So I decided to get a little more serious and got a 60w fixture, and a nutrafin CO2 system.
Here's day 1 - Mixed the CO2 solution 24hrs ago and the bubbles are just starting to enter the diffuser. Swoot. I had to remove almost all the moss, it was rotting underneath so it looks quite a bit different from my profile picture. =D Hopefully the vals in the corner will begin to grow tall soon and cover all the equip on the right side. =P
The last pic is of what I think an albino pond snail. With all the snails I've seen in the tank the past year I'm not surprised I finally got a freak to show up. =D His shell (except for the tip) and body are mostly translucent/clear.
16 Gal Pics
11 posts • Page 1 of 2
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blueshoes2208 - Posts: 1077
- Joined: Sat Apr 12, 2008 4:01 pm
dude very nice tank man ill give you props for that, when i had fresh i joined the crowd and jus had store bought stuff, i never got creative like that good job. How do you clean a tank like that though?? like every month id take all the water out and stuff and clean the rocks and the glass then put evrything bak in but you cant do that with your tank??
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Tmercier834747 - Posts: 887
- Joined: Wed Feb 13, 2008 8:33 pm
Thanks. =D
Cleaning is actually pretty simple. Just gravel vac what I can get to which sometimes means I have to take the driftwood out. Some of it gets rotated into the sand/flourite by inhabitants and becomes food for the plants.
If it ever gets real bad (every 3 months or so) and there's substrate I can't get to with the gravel vac, I direct the powerhead to force it up into the water column and then most gets sucked up by the filter.
You should start to figure out a lot about semi-self-maintaining eco-systems now that you're getting into SW. heh I know there's a TON of maintenance invovled especially in monitoring water params, but I figure thats the most similar thing about SW and FW planted tanks. Everything living in it kind've has its own ability to make less out of our work. Certain things control algae, others make use of wastes, others use up toxic CO2 and convert it into oxygen which fish need..etc/etc/etc. Too bad for both of us the creatures can only do so much when it comes to water eh...
I'd like to see a snail that could balance the ....what's it called? Gravity? in a SW tank...lol My LFS would have me sold on a nano SW tank like that if it came with one...despite how angry my gf got. lol
I haven't sighted ''nessy'' yet but I'm pretty sure he/she couldn't fit his/her pinky fin in a 16gal tank. lol
Cleaning is actually pretty simple. Just gravel vac what I can get to which sometimes means I have to take the driftwood out. Some of it gets rotated into the sand/flourite by inhabitants and becomes food for the plants.
If it ever gets real bad (every 3 months or so) and there's substrate I can't get to with the gravel vac, I direct the powerhead to force it up into the water column and then most gets sucked up by the filter.
You should start to figure out a lot about semi-self-maintaining eco-systems now that you're getting into SW. heh I know there's a TON of maintenance invovled especially in monitoring water params, but I figure thats the most similar thing about SW and FW planted tanks. Everything living in it kind've has its own ability to make less out of our work. Certain things control algae, others make use of wastes, others use up toxic CO2 and convert it into oxygen which fish need..etc/etc/etc. Too bad for both of us the creatures can only do so much when it comes to water eh...
I'd like to see a snail that could balance the ....what's it called? Gravity? in a SW tank...lol My LFS would have me sold on a nano SW tank like that if it came with one...despite how angry my gf got. lol
I haven't sighted ''nessy'' yet but I'm pretty sure he/she couldn't fit his/her pinky fin in a 16gal tank. lol
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blueshoes2208 - Posts: 1077
- Joined: Sat Apr 12, 2008 4:01 pm
hahahaha yeah somethin like that, it would be pretty badass if there really is a nessy over there ya kno? ive always wanted a planted tank just so i could get a school of small fish and watch them swim around in it ha
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RogerFederer - Posts: 17
- Joined: Fri Oct 24, 2008 11:40 am
planted is sexy! beautiful tank man.
is there any plants you would suggest for my 25 gal FW tank? which plants are the most beneficial?
is there any plants you would suggest for my 25 gal FW tank? which plants are the most beneficial?
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Tmercier834747 - Posts: 887
- Joined: Wed Feb 13, 2008 8:33 pm
Thanks again. =D
Roger: That really depends on your lighting. There's a whole variety of plants that are great, but if you can't budget in a ton of light (I can't afford to light my 30gallon properly lol) then things like anubias/java moss/fern do great. the ''ideal'' ratio for lighting in a tank is 3 ''watts per gallon''. Which is kind've an average #. 4wpg+ will allow a very broad species of plants to grow well.
A1: I went from a 15w standard pos light (which somehow sustained the sword, java moss, and even made the vals and microsword grow) to a PC 60w 10,000/10,000. I just added the bright green plant mid-right foreground, and the small clump of dwarf hairgrass on the left when I got the light so I'm excited to see if they do well.
Substrate is playsand and some concentrated areas of flourite...I'm gonna add more sand soon to try to hide the flourite and get a better root base. I barely have 1'' of substrate in there so its really amazing the sword has made it 8 months. lol Hopefully whatever I add won't kill yet another filter...that stuff takes forfreaking ever to wash.
When I first added sand though some article scared me to death about sulfur pockets so I was cautious not to add too much..but MTSs have fixed that for me anyway..
Roger: That really depends on your lighting. There's a whole variety of plants that are great, but if you can't budget in a ton of light (I can't afford to light my 30gallon properly lol) then things like anubias/java moss/fern do great. the ''ideal'' ratio for lighting in a tank is 3 ''watts per gallon''. Which is kind've an average #. 4wpg+ will allow a very broad species of plants to grow well.
A1: I went from a 15w standard pos light (which somehow sustained the sword, java moss, and even made the vals and microsword grow) to a PC 60w 10,000/10,000. I just added the bright green plant mid-right foreground, and the small clump of dwarf hairgrass on the left when I got the light so I'm excited to see if they do well.
Substrate is playsand and some concentrated areas of flourite...I'm gonna add more sand soon to try to hide the flourite and get a better root base. I barely have 1'' of substrate in there so its really amazing the sword has made it 8 months. lol Hopefully whatever I add won't kill yet another filter...that stuff takes forfreaking ever to wash.
When I first added sand though some article scared me to death about sulfur pockets so I was cautious not to add too much..but MTSs have fixed that for me anyway..