# My tanks



## stonedaquarium (Jun 11, 2011)

Just wanted to post a quick synopsis of my tanks 
20 gal community tank
10 gal PFR tank
5 gal CRS and yellow shrimp tank

pics of my 20 gal


















my 5 gal CRS and yellow shrip tank 

















my 10 gal PFRS tank









Thanks for viewing


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## stonedaquarium (Jun 11, 2011)

My PFR TANKS


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## Tn23 (Apr 21, 2010)

wow Stone, congrats your PFRs have really taken off! They look really red and solid!


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## monkE (Aug 4, 2010)

wow beauty tanks! that 10 gallon one is real nicely done!


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## stonedaquarium (Jun 11, 2011)

Tn23 said:


> wow Stone, congrats your PFRs have really taken off! They look really red and solid!


Thanks dude... took some time but managed to get things in place... looking to get some fresh stock as i might be culling out some of them... 

would be loading up pics of the yellow shrimp tank soon


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## stonedaquarium (Jun 11, 2011)

finally decided to tear down my platy factory and do a new rescape

BEFORE: 









soon to be AFTER ( after i get all the needed plants lol )









also would like to solicit some advice on the arrangement of the stones... your suggestions are greatlly appreciated


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## monkE (Aug 4, 2010)

if your planning on doing that carpet again.. more stones in the front would be cool to just stick up and out of the carpet for a real neat effect


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

I would move the stones close together into corner to create a terrace effect to give it more depth. Unless you're going to carpet the whole thing and give it a "plains" look.


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## stonedaquarium (Jun 11, 2011)

I actually was thinking about adding a few more stones to the front smaller ones that would kinda peek out of the carpet... thanks monke for that suggestions... 

2wheels, thanks for that suggestion as well about moving then together... its still a rough scape nothing set in stone just about yet... but im considering your idea of moving it to the right side. and moving them closer together and maybe terracing it up a bit... 

I already have a driftwood already filled with mosses, anubias, and ferns from my previous scape which i plan to use on the corner left hand side to cover the filter intakes... 

But i definitely need more stones


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## stonedaquarium (Jun 11, 2011)

based on your kind suggestions thank you all very much for your inputs... i tried rearranging the stones to have more flow... and this would most likely be the final hardscape...










The black squares are my measuring spacers for which riccia would be attached and to be mixed in with glosso and HC for the plain carpet... closer to the rocks would be planted with HC and UG and some Dwarf hair grass.


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## monkE (Aug 4, 2010)

oh yeah i like that... carpet around the rock formation would look real nice! and you said driftwood with moss on the left side? 

keep the pics coming man it's going to look great


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## stonedaquarium (Jun 11, 2011)

thanks mike... i would love to finish the scape this weekend... the only thing missing right now is the HC... for some odd reason i cant manage to get a source of it close by... lol... i would be picking up the hair grass, glosso and i already got some riccia.... its just the HC that i need... lol...


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## stonedaquarium (Jun 11, 2011)

finally managed to get some HC... so the planting began and ended 30 mins ago... finally got to fill the tank with water... and glad to see the HC not floating up guess i must have planted it right lol... now the wait begins for the carpet to spread... im really looking forward to see how the UG grows out.. 










Thanks for viewing


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## The Guy (Nov 26, 2010)

Nice tanks, you have a talent and knack for design that's for sure.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

Minor detail, but it would be a lot less disruptive for your photos if you put the drop checker over to one side instead of the middle of the scape.  Just nitpicking, since your layout is so nice now.....I personally don't like riccia, but have seen some awesome scapes with it, and it looks like you're making it work for you, so that's great.


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## yvxlang (Dec 11, 2011)

hi, where did you find that kind rock?


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## monkE (Aug 4, 2010)

looks great man! can't wait to see it all take shape


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## stonedaquarium (Jun 11, 2011)

Thanks mike the rasboras and ottos are in the tank now... hopefully they get settled in... just waiting for the scape to fully carpet out before i add more fauna in the tank


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## monkE (Aug 4, 2010)

heres some more rasboras for sale for ya

FS: Rasboras, Cardinals, Gouramis, Puffer, Amano, SAE


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## stonedaquarium (Jun 11, 2011)

thanks for the link mike, looks like those rasboras went fast... lol...  i am seeing some growth already from the riccia and so far no floating ups from the glosso or the HC... so im just waiting for them to fully bloom out... 

next thing on my mind is a proper co2 setup... mind you my DIY paintball co2 has been doing well but it would be nice to have a proper setup for this tank


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## Morainy (Apr 21, 2010)

A very nice redesign of your tank! I look forward to seeing it grow in.


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## stonedaquarium (Jun 11, 2011)

thanks morainy... the riccia is already starting to grow out of the mesh... hopefully within a week it should fully grow out of it.... the glosso is starting to shoot runners... and the HC well lets just hope it starts out as well  .... 

Intended fauna for this tank... 
15 rasboras 
15 amanos 
still debating whether to just put cherries or snowballs... or i might try out that new shrimp species that Mykiss mentioned... 
I just hope its not as fussy as CRS... lol...


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## gouedi (Apr 25, 2010)

beautiful stones, it will be a perfect match with riccia，but the riccia grows too fast, it may cover all your hc or glosso, need to trim quiet often. . and the stone raise the water hardness a lot, if i were you. increase the co2 level and change water more often....


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## IceBlue (Mar 17, 2011)

Nice tank, makes my tanks look like they where put together by a mad plumber.


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## Scherb (Feb 10, 2011)

Wow very nice plant factory. what kind of plant food do you use and how much ? and what kind of carpet plant is that in the second pic ? Cheers


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## stonedaquarium (Jun 11, 2011)

The carpet plant i used? if its in my shrimp tank its glosso.. if in my most recent scape its a combination of riccia, glosso, HC and UG. and some dwarf hair grass.  

Plant food i use dry fertz. following the EI dosing schedule  

gouedi, 

I know riccia does need a lot of trimming i trim mine every 2 to three weeks... its not that hard to do once you get the hang of it... with regard to co2. I currently leave my co2 24/7 since the current is pretty strong as im overfiltering my 20gal with an eheim ecco 2332 and an extra AC30. so it gives the tank really good circulation.  im just waiting for the plants to fully carpet out before i add some more fauna into it


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## stonedaquarium (Jun 11, 2011)

Tank update:

Its been close to a week now and the tank has fully cycled... 
riccia growing well out of its mesh and forming a good front carpet. 
HC, Glosso and DHG starting to shoot out runners...

Still waiting for the UG to adapt to submerged form. 

ADDED some new fauna
20 Amanos
7 PFRS 
5 yellows 
10 snowballs...

now looking for about 10 more chilli rasboras to join the group and the tank fauna load is complete


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## stonedaquarium (Jun 11, 2011)

gouedi said:


> beautiful stones, it will be a perfect match with riccia，but the riccia grows too fast, it may cover all your hc or glosso, need to trim quiet often. . and the stone raise the water hardness a lot, if i were you. increase the co2 level and change water more often....


gouedi, i was curious by your comment about the GH of the water... so far the stones didnt increase the Gh it still remained at 2


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## neven (May 15, 2010)

if you suspect the stones to raise hardness, wouldn't an increase in co2 levels cause the stones to dissolve more raising the hardness further?


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## stonedaquarium (Jun 11, 2011)

I didnt suspect it at all... i was just curious at what gouedi mentioned that it would raise the hardness... good thing it didnt... co2 flow rate is still the same as how i set it up initially


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## CRS Fan (Apr 21, 2010)

stonedaquarium said:


> 7 PFRS
> 5 yellows
> 10 snowballs...


Sounds like you'll have a tankfull of "Juvie Shrimp Mutts". If you're intent is to just keep shrimp (no problems), BUT if you wish to eventually sell offspring from this tank, I would suggest seperating the shrimp populations.

JMHO !

Stuart


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## stonedaquarium (Jun 11, 2011)

stuart... its pretty much just a show tank...  i have those buggers separated in different tanks  as well
lol


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## monkE (Aug 4, 2010)

stonedaquarium said:


> stuart... its pretty much just a show tank...


Ok now SHOW us some new pictures!


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## stonedaquarium (Jun 11, 2011)

hey mike... i will show it as soon as i see the good carpet growing right now its just starting and i dont want to bore you guys with pics that look pretty much the same like day one... lol... with exception to the riccia which grows like a weed anyways... lol


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## stonedaquarium (Jun 11, 2011)

week one done,

as mentioned in my previous post... good growth on the riccia, and the glosso and HC carpet is starting to form... got some green algae growing on the rocks but it should disappear as the tank ages.  got some amanos to take care of the algae. now waiting on some more rasboras and maybe some cardinals???


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

I see you've already got the wild growing Riccia all over.  Good sign that your CO2 is good, but that's the reason I don't like to use Riccia anymore. Bits and pieces everywhere forever.


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## monkE (Aug 4, 2010)

awesome man, those rasboras look right at home!


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## stonedaquarium (Jun 11, 2011)

2wheelsx2 said:


> I see you've already got the wild growing Riccia all over.  Good sign that your CO2 is good, but that's the reason I don't like to use Riccia anymore. Bits and pieces everywhere forever.


the riccia you saw is not from the trimmings but rather from another tank which i just housed temporarily... its all gone right now


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## stonedaquarium (Jun 11, 2011)

so things have been going well.. otos and amanos doing their job nipping on the algae keeping it under control... right now the carpet seems to be slowing going... increase co2 bubble count as my eheim ecco 2332 produces a super strong current... lol... didnt expect it to have that much flow...

right now running 4 x 24W T5HO. for 4 hours on and 2 hours rest... and another 4 hours one... riccia growing like crazy but looks like the glosso and HC are starting to catch up... still doing EI dosing however i might ease up on the phosphate... just to avoid spirogyra blooms... lol... which can be a pain to get rid off..

here are the tanks just a few days after week 1


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## stonedaquarium (Jun 11, 2011)

also had to redo an emergency tank tear down of my PFR tank... to get rid of some nuisance problem... what was this=>









is now This


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## stonedaquarium (Jun 11, 2011)

wanted to give my shrimps a bit more room to swim around... and its easier to catch them ...


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## stonedaquarium (Jun 11, 2011)

WEEK 2 and my carpet is starting to take shape... just did a trim on the riccia carpet and now its doing its thing...


















also had a few kinks to iron out of my PFR tank


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## monkE (Aug 4, 2010)

wow that didnt take long! looks good Stone!


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## stonedaquarium (Jun 11, 2011)

thanks mike... still a work in progress not until the carpet fully grows out... then i would say its all good lol... still getting the UG and HC to fully carpet out...


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## Jojodog (Oct 16, 2011)

*tank*

Looks great

Need to get lights like that for my tank


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## stonedaquarium (Jun 11, 2011)

basically right now im runny 4 X 24W t5 HO and dosing CO2 on a full setup with an eheim ecco 2332 and an AC 30. keeps the water crystal clear... its a bit on the over kill on the filtering but it provides good water circulation...  which helps if dosing EI the ferts get mixed into the water column pretty well


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## AquaSox (Jun 9, 2010)

The above tank with the riccia, java fern, and rock arrangment looks very beautiful.

Personally I think you should ditch the background as it is distracting and it looks like green dust algae. Maybe there is a little algae too...I can't tell lol


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## stonedaquarium (Jun 11, 2011)

aquasox... there is indeed some green dust algae... lol... im a bit happy with the growth... so far.. .considering its just been about 2 weeks now... so hopefully i could see the HC fully carpet in about a month


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## stonedaquarium (Jun 11, 2011)

WEEK 3 and now my carpet is about 70% done... just waiting for the HC to fully take off... as it has been a bit practice to get the proper saturation point of 30 ppm for my tank... managed to get the fine tuning done yesterday... and the plants have started to pearl nicely... riccia again growing like wild fire... got enough to fill 2 sandwich bags... I know many may say riccia is a pain to work with... I personally find riccia a very manageable carpeting plant... to each his own i guess... just did a quick trim on some plants before i took this pic thus still showing some floating bits... My goal is to have the HC carpet fully cover the tank by the end of feb. 


































My CRS (thanks to Jiang604 for the shrimp  and to those great ebi ken ei and bacter house)

















My PFR tank after sorting out the kinks... 









My PFR shrimps... 

























Thanks for viewing


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## stonedaquarium (Jun 11, 2011)

coming to the end of week 4 just wanted to show some pics on how my iwagumi inspired tank is looking... i know alot dont like using riccia but i find it to be quite manageable of a carpet plant... just your weekly or bi weekly trim before water changes helps maintain a nice carpet.










forgive the poor quality blackberry camera lol










the HC, and glosso adds a nice carpeting compliment to the riccia carpet and the DHG makes a good contrasting background carpet. 

Thanks for viewing


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## jobber (May 14, 2010)

Quite the planted forest you have 
I like how you've transitioned the carpeting plants as well as providing a slope.


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## stonedaquarium (Jun 11, 2011)

Thank you... that planted driftwood serves as a cover for the filter intake, co2 diffuser and heater... lol so serves just as a dual purpose...  on the slope... it was initally quite a challenge planting the HC properly so that it wont float up on the slope...


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## stonedaquarium (Jun 11, 2011)

few updates to the tank. ripped out the riccia carpet and replaced with UG!!! just waiting for it fill out... and got carpet to spread out to 90% of the tank... i guess my HC was a bit shy before fully carpeting out. added some asian water grass to suck up the excess organics nothing beats having natural algae control.  ( add some asian water grass and salvinia has worked well for me in controlling spirogyra.)


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## stonedaquarium (Jun 11, 2011)

a few updated pics of my tank. had mentioned earlier about the riccia carpet










here are a few pics after i ripped out the riccia and changed with some UG, HC and glosso trimmings.


















last but not least... my PFRS breeding colony... back again after a major set back  (thanks to jiang604, for his expert advice )


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## stonedaquarium (Jun 11, 2011)

unfortunately i had to shut down my PFR tank and rehome them to one of my other tanks had to get rid of my blue pearls... ( I hope the new owner takes good care of them, as he picked up a few berried ones as well ) now i had to rehome my stock at one of my smaller tanks and just waiting for the PFR shrimplets to grow bigger before i move them again to their new home.

Update on my other tanks :

CRS / Rili tank. = Rili just had their first batch of rili shrimplets with another two more berried ones on the go.  CRS have 6 berried ones now in my 5 Gal tank.  should expect a good batch anytime soon( keeping my fingers crossed)

20 GAL Iwagumi...

Just did some revisions to the tank... as mentioned in my previous post i removed the riccia carpets as i felt it was not fully complimenting the glosso/ HC carpet. planted some UG but my amanos seem to enjoy chomping down on them... managed to save some and got them to finally stay down... My HC growing really nicely and filling in without much broken patches... still using Salvinia and asian water grass for green algae control... I know alot of you may disagree but it has worked for me in cleaning up or sucking up excess organics that boost green algae especially spirogyra in my tanks... increased co2 diffusion slightly and i could see the glosso and HC filling in aggressively... 
same with my java ferns sprouting out plantlets like crazy as well 


































THanks for viewing


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## stonedaquarium (Jun 11, 2011)

Its been about two months now since i started my iwagumi themed scape of my 20gal. from its inception date of January 6, 2012 till today... plus several tweekings and minor rescapings... he tank has now fully grown in about 95%... just keeping a good foundation of the basics and a balance of a nutrient rich enviroment, sufficient Co2 saturation and more than sufficient lighting (4.5WPG) the carpet is fully filling in fast... you can see the glosso and HC quicking growing through the front and almost fully covering the bare area which used to be my riccia carpet....










also added another pic of one of my other tanks


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## stonedaquarium (Jun 11, 2011)

been two weeks now since and the tanks have been progressing quite well. Just wanted to show some updated pics on how my tanks are doing. 

IWAGUMI TANk..

-The mixed plant carpet has grown in pretty well. UG starting to cluster and branch out... had to trim out some glosso as it was growing too fast... the HC is growing pretty well. added some trident moss I got from Taiwan to grow it out so i can add some to my shrimp tanks 

Here is the tank now

























SHRIMP TANKS:

My PFR.. 1 batch of 60 shrimplets growing out pretty well. with a 2nd batch of 10 berried ones on the way for the 2nd turn. 
























With Flash








Without flash 

















Thanks for viewing.. .will post soon pics of my rilis and blue pearls


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