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10l - Gone

Tom

Tom

Member
Joined
8 Sep 2007
Messages
2,631
Location
Kawanabe, Kagoshima, Japan 鹿児島県南九州市川辺町
Thought that after quite a long time of being almost totally out of the fish world I'd start a new nano :) I was tempted by one of the new AquaEl Shrimp Kits that my LFS (and tonnes of other shops!!) had got in not that long ago. The next time I visited, I got the smallest one - 10 liters. It came with a 9w light, 5w heater (unused) and a 400lph powerhead (whirlpool speeds in this tank!). I quickly decided to go for a small hang-on-back Azoo filter I had knocking about as it takes up less room and I could actually fit media in it. The build quality of the tank appears very good, with neat silicon and solid parts. Looks very smart too IMO.

I've been asking a couple of questions recently about this tank, particularly about the fact that I used Oyster Shell gravel by accident as it wasn't labelled, and now my water may as well be solid rock - but thanks to Clive I now know that doesn't particularly! I've got some ADA Forest Sand Branco on the way from TGM that should get here sometime this week, as well as some more plants. Will swap the foreground gravel only for the ADA so as not to disturb what I have already planted.

After I ordered my plants from PlantsAlive, I realized that they were going to take over a week to arrive! On passing Pets At Home, I decided on a very nice, large and healthy Tropica pot of M. umbrosum for my background. By this time I had already sorted my rockwork too - Seiryu Stone/Mini Landscape Rocks. The same ones from my other few small layouts from aaages ago.

The plants I have ordered are 2x HC, 1x Marsilea and 1x Dwarf Hairgrass. I'm thinking I'll only use the odd tiny blade or two of the hairgrass, as all the other leaf shapes are quite similar. I've got a bit of Java Moss in there too that I poached off a friend :D I'm thinking that I might also get some R. wallichii for the rear to add a bit of colour, but we'll see. I've never tried red plants before as I generally prefer all green.

Stocking-wise, I have 25+ Cherry Shrimp that I got for £6!! Niiiice :thumbup:

The pictures:

Before planting anything - just the rocks
IMG_0579.jpg


After planting M. umbrosum and releasing Cherries
IMG_8597.jpg


More to come when my plants and gravel arrive - hopefully gravel first!!

Tom
 
Re: 10 Liter AquaEl

Hi Tom,looks a nice start mate,the main rock looks very big and precariously balanced so i hope you have it secure,dont want any split tanks :crazy: ,
regards,
john.
 
Re: 10 Liter AquaEl

Superglue my friend, superglue!! It sits comfortably between the two rocks at the side, and there's a small "dob" of glue at the back which stops it moving. I'd run out of the milliput I used on our Malawi tank, and I knew reefers sometimes use superglue in SW tanks, so I just did it. Haven't noticed any bad effects.

It is quite big though, and it does lean towards the front - I am hoping to create a bit of light shadow at the front and will have a little bit of moss around the bottom (I just put a bit more in), coming through the HC and Marsilea mix. I don't think the size will be as noticeable once the stems have grown in around it. The M. umbrosum is already leaning forwards, so hopefully it will almost wrap around the the rock, at least on one side. I'm tempted by a bit of H. micranthemoides too to add a bit of leaf-shape diversity at the back just to the right of the main stone - trimmed to the same levels as the umbrosum.

Cheers,
Tom
 
Re: 10 Liter AquaEl

looking good mate, i like catching the start of a journal :D sounds like its going to be crammed full with your plant list haha i have a 10l on the go with just moss, and i do daily water changes 2.5ltrs (leave the water out for 24hrs with a small amount of treatment in it) and havnt had any algae but it only has a 9w pod over it, but definitely keep the water changes militant.

what will you be dosing ferts wise? will you be using fert tabs?
cant wait to see the ada sand, im going to order some but wasnt sure wich one to order :lol:
 
Re: 10 Liter AquaEl

Yeah, I might not use the Dwarf Hairgrass. Or maybe just the odd little bit in amongst the HC and Marsilea.

Ferts at the moment are TPN 0.3ml daily and Flourish Excel 0.2ml daily. I've used Tropica root tabs around the deeper gravel at the back and middle.

Tom
 
Re: 10 Liter AquaEl

niiiiiice

i think the hairgrass would look great, used mor of a back/mid ground plant. i reeealy cant stand odd strands amongst bits of gloso/hc. The rock layout is wicked, i think NeilW posted a pic on his thread with a rock just like that, wetheard at the base and larger up top.

looks decent from the off, :D
 
Re: 10 Liter AquaEl

I got my plants from Plants Alive this morning, and I am disappointed to say the least. They're crap, basically :( After waiting 8 days for delivery I hoped for something decent.

Brown Marsilea and the smallest pot of Hairgrass I've ever seen
IMG_8603.jpg


HC - Some of it is alive, some of it is yellow/brown but not as bad as Marsilea as you can see. Nothing like the nice healthy image on the website
IMG_8602.jpg


Yay, happy days.

Tom
 
Re: 10 Liter AquaEl

Even from China I hadn't received plants like that. :wideyed:
Next time try to avoid cheap deals and go for Tropica or simmilar.
 
Re: 10 Liter AquaEl

Looking good Tom, really good. It's an unusual design but i can see it working well.

Shame about the state of your plants, i had the same issue with them - with Eleocharis. A good bet would be one pot of Tropica's 1-2-GROW Marsilea, give that it's grown in the pot, it'll be nice and compact when you get it, that way you can train it from the start?
 
Re: 10 Liter AquaEl

Cheers Dan, it's got a long way to go yet :) Those Tropicas look interesting, I've not seen these small types before. Just had a look on TGM. If my sand hasn't been posted yet I might go for it.

If I plant the ones I've got, can I just chop off the leaves and plant the rooted part? Just thinking that the leaves will just rot away anyway.

Tom
 
Re: 10 Liter AquaEl

Ouch on the plants! Have you contacted Plants alive? I would :)

I'm of the opinion that if you can make a tank look good with with just hardscape and substrate in it, then you have reached a certain level of scaping. I am seeing this more and more on UKAPS :thumbup:

This tank has that IMO :)
 
Re: 10 Liter AquaEl

Thanks Matt :D I find that looking at a lot of tanks, particularly Iwagumis and it's almost seems a shame to put water in them!

Yeah I've emailed them so just got to see what they say. I've just had a closer look at one of the HC pots (the better of the two) and it obviously hasn't been grown in the pot - it just peeled straight off the rockwool to reveal brown mush below.

Tom
 
Re: 10 Liter AquaEl

Looks Very Nice, How much was the aquel tank, WOW wanted over £50 for it last time i asked.
 
Re: 10 Liter AquaEl

Cheers :)

Slight issue now in that several of the cherries are dead :( I can still see a few at the back sitting in a group, and another one twitching and swimming around the tank. I dont know what it is, as I washed the gravel thoroughly, and didn't put any where they were - only around the front and sides. Some of them look like they're really struggling. I've done a 50% water change with some old tank water so my ferts are gonna be all over the place, but I really don't wanna lose any more shrimp. Oddly enough, it all seems to be males that are suffering - of the 2 females I can see, they are both ok.

On a plus note, the ADA Forest Sand looks ok. The grains were a lot bigger than I expected, so I graded it with a sieve and only used the smaller grains. I might dot some of the larger grains around once things have settled down a bit.

Pics later

Tom
 
Re: 10 Liter AquaEl

Most of the remaining shrimp seem to be recovering now, although a couple more have gone.

ADA Forest Sand Branco - much larger and more varied grains than I thought...
IMG_8610.jpg


...so I graded it into different sizes using sieves
IMG_8612.jpg


The tank now it has cleared, and new plants are in. The plants look really scrappy and nasty at the moment and it looks awful, but hopefully when it all starts growing things will improve
IMG_8616.jpg


Some of the salvaged HC and Eleocharis
IMG_8618.jpg


Tom
 
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