Four Leaf Clover Tank

[liberator123]

This is going to be a small sized iwagumi style 5.5g tank. Going to have four leaf clovers as the main plants. marsilea minuta, marsilea hirsuta, marsilea quadrifolia.
So, whats the difference between the three? I was thinking because m. hirsuta was called dwarf four leaf clover, I will have that as the foreground.
So far I have m.quadrifolia (which was extra from an order that i made before) growing on my 5.5g tank. The tank so far just have extra plants that I didn't use on my main tank. I wont make a move till I know exactly what to do.
Things I have/will have:
-2x 10watt t8 tubes as lighting (still incoming shipment)
-dark fluorite substrate and sand
-What filter is good to use? It needs to be small and easily hideable. The 1 im using atm is the tetra whisper 10i, which is way too bulky and distracting.
-Im not going to use a Co2 system, but will be adding seachem flourish excell.
-Osmocote fertilizers
-m. quadrifolia
-m. hirsuta
-no rocks yet, still looking. and I may or may not add a driftwood tree (should I?)

should I do betta+shrimps? or a school of small fish? im not sure which small schooling fish is good for a 5.5g (and how many?)

 

[Mebbid]

I would do a betta and some RCS in that tank. There aren't really any good schools of fish you could do in a 5.5g tank.

I love the look of the sand but it might be a good idea to put some curves into it. Think of something like a winding river. I really think distorting the shape of it would help in an aesthetic sense.

 

[liberator123]

yep i think i like the winding river idea. Ill be able to accomplish that by adding small rocks and changing the shape a bit. I might change the fluorite with eco complete too (just to try it out cuz i never used eco complete before).

 

[Mebbid]

I would give the sand size eco complete a try. I think the black / white contrast would look even better than the brown of the flourite.

What are you using to keep the sand divided from the flourite?

 

[liberator123]

im using a cutout of plexiglass. i might have to make a new cutout of plexiglass (glued together) to get the distorted shape. im kind of unsure how... maybe like any of this? unless you can give me the shape you had in mind?

 

[Mebbid]

I would go with the second design myself.

As soon as I saw the sand in your tank something like this immediately came to mind to me.

 

[liberator123]

Oh, now i see what you mean. and I LIKE it. So im gonna go with the second designed but thinner in the sand and more curvy.

 

[liberator123]

Which is smaller? marsilea minuta or hirsuta?
Some google searches say minuta is the smallest, is this true? So i should make that as my foreground?
m. quad will be background
m. hirsuta will be midground
m. minuta will be foreground
sound about right?

 

[liberator123]

my lights came in the mail today. its 2x t8 10 watts 6500k. time to start making my customized hood fixture!

 

[liberator123]

made my customized mini sponge filter! i even put ceramic media filter inside the pipe. i hope it works lol.

 

[Mebbid]

That's an interesting design. It might be a good idea to put a small bag of purigen into in tube rather than the ceramic rings.

 

[liberator123]

im not sure what purigen is. i googled it and it seems interesting, but the filter i made is so small, i dont know if a bag of purigen can fit inside... i might try to add it in the future. the good thing about pvc pipes is that you can add/customize whatever you want!

 

[Mebbid]

im not sure what purigen is. i googled it and it seems interesting, but the filter i made is so small, i dont know if a bag of purigen can fit inside... i might try to add it in the future. the good thing about pvc pipes is that you can add/customize whatever you want!

You should be able to fit a small amount into a double filter bag. but if it won't work out it's no big deal it's not necessary at all.

 

[liberator123]

i did more research, and people have high regards to purigen. i just ordered some and will add it in to my 10g tank's filter. yeah it seemd like a good idea to use, so ill re edit the sponge filter to add it in (when it arrives). thanks for the Idea!

 

[liberator123]

ok guys, im almost ready to do the hardscape of the tank. But, im not so sure which layout looks best and i want to do all of it in 1 go, so I made sketches of them.

Which layout looks the best of the four?

btw, the only rocks I have is some spare medium/small dark lava rock, and I think it would look "okay". Unless someone can convince me other types of rocks that would look nice with eco complete+sand combo and four leaf clovers?

 

[liberator123]

I re-edited the first design to these 3:

 

[Mebbid]

I would go with this one

The only problem I see is that in a tank this size there isn't much room at all for plants after your hard scape is finished; otherwise it should look amazing.

 

[liberator123]

i realized the limited spacing, so I decided to "use the rocks" to make the sand river. I made a detailed drawing in 3D. I also made the curves less curvy because there just isnt enough space on a 5.5g to fully do that kind of project.

*edit* i am just waiting for my eco complete order to come in the mail by next week hopefully, then I can start this. Im so exited to make it!

 

[Sillyfishies]

i realized the limited spacing, so I decided to "use the rocks" to make the sand river. I made a detailed drawing in 3D. I also made the curves less curvy because there just isnt enough space on a 5.5g to fully do that kind of project.

*edit* i am just waiting for my eco complete order to come in the mail by next week hopefully, then I can start this. Im so exited to make it!

I like this set up. Dwarf 4 leaf clover is the smallest. It reminds me of HC.

 

[liberator123]

My customized aquarium hood for the tank!. it uses 2 10 watt t8 6500k bulbs. I used black duct tape around it because I didn't have black paint lol (but i think its better to use tape because it makes the edges smooth). Im so glad it worked, I had to run the old ballast to series (alot of rewiring trying different ways to do it).