One month old 1.5ft planted+shrimp tank

[wfc31]

My one month old planted + Cherry shrimps + some Neons tank.

what i have for the tank :
ADA Amazonia substrate + unknown brand base fert
2 pcs driftwoods, one with Riccia and the other one with Taiwan Moss
unknown brand CO2 diffuser
Ehiem 2213 external canister
cheap aquarium thermometer
36W PL light (cover with green mesh to reduce light - algae problem)
DIY CO2
DIY surface skimmer
DIY auto water level top-up
DIY cooling fan
DIY LEDs night light

about 50 cherry shrimps
12 Neons

for plant wise, i only know i got Riccia on the driftwood and stainless steel mesh, Taiwan Moss on the driftwood and green mesh moss wall, Hairgrass at the right front side. For the other plants at the center-right and rear-right side are unknown to me.

i am using Seachem liquid ferts, such as Flourish Iron, Flourish Potassium, Flourish Phosphorus, Flourish Excel and Flourish Trace, dosing has been reduced to half of the recommended dose.

DIY CO2 around 2bbp, ph 6+ (i use pH paper, free from my working place) and KH 2 .

Got any comments and suggestions to me for my further tank improvement are very very welcome and appreciate.

Remarks :i am thinking to remove the front-left Riccia mesh and replace with other foreground plant, any suggestion?

[avant]

quite a list of diy stuff haa..

probably can feature a bit of your night light and auto top up?

[taz_boy]

i must say the riccia lawn really looks beautiful

[wfc31]

avant,
the night light just a few LED light la, on it when PL off at night lo.
for the auto level top up, use two float switches, one 12VDC relay contact bought from Sim Lim Tower and an old un-use small in-tank filter pump. Will update the DIY later when i figure out all the pic, will post in Equipment Forum later, ok?

taz-boy,
thanks for ur praise.

[kemp]

For the other plants at the center-right and rear-right side are unknown to me.

Bro, the plant near to your moss DW should be glosso. If ya thinking of replacing the front-left Riccia mesh , you might want to consider trimming your glosso and having it replanted there? Coz your glosso abit tall, so you can cut up the excess top part.

just my 0.2cents worth of suggestion

[Phillipians]

i think the right side of your tank is done really nicely, yep, but i think riccia doesnt suit the left side of the tank, since you are using ada get some rooted plants like dwarf hairgrass, or glosso, and some more of the stem plants for the left side, DW placement can be improved also, but as of not the right side is rather nice

[Phillipians]

and 36 w for a 1.5 ft tank is quite ok alrdy dont need to reduce the lightings.. yup, get some stem plants, arcuata, ludwigia, rotala species

[wfc31]

kemp,
that one is glosso? i thought glosso is a very short foreground plant to be carpet, can it grow till so tall?
actually i wan to keep that 'glosso' high, cos my tank planted with short plants, have some tall plant will make more better look, just my 0.2cents also la, haha..
the hairgrass start to submerge and grow to other place already other than the original place.

[wfc31]

Phillipians,
36W PL is more than enough for my 1.5ft tank as recommended by others, but i faced serious hair algae when lighting too strong, reduce the light is one of my countermeasure to fight algae, seem like it works.

i am also noticed that the riccia mesh not suitable to be there, as u mentioned stem plants, arcuata, ludwigia, rotala species, any where i can get the picture, don know what plant is it ler.

thinking to get somemore hairgrass to replace the mesh riccia at the front-left, good idea? Or leave it with empty as a playground for my shrimps?

[kemp]

bro, that really look like glosso
i ever bought once from a LFS before, it was as tall as yours...one reason for them growing so tall is tt either when you bought it, it was deprived of sufficient lighting. or else your lighting in ur tank is not enuff.
you can actually train glosso to grow short short de, gotta constantly be trimming them
well, you can try growing glosso short, trust me, you'll find them to be very beautiful if they starts crawling in ur tank

kemp,
that one is glosso? i thought glosso is a very short foreground plant to be carpet, can it grow till so tall?
actually i wan to keep that 'glosso' high, cos my tank planted with short plants, have some tall plant will make more better look, just my 0.2cents also la, haha..
the hairgrass start to submerge and grow to other place already other than the original place.

[kemp]

Phillipians,
36W PL is more than enough for my 1.5ft tank as recommended by others, but i faced serious hair algae when lighting too strong, reduce the light is one of my countermeasure to fight algae, seem like it works.

bro, you might want to consider getting a cylinder co2?. I had about the same setup as you before, was growing glosso and riccia. Lighting strong, hair algae starts to grow.
but once, you put in cylinder co2, you would have a better control of co2 in your tank, it'll help to counter ur algae prob and you'll notice your plant to start bubbling


btw, i'm also having a 1.5feet tank with 36watts PL

[wfc31]

oh ya..cylinder CO2 is my future upgrade,
ok, once i have the cylinder, i will release the green mesh,

one day, after i back from work, found that the riccia mesh able to bubbles til the whole riccia mesh floats on top the water surface like baloon even it is a stainless steel mesh. now i tight it with stainless steel big nut, won float already. haha

thanks..

[kemp]

wait till your riccia starts to grow then you'll realise you would have alot of them floating...floating out from your metal mesh..keke

oh ya..cylinder CO2 is my future upgrade,
ok, once i have the cylinder, i will release the green mesh,

one day, after i back from work, found that the riccia mesh able to bubbles til the whole riccia mesh floats on top the water surface like baloon even it is a stainless steel mesh. now i tight it with stainless steel big nut, won float already. haha

thanks..

[wfc31]

ya lo, many ppl say riccia will float and need to clean up frequently.

i am thinking to have HC as carpet at the front-left, do u think is a good idea?
where can i get it and expensive or not?

[kemp]

yup, it's true...
my was actually tied to a DW, wait till it overgrow, it actually came off and floated to the surface, then lazy to tie it back

HC you can go Teo's farm, was there this monday...their HC are so healthy and nice, for $5..you can get a very big patch...but provided you must have transport to go there.

else you can go c328, got those on DW de..selling $10

ya lo, many ppl say riccia will float and need to clean up frequently.

i am thinking to have HC as carpet at the front-left, do u think is a good idea?
where can i get it and expensive or not?

[wfc31]

updated of the DIY auto water top-up as promised.

http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...ad.php?t=17071

[soulfinder78]

hi i got a 3 footer with alot of those dirty stuff on the water surface. so i'm very interested in yr diy surface skimmer

[wfc31]

soulfinder78,
u can refer to the link for my DIY skimmer.

http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...ad.php?t=16708

[wfc31]

Want to show my latest tank update.
Already remove the Riccia mesh at the front left and replace with HC two weeks ago.
One small stainless steel Moss wall at the left rear for my Cherries.