# 6.6g New Dirty setup 56k Warning (No longer using dirt)



## rnaodm (Jun 9, 2012)

Haven't had tanks in a While. Used to keep Mini Reefs and it was fun but expensive, and eventually came to the point where the stuff I wanted I could never realistically have, So I left the Hobby for a While.









I like the Dirt tanks Ive seen here, So I went with that.

Picked up what you see above, The Petco 6.6g Bookshelf aquarium, Miracle Gro Organic soil, couple bags of natural brown gravel, Lava rock.










Added the dirt, packed and wet.










Topped with gravel










Moss and Black Lava rock added.










Plant was named "Compacta" Hygrophila corymbosa stricta











Filling it up, I had expected far more brown as Ive read other people have had to fill and drain their tanks multiple times before it started to clear up.

And finally









Im sure itll be cloudy for a couple days. The filter is super silent. Im not really happy with the plants/moss placement. seems far too unoriginal.

Thinking of maybe cutting up the board the fern is on into strips, and making a road affect. possibly surrounding the lava rock with the compacta.

Ideas/comments appreciated.

thanks for reading!.


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## rnaodm (Jun 9, 2012)

Can a mod please move this to the journal section, Sorry!!!!


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## SaltyNC (Jun 26, 2012)

Glad to see you got your tank underway. I'll definitely be following your progress. I'm dying to flood my 6.6, but trying to hold out.  Do you plan to stay with the stock light and filter?

Salty


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## wkndracer (Mar 14, 2009)

The round shape of the pebble in river gravel may give you a little grief holding things down. (not a fan) 
The tank will shape up as you add more weeds and scapes are always to please the eye of the owner. Welcome to the dirty side of things.


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## rnaodm (Jun 9, 2012)

wkndracer said:


> The round shape of the pebble in river gravel may give you a little grief holding things down. (not a fan)
> The tank will shape up as you add more weeds and scapes are always to please the eye of the owner. Welcome to the dirty side of things.


Thanks yea I might of made a mistake with the gravel, I'm already starting to hate it :/ unfortunately the only petshop within 15 miles is a petco, and I live in a decent sized city with NO local pet shops.

Salty yea I plan on keeping the stock light, But If I happen to come across something better I'm always open.


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## FisheriesOmen (Jan 14, 2012)

woot I love seeing these 6g tanks they look amazing


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

rnaodm said:


> Yea I might of made a mistake with the gravel, I'm already starting to hate it :/ unfortunately the only petshop within 15 miles is a petco,


Other options are:
River sand from a landscaper 
Black beauty blasting sand Tractor supply co or sand blasting co.
Pool filter sand - Pool supplies.
Paver's sand - Home Depot


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## rnaodm (Jun 9, 2012)

Hilde said:


> Other options are:
> River sand from a landscaper
> Black beauty blasting sand Tractor supply co or sand blasting co.
> Pool filter sand - Pool supplies.
> Paver's sand - Home Depot



I really like the black beauty sand, Actually have a sand blasting company 2 miles away, unfortunately they only sell it in 100lb bags.


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

rnaodm said:


> A sand blasting company 2 miles away, unfortunately they only sell it in 100lb bags.


Perhaps 1 day they will have a broken bag and sell you some loose.

How about trying the ElNatural method with Hydroponics potting soil (Walmart) and top with the black sand from Petco.


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## rnaodm (Jun 9, 2012)

I picked up black sand from petsmart. along with another plant, going to take out the gravel now.


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## rnaodm (Jun 9, 2012)

Took out the brown, Added the black. Added another plant and broke up the moss. I think the sand/dirt layers might be too thick.

But looks alot better then it did, Unfortunately I just don't seem to have a wet green thumb.

And I haven't found a good light setting on my camera yet.


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## SaltyNC (Jun 26, 2012)

Good move on replacing the gravel with black sand from an aesthetic point of view. The thickness looks like it is around 2". I think that is fine. Do you plan to do any foreground carpets or leave that area open?


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## rnaodm (Jun 9, 2012)

Yea id like a foreground carpet, completely undecided on which exactly.

Though I like this:


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

What is your light?
Are you dosing ferts?

Looks like you have mostly stem plants. They love KNO3 (potassium nitrate) and need a carbon replacement.

KNO3 sources are:
Spectricide stump remover is 100% KNO3 at Lowe's in some States
Seachem potassium 
Dry form which needs to be diluted
30 ml (3 tsp or 1 Tbs) into 1 cup of water. 1ml = 1.08 ppm of NO3 in 10 gallons of water.

Carbon replacements are:
Seachem excel
API carbon booster
Metricide or Cidex 

Metricide or Cidex is 60% stronger per mL. For Excel (1.5% Glut.) versus Metricide (2.5% Glut) Mathically is 1.5/2.5=0.6. is Thus dilluting 6:1. A quart is approx $25 on Ebay. Best to use a mask when diluting in well ventilated area for can be hazardous to respiratory system. I have pleurisy but use it.


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## rnaodm (Jun 9, 2012)

Hi I just set up the tank yesterday, so not quite dosing anything yet.

Lighting is a stock 15w t8, I'm not really happy with it and will likely pick up another strip and at least double the wattage, it surprisingly dim.

Im going low tech, I'll pick up the excel/flourish on my next trip for more plants.

Thanks for your help.

Lava rock was a bit too big, introduced it to a hammer/chisel


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## Fortheloveofplants (Apr 15, 2012)

I like the black gravel. A matching black Background cover would look cool.


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## rnaodm (Jun 9, 2012)

Fortheloveofplants said:


> I like the black gravel. A matching black Background cover would look cool.


Thanks ill do something for a background, most likely black.


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## wkndracer (Mar 14, 2009)

liking the black sub!


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## rnaodm (Jun 9, 2012)

wkndracer said:


> liking the black sub!











Thanks I picked up a fern and 3 small swords, looks much better. Still a little cloudy.

Unsure on what to do with the fern carpet. I might partly cover a small piece of cholla wood. Would look better then just the fern carpet.


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## Ozydego (Aug 29, 2011)

carpet is going to be hard with a setup w/o co2. HC or glosso would have issues, glosso was the carpet in that previous pic...


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## rnaodm (Jun 9, 2012)

Ozydego said:


> carpet is going to be hard with a setup w/o co2. HC or glosso would have issues, glosso was the carpet in that previous pic...


I plan on doing c02 just not exactly sure which setup yet


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## rnaodm (Jun 9, 2012)

Hopefully hitting up a nice LFS tomorrow. One I've seen RCS at in the past. Still unsure on other fauna, including fish.

Camera is pretty limited on lighting settings so I cant really seem to shoot a perfect FTS.

also just noticed if you compare this pic with the one three days ago the plants are already noticeably larger, and the stemmed plants are already near the surface and growing roots half way up. Might have to trim already.


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## deleted_user_17 (Jun 14, 2012)

Good one changing the gravel. It looks loads better to me. 

I agree about the black background too. 

Subscribing as I have just started a small tank too and am interested to see how you progress. 

Good luck with it all


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## rnaodm (Jun 9, 2012)

The lighting is extremely inefficient. The bulb is already starting to dim and the plants are all reaching


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

rnaodm said:


> I plan on doing c02 just not exactly sure which setup yet


Would be easier to make a carpet with dwarf sagittarius plants.


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## rnaodm (Jun 9, 2012)

Hilde said:


> Would be easier to make a carpet with dwarf sagittarius plants.



Thanks Ill check that out atm Im a bit confused my light looks dim yet my plants are growing incredibly fast, a couple have grown three inches in five days.

Id say theyre just reaching but they look healthy.


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## SaltyNC (Jun 26, 2012)

rnaodm said:


> Thanks Ill check that out atm Im a bit confused my light looks dim yet my plants are growing incredibly fast, a couple have grown three inches in five days.
> 
> Id say theyre just reaching but they look healthy.


Our tanks are very shallow, so even though the light is T8, it produces medium light near the bottom and high light near the top. The light is only a couple of inches away from the tops of your plants. I think that has something to do with it. Hoppy has a great chart on a sticky in the lighting forum.
Hoppy's Par Chart

Also, you mentioned the background. I found that I could slip the plastic backgrounds they sell at the LFS up under the plastic rim and then tuck it between the "glass" and the plastic base. It made it easy to hold it in place, and then I just taped it down in a few spots. I thought about trying the mineral oil trick to make it appear more black, but I think it looks OK for now.


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## rnaodm (Jun 9, 2012)

SaltyNC said:


> Our tanks are very shallow, so even though the light is T8, it produces medium light near the bottom and high light near the top. The light is only a couple of inches away from the tops of your plants. I think that has something to do with it. Hoppy has a great chart on a sticky in the lighting forum.
> Hoppy's Par Chart
> 
> Also, you mentioned the background. I found that I could slip the plastic backgrounds they sell at the LFS up under the plastic rim and then tuck it between the "glass" and the plastic base. It made it easy to hold it in place, and then I just taped it down in a few spots. I thought about trying the mineral oil trick to make it appear more black, but I think it looks OK for now.


Thanks I picked up black background looks better, but I just cant stand how dark the tank looks overall

I hit up petco, they didn't have any of the double socket strip lights so ill likely be ordering from bigals or amazon.


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## SaltyNC (Jun 26, 2012)

I kept the stock light but did replace the bulb with a Hagen Life-Glo 6500K. I don't know that it makes that much difference, though. Maybe a little. My light falls off too much in the corners.


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## rnaodm (Jun 9, 2012)

SaltyNC said:


> I kept the stock light but did replace the bulb with a Hagen Life-Glo 6500K. I don't know that it makes that much difference, though. Maybe a little. My light falls off too much in the corners.


Yea I have the same problems the sides look dark, making it impossible to take nice looking pictures, and the stem plants at the ends are starting to suffer a bit.

Also added black background


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

rnaodm said:


> The sides look dark, making it impossible to take nice looking pictures,


The T8s don't reach the sides. Possible to add another and stagger them so light hits the sides?


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## SaltyNC (Jun 26, 2012)

I've thought about adding some LED's under the stock hood, but I don't know that it is worth the time and expense. I will probably upgrade the entire light or maybe just deal with this one for now and learn from it, and then later move to a nicer tank and use this one for growing plants using the DSM.

And yes, it is very hard to take good pics. I've struggled with that. To keep my main stone from blowing out, I have to take the exposure compensation way down, and then I lose detail in the shadow.


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

rnaodm said:


> my light looks dim yet my plants are growing incredibly fast.


A bulb with a different kelvin rating would probably help then. What is the kelvin rating? How old is the bulb? They get dim when they get old and algae problems start occurring.


SaltyNC said:


> I will probably upgrade the entire light


If you upgrade get a Corlife light strip at Pet Blvd. The bulb goes all the way to the end of the strip. I chose Pet Blvd for bulb replacements for my coralife for they have good reviews.


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## rnaodm (Jun 9, 2012)

Hilde said:


> A bulb with a different kelvin rating would probably help then. What is the kelvin rating? How old is the bulb? They get dim when they get old and algae problems start occurring.
> 
> If you upgrade get a Corlife light strip at Pet Blvd. The bulb goes all the way to the end of the strip. I chose Pet Blvd for bulb replacements for my coralife for they have good reviews.


Its brand new, came with the tank, I was really hoping it would be sufficient as that's why I bought an all in one, I wanted everything to work.

Thanks ill check out the link, unfortunately funds are extremely limited. If I knew the stock light would be crap, I wouldn't of bought the kit at all.

The Bulb is defiantly faulty, or just a crappy manufacturer. Picked up a new Zoo med Tropic Sun 5500k bulb off a buddy who never used it, and the tanks literally twice as bright! It's a bit yellowy, I'll deal with it for now. Eventually pick up a whole new fixture but either way, big improvement.


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## rnaodm (Jun 9, 2012)

Im not too happy with the rocks/plants, I think I may drain the tank tomorrow and find another way to scape it. Maybe leave the right rock alone, move the two smaller rocks to the left, opening the middle.

Bleh I dunno


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## rnaodm (Jun 9, 2012)

Redid the rocks, moved/trimmed a couple plants. Picking up some HC/HS soon hopefully to replace the moss and get a mixed carpet/foreground growing..

Id like the shrimp to eventually breed so Ill likely pickup a piece of cholla wood, cover it in the moss and either toss what im not using or give away the rest.

Edit: Picked up some HC, should of bought more. Took out all the moss.

Ive got some trimmings and all the moss in a clear bowl in a window sill for now, Id hate to toss something I just paid for.

Might do a 2.5g let everything grow wild.......

re......sist more ttttttannnkkkssss


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## rnaodm (Jun 9, 2012)

Tanks doing well, picked up four forktail rainbow fish. I have ten CRS coming tomorrow. Plants are all growing healthy but I made a mistake with the stem plants, I dont like them.

Tough to see what the plants will look like in tank when you bought them in plastic containers.

I dont care for the aquascape either, I used to scape pretty nice mini reefs, but I just dont have the knack for the freshwater version. I think its missing some type of drift wood.

Im likely going to remove the stem plants all together, Sorry no pictures, my memory card reader disappeared :/


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## rnaodm (Jun 9, 2012)

I got rid of the stem plants, I sort of liked them, but I don't really have any room for more tanks so I can grow em out.

I had some green slime algae, turns out my nephew fed the fish daily, and so did a parent or two...... So im doing alot of water changes and looking for the chem to kill the cyanobacteria.

At first the tank was dirt substrate with a sand cap, but the dirt level was too high so I couldn't make the sand very deep, and because of that I ended up getting alot of dirt kicked up on the sand bed, wasn't pretty.

So I went to the LFS today, Picked up some floramax gravel, a couple more bacopa plants and another which slips my mind.

I'm still not very good when it comes to aquascaping, and the waters a bit cloudy, but what do you guys think.

Ive got to pick up a few more of the foxtail rainbows currently in the tank, they really color up, I think the two currently in the tank are m/f

Also not sure if that drift wood is necessary, or if its just placed wrong


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## rnaodm (Jun 9, 2012)

One of the plants I took out, the root system is longer then the plant! I wanted to know is that a good thing or were they growing so long because they were starving?


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## Smitty06 (Mar 25, 2012)

That is an amazon sword, its root system should be longer than the plant its. Swords are known for growing huge with a root system that spreads everywhere often gutting your substrate when you pull it up.


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

rnaodm said:


> Yea id like a foreground carpet, completely undecided on which exactly.
> Though I like this:


That would work with your light.

For a black background you could use black silk fabric. Fold it over construction paper or cardboard and tape the board to the tank.


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## rnaodm (Jun 9, 2012)

Bought some lace, removed the wood added some smaller plants, I wish I wrote down the types because one of the species is dying quickly(Which is happening for the second time, Why does it keep dying almost instantly, is it because im buying it from petsmarts bagsoplants?)


























Also got some Pencilfish









I'm sorry for the terrible photos, I can't take good aquarium pics.


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## rnaodm (Jun 9, 2012)

Turned the ISO down on the camera took come of the cloudyness/blur out of the tank shots, Ill play with it some more. But as you can see one of the two new plants I bought is doing very very well, the other, I siphoned out as it was turning to mush :/

I bought some plants off a local PT member, when they arrive ill post some more(Hopefully Better) pictures!


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## rnaodm (Jun 9, 2012)

20 days later, Got some more plants and some more growth. Took out both amazon swords and gave them to my father as I bought him a nano planted tank for xmas.

Picking up a 24" 54w light fixture tomorrow, the Maracyn has the green slime almost gone.

Earlier today I came across what was labeled as "orange Bacopa" but cant find it on google



















Once the bacteria clears up ill get close up shots, as for now, like most things, it looks better from afar.

Turns out one of the pencil fish was super agressive, never letting any other pencil fish out from a corner of a tank, quite a shame considering he was the prettiest. I had 5 didn't expect one to turn rogue, so hes caught and going back. Id like to grab a few more as they color up surprisingly, I guess its just the luck of the draw in getting an agressive one.


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## stevenjohn21 (May 23, 2012)

Any updates on this ? Did you buy a new light fixture or stick with the original ?


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