Setting up a new Cory tank 90g

[Tropical Aquarist]

Cool! Are you looking for a floating plant? I love frogbit, it has slightly larger leaves(about 1") compared to duckweed and much nicer roots!

Do you have a full front tank shot?

 

[scarthell]

I decided to go with giant hair grass. I also put a large portion of hornwort into the tank for surface cover.

I found a great cholla wood source (easy being in arizona - got over 10 feet for $10) and have an idea. I'm removing most of the dwarf lily bulbs to another tank and am going to surround each giant hairgrass pot with cholla wood. 5 plant pots total, creating a sort of cholla wood city scape for my shrimp.

Does anyone know if I MUST remove the plants from the rockwool?

Also, how long will the cholla wood last underwater? Once the grass grows through it, I'm wondering how hard it will be to replace the wood.

Most importantly, will the giant hairgrass grow under medium lighting?

Pictures soon. Thanks folks!



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[Autumnsky]

As far as I am aware, you do not HAVE to remove the rockwool It is a growing medium and the plants roots might have a little issue growing through the basket and through the Cholla but after it gets growing it shold be fine getting into the substrate.

My hair grass died with lower medium light. It was a bit to the back corner. But make sure it is as close to right under the brightest part of the light possible.

You could always add a daylight spot light (clamp lights are economical) with a plant proper K rating to give it a boost. Probably get the bulb for $5 and the clamp light for ~$10. (used for maybe $2. thrift store, yard sale, or habitat for humanity ReStore)

The Cholla pot idea is great. It is hard to find nice sized Cholla with a diamerter of 2-4". Maybe an idea for supplemental income for all of us NOT living in AZ.

Oh and it does last for years - had some for 3 years.

 

[scarthell]

Awesome advice thank you! One thing though, will boiling the wood make it sink faster? I've had the cholla soaking for at least a week and it's all still floating. I've changed the water everyday to get rid of the tannins and such, I'm just curious how long it will take as I can't put it in the tank until it's sinking.

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[Tropical Aquarist]

Good question, it might, you'll have to try it out!

 

[Fresh2o]

I did not boil the cholla wood but let it float in the tank. It floated for about a week or two then slowly started to sink. You can soak it in a bucket of water if you don't want to hear it clank-clank around the tank (while it's still floating around).


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[Autumnsky]

You can add some stones against it or tie them on to hold it down (cut them off later). I had some that floated forever it seemed. It was an odd shape half so maybe not too heavy, the Betta liked it.

 

[scarthell]

I'm still trying to figure a way to tie the wood down with rock but the manner in which I secured them together makes it interesting. I might have luck sticking a stone into each piece. in the pic you can see they are tied together in a circle more or less, where I'll place a plant in the center. So I'm trying to get the entire structure to sink

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[scarthell]

Cholla circle

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[Autumnsky]

You could try a slice of slate attached with a stainless screw and / or some silicone.

Or file a dent in the sides of the slate across /opposite eachother, using the indentation to hold the thread / string in place to tie it arond the Cholla. Depends on the extent of kinds of tools you have access to. Thinking out loud.

 

[scarthell]

So I just stuck a small stone into each peice and they sink just fine! Now I've got to soak them until there isn't as much tannin leaking and I'm good to go. Updates with pictures will come after I've installed them

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[Autumnsky]

Can't wait to see how it comes together!

 

[scarthell]

I placed a root tab under each plant then covered them with some sand. Hopefully the grass takes off. It will look really good in a few months.

Also I'm going to add a dozen or so shrimp from my 55gal to help start the "shrimp cholla village"...or I'm going to buy new ones.. Just not sure what color would look best. The ones I have are(were) blue, but most have been maturing to a reddish brown color. I'm thinking a really dark shrimp would look cool.

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[Autumnsky]

That looks great! Make sure you push the tabs down 2.5-3 inches. That helps prevent cloudiness.

Orange Sakura are nice. There are so many choices!!!

 

[scarthell]

Yeah the tabs should be covered nicely, they are underneath the 2 inch pots and the pots are covered in sand.

With colored shrimp, does it depend on the type I get if I want them to stay that color? I was disappointed when I realized I wasn't getting blue shrimp anymore (though I still love the little guys)

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[Tropical Aquarist]

Wow great job! Love the scape!!

Amano shrimp would be cool, the orange might blend in too much with the sand...

 

[Autumnsky]

Yes, it happens to matter. Neocaridina aka Neos vs. Caridina.

If you have Neos, Blue Velvet for example, and you end up with another blue kind seemingly the same (blue shrimp) but not really, they can breed because they are both Neos, but the breeding causes crosses in the line of shrimp. The certain lines of special color shrimp are refined and selectively bred for color and features, when a differing shrimp gets in it can mess up the color line breeding.

If you have certain kinds /lines of shrimp - say Blue Diamond, they can have offspring of differing colors, dark or medium blue, brown, bronze, purple-ish. Those are then culled for the color the breeders are looking for.

 

[scarthell]

Wow great job! Love the scape!!

Amano shrimp would be cool, the orange might blend in too much with the sand...

Thanks! I'm enjoying it as well. Just makes me want another tank tho!

I like Amano shrimp except that they won't reproduce...which makes me hesitant. Still though I was thinking a few bamboo shrimp and Amano shrimp would be good additions.

I think for now I'll stick with adding from the colony I already have and consider some Amano and bamboo(wood?) shrimp.

I tried out bamboo shrimp before but they didn't survive. That was over a year ago in a different tank. If I can get them on a deal I might go for it again.

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