Coralline's 20 gallon rescape

[gman42]

Your tank is filling in and i think it looks great

 

[Rivercats]

The iron actually helps alot with RTL's color. That really is clever using a magnet, don't think I would have ever thought of that! Oh BTW I forgot to tell you I love the ghost cats! Seeing them makes me miss having them.

 

[CorallineAlgae]

Your tank is filling in and i think it looks great

Thank you. I'm finally starting to like it myself.

The iron actually helps alot with RTL's color. That really is clever using a magnet, don't think I would have ever thought of that! Oh BTW I forgot to tell you I love the ghost cats! Seeing them makes me miss having them.

Thanks! I'm a big fan of glass cats, too. One of them has a damaged feeler. I hope it isn't permanent but it's ok if it is. They're still really shy but getting better day by day. My neons are so scared of the glass catfish. They're probably feeling em out.

I finally properly scaped my little 5.5 gallon tank today! Here's a pic I took about 20 minutes after I redid it.

 

[Rivercats]

What are the little tiny plants in the front? I can't tell even with my bi-focals on... lol!

 

[CorallineAlgae]

What are the little tiny plants in the front? I can't tell even with my bi-focals on... lol!

I posted that pic from my iPod and it isn't really clear. I'll post a higher quality pic from the PC. There's dwarf four leaf clover in the center and far right and crypt parva on the left and back center. I only had a few scrap pieces of each plant for this tank so it'll be a while before it looks like anything.

 

[Rivercats]

Thanks I can see them now! I love my crypt parva. I have 3 plants that have over time grown into one big plant and is spreading.

 

[CorallineAlgae]

They're so slow growing. In a tank this tiny it's probably for the best. I'm also considering taking out the java moss but I bought it 13 years ago along with the java fern, anubias and crypt wendtii so I'm kind of attached and tired of it at the same time. I just tied a very small amount of Christmas moss to some of the branches in the back and I'm not sure about having both in the same tank. Any thoughts or advice?

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

The 5.5g is looking good! Is that Manzanita DW? And how are the plants liking the Finnex Fugeray?

 

[CorallineAlgae]

Yep, it's Manzanita but it wasn't presoaked at all. I put it in right before I took the shot so it's still light colored and letting off bubbles. lol

The FugeRay is perfect for this tank. The plants are all growing slowly but steadily. The tank hasn't been planted very long, about two months and I've only had the light for maybe a month. I don't have co2 for this tank but I may add it. I was curious to see what Excell could do all on it's own and it seems perfectly adequate for the plants in there. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend a FugeRay for a small or shallow medium light tank. I have to turn the brightness down as low as it can go on my camera to take half decent photos (no flash). It's way brighter in person. Don't you use a Finnex fixture?

 

[CharlieKlein]

Actually one of the naturalist and coolest tanks of this size I've seen!

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

Yeah I use the Finnex Ray 2 though. I don't have the Fugeray but since I've been so impressed with the Ray 2 (on a moderate to high light tank application), I just like to get reviews on the Fugeray. I sometimes recommend it and if the need were to arise for a suitable low/moderate lit tank, I'd get it for sure.

On my 26g, I used a big piece of Manzanita that I didn't pre-soak either. It released tiny streams of bubbles for days, then it started with the white fungus, and then "I think" it caused a small bacteria bloom due to the excess organics. After a couple weeks with PWC's and the addition of Purigen to my canister, it all cleared up.

 

[CorallineAlgae]

Actually one of the naturalist and coolest tanks of this size I've seen!

Really? Wow, thank you. That really means a lot to me. I've always been a little disappointed in my lack of freshwater aquascaping skills. This forum has been endlessly enlightening. I have so many people here to thank for posting build threads and sharing their knowledge. After 13 years keeping plants I may finally be getting the hang of making a freshwater tank look coherent! lol

 

[CharlieKlein]

I love the carpet and the driftwood making it like a mountian! Also, nice 5 gallon! I bet you already posted but what's your stock?

 

[CorallineAlgae]

@Brian
Yeah, the Ray 2 is sooo tempting but I'm sure the tank would've needed CO2. It's just such a shallow little tank. The FugeRay certainly wouldn't grow high light plants but it's throwing down all the lumens the low to medium plants seem to need. The Brazilian Pennywort grows like mad. I've already had to remove some twice.

Funny you should mention that. The first thing I did before adding the wood was pop in a bag of Purigen. I didn't think the tank needed it before but throwing in unsoaked driftwood just made my "media senses" tingle. Figured some Purigen would help to mop up the brunt of the organics and tannins before they get out of hand. Hopefully it'll work out. The snails are havin' a love affair with the new wood!

 

[CorallineAlgae]

I love the carpet and the driftwood making it like a mountian! Also, nice 5 gallon! I bet you already posted but what's your stock?

Thank you. ^_^ Actually, I'm not sure I ever posted a stock list. In the 20 I've got:

9 neon tetras
3 glass catfish
2 Kuhli loaches (all the LFS had in stock)
1 bristlenose pleco
1 Siamese algae eater
1 Eastern American newt
20 red cherry shrimp (just a guess)
2 tiger nerite snails
2 zebra nerites
1 olive nerite
The tank also has some ramshorns that I breed in the 5 gallon to add to the 20 to feed "Chuck" (the newt). He eats baby snails like popcorn.

I try to not over stock the tank but I feel like I'm getting close (hopefully not overstocked already). Any advice on stocking from anybody will be much appreciated.

 

[CharlieKlein]

No idea on the neat but I'd say you can up the schools by 2 on the kuhli and glass cats, but you might need to rehome the Siamese algea eater! How's the newt doin? Do you have land access and such? Sounds like a great tank!

 

[CorallineAlgae]

The newt is completely aquatic. They're absolutely harmless to everything but baby snails and worms. They're very easy to keep and like to be fed frozen bloodworms whenever the snails run out. He's my favorite animal in the tank but he does stay hidden much of the time.

Thanks for the advice. Ok, I'll pick up a couple more kuhlis and glass cats next time I visit the LFS. I just added them on Saturday and the shop only had 2 kuhlis and 3 glass catfish in stock. They said they were ordering more loaches but I may need to ask them to add the catfish to the order. They don't always stock them.

Do you think the SAE will cause problems later?

 

[CharlieKlein]

The newt sounds awesome!! Also, I thin that it wil loo cool with the schools filled out!

 

[Rivercats]

You can use different mosses in a tank as long as you have a good seperation of space between them. I think when different mosses are used on the same piece and grow together they look like a jumbled mess.

 

[callisto9]

Looking good! I love the dark substrate and the background - nice contrast against the green.