Trenna's first "OPP" tank

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trennamw

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Joined
Apr 2, 2014
Messages
1,682
Location
Portland, OR
On Purpose Planted, that is.

---On hand ...

10 gallon "no mommy I don't want a new betta I want a gerbil" tank. Algae city.

Generic hood with a "sunlight" bulb, likely power source for algae city.

Cheapie filter.

Black "Carib Sea" sand, very pretty but inert.

Pirate ship, barrels, pirate chest. Yeah. No.

Giant mass of Java moss (descendants of a few threads I decided to "nurture" off some plants from Fresh20) ... A few random stem plants probably destined for my big tank.

Lots of baby Java fern, and anubias from my bigger tank.

-----For sure:

No CO2 except Excel.

Heavily planted.

Slow methodical build.

Gotta figure out which bulbs are appropriate.

Remember tank won't get food Saturday or Sunday (office tank)

Wild-ish nature style tank.

-----Maybes:

Dirt.

ADA Amazonia.

Walstad type but kicked up a notch (a few dry ferts per a Tom Barr recipe)

School of Danio Tinwinii (Gold Ring Danio, super tiny guys)

Or a very cool Betta.

Or other nano fish (LFS is The Wet Spot, Portland)

Or interesting shrimp. Tap Water here is extremely soft.

I'm fascinated by the thought of dry starting something.


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Following this build for sure.
Glad you still have some of the moss I sent. It probably came from this tank:
T5MOXd4.png
This has mostly crypts and moss. Zero care. Root tabs (I still have some of the ones you sent me) occasionally. No CO2, Excel, ferts. Pretty weak lighting (when this tank was running): dual T-8 normal output.
I've switched to almost no substrate, moss only (although subwassertang has been taking over). Again, no ferts, CO2, or excel. I have a pretty strong light (Finnex 24/7) set at its lowest setting (10%).
IeK8mUMh.jpg

I've put HC Cuba (dwarf baby tears) and Glosso in terrariums as a dry start attempt. Usually not necessary except for high light and/or demanding plants. But it is fun to see aquatic plants take on an emerged form.
I was going to suggest a pair or 13w or 23w CFLs but since this is a not in the home, you might want something more eye appealing.


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Finally getting started!

I need to clean the tank, it's thoroughly algae-d over.

PetSmart today had a lot of gel packs 50% off today, they weren't even brown. I arrived at closing so impulsively grabbed ...

Dwarf hair grass
Dwarf Rotalia
Cyperus helferi
Crypt undulata "red"

The crypts may go into my big tank, as it is lower light, and I may pull some Rubin red swords out and put them in this 10. We shall see!

I grabbed a bag of Floramax. I can get ADA Aquasoil across town, and the tank has beautiful Tahitian moon sand.

The thought at the moment is to dry start the plants I got today, since they're emersed now and that'll give the dwarf hair grass a chance to start. I know many try and fail with this one but for four bucks it's worth a shot.

Tonight I'll be watching season 3 of The Vikings and separating out the gel packs, pulling the dead leaves off, getting everything into a fresh container with some aquarium water.

I need a stand for the tank, lol. Just a teeny bit cart-before-horse but half priced plant packs that are almost fully green is really something!



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I was going to suggest a pair or 13w or 23w CFLs but since this is a not in the home, you might want something more eye appealing.


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I probably will use two 13w CFLs, in a full spectrum type. That's what I initially had in this tank (GE Reveal brand), lightly planted, and it seemed to be too much. It'll be in a corner in my cubicle that's a little dark.


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And further impulse buys complicating the plan ... Thank you Craigslist.

In seeking a different size used aquarium for a DIY gerbil habitat, I ended up with a "four tanks for $25, if you come now and take them all" thing.

One of the tanks is a stunning12 gallon rimless bow front, brand new.

I'm justifying the fact that I'm now going to have to get a light by the fact that a 17 gallon seamless front was in the lot ... I have some spare filters and a heater and stuff, so I figure I can sell them as a package and use the proceeds for a light.

It's a good thing I'm single ... Nobody to point out flaws in my chain of logic ...

Tomorrow I'll try to find the subscriptions page so I can post the pics of the tank, and the lava rocks I have on hand for the project.


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Don't deny that little voice in your head saying "set up all four tanks"

That little voice is never wrong.
 
Yay! It's "struggling with the hardscape" day!

I found some spider wood at LFS this weekend, and washed off the interesting volcanic rocks I picked up last time I was back in my old home town ...

And can't figure out what to do with them.

ImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1468379513.948958.jpg
Attempt one ... Would work better if I had something very low growing I'm sure, like moss, for the cracks. But it looks a little contrived to me.

ImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1468379563.728091.jpg
Attempt two, I think this is "what not to do with rocks"

ImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1468379602.789631.jpgImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1468379618.873324.jpg
Two of attempt three. I can't tell whether I love this one or find it completely bleh.

The rocks themselves are mostly thin curved pieces because they they flaked off a larger Boulder. I love being able to see the perfectly round bubbles in them.

I'm usually really good at this but the rocks don't lend themselves to looking natural when they're standing up.

I presume I need more substrate, it's less than 1" in some spots.

I thought I was clever lining up root tabs under the substrate ...

ImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1468379915.365652.jpg

... But when I poured it in it pushed all the root tabs to the corner. So I fished them out to add later. They're osmocote DIY tabs, the littler size.

Off to look at scapes on Pinterest and hope some of you have some thoughts!


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Trenna's first "OPP" tank

No pirate chest? :(

Yeah, usually really like rocks but not sure. Maybe three clusters of rocks or something is my thought. (And maybe one of those spare tanks set up next to it for contrast ;) ).
 
Yeah I think I need to simplify. Branches AND rocks AND plants is a bit much.

Probably will go very asymmetrical like 1, so I have space for interesting plants. I can always add more rocks in later.

All the examples I see are rocks that are conical or pyramidal, so they look normal standing there poking up. Or they are very flat and stacked. These rocks are almost like plates, flattish and thin and curved.

I don't have to use these rocks it's just sentimental.

Probably should start thinking about the stand too, no?


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Yeah I think I need to simplify. Branches AND rocks AND plants is a bit much.

Probably will go very asymmetrical like 1, so I have space for interesting plants. I can always add more rocks in later.

All the examples I see are rocks that are conical or pyramidal, so they look normal standing there poking up. Or they are very flat and stacked. These rocks are almost like plates, flattish and thin and curved.

I don't have to use these rocks it's just sentimental.

Probably should start thinking about the stand too, no?


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I like that idea of just simplifying a little. I must confess I'm terrible at it. I need to remove some equipment from the tank to make space and have been avoiding that for weeks :(

I did like the last couple of photos more but could see it looking nice anyways when grown in.
 
I did like the last couple of photos more but could see it looking nice anyways when grown in.


I did too!! It just felt like I didn't leave room for plants. I don't have short plants.

I don't usually struggle with this -- I know my golden ratio -- but the tank size and rock shape are challenging. And I'm already quite over budget ;)

Gonna replace a polishing pad out of my big tank's canister filter tonight, so I have some good "yuck" to squeeze into the bottom of the tank tomorrow, and just start planting. The plants need to go in one way or another, soon. They're hanging in a dish of water ATM.


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Made some progress tonight. Just had to get the plants in.

There's a spot for a dramatic something ... Ozelot sword? African water fern? In the back right corner with rocks in front and the cyperus helferi behind.

(Pardon my spelling)

We shall see if the dwarf hair grass survives on the hill. I cut it all way back and noticed pieces in the "discards" were trying to be runners, so I tossed them in to see if any root.

Rotalia back left to middle, red crypt undulata here and there.

I have a bunch of baby Java fern at home, just need to pick a foreground plant and probably some exotic moss for the cracks on the terracing.

Took the wood out, got the light on, and the Saran Wrap. Water level is just below the substrate.

Hope everyone is still nice and damp in the morning when I get back to the office!

(Shoot I'm going to be away for the weekend. Should I bring up the water level then take it down later?)

Stand is likely to be a Brooklyn from petco, or a small table from home.


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Weeeellllll ... Not much obvious growth, but did get some mold. Going to try the H2O2 thing, but might skip ahead to the H2O thing and fill it up ...

Going to get the PetSmart Brooklyn stand and since I work in countertops, I'll have some shelves made that fit it and a topper that is the shape of the tank. Too bad Quartz (17 pounds per square foot) would make it too top heavy! We have really beautiful stuff. Will probably use a black Corian.


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Corian is a 1/2" thick material used to make countertops.

Probably this color ... Sorrel

ImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1469845843.194760.jpg

I'd rather use this but it would add 40 lbs to the top of the stand and only 18 to the bottom.

http://www.cambriausa.com/Designs/design-palette/ellesmere/

ImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1469845772.290499.jpg

I threw some osmocote fertilizer into the spray bottle and hit the mold with peroxide. The water level came down and the molded plants dried and died, but there are new shoots coming out below that spot. It'll be interesting to see what's up in a week.


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How tall is the stand? Are you concerned about it being top heavy? IMO the 40 lbs is not that much considering the weight of the tank and its contents.
I've been doing some dry start of my own but using soil, dwarf baby tears, a pair of make shift terrariums, and a windowsill. The good news: nice growth and no mold. The bad news: I will have to lift them up out of the soil and plant them in the tank. Kind of defeats the purpose. However, I will be tying them to stainless steel squares with fishing line.


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I'll be curious to hear how that goes!

It's this stand

http://m.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/petco-brooklyn-metal-tank-stand-10-gallons

I want to add a shelf to the bottom, middle, and top. On top it will be wider than the top of the stand, since it's a 12 gallon bow front (the arc is 12" deep". 12 gallon tank plus Quartz that weighs 18 pounds per square foot ...

I can check our remnant stock for 2cm material, which would weigh about 12 pounds per square foot, but I'm skeptical about cracking the Quartz. Granite would be very beautiful but cracks if you look at it funny.

The tank is against a plywood cubicle partition, I'll anchor it some, but still.

My weight calculation is rough ... I'll look at it once more after I have it templated and can figure the area, and check our stock.


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