Paulthewitt
Member
Hi all
Whilst I have been lurking over the last month, I bought a small Fluval Spec 19 litre tank to set up on my desk at home. My initial plan for this is to have a cherry shrimp tank (maybe blue jelly) that is safe, for them hopefully to breed and be able to go into a larger tank in the living room (yet to be bought/set up/still very much at the concept stage). Although whilst I like shrimp, they are not the same as fish to watch...so I may see about adding some very small fish in there at a later date and hope they don't just eat the shrimp fry!.
My background is that I had a couple of tanks a number of years ago ending in 2013 when planning moving to the North West. I had a Fluval edge 23L and a Fluval Vicenza 180L. The edge was a good intro, but a pain to do anything with due to the opening. I loved my Vicenza and had a go at planted with Yeast based CO2. I was not very good at it - although I think with the yeast based co2 there were a lot of fluctuations which did not help. I was however proud of the tank and even did a video of its progress on Youtube, which can be seen here: Vicenza Tank 2013
Frankly as I look at it now especially compared to all the scapes on here - it was rubbish!!...but it was a start.
So onto my Spec.
I got a cracking deal from Ebay for this including the heater and headed down to premier aquatics in Runcorn (seems like a great shop by the way - only been around a year) to look at wood and rock and substrate. Substrate is Tetra Active substrate with root tabs in it. I cant remember what the rock is! I will be using Tropica Specialised nutrition and Flourish Excel for the plants
The tank started like this:
The back was higher on the right hand side and I went about ordering some 1-2 grow plants to stick in there. I went with:
2 x Dennerle Java Moss
1 x Tropica Anubias Nana
Then the other plants arrived. This included 3 x Dwarf Hairgrass and 2 x Blyxa Japonica. The Blyxa is behind the ood/rock poking round corners with a view to it growing out all bushy around the base. However, I bought the 1-2 grow Blyxa from Pro-Shrimp and I have to say it was a brown mess that I think I should have returned (I am not impressed they sent it as it was visibly brown through the film) - but being the first 1-2 grow plant I ever received I wondered if it was normal...I am now certain it is now, especially having received the Dwarf Hairgrass. But alas - it is too late.
Then during a water change I managed to knock out a load of hairgrass. Having watched a Green Aqua lecture by a competition scaper from malaysia - I wanted to change things - this gave me the chance. so Off i went:
So here we are. I would prefer the slop on the left to start lower - but the shrimp feeding bowl would not sit well. The rock on the left also was more angled up until water went in ... so I may try to fix that later. By having the raised sides and the valley I hope to draw the eye to the centre and a focus point by getting some Vallisneria Nana and planting this on the back left The current will make this arch left to right and leave the space in the middle open (hopefully). I will buy more Blyxa Japonica too for the back right to come out from the wood and rock and once established, hope to trim the hairgrass into a compact lawn. I also hope the Java moss will grow to cover the glue!! Hoping it will look more wild than Zen when grown in.
Looking forward to thoughts and feedback
Whilst I have been lurking over the last month, I bought a small Fluval Spec 19 litre tank to set up on my desk at home. My initial plan for this is to have a cherry shrimp tank (maybe blue jelly) that is safe, for them hopefully to breed and be able to go into a larger tank in the living room (yet to be bought/set up/still very much at the concept stage). Although whilst I like shrimp, they are not the same as fish to watch...so I may see about adding some very small fish in there at a later date and hope they don't just eat the shrimp fry!.
My background is that I had a couple of tanks a number of years ago ending in 2013 when planning moving to the North West. I had a Fluval edge 23L and a Fluval Vicenza 180L. The edge was a good intro, but a pain to do anything with due to the opening. I loved my Vicenza and had a go at planted with Yeast based CO2. I was not very good at it - although I think with the yeast based co2 there were a lot of fluctuations which did not help. I was however proud of the tank and even did a video of its progress on Youtube, which can be seen here: Vicenza Tank 2013
Frankly as I look at it now especially compared to all the scapes on here - it was rubbish!!...but it was a start.
So onto my Spec.
I got a cracking deal from Ebay for this including the heater and headed down to premier aquatics in Runcorn (seems like a great shop by the way - only been around a year) to look at wood and rock and substrate. Substrate is Tetra Active substrate with root tabs in it. I cant remember what the rock is! I will be using Tropica Specialised nutrition and Flourish Excel for the plants
The tank started like this:
The back was higher on the right hand side and I went about ordering some 1-2 grow plants to stick in there. I went with:
2 x Dennerle Java Moss
1 x Tropica Anubias Nana
Then the other plants arrived. This included 3 x Dwarf Hairgrass and 2 x Blyxa Japonica. The Blyxa is behind the ood/rock poking round corners with a view to it growing out all bushy around the base. However, I bought the 1-2 grow Blyxa from Pro-Shrimp and I have to say it was a brown mess that I think I should have returned (I am not impressed they sent it as it was visibly brown through the film) - but being the first 1-2 grow plant I ever received I wondered if it was normal...I am now certain it is now, especially having received the Dwarf Hairgrass. But alas - it is too late.
Then during a water change I managed to knock out a load of hairgrass. Having watched a Green Aqua lecture by a competition scaper from malaysia - I wanted to change things - this gave me the chance. so Off i went:
So here we are. I would prefer the slop on the left to start lower - but the shrimp feeding bowl would not sit well. The rock on the left also was more angled up until water went in ... so I may try to fix that later. By having the raised sides and the valley I hope to draw the eye to the centre and a focus point by getting some Vallisneria Nana and planting this on the back left The current will make this arch left to right and leave the space in the middle open (hopefully). I will buy more Blyxa Japonica too for the back right to come out from the wood and rock and once established, hope to trim the hairgrass into a compact lawn. I also hope the Java moss will grow to cover the glue!! Hoping it will look more wild than Zen when grown in.
Looking forward to thoughts and feedback