KatieJ
Aquarium Advice Freak
- Joined
- Jun 8, 2011
- Messages
- 257
There's not much to initially say about this tank. I hadn't put a whole lot of effort into 'scaping it for my betta because I was focusing most of my attention on my 5g planted, but I still liked how it was turning out.
Long story short, there was a little wisteria, some dwarf hairgrass, and rotala rotoundifolia I was trying to grow out to eventually put in my 5g. I put in some hornwort so the betta could have some dimmer light before I left for winter vacation, and I was feeling pretty confident about him doing okay. His colors were bright, he was active, and there wasn't a scratch on him.
...That tank obviously went down the crapper during my 3-week break. I had someone come over and feed both tanks and top off water twice during the break, which I figured would be enough as long as I added Purigen to the 5g and heavily planted the 2.5 with some excess plants I already had. I cried for an hour upon coming home to a dead betta and an essentially dead tank - all of the rotala, wisteria and hornwort had died, there was algae everywhere, and the tank was only 50% full. The dwarf hairgrass was covered in algae but had still sent up runners, so I shrugged and decided to clean it and then replant it rather than throw it away along with everything else.
I spent well over 3 hours completely tearing down the tank, cleaning every rock, every inch of Eco-complete in alternating scalding hot and freezing cold water to purge any nasties that had surely flourished in the foul conditions. I know I killed most of the bacteria, but the filter pads were merely rinsed in the bad water, so there's definitely still some left in there. I'm going to wait 'till late January or early February before putting any shrimp in there.
Anyway, if this was a TL;DR, there is a point to this thread. XD; Other than just being a journal, I need some help with the aquascaping. Since I only plan to have shrimp in there, I'd like to focus on the plants more. I was thinking of a dwarf hairgrass carpet since the stuff obviously likes my water and high light, and the fact that I'm terrified of starting any HC or riccia (I hear they're hard to kick-off). I think I'll need to buy more Eco-complete or some other substrate to help the hairgrass really get their roots in there. Would ADA Aquasoil or Shrimp Stratum work in this case?
As far as background plants go, I think I'd want something thick, bushy and dark, to contrast the bright green of the DHG. Any suggestions? I'd rather not add CO2, but if I have to then I'd probably save up for a mini pressurized system to put CO2 in both of my tanks. Not sure if I want an Iwagumi-ish thing with rocks only or just have some driftwood and a few more plant species. I've attached pictures of the tank's progress over the last couple of months - it's still very young, I know.
Any aquascaping advice would be greatly appreciated.
Long story short, there was a little wisteria, some dwarf hairgrass, and rotala rotoundifolia I was trying to grow out to eventually put in my 5g. I put in some hornwort so the betta could have some dimmer light before I left for winter vacation, and I was feeling pretty confident about him doing okay. His colors were bright, he was active, and there wasn't a scratch on him.
...That tank obviously went down the crapper during my 3-week break. I had someone come over and feed both tanks and top off water twice during the break, which I figured would be enough as long as I added Purigen to the 5g and heavily planted the 2.5 with some excess plants I already had. I cried for an hour upon coming home to a dead betta and an essentially dead tank - all of the rotala, wisteria and hornwort had died, there was algae everywhere, and the tank was only 50% full. The dwarf hairgrass was covered in algae but had still sent up runners, so I shrugged and decided to clean it and then replant it rather than throw it away along with everything else.
I spent well over 3 hours completely tearing down the tank, cleaning every rock, every inch of Eco-complete in alternating scalding hot and freezing cold water to purge any nasties that had surely flourished in the foul conditions. I know I killed most of the bacteria, but the filter pads were merely rinsed in the bad water, so there's definitely still some left in there. I'm going to wait 'till late January or early February before putting any shrimp in there.
Anyway, if this was a TL;DR, there is a point to this thread. XD; Other than just being a journal, I need some help with the aquascaping. Since I only plan to have shrimp in there, I'd like to focus on the plants more. I was thinking of a dwarf hairgrass carpet since the stuff obviously likes my water and high light, and the fact that I'm terrified of starting any HC or riccia (I hear they're hard to kick-off). I think I'll need to buy more Eco-complete or some other substrate to help the hairgrass really get their roots in there. Would ADA Aquasoil or Shrimp Stratum work in this case?
As far as background plants go, I think I'd want something thick, bushy and dark, to contrast the bright green of the DHG. Any suggestions? I'd rather not add CO2, but if I have to then I'd probably save up for a mini pressurized system to put CO2 in both of my tanks. Not sure if I want an Iwagumi-ish thing with rocks only or just have some driftwood and a few more plant species. I've attached pictures of the tank's progress over the last couple of months - it's still very young, I know.
Any aquascaping advice would be greatly appreciated.
