AquaObsession Holiday Tank

[AquaObsession]

Hi

I want to do a tank during my holiday period - for a period of 3 months only, after which I will change room again

I am basically asking for advice on plant choice.

The tank will be a 3*1.5*1.5 feet (L*w*h).

Substrate : ADA amazonia Black
I intend to do a landscape with rocks as well..

Where I am currently growing my E.Tenellus.


The rocks I have.. Is that what you guys call granite rocks? ( btw, the size of the tiles are just 15*15cm)



Plants :
E.Tenellus, Japan Hair grass, APP as foreground, Blyx Japonica,
Was thinking of putting Rotala Macrandra Green and another stem plants at the back corners... will this fit in ? (just asking)

Tank will run on chiller + Pressurized Co2 + EI method of Fert+ High LIghts


Fauna : Yet to be decided (any advice on fishes that swim at low level... not cardinals and neons tetra)


Comments are welcome

[Justikanz]

A tank for 3 months only? Wouldn't that be too much trouble?

But I like your rocks... Heh heh... You have extra to sell?

If you insist on having fish (and then moving them in 3 month's time), then maybe you might want to try barbs? Cherry, checkerboard, ruby and the golden barbs will hoard the lower waters and will add some colours. Tiger barbs and the 6-banded barbs will add more action and stay more than 50% in the lower waters...

Have fun and show us the result.

[AquaObsession]

will the barbs be a threat to my shrimps? I intend to put some yamatos, cherry and malayan...


I am not a fan of tiger barb. Had a bad experience with them. They eat each other in my old tank

Will go do a search on the other barbs though..

How about rummy nose? Is that a low swimmer?? anyone who is keeping, please let me know...

Christophe

[Justikanz]

I am keeping rummynoses now and yes, they stick closer to the bottom. And their colours are contrasting to the greens of the plants and the blues and reds of cardinals.

The shrimps should be safe with the the more gentle barbs (checkerboards and cherries). The rubies and golden barbs MIGHT be slightly more active as they get a little bit bigger among the 4 of them. All, except the cherries are kind of difficult to find these days... Let me know if you manage to find them as I MIGHT want to keep them again.

[diki]

Rummy nose are fast swimmers and occupy lower and middle of the tank. However, they might be a bit big so might eat shrimplets.

You can try to keep boraras as they are small enough and don't bother the shrimplets. At least you can keep more in your tank since they are so small. But I think they are too small for a 3 ft tank if you want to see your fishes from a distance.

[AquaObsession]

hmm thanks for info.

I have some Boraras maculatus in another tank, but i do notice they dun usually keep to the low areas... But they do school well, and are nice fish. My friend gave me 4, and cost $0.50 each. But I think they are very nice fish, when the colors show very well.

I am not too sure if they can survive E.I treatment well. They seem to be very fragile.


Any other fish suggestions? Are the harlequin rasboras low to mid swimmers.. I once had them, but can't remember, and they all die of pop eye disease.

[Justikanz]

Actually, if you want the cherry shrimplets to survive, forget all fish, except Boraras spp.. But they are almost considered as inactive...

Otherwise, all the above suggestions are good, including the harlequins, which schools mid-water.

[AquaObsession]

Pardon the very poor quality picture. Due to cloudy water as some of my used and wet ada soil got disturb. Hope it cleans over the coming days. (will update pic as water clears)






Plants are:

APP, Hairgrass (very little), E.Tenellus, BLyx Japonica.

Will think of putting fauna later. Have yet to decide.

Tank courtesy of a very generous "forumer"

Regards,
Christophe

[|squee|]

Those are good rocks!

The arrangement is nice enough, though it looks right now that it can be better.

For fauna I suggest a schooling rasbora species. Very peaceful to look at after a busy day.

[fishbonez]

may i know where you got those rocks from?

[AquaObsession]

From someone, I do not know where they got it from? It was from a fish tank company...

I think NA has them if I am not wrong...

Christophe

[ranmasatome]

Sweet!!
The Tank has been set up so fast..
Great to see it go to some good use.

[AquaObsession]

Yeps, I had this concept in mind for a few weeks already...

Ayah, now water so cloudy Hope the BB comes in fast...

Once I get my permanent lights, I will take a better picture and post it there.

I think for fish choice, I will go for harlequin rasboras, about 20-30 of them... and putting yamatos and malayan and cherry shrimps....

I am still looking for a theme for that tank...

[AquaObsession]

Hi

If I remember correctly, there was another thread talking about green water in a newly setup tank with ada soil, but no plants yet introduced.

Well, I am getting a similar case in my tank. I have ada amazonia soil, just 55 watts of lights over a 3 feet tank, planted, and setup only 2 days ago. The cloudy is of course cloudy, but I do notice a greenish tink in it. It is a mild case though since it is not totally green to the point where I cannot see anything.


Well, when I had my 2 feet tank, and use ADA, similar case happen about the greenish water.


It seems that it will (i hope) go away after much water change. This is what happen in my 20L tank with ada and PS.

anybody else experience same thing? Should we now start to wash ada soil before using?

I do not want to use a UV coz in the other thread the UV did not work as well.


But right now i am doing nothing. I want to see if maybe it goes by itself. Maybe the greenish tnak is the effect of a newly setup tank with ada, and the cloudy water from the uncycled tank is making it more noticeable. Anyway, no harm waiting in my case, I only have 3 ottos inside.

[AquaObsession]

After a few more days (approx a week), the tank has not cleared up completely. The cloudy water and the light greenish tint are still there.


Replaced with this one :
13/05/2006


As I said earlier, I did not do water change to try to clear the greenish tint, coz I think it is related to cloudy water and ADA. Lights still at 55w PL, waiting for my light stand to be ready.

Introduced a few shrimps to help cycle the tank and clear any debris/algae that may/have appeared on plants.

I will go for Harlequin Rasboras if anyone can confirm they are low swimmers most of the time.

Regards
Christophe

[Justikanz]

Harlequins are upper-mid level swimmers as they are the typical rasboras...

[ranmasatome]

i think thats what you want.. mid level schoolers..at least in this set-up.. i would do that.

[AquaObsession]

Finally I got my lights stand.
MH lights 150watts.

13/05/2006

[AquaObsession]

Here is an update after 3 weeks...

Tank may have to be decommissioned earlier than expected



Introduced 10 rummy nose and 15 harlequin rasboras...7 rummy nose perished.. ((fishes come from different LFS))
Now the question is...how to trim APP...If not wrong, squee was asking how to trim glosso... Can i just use scissors and cut, or can i leave it untrimmed

[gregorsamsa]

the main rock could have been bigger. I guess when you first placed that rock, you didnt expect the flora to grow in such that the rock looks smaller.

the growth is really fast. are you using fan or cooler in view of the MH's heat?

anyway, the tank looks great. your "vision" and exution is there. good job!!!

and does hakuna matata mean no worries, for the rest of your day?