# Fluval EBI Tank



## Petah (Dec 19, 2010)

Hello everyone,

Here is my setup for the EBI tank.

The xmas moss is slowly growing in. Got some HC to carpet. 
I forgot what kind of grass that is... anyone know?

Currently have 17 yellow shrimp in the tank. 
So far, so good.


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## Petah (Dec 19, 2010)

I forgot to mention the moss balls.


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## CRS Fan (Apr 21, 2010)

Petah said:


> I forgot what kind of grass that is... anyone know?


It looks like Vallisneria nana, but i could be wrong.

Best regards,

Stuart


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## mysticalnet (Apr 22, 2010)

what happened to the Styrofoam background?


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## Petah (Dec 19, 2010)

I didn't like the Styrofoam background. So it's in the box. Instead, i built two moss walls.
Just waiting for it to grow out.


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## plantedinvertz (Apr 21, 2010)

Looks really good so far !


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## _TiDy_ (Apr 29, 2010)

your tank looks great! once everything grows in it"ll look spectacular. May i ask where you got the material for the moss walls?


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## big_bubba_B (Apr 25, 2010)

wow thats a nice tank


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## Tn23 (Apr 21, 2010)

Nice looking tank, throw in some crystals


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## Petah (Dec 19, 2010)

Tidy, I originally started with a carbon fiber window screen from Home Depot ($10), but i read the 2mm mesh is too fine for the moss to grow through. So i used it as the backing and for the front, i went to Michael's for some needle point plastic mesh($0.80/each). I think it's 8mm.
Used fishing line to put it together($1.50 from Walmart). It's working fine with the fine mesh behind, so the shrimp can't get into the back. YOu can also get the suction cups from Home Depot. I think it's 2.50$ for 5. They come with a little metal hook, but i removed it. 

Hope that helps.


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## roadrunner (Apr 25, 2010)

Looking good Petah. Just wondering how you attached the moss to mesh. After it starts growing, does xmas moss attach itself? Is that co2 in the corner? I'm considering getting new fluval, but I can't decide between ebi and flora. I want to grow plants and I'm just looking at alternatives. Thanx


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## Petah (Dec 19, 2010)

You just sandwich the moss between the mesh. It should start growing out of the mesh, towards the light. I can already see little pieces creeping through. And yes, it's Co2, DIY. You can get all the glass parts on Ebay. 
The Flora is nice, it comes with a nano Co2. But i read somewhere that the bubble count is unstable. But it does come with tweezers and plant substrate which is nice.


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## roadrunner (Apr 25, 2010)

Sandwich moss between mesh, that's awesome idea! I have to remember that. I would love to see more photos in the future and how your plants are growing.


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## _TiDy_ (Apr 29, 2010)

Petah said:


> Tidy, I originally started with a carbon fiber window screen from Home Depot ($10), but i read the 2mm mesh is too fine for the moss to grow through. So i used it as the backing and for the front, i went to Michael's for some needle point plastic mesh($0.80/each). I think it's 8mm.
> Used fishing line to put it together($1.50 from Walmart). It's working fine with the fine mesh behind, so the shrimp can't get into the back. YOu can also get the suction cups from Home Depot. I think it's 2.50$ for 5. They come with a little metal hook, but i removed it.
> 
> Hope that helps.


awesome! thanks for the info, i've been trying to find some sort of mesh to grow some ricca on, ive got tons of ricca but just no way to spread it around my tank. thanks!!!


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## Petah (Dec 19, 2010)

i will keep everyone updated with the tank. I'm enjoying it so far.


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## Petah (Dec 19, 2010)

Hey everyone,
Just a quick little photo update of my EBI. Everything is still growing in nicely. It's so green.
























Here's the moss wall. it's still growing in slowly.


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## Petah (Dec 19, 2010)

Here's an update. I like how it's coming along.


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## Petah (Dec 19, 2010)

I finally decided to replace the light.... I got a Coralife Mini Aqualight. Currently running 2 10,000K T5 lights. Got the legs to work, im surprise people haven't tried this... People kept telling me it wouldn't work, but it works fine. i didn't even have to modify anything.









Excuse the algae, the shrimplets love it.


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## tang daddy (Apr 21, 2010)

Nice upgrade! How is your moss wall doing?


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## Petah (Dec 19, 2010)

It's still growing. It grows alot better near the top... so i need to figure out how to get some light closer to the bottom. I've been trimming the top short trying to promote this.


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## Atom (Apr 21, 2010)

Where did you get the nice light?


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## Morainy (Apr 21, 2010)

Very nice light! Do you have any difficulties getting the tank's lid on and off, with the leg attachments? 

I have 3 'dead' Ebi lights right now and am thinking of switching to the light you have. Did you purchase the legs separately? 

I see that the Coralife Freshwater mini is available from BigAls but it's not in stock right now. I wonder if IPU has it?


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## Mferko (Jun 8, 2010)

Morainy said:


> Very nice light! Do you have any difficulties getting the tank's lid on and off, with the leg attachments?
> 
> I have 3 'dead' Ebi lights right now and am thinking of switching to the light you have. Did you purchase the legs separately?
> 
> I see that the Coralife Freshwater mini is available from BigAls but it's not in stock right now. I wonder if IPU has it?


Maureen dont take a loss on the 3 lights, just take them to the store and swap them, they dont ask for receipts, the fluval rep will send all the old fixtures back to hagen and theyl likely put new bulbs in them, test them, and sell them again

kinda like how theyre not asking for receipts for the stealth pro heaters, they know theyre faulty so theyre taking em back regardless

this new fixture is great that u can put 2 bulbs in, even if u wanted to switch to that no reason to take a loss on the 3 u paid for alrdy


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## Petah (Dec 19, 2010)

I bought the light at J&L for 56$ and the legs for $8 and he sold me an extra 10k light at cost, since the anitic (or whatever the bulb is called) is too blue and normally used for coral. I saw the same light at King Ed for $2 cheaper but the legs were $5 more.


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## Mferko (Jun 8, 2010)

i left the actinic in my biocube i heard its good for photosynthesis not just corals, mebbe i should ask a plant expert about it
also not sure if 10k or 6.7k is better mines 10k atm


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## Petah (Dec 19, 2010)

As for the lid, the legs do get in the way abit, but the fixture is so light and easy to move out of the way.


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## Mferko (Jun 8, 2010)

after i had a cherry shrimp escape one night and dry up on my desk while the lid was on, i gave up on the lid anyways, so hard to keep it clean too


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## Petah (Dec 19, 2010)

Yeah, i don't think the lid prevents anything but some water vapour from escaping. 
I read that shrimp "escape" because they are unhappy with the water parameters or something... maybe it didn't like the roomies.


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## Mferko (Jun 8, 2010)

Petah said:


> Yeah, i don't think the lid prevents anything but some water vapour from escaping.
> I read that shrimp "escape" because they are unhappy with the water parameters or something... maybe it didn't like the roomies.


well as a result i got frustrated and they got dwarf puffer roomies, so that didnt work out too well for them 
i changed the water pretty frequently and the plants were soaking up all of the nitrates i had to dose a bit, idk what was wrong  still have some red cherries left ~25 or so


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## Petah (Dec 19, 2010)

dosing... i been reading up on that alot. Some say it's safe, some say it isn't. I'm too afraid to try, since my yellow shrimp colony is probably close to 100 now... that's alot of shrimps to lose.


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## Atom (Apr 21, 2010)

I've been dosing excel (4-5 times weekly), flourish (3 times weekly), iron (2 times weekly) all at the minimum or just above the minimum amounts. So far there have been no deaths to my cherry or crs yet. The cherries I have had for 3 weeks now. 

I had some babies disappear, but that may have been due to a variety of reasons. Had Tiger shrimp deaths within 12 hours of introducing them, but don't know the cause of death.

If Yellows are just as strong as cherries then they may be okay, but I can see your hesitancy there.


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## Petah (Dec 19, 2010)

Hmmm, i wonder if that's the cause of the escaping behaviour? Do you use excel because you don't have Co2?


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## Atom (Apr 21, 2010)

Petah said:


> Hmmm, i wonder if that's the cause of the escaping behaviour? Do you use excel because you don't have Co2?


I haven't had any escapes that I know of. Yeah, I don't use Co2.


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## tang daddy (Apr 21, 2010)

Petah said:


> dosing... i been reading up on that alot. Some say it's safe, some say it isn't. I'm too afraid to try, since my yellow shrimp colony is probably close to 100 now... that's alot of shrimps to lose.


I lost crs when I was dosing EI!!



Petah said:


> Yeah, i don't think the lid prevents anything but some water vapour from escaping.
> I read that shrimp "escape" because they are unhappy with the water parameters or something... maybe it didn't like the roomies.


shrimp climbing out of water has nothing to do with bad water, they try to escape for another reason....


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## Petah (Dec 19, 2010)

What does EI stand for?


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## vdub (Apr 22, 2010)

Petah said:


> What does EI stand for?


Estimated Index.


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## Petah (Dec 19, 2010)

Felt like a change. 
Got some nice sticks from Aquarium West.


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## roadrunner (Apr 25, 2010)

Very nice setup!


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## Petah (Dec 19, 2010)

Here's an update. I'm really liking how the tank is coming along. The HC is growing very well, got another light, decided to get rid of the coralife, got pressurized co2 from Pat.


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## roadrunner (Apr 25, 2010)

Thanx for the update. Looking awesome! I like how HC is filling your floor. I wish I could grow it too. I really have to put some $ aside for co2 system now!


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## Petah (Dec 19, 2010)

i thought pressurized co2 wuld be expensive also, but i got the kit for $45 from Pat. It was used, but works well. then i bought the glass bubble counter and diffuser off ebay. and i think it was $7 to fill... which should last me about 4-5 months maybe... at 1bps. Much better then having the DIY Co2 kit blow up in my face... literally.


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## punchbuggy (Apr 21, 2010)

Really? 45 for a co2 kit... Hmm. How big is it? Do you have a picture?


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## roadrunner (Apr 25, 2010)

$7 for the fill? And for 4-5 months? I think that's reasonable even for me. I pm-ed pat, but he does not have any left. (


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## punchbuggy (Apr 21, 2010)

boo!! I wouldve so gotten one. Where did he source these from?


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## giraffee (Mar 28, 2011)

The moss wall is very interesting. Can we get a close up of how it looks now? We were toying with the idea, but it looked like a lot of work


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## Petah (Dec 19, 2010)

Here's the Co2 setup. it's been five weeks and the gauge has dropped. I think i will see with the second fill up how long it last. Since this was the first time, i wasted alot of Co2 trying to set it up.









Here's a close up of the moss wall. It's abit patchy, since the last time i tried to trim it... and accidently pulled a chunk out. 
















The important thing is the shrimps love it.


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## monkE (Aug 4, 2010)

The tank looks great Petah, awesome growth... iove the simple CO2 system and being a paintball player, i have a couple of those tanks lying around...i'm going to have to look into maybe destroying a paintball gun and DIY a pressurized kit if i can... keep the pictures coming!


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## roadrunner (Apr 25, 2010)

any new pics?


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## mhlwang (May 11, 2011)

yea would like to see any update please!


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## Petah (Dec 19, 2010)

Hi, sorry it's been awhile, but here is some updated photos. I just gave the moss wall i trim, since it was out of control!


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## roadrunner (Apr 25, 2010)

it looks awesome! I love how nicely HC is filling in. Thanx for pics


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## Petah (Dec 19, 2010)

Yeah i love the HC... but i think it has engulfed my crystal... i can't seem to find it anymore.


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## Petah (Dec 19, 2010)

It's been awhile, but here are some updated photos.


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## Arcteryx (Nov 23, 2011)

Wow... it looks great. I like. A lot.


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## arash53 (Aug 13, 2011)

WOW looks great , those yellow shrimps are really pretty  If I add some in my RCS tank ,are they inter breed and make pumpkin shrimp ?


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## Atom (Apr 21, 2010)

Those yellows are to die for.


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## Petah (Dec 19, 2010)

@ Arash53 - lol i don't know, but i have feeling they might revert to their wild colours, but who knows?


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## Morainy (Apr 21, 2010)

Petah, your tank is gorgeous! It looks so lush! And, the shrimp look like they're enjoying it, too.

Everytime I see a tank like this, I want to rescape my Ebi. But my Ebi is looking pretty good these days, too! Right now, it's a pygmy cory party.


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## Smallermouse (Jan 28, 2012)

looks good. too bad you are selling it.


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