Bert's 30G Planted adventure.

[Bert2oo1]

So just finished the scape. Not very impressed with it to be honest. Was a little disappointed that it didn't work out the way I pictured it in my head haha

But it gives a lot more hiding places and gives Oscar a lot more swim room. (He's been hurting himself on things laterly.)

Went from this:

To this:

 

[Fresh2o]

Made abit of an ornament out of some pipe and a rectangle pot about a week or so ago. It's for the 120g, it will provide a hiding place for my Texas cichlid as he tends to try and hide under my spray bar.( the reason for the height)
Also a cave underneath or either my pleco or the jack dempsy .

The front will be covered by a piece of driftwood and the red pot will be completely covered over with gravel substrate.

Doesn't look like much at the moment but I think once it's scaped in it should look good

View attachment 291333View attachment 291334

Stay tuned for new scape

I like the rock tube cave thing. To hide the white PVC in the gaps, you could apply a thin layer of (aquarium safe) clear silicone and then sprinkle it with sand or brown gravel. Perhaps a bit too late, but a coat of black spray paint along the inner surfaces may make it more inviting.

 

[Bert2oo1]

I like the rock tube cave thing. To hide the white PVC in the gaps, you could apply a thin layer of (aquarium safe) clear silicone and then sprinkle it with sand or brown gravel. Perhaps a bit too late, but a coat of black spray paint along the inner surfaces may make it more inviting.

100% agree, the wood didn't really fit how I thought it would and sort of consumes the cave abit. Doesn't really look anything like I thought it would haha.

Think I'll have abit of a fiddle through the week and try and make it look abit cleaner. Sort of looks abit thrown together at the moment. Trying to maximise hiding and swim room, it will just end up a rock hard scape once the Texas gets bigger.

Appreciate your input

 

[Bert2oo1]

So I've got this little 2g cube... I'm considering an attempt at maybe a nano scape? Something like rastamans tank. I'd be taking this extremely slow to make sure I got the scape right.

I have a few questions for anyone who has done something in similar size.

Tank will have no fish or shrimp etc.

How would I filter this thing? Do I even need one if I'm doing 50% weekly changes.

Would excel be fine for the co2?

Should I get a small LED for it or could I manage with a desk lamp with a 6500k globe? Or even sunlight?

Thinking plants would be things like HC Cuba maybe some ST repens and some hair grass.



Any help with this little project would be great!
Thanks guys!

 

[Caliban07]

So I've got this little 2g cube... I'm considering an attempt at maybe a nano scape? Something like rastamans tank. I'd be taking this extremely slow to make sure I got the scape right.

I have a few questions for anyone who has done something in similar size.

Tank will have no fish or shrimp etc.

How would I filter this thing? Do I even need one if I'm doing 50% weekly changes.

Would excel be fine for the co2?

Should I get a small LED for it or could I manage with a desk lamp with a 6500k globe? Or even sunlight?

Thinking plants would be things like HC Cuba maybe some ST repens and some hair grass.

View attachment 291391

Any help with this little project would be great!
Thanks guys!

I'd give Rastaman a pm and try to rob some of his techniques. [emoji4]

 

[Bert2oo1]

I'd give Rastaman a pm and try to rob some of his techniques. [emoji4]

I'm actually really excited to have a go at it. Aslong as I can do it without any expense (apart from some cheapo light).

I've got some bluestone in the front yard I can chip bits off and I've got fluval stratum left over from my 30g and black Quartz sand left over from an old build.

Also I think my in laws still have a nano heater I gave them ages back so I'll be stealing that back

Just looking for something to play with since I can't fiddle with my tank at the moment

 

[Caliban07]

Are you using pressurised or liquid?

 

[Bert2oo1]

Are you using pressurised or liquid?

Id be going liquid, my reg on the currently tank only just runs the inline so I'd be mad to split the line. I'd have to get a twin outlet for it but I don't want to spend any $$.

I'm thinking excel should be fine due to the size and the plants I'd be keeping.

Rasta gave me some good advice, gave me a link to a tiny HOB that's about $10 also no need for water changes as there will be no fish etc.

PPS pro is better for the smaller tanks too apparently so I'd be making up a mix for that

 

[Caliban07]

Jobs a gudden. Good luck [emoji106][emoji2]

 

[Bert2oo1]

Jobs a gudden. Good luck [emoji106][emoji2]

Thanks like I said will be a very slow project. If I slap it together with any sort of speed then I know I won't be happy with it.

Should be a fun one though!

 

[Bert2oo1]

So I told the other half about my plans to do this small tank and she was abit funny about it. I've got my birthday coming up in 2 weeks and my present looks a lot like the shape of a fluval v spec. I may have cracked the code time will tell I guess!

 

[Bert2oo1]

Had some spare time today so decided to have a go at the hardscape. Not sure if I'm 100% happy with it yet. I'll see how I feel about it after looking at it for a few days.

Tank size is 2g, 22cm/22/24.

Haven't brought any hardware yet, however I can get a job for $15 and a light for about $25 so I might get them in the new few weeks once I'm happy

still deciding on plants. I'm thinking ST repens, some kind of moss (maybe willow?), I've got plenty of baby tears so thinking maybe some of them aswell. HC could even be an option?

Plan is to keep it simple and try and make the scape "pop" with plant placement etc.

Any opinions/ideas are always welcome.

 

[Fresh2o]

No opinions on this but looking forward to what becomes of this nano tank!

 

[Bert2oo1]

No opinions on this but looking forward to what becomes of this nano tank!

Thanks fresh. I've never had any experience with nano tanks so I'm looking forward to the challenge

 

[Bert2oo1]

In other news my 30g is struggling abit at the moment. I've had a big bloom of BBA and also I've noticed abit of hair algae. Abit of GSA on the glass again.

I'd say my nitrates are getting abit high so I'll be dropping back to 1g kno3 instead of 1.5g (back to what I used to dose) however I'll be keeping phosphates at 4x dosage.

I've got my work cut out for me with the BBA as it seems to be on basically every rock and the drift wood and also a few small bits on the plants.

 

[Caliban07]

In other news my 30g is struggling abit at the moment. I've had a big bloom of BBA and also I've noticed abit of hair algae. Abit of GSA on the glass again.

I'd say my nitrates are getting abit high so I'll be dropping back to 1g kno3 instead of 1.5g (back to what I used to dose) however I'll be keeping phosphates at 4x dosage.

I've got my work cut out for me with the BBA as it seems to be on basically every rock and the drift wood and also a few small bits on the plants.

Hate that stuff. I can't really remember how I got rid of it in my 46. It's not like I could attribute it to one thing. It was a collection of changes that got shut of the vast majority of it but there would always be few tufts hanging on here and there. It does love driftwood IME.

The nano looks great bud. Really excited about this one.

 

[Bert2oo1]

Hate that stuff. I can't really remember how I got rid of it in my 46. It's not like I could attribute it to one thing. It was a collection of changes that got shut of the vast majority of it but there would always be few tufts hanging on here and there. It does love driftwood IME.

The nano looks great bud. Really excited about this one.

Yea it's a pain, it's always been there just not as bad as it is now. Co2 isn't my issue, so it has to be the extra nitrate dosing. Haven't had as much algae as this for a long time.
I'll tidy it up on the weekend and hopefully it won't come back.

Ordered my hob for the nano and got my nano heater back so it will be up and running soon, Maybe around Christmas time?

How's your tank getting on?

 

[Caliban07]

Yea it's a pain, it's always been there just not as bad as it is now. Co2 isn't my issue, so it has to be the extra nitrate dosing. Haven't had as much algae as this for a long time.
I'll tidy it up on the weekend and hopefully it won't come back.

Ordered my hob for the nano and got my nano heater back so it will be up and running soon, Maybe around Christmas time?

How's your tank getting on?

I'll update my thread. Few issues I'm looking in to at the moment.

 

[Bert2oo1]

So I'm going with Java moss, HC Cuba, glosso, ST repens for the nano.

HC and glosso is on its way should get it early next week. Hob is on its way so should be here at the end of week and so will my lighting.

Need to go to my lfs to get the moss so I might get that next week too.

I'll be dry starting as I've never done it before and would like to try it out.

I'll post some pictures after I do abit of planting etc.

 

[Bert2oo1]

Had a big day yesterday cleaning the tank. Had to scrub some BBA off the driftwood and scrub the glass to get rid of the GSA. I decided to remove a plant that was slowly getting over run by hair algae.

I've since knocked my kno3 dosing back to what I was dosing originally, as I believe this is what caused the bloom.

Had to trim the baby tears back a lot as they were about 60cm long

Hair grass is starting to spread nicely and my ST repens carpet is coming along nicely. AR mini is getting there but fairly slow growing.

My plan is still to continue to grow this thing out so a few months to go yet

Few pics