Yet another office pico tank log -- New pics 9/20/07

[majolo]

Just starting to set up a cute little tank I found a while back.

Pictures to start:



Dry tank, sizing up a piece of driftwood (decided it was too big, so this dw is currently in my 10g betta tank, and I have a smaller piece that will be in the pico).
(And excuse the hideous picture quality, I had no clue how to use my camera then. )





Tank in office, with substrate and water. Room lights.





Room lights off, tank light on. Gotta get a lint remover for the glass.


Stats:
Tank: RedSea Melody Aquavase, volume about 2 gallons nominal.

Filter: Azoo Mignon Power Filter 60, max 16gph (they claim).

Lighting: Galaxy compact fluorescent lamp, 13W.

Heater: None. The office stays at a suitable stable temperature for shrimp, the only intended inhabitants.

Substrate: Red Flint pool filter sand.

The Plan:
There will be a hunk of driftwood, probably with some kind of moss on it. I'd like to try some floating plants, and Anubias nana petite if I can get some. Oak leaf litter on the substrate.

I know it's a small tank to have any animals in, but I'm going to try a few red cherry shrimp. I have a 10g cherry shrimp colony, so if they show signs of distress they will go back home to that tank, and this will be a plants-only tank.

Any tips on cycling a tank this small?

Finally, here is a tank to inspire me/us: Link.

[theotheragentm]

Wow, I love the tank shape.

[Atl300zx]

Originally Posted by theotheragentm

Wow, I love the tank shape.

2nd. it love the bottom

[rich311k]

Neat little tank.

[majolo]

I've got the oak leaves and driftwood soaking. I'm starting to think about mosses now. I'm sick of Java moss, so I want to try something different. Looking on Aquabid, I really like the look of some of the Fissidens species I see there. Does anyone here keep this? I'd like something that stays more compact or bushy. The Java moss I've done on driftwood just grows straight up and looks stringy. Here is someone's beautiful shrimp tank with some Fissidens on driftwood. It would be nice if it could attach to pebbles too, I'd like to have some scattered on the floor.

[7Enigma]

The tank is pretty neat but gravity will win in a couple days I'm willing to bet. Maybe if you can get a carpet of plant such as glosso the roots might help to prevent the "erosion" but otherwise its all going to move to the left into the pit.

As for cycling tips you will probably have a good bit of your biological filter in the substrate so the easiest way would be if you already have this PFS in another tank. Just rinse the seasoned sand in some used tank water to get all the loose debris out and you should be well on your way to a very quick cycle.

Also check with your building's maintainence department. MANY businesses turn off their heat/AC on the weekends or overnight and in such a small tank you could have quite a temp swing. I'm lucky that my cubicle area at work is always kept at a consistent temp (unless we lose power) but a lot of places do not.

[majolo]

For a minute when you said gravity's going to win I thought you were predicting water all over the floor! Anyway, I know what you mean. We'll see where the sand is after the weekend. I just turned on the filter for the first time and it's excavated a nice pit under the outflow. Maybe I'll put a pile of pebbles there and then try to establish ground cover on the rest of the sand...

So let's talk ground cover. I was thinking about Hemianthus callitrichoides. Do you think that would work? And there are mosses I could try on the substrate too.

I don't have PFS in any other tanks (yet), so I'll probably put a bag of old filter media in this tank when I move the shrimp in. I did the same in my 10g shrimp tank and they liked picking at it so much I never had the heart to move it out. It won't be permanent here though, this tank is supposed to actually look nice!

And yes, I've checked on the temp.

Thanks for the comments, everyone.

[Purrbox]

I keep Fissidens among several other varieties of moss. It tends to be both compact and bushy. I've just sort of let it grow without much trimming. You could influence it to be more compact with more trimming.

I'm not sure if you have enough light for HC, but it would be worth a try. I would definately recommend dosing Excel along with Macro and Micro Nutrients. Without these it's not likely to do well, especially with less than ideal lighting.

Cherry Red Shrimp should be fine in the tank as long as it's to their liking. I'd be more concerned about them multiplying too rapidly and over populating it.

[majolo]

Driftwood is in. Here's a few orientations I played around with:




B and C have the wood leaning on the back wall. A has the gnarly side up, which is nice, but I'm leaning towards E, which has a cave-like overhang.

[theotheragentm]

I don't think you can go wrong with any of the choices.