Nicklfire Posted January 29, 2010 Report Share Posted January 29, 2010 (edited) Hey Gang, Well i thought i would share my newest journal with you guys. The pics you see are current setup, i am still waiting for a few more items to be shipped to me. Here is a run down of the hardware i'm using: Tank: Hagen 25G Rimless, black silicone Aquarium Stand: Black stand, fits tank perfectly Light: Coralife 30" 65W 6700k light (with legs) Substrate: Using 3 bags of Flourite Black Substrate Heater: I will be using the new Fluval E series 100 Heater. It's the newest innovation in heater design because it has a microprocessor. You can set the heater with precise .5 C changes. It also had a LCD scren telling you exactly what the temp is and if it goes up or down the LCD screen changes colors accordingly warning you of potential problems.Also includes duel temp sensors. This will be a tank i will first off house cherry shrimp in, but once the tank establishes i will try to bring in some rare CRS maybe.. SS grade, v tooth or something. So heating needs to be percise. Filter: This was a hard choice for me as i didnt want too much flow and only wanted a biological filtration and did not want anything IN the tank such as internal filter or sponge filter. I ended up going with a ZOO MED 501 turtle filter. It's a very small canister filter which rates for a 30 gallon tank. I set it up and under normal circumstances would not use it on anything above 15 gallons. It will be perfect for my needs currently. CO2: I have yet to decide if i want to bring my co2 stuff over to this tank. My lighting is about 2.5wpg... meaning i'm at about medium lighting. I dont want the plants to grow TOO fast as this is mostly a low light tank. I may raise the light above the tank a little bit more in order to achieve around 2wpg. I have a fully pressurized co2 system including tank,solenoid,regulator,diffusers.. etc which i may use.. just for a added bonus for the plants. livestock: Livestock will consist of mostly cherry shrimp to begin. I have been trying to source out some galaxy rasboras but they are expensive here, so may have to get from bc. I also wanted maybe 1 or 2 sterbai cory's. Down the road i will add CRS shrimp. Plants: Mixture of low-med light plants, here are a couple which i will use. timer: Lights and co2 would be on a timer, starting off at about 8 hours a day. All in all i am going for a med-heavy planted tank, we will see how many plants i will get.. i'll keep you updated. Edited January 29, 2010 by Nicklfire Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvision Posted January 29, 2010 Report Share Posted January 29, 2010 If you have to CO2 equipment lying around, I'd put it on. CO2 will not only help your plants, but will also help keep algae at bay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicklfire Posted January 29, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 29, 2010 Yes that what i was thinking as well. I'll likely stick some otto's/and of amano shrimp in there as well. Here is what the tank looked like about a year ago when i last had this tank setup. That light is a 150w MH, i managed to keep algae at bay lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
African_Fever Posted January 29, 2010 Report Share Posted January 29, 2010 Very cool setup, looking forward to the development of this one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kronosdelsol Posted January 30, 2010 Report Share Posted January 30, 2010 I'm sure its going to look good. I can't wait to see how the plants will react to this light. Will your dog Dakota stay out of that tank? Tuan at tntaquatica.com has Galaxy Rasboras for $4 each. That's cheaper than Riverfront and Pisces. Let me know when your ready to add them and I will go in and get a bunch of these with you. We can save on shipping. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
condor Posted January 30, 2010 Report Share Posted January 30, 2010 (edited) Great Edited January 30, 2010 by condor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicklfire Posted February 3, 2010 Author Report Share Posted February 3, 2010 I got the tank setup now, and i've got a couple of plants setup in it that i bought off a member here. I got my coralife light and i opened the box and the bulb was broken, so i'm waiting for them to send out a new bulb, at which point i can load the tank with more plants as i just have a 10w bulb over the tank now lol. i also got my new fluval e100 heater, it's definately cool lol. i'll keep ya updated and take pics soon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicklfire Posted March 23, 2010 Author Report Share Posted March 23, 2010 (edited) JEEZ I forgot all about my journal, i thougt i had pictures at least of it seutp with plants lol. Well over the last couple months i have been trying to find plants desperately. I HAD to start out with VERY few plants, and just grow and replant, grow replant. That's the only way to have a planted tank in calgary without spending a arm and leg at big als for a 10$ blyxa japonica or 20$ for a little patch of hc lol. Thanks to some other friends on the forum they were able to hook me up with some much needed plants Regardless here it is. Right now i'm currently almost done filling out the right side, after that i'll pay attension to the left side. That piece of driftwood i have i'm trying to make it pure moss, so slowly growing moss and then retie on. I am trying to find needle java fern so i can put it center on that piece of driftwood. Sorry about the bad picture quality i had to take it with my phone. Because it's with my phone you wont notice very much depth, but trust me there is a definate foreground, mid, background. Right now it currently houses about.. mmm... 100 cherry shrimp maybe more... and then about 10 galaxy raspbora. I have a VERY little bit of hair algae growing so i'll get some amano shrimp and maybe some ottos for the diatoms. Other then that not much, growing slowly which is like. Edited March 23, 2010 by Nicklfire Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kronosdelsol Posted March 23, 2010 Report Share Posted March 23, 2010 Wow this is looking great. I really like the arrangement with the driftwood and plants in between. Not much a fan of the elastics on the moss but that is temporary. Why not try some of that glue? Did you setup the co2 tank? How do you like that Coralife fixture? Is it T5HO? Can you take an over image with the light and stand? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishclubgirl Posted March 23, 2010 Report Share Posted March 23, 2010 I also have the challenge of attaching mosses, ferns etc. Have been using aquatic glue for ferns and it's the bomb!!! Haven't attached moss yet but it's supposed to good for anubias plants too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicklfire Posted March 23, 2010 Author Report Share Posted March 23, 2010 (edited) yea i'm not a fan of the elastics either, but it's my work tank and no one really sees it but me lol, so i could care less. I actually do have the glue at home which i forgot about, just gotta remember where i put it. The other reason i didnt want to use the glue is cause then i would have to take the whole piece of wood out and then that's alot of work in itself and it would prob uproot other plants lol. NO i do NOT have the co2 tank up and going yet, this is all without co2 so far lol. Though i have been dosing some pfertz the odd time here and there if i see there is any nutrient deficiency. The coralife light is doing it's job, i dont like the light is about 6" too short, i have no idea why they would make a fixture with a bulb that does not go to the end. It's not t5 nope, just CF. Yes i'll try and take a pic without that light reflection over top If you notice the long rotala in the middle there, i'm going to be trimming and replanting soon, so my design is not fully done yet, by tthe end it should form a V from side to side.. but just need to keep growing and replanting lol Edited March 23, 2010 by Nicklfire Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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