AlexL

Big update, the tank is setup! But before that, I had some complications. I had COVID, so housemate and I decided it was best/easiest for me to isolate away from the house to avoid exposure to him and his kids, and other awkward issues. So I left my tanks untouched for a while. I'm fully recovered now, although the first two days was the worst. By the time I returned, tank was completely cycled, no ammonia, no nitrites, some nitrates. It was done on a dark cycle, so it's planting time! On Sunday I moved the tank to the dining room bookshelf, setup the equipment and planted it: Christmas moss: Hydrocotyle tripartita: Anubias barteri var. nana: Bucephalandra lamandau ‘Mini Purple’: Anubias petite: I don't expect all the plants to do well so I plant to make changes as needed. Here's the full plant list: Anubias barteri var. nana Anubias barteri var. nana petite Bucephalandra lamandau ‘Mini Purple’ Christmas Moss Cryptocoryne parva Micranthemum ‘Monte Carlo’ Eleocharis belem Hydrocotyle tripartita Ludwigia super-red Bacopa monnieri Rotala rotundifolia Echinodorus ‘Compacta’ Red Root Floaters Tank is on the third self from the bottom, while the Fluval 107 canister is on the first (bottom) shelf behind some books: Here's the rest of the hardware list: UNS 3T tank Twinstar 30B LED light, with dimmer Meross smart power strip to act as a timer Fluval 107 canister filter set at about 50%, with Fluval's Bio-Max blue and white sponges, Eheim Substrat Pro, and Seachem Purigen Aquario Neo Flow pipes: Neo Inlet and Neo Reliever Fluval Mini CO2 kit (passive CO2 system, my intention is to run this as a "low tech" tank, but I wanted to test out a passive system temporarily to see how well it works) I'm gonna let the thank run for about a month before adding some shrimp, although there's already snails in the tank.

Oh, the square LED is for the 2g cube, not the vase. It's the Fluval Plant Nano. The vase has the Hiro Aquatics LED light, which is circular.

Thank you! The urge to rush things is strong! This is definitely the most time I've spent playing around with the hardscape. Some good news, I detected nitrites for the first time today, so the cycle is finally proceeding nicely.

Thanks! When I initially added water to my tank I thought it looked like an odd jumble of plants, but over time I've been liking it more and more. I do think the pennywort in it doesn't look right in it, so I'll take it out once I feel like the vase has "settled" more. The light I'm using for it is a 7W LED from Hiro Aquatics with adjustable height: https://www.hiroaquatics.com/collections/planted-aquarium-lights/products/height-adjustable-version-full-spectrum-nano-led-light-fits-nano-tanks Are you talking about the light for the vase? I like it quite a bit, the color seems nice and the adjustable height on it lets me control how much goes into the vase but I currently have it on the lowest level.

Here's a sketch. Definitely liking this aquascape design.

So a couple updates: First, it's been over two weeks and no sign of nitrites (but plenty of ammonia/ammonium), so the cycling is taking its sweet old time. I am using ADA Amazonia, which is notorious for leaching lots of ammonia and as I am now recalling the last time I used Amazonia (10 years ago!), it may take a long time to cycle as a result. This is compared to my planted vase, which also used ADA Amazonia, but I did frequent water changes (as well as being heavily planted from day 1), and it took one week for nitrites to appear and 3 weeks total to finish cycling. Taking that lesson, I started daily water changes on the tank to lower the ammonia, so we'll see if this helps the cycle along. I don't mind the cycling taking a little longer, which leads me to the second update, I got the time to futz around the hardscape some more. While I did like the woodscape I did on Jan 22, it still didn't "feel right" to me in both appearance and how plants would look with it (the design seemed to be more inviting for epiphytes than substrate plants, which isn't my goal). So this is what the woodscape looks like today. I think I like this one a lot more, but I'm gonna think about plants and I'll make another sketch soon. I think taking my time is a good thing, I feel like so many of my previous tanks were rushed in terms of design and planting.

Over the weekend, my three week old planted vase tested 0-0 for ammonia and nitrites, and low in nitrates, which means it's now cycled. Last night I drip acclimated and added a tiny Amano shrimp to the vase and it promptly disappeared. Today I found and took these pictures of the little shrimp, alive and well and cleaning up the place.

Here's a rough sketch of one vision of my tank. Not sure if Rotala is the right background plant I want, but it's there for now.

Those shrimp are such cuties.

Thanks! Yes, I was thinking that a grey-ish rock could be slightly left of center. I've always used wood in my aquariums and never incorporated rock into any of my hardscapes before, but this arrangement seems like it's asking for a rock.

My woodscape felt thin to me, so I've been playing with the arrangement and added a third piece of wood, and liking this one, and I got some ideas on how I want the plants arranged on and around it (maybe I'll sketch it out and share it). Another potential idea is adding sand on the left side to create some unplanted white space.

Neat! I have access to my roommate's 3D printer and never thought once about printing a skimmer guard like that when I had my old tank.

I created another vase aquarium. I wasn't planning on this, but I had a Cryptocoryne wendtii and extra Bucephalandra pymaea that were left over from the first planted vase I created two weeks ago, and they've been living in a small bucket since. Yesterday I bought another vase and today the cloudiness cleared:

Thanks regarding the wood scape! I feel like there's should be a rock in there, especially on the left side, I got time to decide / find something. I found one of @modified lung's posts regarding temperature, and I think you're right. I just removed the heater, probably better to let it cycle with the ambient changes. Thanks! I'll keep the Java Narrow Leaf in mind, weirdly enough I've never had any of the Java ferns in any of my tanks. I got Bacopa monnieri in an existing nano tank and wondering if I like the look of B. caroliniana better for the background. I also got some Ludwigia 'Super Red' that I'm considering as well.

Wow, what a gorgeous tank!