# Planted 12 gallon Nano Cube



## theDeanoRama (Oct 23, 2010)

Background:

This is my 1st aquarium and right out the gate I wanted it to be a planted tank. The LFS I went to set up me up with what I thought at the time was a decent enough system for what I wanted, and other that a few shortcomings its pretty close.

Equipment:

12g JBJ Nano Reef Tank
DIY type co2 canister connected to an airstone (DIY now because all the included ingredients it came with expired a number of years ago)
A number of plants that came with no names.

The plants as it turns out where:

Cabomba (not enjoying this plant as much as I thought I would, looks great but is a messy one)
Micro Sword
Echinodorus Ozelot
Alternanthera reineckii
Bacopa australis - I planted this in a badly chosen area and only 2 stems now survive in a replanted position.

Fauna:

7 Cardinal Tetras - the overall count over the last 6 weeks has been both more and less, but now I'm at a steady and healthy 7
about 15 Red Cherry Shrimp .. little buggers are hard to get a head count on. As above I've also had more and less than this, but it seems to have stabilized.

I have since removed some of the Micro Sword and have planted HC all around the foreground. I plan on replacing all the remaining Micro Sword with addional HC when I can find more (even though I'm surrounded by LFS's, I have only found one source of it thus far).

I had a hard time with the lighting that was designed for a reef tank, 50/50 atinic and a 10k, both 24w for 12gallons for a total of 48watts of PC lighting. I found I was fighting algea pretty early in the game which I beat back with blackout periods and overdosing Excel. I've since changed over to a couple of 6700k lights and that has made a huge difference. The only place that ever shows signs of a thin layer of algae is the drift wood which is fine as it gives the Cherry Red Shrimp somthing to pick away at.

Currently things are pretty smooth other than a snail invasion (the pics will tell the story) and drifting plant matter that never completely filters away. Lots of Pond Snails, a few Ramshorns and a few MTS - these last two I actually like, but I am probably going to have to get agressive with them soon.

I am disenchanted with the Reef Tank for this use though. The filtration can't seem to keep up with a tank planted to this level, the tank gets pretty warm with the lights on (82F) and there is little space at the surface for air exchange due to the proximity of the light fixture in the hood (I had to introduce an airstone for the lights off period). Now that I'm figuring my way through this new hobby I've decided to replace this tank with a 24 inch 15 gallon rimless - but that will be a different thread.

Despite the shortcomings, I've managed to get by and its been a great learning experience. I am aiming to replace the Cabomba with something like Bylxa Japonica though. This may help out with my plant matter vs filtration issue, but I want to definatly keep something in there that will give the Tetras a place to hid out. They really like hiding in the Cabomba when they are feeling overwhelmed (water changes, replanting my floaty HC ect ..).

Here it is on day one (You can really see the difference the 50/50 + 10k bulb makes here vs the 6700 in the following pic).
*Front:*








*Side:*









Here it is on the Nov 11th (day 51) - I've since trimmed the cabomba down (again) ... its almost a weekly event and I pinched out the tops of some of the Reineckii at the same time, 1st time I'd ever done it and I can see the new growth coming in a lot fuller. I will have to do this more often.
*Front:*








*Side:*


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## CRS Fan (Apr 21, 2010)

Very nice Dean. I see we have another planted tank enthusiast as a new member. Your Alternanthera looks extremely healthy. The HC is very lush and green too. Was that aquired through Tropica or Aquaflora? 

Best Regards,

Stuart


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## O.C.D Fishies (Apr 21, 2010)

I love the look of it, it open space on the right side. Your Hc looks amazing too. Great job. The contrast of the light hc against the wood then the wood against the Alternanthera reineckii. I am a big fan of the Bylxa Japonica, keep us updated on the progress.


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## Morainy (Apr 21, 2010)

Deanorama, your first tank is a spectacular tank! Congratulations!


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## theDeanoRama (Oct 23, 2010)

Thanks everyone 

CRSFan:
I believe the HC came way of Aquaflora, I purchased it from King Ed a few weeks ago. I happened to be there when they were unpacking a shipment (lucky me). I just wish it would all root .. every other day I have to go back in and poke some down again. Makes me wish for a different substrate.
The Alternanthera is giving me some issues on the lowest leaves (bit of algae and the odd leaf dropping) but I think thats a combination due to stunted growth from lack of exposure to the lights. I'm going to have to spread them out a bit again as they are starting to choke each other out a bit.


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## theDeanoRama (Oct 23, 2010)

Ugh, my nightmare has been realized. Shortly after my above post a power outage just hit, guessing it's to do with the snow we are getting (2 months early!).

On the upside I have a battery operated air pump I just tossed in. With such a light bioloading, completely covered tank and the airstone I should be fine for the night. I also just finished wrapping the tank in a blanket, leaving and opening to accommodate air exchange.

All I have to say is I'm glad I thought ahead when it came to getting this airpump ... Now if it was only a little quieter than a Volkswagen firing on a missing cylinder ...


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## Morainy (Apr 21, 2010)

Yes, those air pumps can be pretty noisy! But I think that with only 7 cardinal tetras in a 12 gallon tank, they'd be okay for air all night even without the pump. I hope that your power outtage doesn't last too long, though.


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## theDeanoRama (Oct 23, 2010)

Morainy said:


> Yes, those air pumps can be pretty noisy! But I think that with only 7 cardinal tetras in a 12 gallon tank, they'd be okay for air all night even without the pump. I hope that your power outtage doesn't last too long, though.


I have a DIY co2 running 24/7 ... I'm sure its not dumping in huge amounts, but I would rather take the safer route. It was only a fluke that I caught this outage .. my son wandering in my room waking me up. Had he not shown up, the only way I would have really known is that my clock would have been off kilter in the morning and being that it was only a couple of hours, everything in the tank most likely would have been fine.


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## theDeanoRama (Oct 23, 2010)

*Day 61*

The HC seems to be doing well, even though I have to poke down a bit here or there once in a while. Cabomba is still messy but I've removed a little of it to allow for deeper penetration of light. Its not as thick in there as I like but it's doing the job for the ever nervous fish. I have attempted to track down some Bylxa Japonica to replace it and have struck out but a LFS is going to see if they an track it down for me.

The Alternanthera is doing well after its 1st pinching. Its almost reached the top of the tank and I'll have to shorten the stems sooner than later, not that this is a bad thing since the lower leaves are starting to attract algae and are not all that healthy being out of the light.

I'm hoping that as my experience increases my algae decreases. So far its just showing up on the slowest growing and on my driftwood, as well as a little on my glass, but little enough that a once a week cleaning takes care of what little shows up there. I finally managed to source some phosphorus to add to my regular Seachem schedule, this stuff was surprisingly hard to source out here. I've also read that fluctuation in co2 levels can actually promote algae growth to some degree, this is going to be hard for me to overcome until I can get a proper pressurized system. I'm not too worried about the drift wood (seems to be a nice place for the shrimp to gather, but I would like to see it off the leaves of the slower growing plants.

No matter how much I trim the Ozelot it just comes back stronger. This is one that I'll be hard pressed to keep up with if I want the rest of my plants to enjoy the light. It's by far the strongest grower I have in the tank. I'm sure this plant is single handedly the reason I only have a little algae vs a lot though, so I'm not even considering replacing it even though its a potential tank buster at this scale.

*Front:*









*Side:*









*3/4 view:*









*HC progress shot:*


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## theDeanoRama (Oct 23, 2010)

*[Day 62]*

Something is happening today thats not happened to this level since the tank was new. I have so much pearling is like I have tiny airstones throughout the tank.

The only thing thats changed is that I finally sourced seachem phosphorus saturday so it is now included in my dosing regime (working off a 7 day seachem dosing chart). The rest of the elements of the regime have all been going in already. What ever it is thats changed in the last couple of day, it's making me (and my plants) a happy camper.

While I'm stopping by, I thought I would post some shots from the weekend, something other than full tank shots anyways.

Stretching his legs (pretty sure its a 'he' anyways):









The MTS are getting bigger ... at least the pond snails never get this big, they just seem to break apart into 20 more based on my population:


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## theDeanoRama (Oct 23, 2010)

*[Day 61] *pt 2

This is a quick vid taken with my iPhone, started low and to one side where I can almost see through to the other side. Pearling coming out of the Ozelot, Alternanthera and HC. The Cabomba is also pearling but not nearly as much:


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## EDGE (Aug 24, 2010)

Looking good. Really healthy HC growth. 

The plant you have is not cabomba. It is limnophila sessilfolia


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## theDeanoRama (Oct 23, 2010)

EDGE said:


> Looking good. Really healthy HC growth.
> 
> The plant you have is not cabomba. It is limnophila sessilfolia


lol, and here I have been calling it Cabomba for the last bunch o' days. Guess this is what happens when you have no idea what your coming home with from the store .... thanks for the ID Edge! I liked it better when I thought it was Cabomba though .. I have no chance of spelling Limnophilia!


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## theDeanoRama (Oct 23, 2010)

*[Day 63]*

*Dean*: OMGBBQ .... is that BBA?!?!?!









*BBA*: haha! I have arrived to crash your party, where should I leave my luggage?

*Dean*: oh hell no ....

*BBA*: I may be small, but I WILL be the life of the party for the remainder of this tanks life!









*Dean*: I see you have set up in the penthouse (highest point in my tank on my driftwood)

*BBA*: What of it dude, this is my perch now, close to the rays so I can get a nice tan

*Dean*: We shall see about that! This penthouse is more like a tent ... soooo not a permanent stucture. Into the Red Bucket of Doom (tm) with you!









*Dean*: and say hello to my little friend!!! 









*BBA*: NNNOOOOOOOoooo o o o o o o o .... I will be bach!

*Dean*: huh? you will be a dead composer?

*BBA*: no .. you idiot, bach, BACH .. you know, return?

*Dean*: huh ... there is an Austrian strain of BBA, whoda thunk it? Well, bad accent aside, you were nothing to me, n.o.t.h.i.n.g

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So ... after letting the stick soak up the excel for about 30 mins or so, I gave it a soaking in some dechlorinated water so as not to shock my shrimp who like to climb all over it and then put it back into the tank.

After looking over the larger Malaysian driftwood cave like piece, it too could probably use a treatment. There is nothing puffing up like it did on this, but there are some areas that are starting to show the same colour. I'll yank it on the weekend and give it a good going over. I may have to source some metricide.

This is the 1st non dust type algae to really show up in my tank so far so I guess I can count myself lucky considering my n00bness. I did have a little teensy hair algae in my 1st week or so, but with no fish or shrimp in the tank at that point it was easy to deal with.

I guess with drift wood being both static and closer to the light, that it will attract algae more thanb plants that are constantly growing, this would be a good time for me to consider tying on some moss to the stick I think.

On the upside, I got a call from my new fav LFS and they have my requested Fluval co2 systems in. I have a 20 (this tank) and an 88 (for the 15g I'm peicing together) waiting for me. This should give me a little more control over my co2 injection vs the diy I'm messing with now.


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## theDeanoRama (Oct 23, 2010)

*[Day 65]*

Small series of updates:

*1)* My Cabomba is not cabomba. As pointed out above by Edge, what I really have is Limnophila Sessilfolia (pic from a couple of nights ago):









*2)* I've noticed my shrimp get deep underneath my HC ... I'm hoping they see this as a place to lay eggs since I've offered them no cave.

*3)* The Fluval co2 kits (both the 88 and the smaller 20) came in for me this week and I picked them up tonight. Other than the obvious positives that come from switching to pressurized there was also a few dissapointments:
*A)* The amount of tubing included with the 20 sized (smaller) kit; there is only about 12-14 inches of it. I know that in the Flora tank they have coming out that your expected to hang the canister on the tank itself, but alas ... my tank has no place to hang this. I'll be forced to use the tubing that came with my Nutrafin yeast/sugar system instead. This is fine as far as solutions go, but if I did not have that system already in place I would be out of luck until I purchased additional tubing.​*B)*The other item I will most likely not be utilizing is the diffuser assembly that comes with this kit. It's big ... _really big_. In my small tank I have no place I can put this and not have it be the center piece. I'll be using the small airstone I have on my current co2 system for now until my ebay ordered glass diffusers show up. For bubble counting I'll use the counter that came with my 88 system for now and get a replacement counter for the 88 system before I finish setting up the 15g.​
Fluval's 20 beside the larger 88 with a credit card sized costco card for scale, the big thing at the bottom is the diffuser for the 20 sized ... did I mention 'big'? (sorry about the crappy iPhone pic):









*4)* I leave you with another video of the pearling going on. The tank is pearling so much now (probably double what I shot before) that the Limnophila is actually streaming air (due to youtube compression you only really see this when I zoom out a bit). I know its just another video of more or less the same thing, but I did it from the front of the tank and I take you on a bit of a shaky tour so that your at least not watching more of the same ... even though technically you are


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## theDeanoRama (Oct 23, 2010)

*[Day 67]*

Well, I think I'll have at least one femail switching from 'saddled' to 'berried' soon

I just saw a couple of males doing some fast laps looking for the particular female that must be getting a little randy. At first I was worried that I was gassing them out with my new pressurized co2, but the fish and the rest of the shrimp are all calmly doing thier thing, showing no signs of oxygen starvation.

With all the pearling going on right now I would have to guess without running my test that there is enough oxygen in there for them, especially since I'm only running 1 bubble every 3 seconds right now. I can't wait for my drop tester to show up so I can feel more at ease about this new co2


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## theDeanoRama (Oct 23, 2010)

*[day 69]*

Well as I was guessing up above; I think I have a berried shrimp, hopefully I can keep the water stable enough:









My Limnophila Sessilfolia is looking rough on the lower end of the stems as the light once again gets cut off from the top. I keep cutting off the tops, and replacing the lowers with the tops but its a messy messy job, if I get some time I will be re-scaping that end of the tank, or if the right plant comes up at the right time (though right now the 'right time' feels like last weekend).


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## teija (Sep 30, 2010)

Deano: This is a beautiful tank! I have never been so successful with my attempts with plants, but this looks great! The inhabitants all seem to be very happy so you must be doing it right. 

Oh, and the photos earlier were not the dreaded BBA, but green brush algae... similar nuisance but not quite as fear-inducing... usually shrimp will eat it if they are hungry enough, or at least my Amanos ate the carpet of it that had formed on the back wall of my Biocube last year. I believe there are other algae eaters that will also help with it.

Keep up the fantastic work!


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## theDeanoRama (Oct 23, 2010)

teija said:


> Deano: This is a beautiful tank! I have never been so successful with my attempts with plants, but this looks great! The inhabitants all seem to be very happy so you must be doing it right.


Thanks  I can only hope I can maintain this level on the next tank - I of course would be a lot happier without the algae but controlling that I think is tough with when its on the slower growers or driftwood. I've adjusted my flow a little to help with that deadish spot in the middle of the tank but this filtration on the nano is not very effecting, there is flow and filtration but barely enough.



teija said:


> Oh, and the photos earlier were not the dreaded BBA, but green brush algae... similar nuisance but not quite as fear-inducing... usually shrimp will eat it if they are hungry enough, or at least my Amanos ate the carpet of it that had formed on the back wall of my Biocube last year. I believe there are other algae eaters that will also help with it.


I'm definitely going to add in a couple Amanos as the RCS are cute and fun to watch but they don't make a dent in the algae. On the upside I don't have to really feed them, even though I pop in a couple of hikari shrimp pellets for them now and then as a treat or when I want to get a head count.  I don't know where they hide, but most times I can only count about 8 of my 15 until I generate some interest for them.

I dont know if my water temp is stable enough for Otos as I hear they are pretty picky about conditions. The tank can peak at about 82.5F during my photo period then it drops back down to my desired 80.5. I could try and stabilize it at 83ish, but I'm afraid that it could actually go higher than that during the photo period and I really don't want to risk that. This is my biggest challenge with this particular tank and the reason I'm putting together the 15g.

Sadly by tank design, I don't have a way really of keeping the temp under control. I tried a small fan pointing at the tank but it then cooled the tank too much, to the point where the heater couldn't keep up. The lights already have exhaust fans but they don't seem to really be all that effective. I can't really prop open the lid as it changes my lighting too much, but I do leave the front door flap up. Lights suspended 8 inches over the new tank, allowing for some airflow should get rid of this hiccup entirely.


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## teija (Sep 30, 2010)

theDeanoRama said:


> I dont know if my water temp is stable enough for Otos as I hear they are pretty picky about conditions.


I have never had any luck at all with Ottos. It isn't just the temperature, there are lots of other factors that I think contribute to (lack of) success with them. Some people have claimed they have no problems, but many others have said they can never keep them alive. Plus, they are mainly good for eating brown atoms, not the hair-type algae you're worried about.


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## ncutler (Apr 26, 2010)

I suspect with the amount of pearling you have, you may end up looking for slower growing plants over time. My limpho grows so fast compared to my other plants that I tend to move the faster growers to my lower light tanks. Usually if they grow fast in your high tech, they'll grow ok in lower light as well.


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## theDeanoRama (Oct 23, 2010)

I don't mind the faster growing plants, so long as I don't have to trim more than once per week. From what I understand (though I could be wrong) faster growing plants help eat up the nutrients in the water column which in part help combat algae growth.


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## teija (Sep 30, 2010)

haha... I would have NO complaints if my plants were growing too fast... as opposed to shrinking and dying as they usually do!


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## theDeanoRama (Oct 23, 2010)

teija said:


> haha... I would have NO complaints if my plants were growing too fast... as opposed to shrinking and dying as they usually do!


I have that problem in my 5.5, the Limnophila I put in there didnt fare too well. I have some moss in there now and I'm going to see if I can make that grow at all. I may change the bulb I have in there now, currently its a 18k I think I'm going to try and find a 65-6700k.


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## theDeanoRama (Oct 23, 2010)

*[Day 71]* Tank picture day! (It's been a while since I've updated with progress pics):

The Limnophila has once again more than reached the top, shading itself off, killing off the lower fronds. This plant is growing too fast for its own health I think. Thin leggy stems. The rest of the plants are doing well, the Alternanthera is plugging along even though I got a little pinch happy (oops), the growth of it even over the last 10 days tells the story itself. As you can see from the back of the tank, I'm starting to get some green spot algae back there, not sure yet what the overall solution is. I'm planning a couple of 3 day lights out for the tank as I'll be out of town this weekend and over xmas, so I'll just leave the lights off (and the co2 of course).

On the non-plant updates I have spawning Cardinal Tetras and a berried CRS. The Cardinal eggs are just food for the inhabitants as I don't really have a place to let them spawn safely and even if I did I wouldn't know what to do with the offspring. I'm hoping the shrimp carry to term though would be nice to see a few babies floating around in a month-ish.

My ebay ordered co2 diffusers showed up today intact (better than my last attempt at this, the other seller I dealt with did not do a good packaging job and I ended up with a box of ground glass). I now have it hooked up as you will see in the photos, the bubble stream you see it emitting is generated by a very miserly 1 bubble every 7 seconds right now as I dont want to shock the inhabitants. The DIY I had before bubbled through an airstone tucked under my biomedia so the tank was never infused direcly with bubbles like this current setup is doing. I'm not sure if I will use this style diffuser in the new tank or not. I don't mind the appearance of it, but the bubbles being blown around the tank are a bit distracting. I may end up getting an inline reactor to inject into for that tank.

*Front









Side









3/4 view









HC Update







*


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## theDeanoRama (Oct 23, 2010)

*[Day 78]*

The ebay purchased nano glass co2 diffusers I have (all three of them from 2 different vendors) are essentially inadequate as best as I can tell. They do not do a very good job of diffusing the co2, the bubbles are fairly large and they give off a bit of a whistling noise that you can hear across the room.

I swapped today to Fluval's diffusion disc (same one that comes with their 88 sized pressurized co2). Its not as attractive as the glass but it does a 100% better job at diffusing the gas and it doesn't whistle while doing it 

I received a call from one of my LFS's ... they have in 3 Blyxa Japoinica plants for me. I can now replace the Limnophila! I trimmed it again and moved tops down to bottoms, but a lot of the remaining bottoms are definatly getting worse for wear. Sadly I can't get out there until Saturday to pick them up, but at least I know they are waiting for me


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## theDeanoRama (Oct 23, 2010)

*[Day 81] *

I finally got my chance to pick up the Blyxa Japonica from whats quickly becoming my fav LFS, even though its not as local as many others out here. The Limpholia has now been removed (though I notice I missed a single stalk) and has been replaced with what is in the long run going to be too much blyxa. I will transplant some into my pending 15g once I'm ready to plant it.

The change in scenery caused a new and short lived power struggle amongst the Cardinal Tetras as they vied for new territory. They seem to enjoy it, swiming in and around it (but its hard to tell with a fish). It really fills in the tank visually. I think I can now consider this little tank "heavily planted". Once the Blyxa starts to get some length I think its going to look really good in there, not that it looks terrible currently.

As you can see in some of the pics I'm also storing some weeping moss in there now. I picked up a healthy bunch of it on Friday for the driftwood going into the pending 15g. I'm just temporarily storing it here until I can transfer it. I'm also holding on to a few cuttings of the Alternanthera and letting them float on the surface as well, not sure if I'm actually going to use these in the new tank or not but it can't hurt to hold on to them until I decide.

The larger driftwood cave is now only home to dying algae as I gave it the Red Bucket of Doom™ treatment last week. 3 or 4 days of no light in a bucket that was near 33% excel. Its currently not too pretty but its slowly getting better.
*
Front









3/4 View









Side









HC Growth Update









Blyxa-licious:








*

While at my LFS I also decided that I needed more shrimp, because really ... can you have too many? Only this time I departed from the RCS I normally get and picked up a couple of Amanos. I figure I have enough algae on the Alternanthera's lower leaves and here and there on the driftwood and substrate that I won't need to be overly concerned with feeding them algae flakes or blanced veg. I'm not sure if they will climb the back wall or not for algae, I may pick up some Oto's for that if I thought they would survive my ever shifting temperatures (81 in the morning to almost 83 in the evening).

*One of the two Amanos:*









*An Amano beside an RCS to show the difference in size, also shows the dying algae from the Red Bucket of Doom™ treatment:*


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## theDeanoRama (Oct 23, 2010)

*[day 105]*

Its been awhile since I've posted an update so here we go:

The Blyxa took to the tank well, almost immeasurable loss while it acclimated. I even have new growth coming up! If this was a few inches shorter I would consider it for my pico tank. Sadly I'm getting either green dust or green spot (or a bit of both) moving in. I've decided to try leaving it be rather than scrubbing it off the tank to see if it starves itself out ... its hard to do as it drives me a little nuts every time I see it. I may end up breaking down and scrubbing it away.

The Echindorus is still growning in fast and healthy as is the HC and Alternanthera, all of which is in dire need of trimming. The the 1st for the HC actually, I just hope its rooted down well enough to stay down when I do. The Alternanthera (as you can see by the white runners popping out of the stems) has reached the surface. I ran into what I think is a potassium deficiency while I was away for 4 days over the holiday (no dosing while I was gone). I ended up with a bunch of pin holes on the lower leaves, I will trim away the lower stems this time around to clean those away, and just replant the stems (as much as I hate doing it that way).

Even the weeping moss I'm storing in the tank for the 15g is growing nicely and the shrimp love it. Although (not sure how well it will be depicted in the smaller images here) the hitchicker unnamed moss I've been cultivating over the last few months also near died out while I was gone for those 4 days, it was very brown when I returned (from a lush green before I left). Its starting to come back here and there now, but its still looking rough (lower left hand corner in the "front" picture).

Please excuse the green algae spotted glass and all the white spots (co2 microbubbles) in the images:

*Front*









*3/4 view*









*HC growth update*









*Happy fish and happy HC - any white spots you see on the fish are actually microbubbles in the water ... not ich *


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## Morainy (Apr 21, 2010)

Deanorama, this tank is breathtaking. Stunning. Beautiful! And nothing that I look at in real life has the clarity that is in your photos. I might have to switch from looking at my tanks to looking at pics of yours!


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