# 5G Tank



## neven (May 15, 2010)

*Last Updated: April 3rd w/ Pics*

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My wife and i decided we needed another tank, she's the one who first suggested it actually. On the way home wednesday night i picked up a tank and a piece of driftwood from Petcetera. I used an old stingray i used to use for circulation, threw in some media from my ac30 filter thats up and running and transfered over a few fish from my wifes guppy tank. The goal is to get the females in there, then give them away in the future.

On remembrance day, we went to Walmart for a lamp, and IPU for a bag of substrate. i was hoping for something inert, but all they had was black flourite/red flourite, and their bulk gravel. Decided i wanted another black substrate so went with the black flourite. After a quick rinse i used almost a full bag in the tank and started emptying all the vases of clippings i tend to have laying around to get some plant stock in there to start it out. Im not sure how much i'll be keeping in there, but i do know i want some Dwarf hair grass to carpet the substrate. Then once most of the females are gone i'll turn this into a shrimp habitat.










Tank: 5 gallon
Substrate: Black flourite
Lighting: 1 bulb Twister CFLs, 21 W 6500K
Filtration: Hush 10 (fluval prefilter, carbon mesh bag to help with excess tanins, pot scrubber for bio)
Decor: Drift wood x2

Plants:
java fern
Ammania gracilis
Alternanthera reineckii 'roseafolia'
Ludwigia 'ovalis'
Heteranthera zosterifolia (stargrass)
Azolla filiculoides
eleocharis parvula (Dwarf Hairgrass)
asian water grass
staurogyne repens
Ranunculus Inundatus 
Fissidens fontanus

Livestock:
RCS

Macros:
The usual...

Micros:
CSM+B - 1.6 ml
Changes: 50% on Sunday

Carbon Suppliment: 1.0 mL metricide / day


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## GreenGreenGrass (Oct 23, 2010)

Nice. I like the scape with the one piece of wood breaching the surface. Always loved open top planted tanks.


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## Mferko (Jun 8, 2010)

2 guppy tanks now? thats alotta babies


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## kmc5 (Jun 21, 2010)

*New 5 Gallon Tank!*

Impressive!


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## neven (May 15, 2010)

noooo not two guppy tanks..... they are to help ensure the bio filter remained established then i will get shrimp and give away the guppies in that tank (or flush them if no one takes em)

Plus it lets me remove the females from my wifes tank, preventing more babies. if i see fry im putting an unprotected power head in the damn tank.


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## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

Nice tank, look forward to seeing it as it progresses


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## TCR (Jul 13, 2010)

Well i'm gonna start to breed live bearers. Was going to use swordtails bit I've been a lil intrested in selective breeding in guppies and wouldn't mind giving that a whirl. I can be ur last resort


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## CRS Fan (Apr 21, 2010)

Looking good, Rob. Can't wait to see it grow in some more .

Best Regards,

Stuart


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## neven (May 15, 2010)

After a visit to CRS Fan, like most of us, it resulted into a lot of time spent planting 
I removed the Salvinia from this tank and replaced it with Azolla filiculoides. I figure i'll start working towards my tanks having unique species in each. The foreground was filled in with eleocharis parvula (Dwarf Hairgrass) and a few plantlets of an unknown grass variety. Plus i filled in the right corner with Heteranthera zosterifolia (stargrass) to help hide the filter from view. Also a spec of some sort of moss that came with the plants so i wedged it into a piece of driftwood to see how it grows 

After everything was planted i put the wife to work to remove the remaining guppy fry who haven't coloured from her tank to grow out in this tank, then we'll transfer the males to her tank and deal with the females. Then it will be shrimpy time!

now for a couple pictures


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## slipstream (Apr 25, 2010)

Gonna be awesome once its all grown in.


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## InfraredDream (Jun 24, 2010)

That looks awesome!!


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## Morainy (Apr 21, 2010)

Neven, that is a gorgeous little tank! The black Flourite is attractive with the green plants. It looks much bigger than 5 gallons, with the mini tree stumps.

I've got a 2.5 gallon waiting to be planted, so I'm taking a keen interest in nano tanks right now. I hope that you keep posting pics so that we can follow your tank's development. I've never tried planting any little grassy-type plants, like the ones in your photo.


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## CRS Fan (Apr 21, 2010)

Looking very nice Rob. I hope you have better luck with hairgrass then I do . I also see the azolla around the stump. 

Warm regards,

Stuart


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## CRS Fan (Apr 21, 2010)

Any recent pics, Rob? Did the haigrass grow in? Enquiring minds would like to know.

Stuart


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## Morainy (Apr 21, 2010)

Yes, I'd like to know, too!



CRS Fan said:


> Any recent pics, Rob? Did the haigrass grow in? Enquiring minds would like to know.
> 
> Stuart


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## neven (May 15, 2010)

the tank seems to be stagnant, not rotting, not growing much except a few stems, so i put some jobe spikes throughout the substrate a couple nights ago hoping it to give the foreground a kick start by encouraging deeper rooting. I may need to make a fixture for it though, as the lamp needs to be boosted up by books and i dont like the risk of it falling in so i have a not so optimal angle to it.

Plus i cant believe the amount of tanins in the drift wood leeching out, 4 days and i got tea, so pretty much the tank is on standby until this greatly reduces


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## neven (May 15, 2010)

A bit cloudy due to water change but here are a couple new pics, theres a couple plants starting to grow out you can't really see, but when they do they'll be noticeable. The Shrimp keep dying so as i said before, just the two fish for now... I think i need a new filter aswell, just so i can fill it up with carbon to help absorb the tanins


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## CRS Fan (Apr 21, 2010)

The fissidens, Siamensis 53b, and Ammania graciilis look good, Rob. Looks like the haigrass in my old tank without the hair algae ! I would probably go with Purigen over carbon for the tannin removal as it won't absorb EI fertz like carbon can. 

Best Regards,

Stuart


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## neven (May 15, 2010)

oh the hairgrass is still there, i just spent 20 minutes prior to the picture removing it, lol. 2 weeks with lazy ferts and metricide allowed it to spread a tiny bit


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## neven (May 15, 2010)

Tank got a little care since the move.

Right after the move my son dumped a full bottle of fish food in the tank, during the clean up process i sucked up a danio. So i threw in a couple guppies to keep the sole remaining one company since it was a timid danio. Well the danio ended up being real douche bag so i added all the large female guppies into the tank to set it straight, it wouldn't calm down though, so the danio goes in the 29 gallon once more, where it had the upper reaches all to itself

I removed the Lilaeopsis brasiliensis and placed it in the 10 gallon since i repositioned a piece of driftwood right where it was, shifted a few things slightly to work with the new layout, but it didn't change much overall.

The lighting did change, the lamp i used before is now on the 10 gallon, and the light mounted to the cupboard is now on a floating shelf above the tank, with shade and all. I upped the bulb wattage to make up for the higher fixture height, overall the tank is much better illuminated.

I think in a couple months this tank might be shrimp ready, as the water isn't getting dilluted and during the move i found a real foul smelling mystery object in the tank that was probably the culprit in killing off my blue pearl shrimp.

enough babbling, heres a couple pics.


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## neven (May 15, 2010)

So the hair algae has gotten worse, so i pushed forward with the plan to add shrimp to help limit it as i play around with parameters.

One of the major causes of hair algae is too much light or too little. So my problem has been i was seeing it as too much light in the first place, but i failed to take into account a couple issues. First is my lighting changed from the old place to here, Not only is it 21 Watts now, and a higher height, but its also horizontal vs vertical. In CFLs, this is a major loss of PAR due to restrike. So i did a little research, this thread from planted tank pretty much gives me the answer i needed: PAR Data-Spiral Power Saver Bulbs, lighting question - Page 2

Yes my light was in fact, very low for the hair grass, plus the ammania graciilis has been losing colour. Solution: 3 inches down the shelf goes, and i add a curved uncrinkled (took me 4 tries) tinfoil reflector. Doing a bit of guess work from the examples (horizontal = approx 1/3 that of vertical mounted cfls) i should be where i want, just barely medium light.

So lighting tackled. Now for the shrimpies. This tank was a shrimp death trap it seemed, i figured it was due to a piece of rotting something from my son, so i've been reluctant to add more invertebrates, but it felt like the time was right.

I added 25-30 cherry shrimps. I drip acclimatized them for 3 hours, and dosing to the tank stopped 2 days prior and nitrates were less than 5ppm. But, by the next morning i found 5 dead, so i panicked and removed the driftwood just in case they were the culprit. I soaked the driftwood in boiled water (often replaced) for about 18 hours, then i boiled them for a combined time of around 2 hours. Now i felt like it was safe to reintroduce the wood.

By day 2 the death count was 8, but its stopped now, nothing else has died  Some are molting, and they are now starting to venture out from hiding and explore the plants  I know the deaths could just have been just from shock, but i didn't want to lose more shrimp and then figure out it was indeed the wood.


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## neven (May 15, 2010)

After going on a snail killing spree, i had an outbreak of hydra in my tank. First time ever for me, luckily though, crs fan helped me out and the tank has been treated with Fenbendazole. Within an hour the hydra's were shriveled into a little bulb. I'll be doing another dose soon enough.

As i normally do after visiting CRS_Fan, i rescaped. This time though i modified the driftwood. 1 piece broke from the larger of the two during the boiling. So i stuck the shard into the substrate and put fissidens on it. Shifted the Alternanthera reineckii 'roseafolia' a bit to accomodate this change. I also broke the smaller Driftwood into two, and left the larger of them out. This really opened up the tank.

Now species removed were Ludwiga repens and hygrophila polysperma. Species that replaced them were Ludwiga ovalis, Ranunculus Inundatus and staurogyne repens. The Ammania gracilis was hedged down and moved where the ludwiga repens used to be.

because of the changes i updated my plant list on the first page:

java fern
Ammania gracilis
Alternanthera reineckii 'roseafolia'
Ludwigia 'ovalis'
Heteranthera zosterifolia (stargrass)
Azolla filiculoides
eleocharis parvula (Dwarf Hairgrass)
asian water grass
staurogyne repens
Ranunculus Inundatus
Fissidens fontanus

Oh and since this rescape, the shrimpies have been much more visible and in the open

now for pics:








the ranunculus inundatus im unsure if it'll last in the tank as im a bit out of its ph range and on metricide only.









when the ammania gracilis grows a bit more, it'll really stand out.









the shard of wood with fisidens, the stargrass will grow a bit behind it making it stand out a lot more soon enough.


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## tang daddy (Apr 21, 2010)

Hey Neven,

Good to see the shrimps are finally settling in, what ph is your tank at?

The low scape opens up the tank nice, don't worry man by summer it will be teaming with cherries!

Great job on the scape....


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## neven (May 15, 2010)

i dont test PH, as i keep my hardness consistent (i dont test that either). I'd guess i'll likely be 7.0 like i used to always be 

I kind of took tom barr's approach with testing is unnecessary as long as you keep your water changes consistent and know what you are putting in the tank. by filling the bucket to the same level adding the exact amount of equillibrium and baking soda (not much used) every time all my tanks are doing a lot better.


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## neven (May 15, 2010)

after another bout of picking hair algae out of the hair grass i decided to put this tank on co2. I prepped a 591 mL bottle and decided to use the 2L mix instructions i posted elsewhere divided by 4. From experience i found dividing your tank volume by 10 should be roughly the total capacity of your reactors. I used 3 litres on my 29 gallon and found it to be just a bit too powerful.

So anyways, took 3 days for the drop checker to reach an almost green colour so im thinking i might just cap out at deep green, which is awesome for first batch.

To distribute the co2 i had to get a bit creative as i have a hang on back filter so there would be too much loss using its intake. I lowered the flow a bit and i pulled the motor block out of my stingray 5 filter, elastic banded the air line underneath it and covered the intake holes + tube with coarse filter foam, no shrimpies will get in it. Works great, every few seconds i hear it break a bubble up and see a burst of bubbles come out from behind the driftwood. Since the tank is on metricide already the differences will be slightly redder plants over time and an increase in growth rate. Also since the metricide is still in its regime im not too worried if the co2 doesn't quite get full green, it'll be consistent for a long while and that's what matters, its there so i dont need to risk higher metricide dosing daily.

The goal is to let the hair grass's growth boost out compete the hair algae i need to pick out. Nitrates are 5 ppm, cut out the trace for now since equilibrium + black flourite already overkills iron. The lighting seems to be right now as the fissidens really perked up and started to grow.

Also this tank wont be water changed for a month now in hopes to get the shrimp breeding, prefilter will be squeezed every two weeks. EI has been reduced to 85% of what i did and tests will be every 2 weeks to find if i need to tweak the dosing again.


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## mysticalnet (Apr 22, 2010)

*5G Shrimp Tank - New Scape post 22*

Nice scape!! Looks bigger than a 5G


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## neven (May 15, 2010)

tank plants all uprooted, removed and sitting in a bucket.
2 otocs are moved to the 10 gallon
the five surviving shrimp transfered to 29 gallon (smallest was picked off by a black phantom.. underestimated its mouth size...)

I have no idea why this keeps happening, the tank parameters did not spike. i am clueless as to whats happening. everything will be bleached.


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## neven (May 15, 2010)

I didn't embelish too much on what happened. The gist of it is this, i removed the carbon from the tank the night before, in the morning i saw 5 dead shrimp laying in the open. Look around and found 4 more dead under a piece of driftwood. The last variable was the substrate to fix (and the media) so i figure that it was enough playing around and time to fix it. Im not a tank beginner and it wasn't my first time keeping shrimp so this really frustrated me.

I removed all the substrate then sifted through it and gave it one hell of a washing, once done i then poured boiling water over it all, and gave it quite the blast of metricide and let it sit overnight.

The tank, heater, filter + media was all bleached, scrubbed and finally rinsed clean. I then filled the tank full, and let the filter run to keep the water moving. In the morning i added dechlorinator.

Middle of the day i started adding the substrate again, sifting the second time. I didn't add it all since i really had it deep before. Whatever substrate was left i sprinkled on my 29 gallon's tahitian moon sand.

Placed all the hardware, positioned the filter in a different place and started to aquascape. I just can get myself to have everything the same way it was before, so of course i tried a new layout. Much of it is the same, but it atleast is different enough for my liking. The layout now has the highest currents going through the most covered areas leaving the calmest spot above the hair grass, so when i do end up reshrimping this tank one day i'll see more of them.

I also added flame moss somewhere that will eventually grow and be seen. For now there are 3 guppy fry in there so atleast i see something moving.


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## clintgv (May 6, 2010)

Nice escape


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## neven (May 15, 2010)

Text only update!

REMEMBER TO RINSE YOUR SUBSTRATE AFTER SOAKING IT IN METRICIDE if you ever do that. I ended up with lots of fried plants because i stupidly forgot this step. Further more because i have an unestablished bacteria colony, the metricide didn't dissipate as quickly. Took a week and a half for plants to turn around. Luckily i uprooted the plants quick enough and suffered minimal losses, most of which was the fissidens :mourn:

I also seeded my other tanks with plants to ensure i dont lose any plant species, and to speed up the worst hit i made a nursury under my 29 gallon tank where some stems are growing out.

Of course the guppy fry perished from this, but once the plants showed they were no longer dying, i threw in a couple adult guppies which are doing great. I'll likely add another 2 in there next week.

Right now the tank is going through a GDA outbreak, the first i ever had and will be letting it live its life cycle. Its not major thanks to not being a high light tank, but it'll still be a pain to see much of the plants soon enough. Will wait till its jelly like to scrape, apparently thats when you scrape it off without it coming back


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## neven (May 15, 2010)

picture to compliment my last update.

normally it takes 3 weeks of undisturbing the GDA for it to reach adult hood and die off, but today my son rolled up a chair, decided to try catching a fish with a net, then try to take something out with the tongs... messing up the glass GDA, so now im back to day 1 of the 3 week waiting game...


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## neven (May 15, 2010)

After a week, i noticed the DIE GDA still hadn't filled in with more GDA, so i decided to give the tank a good cleaning and rescape once more (addiction).

This time around i had a bit more fun, i piped in my intake to the other side of the tank just because i could. Noticed already how much easier it is to clean the sponge prefilter. To accomodate the plumbing, i sloped the substrate much more and used crushed granite pieces to save me some substrate. heres how it looks atm:


















willow moss has been added too, not in the photos though


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## Keri (Aug 2, 2010)

Very nice!!


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## giraffee (Mar 28, 2011)

One day I will know what the abbreviations mean and actually appreciate it, but for now - what a beautiful planted 5G.


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## Morainy (Apr 21, 2010)

That's a beautiful tank, Neven. You have done so much with only 5 gallons! 

It's nice to see that your son is following you into the hobby...


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