MiniBow 7G Journal

[maxwell1295]

My new (used) 7 gallon MiniBow tank. I wanted to go with something simple so I put in a decent size piece of driftwood to take up some space. The substrate is PFS. At some point, I will be injecting pressurized CO2 using a manifold connected to this tank and my 30 gal tank.

I picked it up earlier in the week (Wednesday) and went right to work. The first thing I did was take out that pinkiish-purpleish-lavender colored gravel.

The tank came with a AquaClear 30 filter and heater.....all for $40 (thank you Craigslist).

Since I already have AC30's on my two 10g tanks, I was able to pull a sponge and biomedia from one of them.

I forgot to take pics of the background. Nothing fancy....it's just a painted glass backround. I taped it off and sprayed on 3 coats of black spray paint. I then added some plants. he Wisteria, Jave Fern, and Alternanthera reineckii (red plant) from my 30gal and picked up a couple of additional plants. One of them is some type of sword and the others (on the right) are stem plants. I could use some help identifying either one of those.

With the addition of the plants, I should be pretty much instantly cycled. I'm going to dose some ammonia tonight and see what happens. As soon as it's ready, I can put my 3 "Betta Girls" in there. Hopefully, the cloudiness will be gone by then.


Details:
Tank: 7gallon MiniBow
Filtration: AquaClear 30 HOB
Lighting: Stock hood w/14W flourescent bulb (T8)
Substrate: Pool Filter Sand (PFS)
Decorations: Single piece of Malaysian Driftwood
Plants: Wisteria, Java Fern, Argentine Sword, Rotala rotundifolia, Alternanthera reineckii
Occupants: 3 Female Bettas aka "The Betta Girls", 2 Ghost Shrimp
Other: DIY Jello CO2 via fliter intake (2L), VisiTherm Stealth 50w heater

 

[Glenc]

That is a very cool little tank! Looks great now, only going to get better.

 

[plecoperson]

Wow-what a pretty tank. You have a real eye for composition.

Shame to lose the purpl-y gravel though-hope you saved it! 8O

 

[maxwell1295]

Well, the water cleared up overnight. Ammonia/nitrite were 0 in a little over 24hrs. Nitrate is at about 5-10ppm. I added the "Betta Girls" this afternoon along with 2 Ghost Shrimp from my 30gal tank.

So far, so good.....the girls are happy and the plants are doing well. I'm going to wait a while before adding 2 Otos to the tank. That would complete my stocking.

I mixed up a 2L batch of DIY Jello CO2, diffusing it through the AC30 intake. That will have to suffice until I get my pressurized system hooked up. A few updated pics....

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Very nicely done. Has a very soft, soothing look to it. Love it....

 

[rich311k]

Very nice. Looks great.

 

[maxwell1295]

Thanks for the comments. This is the first time I actually sat down and planned a layout ahead of time. I normally do these things on the fly and they don't turn out nearly as well. I kinda surpised myself with this one.

This has inspired me to tackle my next project, that mess of a 30gal tank I have. A substrate change (also to PFS) and re-scaping should be done by the weekend. I want to go for a similar look, but I'll need to add a lot more plants since it's a 30 long. The Minibow is almost square which gives it nice dimensions to work with. IMO long tanks are harder to make look good.

 

[czcz]

I love how rich and vibrant the color is. Won't the sword grow out the tank?

 

[maxwell1295]

I love how rich and vibrant the color is. Won't the sword grow out the tank?

It just may do that.....if so, I can always replace it with something else and put it in my 30gal. I got it from Petco. It was one of the plants they sell in the plastic containers. It's labled as an "Argentine Sword".

 

[severum mama]

I really really like what you have done with the tank. Great job!!! I'm sure the betta girls will appreciate all the plants. Looks like a nice place to grow out that sword plant for your 30 gallon.

 

[maxwell1295]

Thanks!

It looks like I may be doing just that...growing it out there before moving it to the bigger tank. The Betta Girls are very happy. The stress lines on two of them were gone almost immediately and the lines on the 3rd one went away in about 10 minutes. Even the 2 shrimp I moved over felt right at home.

 

[RoK]

Very nice. What's that red plant and the dark green one in front of the wood? My guess on the green one is some type of java fern?

 

[maxwell1295]

Java fern is correct. I had trouble IDing the red plant. I just learned that it is actually a Alternanthera reineckii "Roseafolia" and not a Ludwigia glandulosa.

 

[resiak]

Wow, your tank looks awesome!

What are you using for light?

Dan

 

[maxwell1295]

It's the stock 14W T8 florescent. I'm hoping I can get by without an upgrade, but I think I'll need one at some point. 2wpg is not very much light for such a small tank.

 

[maxwell1295]

A mini-update...

Removed the sword and swapped in some anubias. Added some micro sword. Swapped in some cabomba on the right side. Still looking into upgrading the lighting, but so far everything seems to be doing well.

 

[Glenc]

Your tank is looking very nice, ditto LWB's comment, it really does have a calming, relaxing effect!

 

[Wood_Dog]

Wow,very nice

 

[maxwell1295]

Thanks for the comments....

It looks nothing like that now.

I moved last weekend (a total of 5 running tanks plus a 1gal betta tank). I still haven't gotten it together yet. Right now there are is a male betta along with 4 neon tetras. The same piece of driftwood is there along with one anubias plant. It's pretty bare, but there are plants on order plus I will replant some clippings from other tanks.

 

[IceH2O]

How did you get the filter to hang on the tank back? I have an Eclipse and I HATE the filter. I want to add an AC most likely but I would need to cut the back out of the hood. Is this what you did?