Updated Tank Shots!

Full Tank Shot

Norman's Lampeyes

Oto's

Rex Grigg Finally Pulled Through!

Rex Griggs 'Best Darn Aquarium Regulator'

Rhinox 3000 Glass CO2 Diffuser

After many weeks of waiting, my Rex Grigg regulator came and CO2 is up and running in the tank. This is HUGE! It is the last thing that the tank needed to be fully operational. It was a breeze to set up and is intoxicating to watch. I did some trimming on the wisteria and riccia. The plants are all flourishing and there is minimal algae!

Norman's Lampeyes!

New Norman's Lampeyes (Aplocheilichthys normani)

13 added to the tank today! This will be their temporary home until the 10 gallon is up and running. They all look very healthy and have acclimated well. They are absolutely impossible to get a clear shot of. This is one of the better ones (out of the 200 that I took). Ill keep trying though...

I also took some shots of new growth...

Riccia Fluitans

Crypts

Aquariums are awesome.

Upgrades!

I have been in a constant struggle as to what type of fish to add to this tank. What I did not foresee, was that trying to make this decision would lead to major upgrades for my tank as well as the addition of a second tank! What started all this was two different fish that I absolutely love; Hengeli Rasboras (Trigonostigma hengeli) and Norman's Lampeyes (Aplocheilichthys normani). Both are stunning fish that I knew I wanted to keep. It is my opinion that fish look best in large groups. That being said, in this tank, I did not want to have more than two types of fish (one of those being the 5 oto's that are in the tank already). After doing much research I realized that my tank fit almost 100% in to an Asian biotope. The only exceptions here were the oto cats and the Anubias barteri 'nana'. I also was happy to discover that Hengeli Rasboras that I love also fit into this biotope. This got my obsessed brain to thinking of converting the 20 Gallon into an Asian biotope. This thinking quickly turned into doing...

The first thing to do was to replace the Anubias. After many hours of looking online at aquatic plant species from the Asian biotope, I chose a handful of possible plants and headed to the fish store after work to see what they had. To my surprise they actually had many of the plants on my list. I ended up choosing two; Cryptocoryne wendetii 'red' and Cryptocoryne wendrtii 'green gecko'. I also happened to pick up another thing while there - a Eheim Classic (2213). I had been eyeballing this for some time and had actually planned to use a credit I had from drsfostersmith.com to buy it. Whilst eyeballing this, I came up with the idea that rather than putting the two Penguin Bio-Wheel filters on the shelf, I could eventually set up a 10 gallon tank that would be of the African biotope for the Norman's Lampeyes.

A quick note on this Asian biotope - All the plants in the tank are now native to Asia: Hygrophila corymbosa 'siamensis', Hygrophila difformis, Cryptocoryne wendetii 'red', Cryptocoryne pontederiifolia, and Riccia fluitans (Cosmopolitan). The Fauna will be almost 100% Asian once the Hengeli's are added. I plan to keep the oto's in the tank although they are not Asian. This is mostly because they are the only catfish/tank cleaners that I really like the look of... Water parameters and lighting are within the biotope conditions as well!

Well, my obsessive mind took over... Since I only needed one of the two Penguin Bio-Wheels I decided to make an attempt at exchanging one at the store for a 10 gallon tank and hood...

Big Pet Store Chain One - take one: I went in and got myself a new tank and hood and got online to make the exchange with the original receipt. No success - my receipt was over 30 days old.

Big Pet Store Chain One - take two (a different location): I went in without the receipt and asked if I could exchange it. I almost had the cashier convinced until she noticed that the box had stickers that this store did not have. No success again.

Big Pet Store Chain Two: I didn't buy it from here, but as long as they carried the model I figured I had a shot. Success! I peeled the price tags off and happened to get a very nice cashier who let the exchange slip by.

I should note that I feel no remorse for doing this. The big pet stores not only put local pet stores out of business, but they treat their animals horribly. For proof watch the link below... Support your local pet store!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ltIFL8rY4M&feature=related

Anyway, back to my obsession...

Major score! I got a new tank and hood to go with my extra filter for my new setup! Since I bought the Eheim at the fish shop this opened me up to use the credit I had at drsfostersmith.com to use for two bags of Eco-Complete substrate and a 50 watt heater. So, in essence for the price of a filter upgrade for my 20 gallon I got all the essentials for a new 20 gallon setup. Only thing left to figure out is lighting and CO2... I'll save that for the beginning of my 10 gallon blog...


New planting 1

New planting 2

Closeup of new Crypts

Phewww...

So here's where I stand now... The Anubias are currently in m sisters tank (which is cycling) anchored to some rocks until my new ten gallon is up and running. The new crypts are in the tanks and looking great so far. I went to my local fish store to see if they could get me Hengeli Rasboras. Right now it is looking like a couple weeks. Just my luck though, I happened to spot a fresh batch of Norman's Lampeyes in one of their tanks. Seeing that they don't come around often, I am going to pick them up tomorrow and keep them in this tank until the new tank is ready. I'll get picks of them up asap!

Things Are Starting To Come Together!

I added two more rocks with Riccia on them today and moved the lone Amazon Sword to my sisters tank. All the plants are growing nicely! See pics below...

Hygrophila Difformis - New Growth

Riccia Fluitans - New Growth

Hopefully my CO2 regulator will be in by the end of the week. It should ship either today or tomorrow. Also, all 5 Oto's are eating and doing great!

Time to let things fill in...

The Tank Is Clear!

The tank has finally cleared up! The layout and details of the last two posts are finally visible. I have added a DIY CO2 system (the blue tube in the background) temporarily until the regulator I ordered fro Rex Grigg comes. It has been a month since I ordered it from him and because of whatever reason it has not shipped yet. I have heard from him today though, and he assures me it will be shipping today or tomorrow. As for now I am dosing with the Seachem line of products. As soon as the regulator comes, I will be switching over to the EI method. Today I have also added Seachem Root Tabs around all of the plantings.

The plants are flourishing to say the least.

The Riccia has started to grow up towards the light and is filling in,the Wisteria is developing strong roots and new growth is coming from both the top and bottom of the plant, and the Giant Hygros are developing roots and growing up as well. I have had soem trouble getting the anubias to stay down in the substrate, but after multiple plantings they have finally took and are starting to grow new roots

I have also added Oto Catfish (Otocinclus macrospilus)!!

I initially put 3 in the tank, followed by 6 more the next day. As some of you are probably well aware, Oto Catfish are very hard to acclimate and seem to die for unknown reasons when moved to a new tank. Out of the 9 that were put in, 5 are left. The remaining 5 however, are showing signs of positive acclimation!

*A Quick Note - I have chosen not to cycle this tank in the traditional way. I am instead using the method that Rex Grigg describes on his website. The basic idea is that in a heavily planted tank, you can gradually add fish without having the risk of ammonia or nitrite build up. The reason being is the the plants love the ammonia and therefore consume it before it gets to a dangerous level. While it takes the bacteria column a longer time to develop, one can have fish immediately. As of right now my ammonia readings are at 0ppm and have not seen them go higher than 0.25ppm, nitrites are at 0, and nitrates have been between 0 and 5.


Still not fully satisfied with the aquascape yet... I am debating what to put within the 'horseshoe'. I am thinking Glosso or perhaps some more Riccia...not sure yet though.

New Plants Added!

Cloudy.

Clear! ...well clearer

After work today I stopped off at the fish store to pick up some new plants! I got a Hygrophila Difformis (Wisteria), another Hygrophila corymbosa (Giant Hygro), and more Riccia.

After taking some time to look at the aquarium, I decided that the Giant Hygro would be better suited where I was currently housing the Amazon Sword. After pulling out the Amazon Sword I moved over the Hygo and added the additional one I bought. The Wisteria was put where the Hygros were originally, and the Amazon Sword was put into a pot for now. I added the Riccia to the other side of the rock horseshoe, making the entire thing covered in Riccia.

More to come!

"The beginning is the most important part of the work." - Plato

Some Prelude:

Two weeks after setting up and aquascaping a 10 gallon tank, I had an opportunity to get my hands on a 20 gallon tank. It was a big decision whether or not to break down the 10 gallon and upgrade to a 20 gallon because of all the work I had put into getting the scape just right, but ultimately this would allow me to have more fish and a bigger scape. I sucked it up and started siphoning water...
(The 10 gallon was running a Marineland Penguin Bio-Wheel 150, a 50 watt heater, and a 40 watt Single Satellite Compact Light. The substrate was Seachem Flourite. It was originally planted with Anubias barteri var. nana, Hygophilia difformis, Echinodorus amazonicus, and Potamogeton gayi.)

Certain upgrades were necessary to switch from the 10 to the 20 gallon.

Filtration: Rather than upgrading to a large filter I decided to get a second Penguin Bio-Wheel 150. The reason for doing this was to not only increase filtration, but to encourage more water movement as well as have two sources of biological filtration that way filter cleanings can be alternated. By doing this, the hit the bacteria would take during a cleaning would be minimal.

Heating/Lighting: For heating I considered getting a second heater, but decided to upgrade to a 100 watt. The only reason for this was aesthetics. I upgraded the lighting from 40 watts to 65 watts. This was actually a downgrade in wpg from 4 to 3.25, but considering the plants I am planning to grow this is adequate.

Tanks setup began with adding substrate and brainstorming ideas. I had a wide selection of rocks that I collected from the coast of Maine and a nice piece of driftwood that was in the 10 gallon tank. I had originally planned on making the driftwood the center piece of the scape, but quickly abandoned that idea and dabbled with making the entire right side of the tank elevated. I did this by using large pieces of rock to hold back the substrate. I then decided to put the piece of driftwood in that section. To add to the topography of the tank I used another large rock to create a slightly lower elevated section in the back left corner of the tank. I had now created drop off in between these two elevated sections. I used some smaller pieces of rock to create a 'bridge' between the two sections The final effect looked like a horseshoe rock formation that was integrated into the elevated sections of the tank.

I planted the Anubias from the 10 Gallon around the drift wood and added a Giant Hygro to the elevated section on the left side. Riccia Fluitans was added to parts of the rock horseshoe. The Amazon Sword was planted behind the driftwood in the back right corner to block the heater and filter intake from view.

In the pictures below you can see the tank setup...
(My apologies for the cloudy pictures, but it is very hard to fill a tank with Flourite without mucking up the water. Once it clears up I will add new pictures.)


Anubias from the 10 gallon being planted on the elevated side

My very cloudy tank...

The scape still has a long way to go. I need to take some time after it clears up to look at it and see what it needs.