# MDT's ADA 45F 5Gal Journal



## MDT (Aug 8, 2014)

Hi everyone,

I'm going to be documenting my next aquascape here and I just want share my experiences with everyone.
Now I want to start off by saying that I am by no means an expert. In fact I consider myself pretty amateur, especially with aquascaping, but I am always aspiring to learn more and improve. In doing so, I hope that my experiences become helpful or insightful for other new or novice aquarists seeking to get some insight in aquascaping.

Please feel free to comment, leave questions or even constructive criticism.

So without further ado, here's my next tank:



















I'm using the ADA 45F. It's about 5 gals, very modest in size, but it's a beautiful shallow tank and great for many types of aquascape styles. 
I'm going for sort of an igwami aquascape here. I'm trying the Dry Start Method for the first time because I read about all the success DSM has with HC 'Cuba'.

Other flora I am using: AR 'Mini', Mini Pellia and S. Repens. Possibly Downoi in the future, since I read that plant doesnt do great emersed.

I plan on doing this for 4-6 weeks before I flood the tank to allow my HC and Mini Pellia to grow in and secure themselves as much as they can.

So far, my only trouble is the Mini Pellia. It dries up incredibly fast. Although I am one week in, I still have to spray them every 4-5 hours. First few days I had to spray them every hour which was tough. I thought about gluing them right before I flooded my tank, but I am afraid of not liking how they will grow in and being unable to remove the plant/glue. Not to mention if it died somehow and just left a blob of glue on the rocks.

I could actually use some advise about what to do with the Mini Pellia. I can tell that they don't like being emersed very much right now. I noticed some browning today too, oddly in the regions that tend to be always moist. I'm afraid it will start to rot and mold will grow. Perhaps letting it dry out more and dripping water only on the parts that dry out immensely?

More testing is required...


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## Reckon (Jul 25, 2012)

Have you seran wrapped the top of your tank to keep the moisture in?


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## MDT (Aug 8, 2014)

Thanks for asking. Yes, I have kept it air tight since day 1, only opening it a little to mist the plants. It gets very humid in there. The pics are of Day 1 of my DSM, right before I sealed it so I could get clear pictures. If I tried to take a picture now, you would only see moisture on the glass and ceramic top.


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## Reckon (Jul 25, 2012)

I had to ask because usually most plants/mosses do well even emerged with high humidity. Mini Pellia is super hardy. I've kept it in a bowl by the window for weeks. How about putting a bit of nutrients in your spray? Otherwise you may have to keep mini pellia in a bowl by the window as well until you are ready to flood the tank.


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## rwong2k10 (Dec 27, 2010)

great looking start!


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## MDT (Aug 8, 2014)

Reckon said:


> I had to ask because usually most plants/mosses do well even emerged with high humidity. Mini Pellia is super hardy. I've kept it in a bowl by the window for weeks. How about putting a bit of nutrients in your spray? Otherwise you may have to keep mini pellia in a bowl by the window as well until you are ready to flood the tank.


Yeah, I put just a tiny amount of ferts in my spray to promote growth. Seems to be working for everything in my tank except the moss. I also kept Mini Pellia before in a container. It did fine, so I am also surprised that it's giving me so much trouble right now. I think it might be the light that is causing the browning and drying out. The Mini Pellia is sitting closest to the light so the warmth is probably drying them out fast. Still doesnt explain why the damp parts are browning though.

@rwong2k10 Thanks Ray!


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## MDT (Aug 8, 2014)

Week 2 Update:










As feared, mold grew on the moss that was rotting. I decided to remove all the moss because they are too difficult to dry start without acclimating them from submerged to emersed. I'll add them back in right before flooding and figure out how to secure them then. Unfortunately, some s. repens that were touching the moss were also infected so I put some excel on infected leaves which killed most of the mold, but also killed the leaf. You can sorta see it in the picture.

Pretty confident the s. repens will bounce back, so I am not too worried. Now I leave open a small hole to prevent the set up from getting too humid as I read the humidity is the cause of the mold.

Mini is growing faster than expected.
HC appears to finally have taken root. Very solid and even growth and no issues to report, so I'm happy.

However, I am thinking of flooding my tank a bit earlier than expected because of some mold still in my tank from the moss (it spread to the soil in more damp and darker areas). If it spreads to my HC and starts creating real problems, I am flooding the tank but fingers crossed.

Thanks for looking!


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## MDT (Aug 8, 2014)

Week 3: Last update (probably) before flooding my tank. A bit of a longer post, sorry.
I'm in the middle of week 3. Everything going well. Got some algae growing on the soil but that's fine with me, the HC is creeping over it regardless.
Still have some mold, unfortunately, but it isn't doing anything to my plants (I don't think). I tried to keep the tank dry enough so the mold dies off, but it appears that once you get mold, you cant get rid of it. Oh well.


















To show you how much my plants have grown in a week, these are two shots 8 days apart. Top is week 2, bottom is week 3.

















It's slowly getting there, bit by bit. 
I'll be planting some pearl weed right behind the larger stone when I flood the tank and try to reintroduce the mini pellia onto the rocks.
If I've learnt anything so far with my first attempt at DSM, keep it dry to avoid mold (and probably algae) and don't use plants that depend too much on moisture to be emersed because this leads to mold and other problems. Also, DSM really tests your patience...

Now onto something more important that I've been thinking about. I love to aquascape and it makes me really happy when I see healthy, lush and vibrant plant growth in high tech tanks, but I also love raising and breeding shrimp (specifically cardinas). It appears the two don't easily go hand in hand. From reading thoroughly on different forums and articles, talking to several members here and elsewhere, I've gathered that cardinas and high tech tanks don't really gel.

So for this tank, my goal is to rear CRS in a high tech tank in the hopes that they will grow and reproduce in a similar manner that they would in a breeding tank. I'm not expecting positive results, but I'd sure hope I am successful. I am preparing several experiments with O2, CO2, ferts and I'm in the process of gathering some supplies. Expect more details in the coming weeks about my hypothesis and experiments, and hopefully positive results.

With that said, thanks for looking!

-Matt


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## MDT (Aug 8, 2014)

Week 4:
Quick update. Light broke. Bought a new one (UP Aqua LED Z). I'll give my impressions on it at another time.

Flooded tank. Glued mini pellia onto the rocks. Need to plant some pearl weed and set up CO2.

Thanks for looking!


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## battmanh (Jan 7, 2014)

Full tank shot please!!!


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## MDT (Aug 8, 2014)

Here you go! 





Sorry, got called into work and had to run but was so excited to share pics.

First impressions with the UP Aqua Z LED: I bought the 24-inch for $60. It's a bit larger than this tank, but it disappointingly isn't as bright as my FugeRay.
That said, it's still not bad for a cheap LED. It is a much cooler light and the effect it creates off of shimmering water is rather pleasant. It makes the water feel "pure" despite my camera not being able to capture that at all.
It's also very sleek and slim, and looks quite great actually.
I read it has about the same PAR output with the Finnex FugeRay, so I'll update in a few weeks on how my plants are doing under this new light. That's what's important to me after all.

So now I am going to begin some experiments with pH, ferts/gH, CO2 and O2 in the following weeks. In my earlier post, I mentioned that I aim to keep some high grade CRS while still being able to keep my plants growing healthy and lush with CO2 and dosing ferts. My goal is therefore to keep water parameters as stable as possible for the sake of the shrimps.

I'll post my procedures and results in my next update around 2 weeks from now. If it fails and I can't keep my water stable enough consistently, I'll probably end up going with Bloody Mary's and a few fish. Wish me luck.


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## wslam (Dec 14, 2015)

What filter do you use if I may ask?


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## MDT (Aug 8, 2014)

I use the Zoo Med Canister Filter 15. I am also going to use a sponge filter.

I'll do a write up of my entire set up once I get fish/shrimp in there.


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## rwong2k10 (Dec 27, 2010)

Great write up. I just emptied my ada 45f and replaced it with something else. But I'll set it up again one day. Thanks for the inspiration and photos!

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## MDT (Aug 8, 2014)

Week 5: Quick Update



















Filled the mid section with sand because HC wasnt able to grow evenly inside there. Gonna let the HC carpet around the sand, make it look like an entrance.
I've been running CO2 at a steady rate at 1bps using DIY citric acid. My recipe has lasted 9 days so far and looks like it can go for another 2-3 days.

The only problem I'm experiencing with my plants are some of the mini pellia and one s. repen is melting. Not sure why but I'm just going to be patient with them. Seems to be slowly bouncing back.

I'm picking up the rest of my supplies to complete my tank tomorrow, then I can begin my experiments to keep CRS with a high tech tank. Not sure if I am optimistic; I'm keeping the pH steady at 6.3-6.4 but the TDS goes up by 20 every day because of the ryuoh stones. Maybe I should just go with PFR cherries?

Anyways, thanks for looking.


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## rwong2k10 (Dec 27, 2010)

I'd be a little bit worried that the tds raises 20 ppm per day. As much as rocks looks very nice ada has a few other rocks that don't raise the tds. I'm currently using koke rocks in my shrimp tanks and the tds does rise. I believe the manten and San Sui rocks and dragon stone doesn't raise the tds. The dragon stone would have a similar shape but a much lighter colour.

Great looking tank, I'd imagine a large rock half out of the water similar to yours if I were doing a ada 45f again.

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## MDT (Aug 8, 2014)

Yeah, I wish I realized that before buying these stones. I think it might be too late for me to switch the stones now. I may have dug myself a grave here, in terms of trying to keep CRS. Gonna be closely measuring my tank parameters in the next two weeks and conclude what I can keep.

We'll see, fingers crossed.


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## battmanh (Jan 7, 2014)

Nice HC carpet Matt! Shrimp are going to look so good in there. I actually had the same issue with the Ryuoh stones increasing my TDS constantly. I think you have a great opportunity to replace them with dragon stone right now if you'd be interested: http://www.bcaquaria.com/forum/sale...ascaping-stone-165802/index2.html#post1119530

If you decide to stick with them then you just have to keep up with regular water changes. I was still successful in breeding cherries even with the increasing TDS but I now stopped using Ryuoh and Seiryu stones because I'm not a huge fan of doing water changes haha.

Hopefully in a few months you'll have a nice established tank and then we can do a Taiwan bee group buy from somewhere!!


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## MDT (Aug 8, 2014)

Thanks Matt. The carpet looks better every day.

Gosh, those dragon stones look so great. I really wanted to use seiryu stones but couldnt find any...
I am just settled into the current scape and I'd have to restart if I bought new stones. I think I'll stick with ryuoh stones this time around. Still sorely tempted tho!

I'm going to stick it out with the ryuoh and see how it goes in two weeks. I'm just doing everything I can to keep my tank as stable and constant as possible. If I can do that, I'll be happy and transfer my CRS into this tank. Speaking of which, my current stock of CRS are starting to be a bit more successful. I'm getting a few more berried females. I hope the offspring survive.

Thanks for commenting! Always appreciate the input


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## MDT (Aug 8, 2014)

Good news and bad news:

I transferred all my crystal reds and blacks into my new tank. They seem to be happy. They are much more active, graze more and they poop everywhere all the time now, something I never noticed in my other tank. I even have a berried female.

However, I'm not really happy anymore. Balancing a high tech tank with crystal bees has been hard and it's taking the fun out of shrimp keeping and aquascaping. I use to get such a high off of admiring my fish tanks and watching my shrimp/fish, but these shrimp have been so difficult for me to make happy, not to mention my deep desire to have a really nice looking tank, that I am losing interest.

My recommendation to anyone who wants to aquascape and rear nice looking crystal bees is to go with a 15g and up. A 5 gallon is so incredibly hard to perfect. The slightest change to anything, even the surface agitation, and the parameters also change with it. I'm constantly testing my water and making changes to keep it consistent.

In case anyone is wondering my tank parameters are:

pH: 6.4-6.6
gH: 5
nitrate: > 5ppm

I've been lightly dosing my ferts, I run DIY Citric Acid CO2 at 1bps 24/7, my surface agitation is just enough to keep O2 coming in and CO2 coming out which is what I want since I run CO2 continuously. My TDS meter was showing an increase of 5-20 ppm every day since filling my tank, but that has changed. It only goes up by 5 ppm a day at most now. Why? I really don't know, but the change allowed me to put my shrimp in.

I have been able to keep everything very consistent but that's why I am not enjoying this anymore. It's really difficult. Now I understand why people recommend a 10 gallon tank for crystals - it's because they are such frail things and demand consistency.

I'll probably be selling these guys off because I'm done with Crystals for now. The good news is that I'll be replacing them with PFR cherries and some small fish. I can ease up on CO2, testing my water and stress less. I just want to enjoy my tanks and not worry about being perfect.

So sorry if I disappointed some of you, but the next update will be more positive. 

Thanks for your support and I hope you keep checking back for more updates.


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## Dou (Dec 4, 2015)

I totally get what you mean as I'm trying to balance a planted tank (5G - Do!Aqua Mini-M) with CRS. I'm using excel so it's not as high-tech but it's still difficult to balance (algae outbreaks) with dosing, lighting periods, etc. Thinking about doing paintball CO2 but I'm worried about screwing up a good thing (they are breeding right now). What kind of CBS/CRS do you have? I'm interested in the CBS - especially if they're the vibrant type! Getting my foot in early haha. I've been meaning to post a journal but just ended up being too lazy... maybe later tonight. Anyway great looking tank! Beautiful carpet =).


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## MDT (Aug 8, 2014)

Update Time!

It's been 75 days since I started this tank. It's come a long ways and I feel comfortable enough to really show it off today. Still lots more to do with this tank, but hope you've been enjoying my progress. I want to quickly thank everyone who has been following my journal. Special thanks to BattManh, Bien Lim and April for really helping me out. Couldn't have done this without their help.

So what's changed since the last update?

First off, I redid the background. I felt it was too bland with just HC cuba, so I planted various stem plants in the back. I'm sorta going for a fusion of the open foreground space found in Iwagami style with a lush and densely planted background found in Dutch style. I am using HM pearl weed, Micranthemum Umbrosum and some mystery red stem plant that BattManh generously provided me. No pictures of the mystery red plant yet, it's still too small. I know the background looks like a mess, I just want them to establish themselves before I prune and shape them to my vision. Hang tight, but I'm confident it will look great once it grows in.

Now I felt that going from HC cuba to tall stem plants would look awful (due to the lack of blending), so I am using Hydrocotyle Tripartita as a mid ground plant to separate HC cuba from the stems. HT grows taller than HC, but low and dense enough to reflect a change in texture and adds depth to the tank. Honestly, this has to be one of my new favorite plants. It grows so easily, looks great and very easy to shape. It has a great colour and works great to transition from a short carpet to tall stem plants. I think this has to be one of the easiest plants I've used to carpet too. Would recommend.

All my other plants are doing well and recovering after a massive green spot algae outbreak when I left town for a few days. The coral moss looks so good right now. Not where I want it to be yet, but I don't have to do anything for it. Just attach and forget. Fissiden fontanus is also doing well, slowly growing in and getting denser. No good pics yet though.

S. repens and AR mini doing fine. The green spot algae really stunted them for a week, but they are bouncing back. HC cuba also doing fine.
Unfortunately, the GSA also allowed Blue Green Algae to grow in, I think. I'm getting antibiotics for it. It's not doing much, just slowly spreading. I think my nerite snails are eating it though which I didnt know they would.

Speaking of which, I got some cool nerite snails. 1 tiger, 1 zebra and 2 horned. I adore them and they've been helpful in eating algae. Like I said, I think the tiger and zebra are eating BGA. Can't confirm it yet, but every time BGA creeps out onto my HC or glass, it disappears a few hours later and you can tell that a snail has been feeding in the area from the trail of cleaned glass they leave behind.

And lastly, I got a school of green neon tetras. Gosh they are beautiful. They school extremely tight and are rather shy, but they are becoming more and more adventurous each day. Despite being shy, they all like to group in the front of my tank even when feeling skittish around me. The most difficult thing about them so far is feeding them. Very very picky. I've tried frozen baby brine, adult brine, crushed flakes, frozen blood worms, frozen daphnia, microworms and dried blackworms. They only accept some blood worms and microworms. I want them to at least accept flakes from time to time, but I guess it's not terrible if they only eat microworms. Will keep trying...

Below are some pictures of my tank. Pulled out the nice camera this time, no cell phone quality pics lol
I'll post more pictures after work when I have time. For now, enjoy and thank you for checking my journal out.
As always, feel free to comment, criticize or ask me anything.


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## MDT (Aug 8, 2014)

More pics. Enjoy


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## JoshL (Feb 2, 2016)

You've done an excellent job on that 5g. Very impressive.


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## rwong2k10 (Dec 27, 2010)

Looks amazing!

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## liquid_krystale (Dec 13, 2011)

Very nice!

How are you liking the UpAqua light?


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## MDT (Aug 8, 2014)

Thank you for the nice comments everyone 

Disclaimer: The review below is purely subjective and comes from my own personal experience that I have with fish keeping and planted tanks. As far as you know, it could be a load of crap.

Yeah, so here is my own personal review of the* UP Aqua Z*. I am comparing it to the *Finnex FugeRay *which I humbly feel is a very good model to compare this light next to, since both are in the same price range and share very similar specs. Overall, I love it and I recommend it to those looking for a cheap but high quality and sexy looking LED. It definitely competes well with other lights in this price range and output and honestly, it's a lot better than this skeptic had initially thought. It isn't perfect either but it's really arguably one of the best lights you can buy within this price range.

The UP Aqua Z is a mid/high LED light for the planed tank. It comes with slide-on legs to let it sit on top of tanks and it's sleek build is definitely more attractive than you'd think. However, those legs aren't as stable as I'd like and adjusting them can be difficult. Nothing to concern over, it's still quite steady.

At around $70 on Amazon, this is one hell of a sexy and cheap light though. The material and build doesn't show any signs of expenses being spared either. It's glossy chrome finish and sleek design is an eye catcher. It also doesn't heat up like the FugeRay does. Rather, it stays relatively cool like the light it emits.

In terms of PAR, it's suppose to be nearly the same as the FugeRay, according to the research people conducted on various other forums. I believe it's emitting a much cooler spectrum of light, which you can determine just by looking at it. The LEDs radiate a soothing bluish-white light rather than the warmer light people are usually accustomed to in most tanks. This results in an effect that may not be as natural, which I admit bothered me at first. But it grew onto me fast and I liked it. The way the light causes the surface to shimmer and glisten is one bonus, but it's just how clean and crystal clear the water looks under the UP Aqua Z that really does it for me. I mean take a look at the pictures above. You can see how sterile the light makes the water look, and frankly I love that. Now the light is slightly dimmer than the FugeRay though. It's just not as bright, but it's not noticeable either. It doesn't bother me, actually.

But how well does it grow plants? Really well surprisingly. This is what I was most skeptical about but I think it is growing my plants better than the FugeRay. Again, I cant really prove it, but this is just my experience. My pictures show healthy plant growth so that's proof enough that plants can grow under this light. However, I read that it doesn't do well at deeper depths. Apparently around 24 inches I think. Cant recall, but the testing is out there somewhere. I cant comment on that as my tank is only 8 inches tall, but keep in mind that it doesn't matter what light you are using; the deeper the tank, the less light will make it to the bottom.

So overall, this is a great light. I would recommend it and buy it myself again if I needed a cheap light to grow low light - lower high light plants. Be mindful that the light is much cooler, with a bluish-white hue, but should look great in most set ups. I would also choose this light over the FugeRay personally. Don't buy this light if you don't like cooler lights or plan to grow very high light plants. It just wont cut it for intense lighting scapes.

TL;DR: It's good.


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## battmanh (Jan 7, 2014)

What I got from the review is: TL;DR: It's sexy

The tank is looking great. Better with each update. I love the green neons too. Did you remove all the shrimps?


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## MDT (Aug 8, 2014)

battmanh said:


> What I got from the review is: TL;DR: It's sexy
> 
> The tank is looking great. Better with each update. I love the green neons too. Did you remove all the shrimps?
> 
> Sent from my SM-G920W8 using Tapatalk


It really does look good though! I'll take pictures of it later maybe 
And yes, no more shrimps sadly. I loved them but I don't miss my crystals. They were too much for me to handle.

I'm going to be adding either Tigers from April or PFR from Pat. Something really easy. Probably going to go with PFR to add more colour to my tank lol 
Not enough colour!!!


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## rwong2k10 (Dec 27, 2010)

just curious on the led unit, although the 45f is a shallow aquarium, how many watts are each led? 0.5 or 1+ watts? just doing some research  thx
ray


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## MDT (Aug 8, 2014)

When I was researching this light, the only information I could find was that the manufacturer updated the model around 2012 or so. They were using 0.06 watt LEDs to 0.5 watt LEDs, but using less overall. I am pretty sure this is an improvement, but it could be just them trying to save money.

Here are a few threads I read through when doing my research:

UP new Z-series Pro LED lighting - Page 4
UP Aqua Pro Z Series LED Lighting
64 Litre "Forest Edge" Tank!!


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## MDT (Aug 8, 2014)

Update Time!
Week 16 / Day 115

So not too many big changes but my plant growth in the back is nearly complete.
I also added chilli rasboras and tangerine tiger shrimps. Both are incredibly beautiful and I'm very happy with the addition.

My chilli's still need to colour up but I noticed that they have different colours.
I think there are variations to the Boraras brigittae species and these are a few of them.
I got a mix of yellow, black/blue and green/blue. You can see in the pictures for yourself.

Other than that, not much has changed. No more BGA, plant growth is healthy, fauna all active and thriving - everything is pretty good 
Next update I will probably do a summary of my tank set up and maintenance routine and conclude it there with occasional pictures.

Thank you for following me along the way and enjoys the pics.
And as always, I love hearing feedback, comments, criticisms and discussions about anything related to this hobby.


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## mysticalnet (Apr 22, 2010)

Strange I didn't see this thread earlier. Very nice! Subscribed.

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## blueberry (Nov 3, 2015)

Wow gorgeous! Well done!


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## LocustDemon (Apr 2, 2017)

Just read the journal as im looking for some. Inspiration on a 45-f. Looks awesome! I'm going for a shrimp only tank but certainly not crystals more like cherrys! Haha. Still looking at lights and filters. Look forward to more updates. 
Matt. 

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## MDT (Aug 8, 2014)

LocustDemon said:


> Just read the journal as im looking for some. Inspiration on a 45-f. Looks awesome! I'm going for a shrimp only tank but certainly not crystals more like cherrys! Haha. Still looking at lights and filters. Look forward to more updates.
> Matt.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk


Thank you, I appreciate the compliment. However, my tank is long gone. I don't aquascape much anymore.

It's too expensive for my kind of income and doesn't satisfy me enough to sustain a long term interest, unfortunately.

I would recommend you look at canister filters for a 45F. Other filters won't be enough to prevent dead spots in such a long but shallow tank. They also have a small footprint giving you more space to work with in your tank.

For lighting, do what's appropriate for your plants. Consider chihiros LED (from eBay), which are economical and comes with a dimmer, thus allowing you to grow low or high light demanding plants.

Best of luck


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