Work Tank Revived

[dskidmore]

~Tank age - First set up 2-3 years ago, but recently completely overhauled after a period of abandonment while I was out of work.

~Did you convert from artificial?
I have not run artificial plants in my aquariums in over 10 years, no artificial wood in almost 10 years.

~Light specs
13 w CF Desk lamp

~Fertilizer's (if any)
None at present, but considering PMDD

~Special Substrates (Eco, Flourite, etc) - Just plain old paving sand, washed better on this tank than my big one.

~Species of plants
xmas moss
Dwarf water clover Marsilea minuta
A sccond clover, I forget the variety, larger than minuta
Petite nana Anubias barteri v. nana 'petite'
A second Anubias, I forget the variety, larger than nana
Cryptocoryne (I think Cryptocoryne parva)

~What inspired you to go planted?
My mother always had a green thumb I couldn't keep up with. Planted aquariums let me keep that bit of green around without having to remember to water them just right.

~Other
2.5 gallon tank, no heat or filtration. Inhabited primarily by snails.
The driftwood was a "Small" piece of Malaysian driftwood, that hubby snapped a third off for me. The fresh break looks interesting and is on the facing side.

Just replanted:


Besides the fact that I didn't have much material to start with on the foreground, I'm fairly happy with this. I may consider putting a larger variety of crypt behind the rock as a secondary focus.

I've had trouble before with the clover growing new leaves fine but the old leaves dying off. I'm considering doing fertilization this time around, or changing the lighting.

Opinions? Suggestions?

[HiJaC]

Hi,

Long time no comment from me .

Is this the reincarnation of the 2.5G unpowered freshwater you had at work?

I remember that from when i was most active on these forums a while ago...

Layout wise if i was being really piccy i would move the rock slightly to the right and the wood slightly to the left with the thick end slightly more to the front. Then stick the larger crypt behing the thick end of the wood to present a triangle layout. The crypt could even be allowed to shade out the Nana on the thick end a bit with its leaves coming over the top. Leaving the rest to slowly carpet with the clovers....

The photo is a touch small so i can't see where you put the moss. Is it across the top of the wood?

Is that mesh covering the back for a moss wall or external to the tank? a black or white background is more to my preference.

Didnt you have CO2 on the 2.5 before? Might be easier to use tiny daily doses of Excel with PMDD with a good stir to allow proper distribution to keep algae away and speed growth, and root tabs for the crypts.

Depends on how much you wanna spend really.

Best Regards,
John

[dskidmore]

Originally Posted by HiJaC

Is this the reincarnation of the 2.5G unpowered freshwater you had at work?

Yes. I lost my job in October, and the tank moved to a neglected corner of my home. To boot, the outlet near that neglected corner wouldn't accept my light timer, so the light cycle was messed up. I rescued the surviving plants (some of which I had already moved to a better maintained aquarium, some of which were still struggling under the algae mat) and washed the sand. The driftwood is new, the rock and moss wall base is from the previous incarnation.

Originally Posted by HiJaC

The crypt could even be allowed to shade out the Nana on the thick end a bit with its leaves coming over the top.

The crypts I have don't get quite that big. I have wendetti in the other tank I can import, but it grows more wide than tall, maybe up to 2" tall. To be behind the driftwood and shade out the Nana, it would have to be 4" tall. What variety would you recomend for that?

Originally Posted by HiJaC

The photo is a touch small so i can't see where you put the moss.

The moss is between the sheets of plastic canvas. It has yet to grow into it's own.

Here's a picture of the previous moss wall in it's prime to get an idea of what I'm aiming at:

Originally Posted by HiJaC

a black or white background is more to my preference.

I kind of like the moss wall, it is a unique character of this tank. (Even though it's a pain to trim.) There is actually a changable black/blue background behind that, but you can't see it through the moss wall.

Originally Posted by HiJaC

Didnt you have CO2 on the 2.5 before?

I briefly had DIY CO2 on it, but the bottle was tippy and I wasn't keeping up with the refueling, so I gave it up.

Originally Posted by HiJaC

Might be easier to use tiny daily doses of Excel with PMDD with a good stir to allow proper distribution to keep algae away and speed growth, and root tabs for the crypts.

That is something I'm considering. I think I'm low on some of my PMDD ingredients, but I have some dropper bottles around for dosing into the little tank. (I am now using one for Prime, since I buy Prime in big bottles for the 75 gallon tank anyway, and at my new workplace will frown on my having a brita at my desk for dechlorination. There are approximately 100 drops in 5 ml, which treats 50 gallons, so I only need a few drops with each water change.)

I'm really low on cash at the moment, but Excel does intrigue me. I may do some biochemistry research and see if I can concoct some PME. (Poor Man's Excel.)

On a news front: I made a bit of a mistake setting up the tank. I turned on the light before I finished filling the tank. A couple of the upper Nanas are a bit damaged from dehydration. I'm sure they'll grow out of it, but these old leaves will have to be trimmed off when there is enough new leaf to sustain the plant.

[HiJaC]

Originally Posted by dskidmore

I'm really low on cash at the moment, but Excel does intrigue me. I may do some biochemistry research and see if I can concoct some PME. (Poor Man's Excel.)

I really recommend you don't try and DIY it, it is full of a really nasty compound that is very toxic and used as a medical disinfectant under very strict supervision and health advice. Plus the costs of DIYing it will probably outweigh the cost of just buying a bottle.

There are two other brands of liquid carbon over here in Europe which are much cheaper then Excel. I use Easy Life Easycarbo but recent reading leads me to believe it is slightly more "dangerous" to fauna then the other two due to its higher concentration or different molecule (don't quote me on that I am making assumptions from a long discussion on the UKAPS forum).

Since the tank is so small a bottle of easycarbo should last you eons. I dose like 1ml a day on my 20L shrimp tank.

I think it works out like $15 for the bottle for over a year and a half carbon.....

Best Regards,
John

[dskidmore]

Originally Posted by HiJaC

I really recommend you don't try and DIY it, it is full of a really nasty compound that is very toxic and used as a medical disinfectant under very strict supervision and health advice.

I wasn't planning to use the same stuff as Excel, but look into other carbon sources that are easier to manage. I've got some on hand, but I have to look at bioavilability, dosages, possible side effects...

Don't worry, I'll be doing a ton of research before I spend any pennies or expose myself to any awful chemicals. It's more of a research project than a plan at this point.

[Purrbox]

That drift would should look absolutely marvelous once the Anubias Nana Petite grows in and takes it over. I look forward to more pictures as it ages.

As far as some Crypts to look at, I think some Cryptocoryne x willisii could be exactly what you're looking for height wise.

[dskidmore]

I tried moving the driftwood today, and found that I'd put the plants too close. I'm going to give it a month for the plants to recover from the first move before moving them again.

[dskidmore]

On the CO2 front: One reference claims that most plants can use calcium carbonate for CO2 if the ph is below 7.2. In the presence of atmospheric CO2 the plants will ditch the enzymes needed to use calcium carbonate and have to rebuild the enzymes from scratch. Algae makes the switch back and forth more easily and thrives in changing CO2 environments. Some have had success with low CO2 environments by reducing water changes (turbulence introduces CO2) and dosing at a level about 1/6 of the EI method.

I am not ready to go that route, as my new driftwood is turning the water brown and I want to keep up water changes until that is cleared up.