great in one of my old tanks to get rid of algae lurking in the plants.


----------



## Dollface (Sep 30, 2008)

I love wallichii's fine texture, but not the red color, it turns this weird brick-ish sort of red that I don't exactly love. 

I've been trying to pick the hair algae out wtih bamboo skewers, but I've never tried a toothbrush (I don't know if I have an old clean one either, hmm). I wonder if that would also work for the hair algae on the sides of the tank.

also, because I feel a little guilty for chatting without pictures.








Three of the 15 or so snowballs I have in this tank. One of them is even berried. (not pictured, obviously)
I'm glad that I got snowballs in the end instead of one of the other color morphs, they're great.


----------



## Dollface (Sep 30, 2008)

Quick update:









water is crystal clear, the glass however, is not. 

Still a bad case of thread algae, and the HM really needs a trim. 
It looks quite alot nicer in person though, camera brings out all the flaws 
pulled the blyxa in hopes of getting some new stems soon. I'm thinking about pulling the riccia rocks, they're doing nothing. 

I may eventually pull out the UG to use it in another tank, I think it's for the better, it's not doing anything for the tank.


----------



## Dollface (Sep 30, 2008)

Big changes










I took out alot of stuff, mainly the UG and the riccia rocks that were just plain ugly. 
HM got that trim, and I receive a lovely plants package from malaybiswas of myriophyllum mattogrossense and didiplis diandra which is stuffed behind the lantern. 

My HC is covered in algae, and it's dying off, I really need to get some CO2 on here. and my hairgrass is stagnating, which is a bad sign I think. I've also got a really bad P deficiency, my water lettuce is showing bad signs. It makes sense though, since I'm not dosing P.


----------



## Dollface (Sep 30, 2008)

Guys!
Guys!
Guess what I saw just now!
A Tiiiiinnnyyy little baby snowball, you know what this means?! They're breeding! 
I saw a female with eggs a while back, but I had figured she had dropped them, since I never saw her again, but evidently she didn't! and they just hatched!
SO TINY! 

Big changes though, I moved today, and I set up a really nice metal shelving unit, 24" wide with adjustable shelves. I have my 10 gallon on the bottom, the 5.5 on the second shelf, and then eventually I'm going to have a 30cm cube on the top shelf. It's in a corner of my living room, and it looks great.

No pictures yet, I'll have some up whenever we find the camera.


----------



## Dollface (Sep 30, 2008)

I never did update this thread did I?

I had good reason though, I had an explosion of hair algae after the move, seriously, not pretty. 
Here's the tank in its new home.


















Not much to update, hair algae, had to remove the moss on the lantern, it never attached and got infested. I got new tweezers and replanted the myrio, also, evidently it's rotala nanjenshan, not didiplis. Not that's it's really doing much right now.

On top of the to-do list is a new DIY reactor and some amano shrimp.


----------



## Bonefish (Mar 14, 2009)

I had that exact shelf in my apartment. Very sturdy.

If you're still thinking of a taller background plant, I've got a new recommendation: mayaca. Fast growing and easy to please, looks delicate, bright green color.


----------



## Twimbo (Oct 10, 2009)

How is the baby snowball? Did it survive?


----------



## Dollface (Sep 30, 2008)

TsuRyuu said:


> I had that exact shelf in my apartment. Very sturdy.
> 
> If you're still thinking of a taller background plant, I've got a new recommendation: mayaca. Fast growing and easy to please, looks delicate, bright green color.


The shelf is awesome, I wish I had an inch or two more wiggle room though, but it's all good. 

I think I'm good for background plants, the nanjenshan is quite nice, even if it's not really doing anything. Right now it's just a matter of getting all my dosing in order to let stuff grow in. 



Twimbo said:


> How is the baby snowball? Did it survive?


I have no idea, actually. I haven't seen any more babies, but they might be hiding in the HM jungle.


----------



## Dollface (Sep 30, 2008)

Hey guys, remember that baby shrimp? 









This little guy appears to be from a second batch. The baby shrimp I saw a while back is probably one of the intermediate juveniles that are crawling around right now. So not only are they breeding, they're breeding regularly, and not getting eaten either! 









Just to give you an idea of the size, that's AS _powder._









Spot the shrimp. Plural.


----------



## Dollface (Sep 30, 2008)

Semi-update.

I believe I've had some water quality issues while I was away over christmas. I had a shrimp death before I left, so I did a large water change, but evidently the tank suffered from lack of top-offs while I was gone. I got back to the betta acting more lethargic than usual, and missing a little bit of his fins. Another large top off + water change, and the betta is getting a week long stay in a 1/2 gallon pyrex bowl with some aquarium salts in hopes that he'll perk up. 
My betta has always been kind of lazy but lately he's just gotten downright depressing. I have a feeling he doesn't like the flow from the zoomed, along with a ton of other chronic issues he seems to have.
Anyway, since I don't have a photo of the tank in question (It hasn't changed at all, trust me), here's another tank.










This is my mothers christmas/birthday present, hopefully it grows in well enough.


----------



## oldpunk78 (Nov 1, 2008)

i don't think i've seen the play sand aquasoil combo yet. seems like a good idea for a mound type scape. is the plan for it to get covered up?


----------



## Dollface (Sep 30, 2008)

it's actually some fancy ADA Orinoco sand, slightly darker beige and more texture than play sand, I quite like it. A tiny little bag has also lasted a long way, too, I'm surprised.

The plan is indeed for the AS to get covered up, I'm thinking about getting some staurogyne sp. for that bare patch but I'm not really sold. I might just stick some blyxa there instead now that I'm looking at it.


----------



## Dollface (Sep 30, 2008)

I just got back from dropping by Albany Aquarium (which is awesome, it's like the perfect mix of AFA and Ocean Aquarium.) with 3 amano shrimp, hopefully they can put a dent in my thread algae. 

That's all, really. I might have pictures some time this week.
Edit: I lied.








See how many shrimp you can count.


----------



## Dollface (Sep 30, 2008)

It's been decided, the betta is being moved to a 2.5 I'm setting up. So that leaves this tank open to some new fish, suggestions?


----------



## rengb6 (Nov 11, 2009)

scarlet badis! My personal favorite!


----------



## Bonefish (Mar 14, 2009)

Oooh! A bunch of Microrasbora or Boraras briggitae could be cool. Or Endlers, I've always wanted to try those guys.


----------



## AkCrimson (Dec 17, 2009)

Celestial Pearl Danios. Or microrasbora.


----------



## Dollface (Sep 30, 2008)

I love microrasboras, but I'd like something more visible from this tank so I think I'm going to go with endlers.


----------



## Dollface (Sep 30, 2008)

All three of the amanos were out and about last night, bullying the snowballs, eatin' algae, and ... digging holes? 

















I'm happy that they're not hiding anymore, if only mostly for the reassurance that they're not dead.

I also finally got a DIY CO2 system on here, and hopefully between that and the shrimp, the my algae problem should start disappearing.


----------



## Cichlid Junkie (May 13, 2005)

rengb6 said:


> scarlet badis! My personal favorite!


I second that!


----------



## Dollface (Sep 30, 2008)

To atone for my lack of pictures recently, here's a video.
It's kind of boring with no fish to watch, but I really like videos. There's something about the plants waving in the flow that a picture can't capture.

Enough of me waxing poetic though, Here's the video.


----------



## LoneStar (Jan 15, 2010)

Dollface said:


> There's something about the plants waving in the flow that a picture can't capture.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3MW_Oax8AA


Agreed, thanks for sharing that video. It really captures the "flow" of your tank.


----------



## oldpunk78 (Nov 1, 2008)

> There's something about the plants waving in the flow that a picture can't capture.
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3MW_Oax8AA


so true, i wish my camera took better videos. imo, that's one of the things that make planted tanks so cool. (the plants swaying in the flow...)


----------



## Dollface (Sep 30, 2008)

I really wish TPT would let you embed videos. 
New endlers livebearers.


----------



## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

nice livebearer video


----------



## Bonefish (Mar 14, 2009)

Look at those beautiful fishies. I'm glad you went with Endlers. I love their little guppy faces.


----------



## Dollface (Sep 30, 2008)

The tank has just been chugging along, so here's Another video.

Got the light on a timer, set the light cycle back, got some co2 on there, the algae is receding and all is well.


----------



## oldpunk78 (Nov 1, 2008)

nice video music. hahaahaha sorry, it gave me a chuckle. the tanks looking well.


----------



## Dollface (Sep 30, 2008)

Thanks OP, it's from the Okami OST.

And just for kicks, here's another video of the endlers vs. the shrimp, fighting over some algae wafers. 

That chirping in the background isn't crickets, it's my diffusor.


----------



## Dollface (Sep 30, 2008)

Since I didn't add much about the tank to that update, I'm just going to say a few things.

I can not be more pleased with this tank than it is right now. It might not be the picture of perfect aquascaping, but I love it. I love the giant HM blob of doom, I love the untended hair grass, yes, I even love that cheesy lantern. I love nothing more than to sit in front of it during the day when there's enough ambient light to view the tank without the light on, watching the shrimp pick through the hair grass, and the endlers cavort above the HM. This tank is my zen. I had some frustrating times when there was almost nothing but gigantic clouds of hair algae plaguing the tank, but now (with the help of that timer), I feel that this tank has hit its stride. I'm not dosing any ferts, the aquasoil and co2 seem to be enough on their own to spur plant growth but still keep it in balance. 

I think this point is really what the hobby is all about, when you get to the point where you can spend more time relaxing and enjoying the view than fretting over algae and maintenance.


----------



## Dollface (Sep 30, 2008)

I gave this tank a trim last week.

Before:









After:


----------



## problemman (Aug 19, 2005)

i think this is so cute! nice job

idk what fish u have in it but i think some chilli rasboras would look fantastic in here


----------



## Dollface (Sep 30, 2008)

I've got endlers livebearers in there


----------



## Dollface (Sep 30, 2008)

My moms very belated birthday/mothers day/something or other tank:


----------



## plantedpufferfreak (Feb 2, 2010)

LOVE it


----------



## Dollface (Sep 30, 2008)

Thanks


----------



## AlexXx (Dec 1, 2009)

Wow! i love the new scape, so simple yet natural and very perfect! I would throw a black background on it though!


----------



## oldpunk78 (Nov 1, 2008)

Dollface said:


> This is my mothers christmas/birthday present, hopefully it grows in well enough.


that grew in nicely. i wish my mom wanted a tank, hahaaha.


----------



## Dollface (Sep 30, 2008)

AlexXx said:


> Wow! i love the new scape, so simple yet natural and very perfect! I would throw a black background on it though!


Thanks, I'm a little reluctant to put a background on it because my last betta would flare at the black background that was on his tank. Also it would be a pain in the ass getting a piece of vinyl on there now. 



oldpunk78 said:


> that grew in nicely. i wish my mom wanted a tank, hahaaha.


Haha, I guess it did! The tank has been living up stairs for the longest time, and I was pretty much ignoring it and letting it do its thing, the moss was pretty happy obviously. 

My mom didn't actually want a _tank_ per se, see, she wanted a Turquoise betta, and she said she liked manzanita 'scapes, soooo...


----------



## Dollface (Sep 30, 2008)

Because nobody cares: It is _gorgeous_ today in alameda. I walked down to the LFS and picked up some new fish food. I got New life spectrum small fish forumla, frozen blood worms, and frozen daphnia. I also have a bucket outside with a starter culture of live daphnia I got at the SFBAAPS meet yesterday, hopefully it'll take off. It's funny, I ended up spending more on fish food than I did on fish. :S


----------



## epicfish (Sep 11, 2006)

Dollface said:


> Because nobody cares: It is _gorgeous_ today in alameda. I walked down to the LFS and picked up some new fish food. I got New life spectrum small fish forumla, frozen blood worms, and frozen daphnia. I also have a bucket outside with a starter culture of live daphnia I got at the SFBAAPS meet yesterday, hopefully it'll take off. It's funny, I ended up spending more on fish food than I did on fish. :S


Did you get a gyro? Mmmm.


----------



## Dollface (Sep 30, 2008)

epicfish said:


> Did you get a gyro? Mmmm.


No but I did get some honeydew frozen yogurt omgyum.


----------



## Dollface (Sep 30, 2008)

New video, again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHPqPfQSmE8

Slight update: My Myriophyllum Mattogrossense has developed a deficiency lately, its new leaves are growing in darker, slightly translucent, and the branching of the leaf is larger/not as delicate. I can get a picture, but does anyone have a clue what it might be? 

I also added in 4 otos a week ago, I got them with the intention of splitting them into different tanks, but they schooled together so nicely, I didn't want to separate them. Lately though, I've only ever seen two out at once, so either they're taking turns being out in about, or they probably went and died under the GIANT HM MASS OF DOOM. Thankfully, if they did go and die, the sheer plant mass seems to have sucked up the ammonia spike because I haven't seen a hint of anything like that. If anything, The deficiencies started around that time.


----------



## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

nice video


----------



## TLE041 (Jan 16, 2010)

Have you been supplementing the otos with some foods? There might not be sufficient algae in that small tank for 4 of them. I've read that it's recommended to have 10 gallons of water for each oto.


----------



## Dollface (Sep 30, 2008)

TLE041 said:


> Have you been supplementing the otos with some foods? There might not be sufficient algae in that small tank for 4 of them. I've read that it's recommended to have 10 gallons of water for each oto.


The two that are still out and about get algae wafers every other day, and that's kept them quite fat and happy after they finished off the lingering algae. I may start experimenting with blanched zucchini and seaweed sheets to see if they want to accept anything else.


----------



## Dollface (Sep 30, 2008)

As if in response to my saying that only two otos had survived, I dropped in the usual algae wafer, and come back to see ... three otos. Three. Distinctly more than two. 

So there you have it. 

Also, I counted no less than three saddled and one berried shrimp. It astounds me how well everyone seems to be doing, all in just a 5 gallon tank.


----------



## TLE041 (Jan 16, 2010)

They're probably still kicking around somewhere. I have trouble even locating my two otos in my tiny 4 gal nano sometimes. These guys are quite adept at hiding.

My otos never seem to be interested in the algae tablets I give them. The shrimps and pygmy cories go nuts for them, though.

Congrats on the berried shrimps. Soon your tank will be overrun with them. They're awesome little critters!


----------



## Dollface (Sep 30, 2008)

Oh sup guys. As long as I'm here, I guess I should update this thread. 

My personal 5.5 is being decommissioned. The AS powder seems to have run out of nutrients and I'm too lazy to dose. The new incarnation will probably be a simple shou stone iwagumi with just hair grass. 
In the meantime though, I'm trying to give away all of my endlers before my trip to Orlando on Saturday, which is turning out to be a little more difficult than I had planned considering that, since I got them a few months ago, these guys have been breeding like, well, endlers. 
I'm betting I easily have 40+ in that tiny little 5.5 including fry. 

The snowballs have also proliferated quite happily, however they're just being moved to my mothers 5.5.


----------



## Dollface (Sep 30, 2008)

Tank got mostly pulled apart tonight as I was hunting for shrimp. The endlers are getting dropped off tomorrow.

Total count: 1 oto (3 died, 1 body found) 3 Amanos (no deaths) and 21 Snowballs (so far.) 
There might be another snowball or two hiding in the hair grass, but I doubt it. 

Also I am not even kidding when I say I pulled out a large grapefruits worth of HM. I have no doubt that this plant blob consumed many an oto and shrimp carcass in its day. I'm pretty amazed that I found all three of my Amanos alive and well, I had figured on losing at least one, but nope. These guys are near bullet proof, I think I shall start calling them, the Anti-oto.









_07/14/10 RIP Nevar 4get_









_Feeeeeed me Seymour!_


----------



## Francis Xavier (Oct 8, 2008)

it's pretty amazing at the plant bulks that you pull out when you tear these suckers down. Plant mass is amazing...last time i had to do a tear down of two small tanks it filled about 15 plastic containers.

And yeah, Amano's are beasts.


----------



## Dollface (Sep 30, 2008)

Dude, seriously. I just pulled up the hair grass to get the last of the endlers and it was insane. I was expecting maybe half the mass of the HM, but no, It was easily like 1.5x more.


----------



## TLE041 (Jan 16, 2010)

Yikes, that's a lot of plant material.

If I were to keep endlers, I'd only have males. These things get out of control faster than RCS.


----------



## Dollface (Sep 30, 2008)

I had a few male endlers at first but it was honestly kind of boring. I think I'm going to end up keeping endlers again when the next incarnation of this tank. Possibly a different strain though. Last time I went to Ocean Aquarium in SF they had some interesting blue endlers that I might look into.


----------

