Daniel's planted tanks

[pikachux3]

Hey guys, I just set up a 2.5g planted tank. It's still a work in progress and needs a filter and what not. Let me know what you think!

Lighting:
13w Clip Lamp

Substrate:
Soil capped with play sand

Plants:
Red root floaters
Java fern tied to rocks (not sure what type they are)
HM for foreground (I'm thinking about switching to staurogyne repens)
Any plant suggestions?

Shrimps:
Red cherry shrimps after tank is established

Ipad 2 pictures, I need a better camera lol



Water still a bit cloudy


My other tank

[Tenor1]

I like the balance of rocks to plants, thanks for sharing your creation with us.

[pikachux3]

I just ordered a Finnex Pure-5 Power Aquarium Filter off amazon. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004NP66M4/ I hope it works out well.

[pikachux3]

My GLA stuff came in today!

[pikachux3]

Update
Cloudy water has settled down and I just received my HOB filter today. I put the HOB filter in one of my established tanks and will transfer it over to the 2.5 gallon tank in a few days.

[Greener-Garden]

Wow that light looks bright. What are you using?

[swoof]

it also appears really bright since it's turned toward the camera. If's usually better to angle the light away from the camera to reduce the brightness,

[pikachux3]

Thanks for the tip Benjamin, picture taking fail hah.

[pikachux3]

Update
It has been a week so far since filter, rcs, and oto were added. The finnex hob filter is really silent and has pretty good flow. I'm going to experiment with the HM for now and continue to trim and plant them to see how they look.


Berried shrimp

[Neon Shrimp]

Thanks for the update Daniel. I like how the shrimp are admiring the HC, good luck with the experiment.

[pikachux3]

My HM are pearling! There were many tiny bubbles but my iPad camera can't capture that detail.

[pikachux3]

So I redid the 2.5 gallon tank and am not really sure how it's going to turn out. I plan to use Flame Moss that I got from the meet to create a carpet. I laid strands of the flame moss on top of the substrate and tried to cover as much area as possible. I plan to dry start it for a couple weeks so hopefully the moss will have anchored to the substrate by then.

[sc91006]

Not sure if the idea of using moss as a carpet will work. I tied mines to SS mesh and placed it on the bottom. I don't think moss will anchor to substrate without some sort of help like mesh/rocks/branches. Any who best of luck and interesting concept.

[octanejunkie]

I've had Java moss attach to substrate like EC but I think to carpet with it, faster and more efficiently, you might want to attach to SS tiles like Sidney suggested.

Also, moss grows differently emerged than submerged, I'm not sure it will lend itself well to DSM, but you can try it, or research it, or both

Good luck w your DSM

[pikachux3]

Thanks for the advice guys, I will experiment with the dsm. If It doesn't work out, I'll get some SS mesh. Will report the results in a few weeks.

[Takeshi]

It looks like you've changed your substrate, what are you using now?

[pikachux3]

It appeared to be some Chinese/Taiwanese brand substrate in a green bag I got from a friend 2-3 years ago when I first got into planted tanks. I'm not sure what it is called, but Big Sav Discount Store still has some in stock. It grew out ludwigia repens fine and was hard to plant in. I don't think it had much nutrients.

[Takeshi]

Oh...thought it was ADA Malaya substrate haha

[swoof]

maybe azoo substrate

[pikachux3]

Update