Adam's 10g Shrimp Build

[Aquatic_Adam]

Hey all!

Doing a reboot of my 5 tanks, and this is the first to go!

The goal with this tank, and all my tanks, is to create a low-mid light show aquarium. I want to do this so I can show new aquarists that you don't always need fancy and expensive equipment to have a tank you can be proud to show off. That being said, I did spend some money on equipment (cough*Finnex*cough).

The low down:

Hardware:
Tank - standard 10g you get from Petsmart (no fancy rimless here...yet )
Substrate - Flourite/Eco-Complete mix with Shrimp specific substrate (can't recall the name. Found on Amazon)
Lighting - Finnex FugeRay 20 inch. As an Electrical Engineer, green living enthusiast, and active aquarist, I cannot even explain how excited I am for the advent of LED lighting for this hobby. It's still pricey at the moment, but I will tell you that Finnex makes fine, fine products.
Filter - Fluval submersible filter

Fauna:
Red Cherry Shrimp
Crystal Black Shrimp
Amano Shrimp
Horned Nerite Snail

Flora:
Java Moss Wall
Fontanus Fissidens
Downoi
Rotala Wallichii
Blyxa Japonica (not so sure about this one)

Stay tuned for some hardscaping! Hopefully I'll get some of you aquascaping experts out there to chime in here's looking at you Dan, Brian, Bill, Rivercats

 

[DanTheGuppyMan]

Definitely following! By any chance, was the shrimp substrate you mentioned Fluval Shrimp Stratum? I know that's one the sell on Amazon. I so want to see how this moss wall turns out!!!! I want to make one in a 5.5 of mine. Can't wait to live vicariously trough this!

 

[Scottyhorse]

Following! I am going to make a moss wall in at least my 25 gal, possibly others!

This will be fun to watch

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

Haha... reporting for duty! Love the shout out roll call!

I'm biased and a sucker for LED's and almost anything innovative -- especially, when it's economical. Sure the Finnex may cost more upfront but they'll pay for themselves on your electronic bill and by not having to replace bulbs. But you guys already know that

And hooray for the downoi! One of my favorite plants in the hobby! Good choice!!!

 

[Aquatic_Adam]

Definitely following! By any chance, was the shrimp substrate you mentioned Fluval Shrimp Stratum? I know that's one the sell on Amazon. I so want to see how this moss wall turns out!!!! I want to make one in a 5.5 of mine. Can't wait to live vicariously trough this!

Nah, the Fluval substrate was in Amazon, but I saw a few poor reviews about how it wasn't helping lower pH and how people couldn't keep more advanced Shrimp in there. I actually bought the U.P. Aqua Shrimp substrate. My friend bought it a couple weeks back and has had success with his Crystal Blacks.

I found a website that made a simple (yet a little bit tedious) way of using a tank divider as the base for the Moss wall that I really wanted to try. I have an over abundance of Java Moss so I figured why not!

 

[Aquatic_Adam]

Following! I am going to make a moss wall in at least my 25 gal, possibly others!

This will be fun to watch

Glad to have you here always looking for more opinions from great aquarist such as yourself.

 

[Aquatic_Adam]

Haha... reporting for duty! Love the shout out roll call!

I'm biased and a sucker for LED's and almost anything innovative -- especially, when it's economical. Sure the Finnex may cost more upfront but they'll pay for themselves on your electronic bill and by not having to replace bulbs. But you guys already know that

And hooray for the downoi! One of my favorite plants in the hobby! Good choice!!!

Haha the problem with the roll call, is I always miss somebody!

Glad to have you here Brian! Looking forward to some of the insight I can take from you.

I haven't kept Downoi yet, but it has definitely been high in my list of wants. The problem right now is finding where to order it from. I usually order from AquariumPlants.com but they only get it in every so often and Augusta only has one real LFS...

 

[Aquatic_Adam]

First hardscape update:

Set my stones. For all you new fish keepers out there, these stones are your cheap slate that you can find at the LFS. They may not be as awesome looking as Seiryu Stone but can be effective.

That being said, I have never been great at hardscaping. Give me some plants and I can do some work though



Please pay no mind to the horrendous background. Painted it black when it was a different tank. One problem about paint as compared to putting up black paper: permanent.

My plan is to have Rotala Wallichii in the back left behind the spires. Downoi will be front left going towards the middle. I want a sharp plant like Blyxa to be back right as that stone is very flat. The big, flat stone itself will be covered by Fontanus Fissidens. And again, the background wall will be covered by a Java Moss wall instead of that horrendous paint job

Gladly take some opinions, suggestions, complaints.

 

[Aquatic_Adam]

Does anyone know if you can dissect the Marimo Moss balls? I'd like to use them as a carpet in this tank because the ball isn't going to fit into what I got going on.

 

[Billbug68]

Yay! I'm included in the roll call! Reporting for duty Adam!

 

[Billbug68]

The hardscape looks good so far. My only problem with it being the tall rock on the back left looks really out of place. I think you should angle it so it points towards the middle top or the left top. I'll post a link that is really helpful in organizing hardscape so that it is pleasing to the eye.

Also, if you still can, I'd empty the tank and repaint the background.... That square is really bothering me... Haha

EDIT: well I guess if you're gonna have a moss wall just leave the paint, and that rock I was talking about definitely should be angled toward the top black left corner of the tank. IMO

 

[Billbug68]

http://www.thegreenmachineonline.co...position-the-golden-ratio-creating-perspectiv

Also, for the carpet, it would be cool to see you use some marsilea minuta. Haven't really seen anyone on here grow a successful carpet with it yet.

 

[Aquatic_Adam]

http://www.thegreenmachineonline.com/articles/tips-techniques/aquatic-layout-guide-rules-composition-the-golden-ratio-creating-perspectiv

Also, for the carpet, it would be cool to see you use some marsilea minuta. Haven't really seen anyone on here grow a successful carpet with it yet.

Thanks Bill for that link! I'll definitely have to read up on it.

Yeah, the back wall is reeeeally bothering me too. The sooner I can get my Moss wall up, the better The best part is. I don't have to drain the tank, I painted the outside

 

[Aquatic_Adam]

Ok. So after reading the very informative article from Bill (thank you again), I decided that the "triangle" feel to a tank is what I'd like to go for.

I removed the big, flat rock from the corner. I then moved the 3 rock structure a little more in the center and angled the big rock in the back to the top right. I wanted to draw a little design from the Sydney Opera House.



The plant idea is this. Blyxa back right. I have about 5 stems coming (or at least I think it's 5). The rock that is sitting in the middle right is there for a place for me to attach my Fontanus Fissidens or Flame Moss (a la Brian) to. In front of there, I want to take my Marimo Moss ball and slice it up to make a nice carpet. In front of the rocks, I want to have some Downoi and then behind the rocks will be Rotala Wallichii.

Again, always open for ideas! Thanks guys.

 

[Aquatic_Adam]

Still seems a bit lacking as I look at it. Darn.

 

[Karay]

That look sharp!

 

[FishingMouse]

Still seems a bit lacking as I look at it. Darn.

I found that driftwood is a nice filler, and you can attach Anubias and such to it. That's what I did, it helped fill some spaces and looks really nice!

 

[Billbug68]

Do you have extra substrate? I like it. You gotta picture the final product! Haha. I think, if you have extra substrate, add a bit of a slope to the right back side so it follows that line you created with the rocks. IMO the blyxa should go behind the rocks. Once it fills out it will have a real cool natural look. I love the look of blyxa, can't wait to grow it one day!

 

[Aquatic_Adam]

That look sharp!

Thank you hopefully when the plants come in I'll see it the same way you do haha

 

[Aquatic_Adam]

I found that driftwood is a nice filler, and you can attach Anubias and such to it. That's what I did, it helped fill some spaces and looks really nice!

I agree with you there, although I'm trying to refrain from DW in this tank. I've never really stone-scaped before.