illumnae's office nano

**illumnae** · 6th Jun 2008, 23:54

My freshly ordered minimal silicone tank arrived from David last week at my office. Did some setting up over the weekend in office and here's what has emerged so far:

It's quite messy at the moment, and after some discussion with the scaping guru Jervis, i'll be removing all the HM to allow the hardscape to show up more and moving the crypt wendtii 'tropica' from a foreground highlight to being a background plant behind the rock that the HM is shading, near the rainbar. the foreground will be left with just nothing but a japanese hairgrass lawn.

I must say I'm very impressed with David's workmanship. 5mm 1ft cube and the silicone can't be seen at all!

**Panut** · 6th Jun 2008, 23:58

nice. i thought you are using UG as your foreground?

**illumnae** · 7th Jun 2008, 00:01

decided not to take a risk since it's an office tank. all the threads i've read where people used UG successfully are tanks with co2. since mine's going to be a low tech, i'll stick with the tried and tested jap hg

**Panut** · 7th Jun 2008, 00:04

Actually, as UG is a predatory plant, your shrimplets will get eaten up if you keep shrimps and they breed

**illumnae** · 7th Jun 2008, 00:05

something interesting. less than 48 hours after planting, the crypt wendtii 'tropica' has sprouted a new leaf:

**Jervis** · 7th Jun 2008, 00:18

Thanks for mentioning my name and since when I qualify as a guru... just follow your heart... it's your tank and a great way to express your creativity

How about a zoom out shot so that we can get a better sense of its surrounding

**EvolutionZ** · 7th Jun 2008, 00:29

Originally Posted by magic4lifez

Actually, as UG is a predatory plant, your shrimplets will get eaten up if you keep shrimps and they breed

bro, UG's trap is too small to even trap dahpina.. let alone say shrimplets... shrimplets can be kept with UG without any problem.

**Verminator** · 7th Jun 2008, 06:25

Nice little tank.

P.S: We can seeee you in the reflection

**torque6** · 7th Jun 2008, 23:39

From the reflection, i can almost tell your physical build

, nice tank by the way. By the way, HM can be used for low tech ?

**illumnae** · 7th Jun 2008, 23:47

thanks

i've read that HM can do well in high light non-co2 setups which is why i thought of putting it in. but looking at it now it doesn't seem to fit, so on monday, the HM's coming out

**torque6** · 9th Jun 2008, 02:49

Perhaps the HM is more subtle. Might want to try either a sword/vallis leave stem plant or those like the hortwort; bushy variants.

**illumnae** · 10th Jun 2008, 00:22

Shifted the crypts to the back and removed the HM today. you can again see my reflection in the picture

:

I need to find something to fill the gap left by the HM, preferably something low growing so the back rock can be seen yet non-invasive so that it won't compete with the foreground lawn. Choices:

1. more nan petite on small stones
2. crypt parva
3. crypt pygmeae
4. UG (chendol)

any suggestions and other comments about the scape?

**Verminator** · 10th Jun 2008, 06:26

Crypt parva can grow really quite small, in my case it stays low, less than 5cm at the moment. Crypt pygmeae certainly gives you that little bit more height, which is suitable. Can't comment on option 3, never heard/seen/used it.

**EvolutionZ** · 10th Jun 2008, 08:55

looking good bro.. how about some didiplis diandra?

**illumnae** · 10th Jun 2008, 09:23

didiplis diandra hardly grows low

**wks** · 10th Jun 2008, 09:34

Yixiang, I still think you need some taller plants. Cryptocoryne becketii or C pontederiifolia are my best choices.

**illumnae** · 10th Jun 2008, 09:45

taller plants where the HM used to be, or behind the narrow leaf java fern? i'm trying to avoid putting tall green plants behind the narrow leaf java fern as it would overshadow the fern and defeat the purpose of putting them there. perhaps a red tiger lotus in the back right corner? or was there somewhere else you were thinking of putting the crypts