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24 Gallons of Empty

tonyjuliano

By tonyjuliano,
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tonyjuliano

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24 minutes ago, James Black said:

Heres what I would do:

Because its a ADA tank, make a high tech but gourgoues scape. With lots of lush plants and co2 injection.

Then get a pair of kribensis or apistogramma, and breed them. 

You read my mind! (Partially)

All my other setups (3 currently) are low-tech Biotope Walstadt method tanks.

i’ve been thinking about giving “high-tech” a go.

No breeding for me though, I prefer a tank full of smaller, cold water types, snails and shrimp.

I’m mulling over trying out the “dry start” method, with lots of carpet.  When it comes to the co2, though, I think I’m going to opt for DIY production using sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) and citric acid powder, in a solenoid controlled pressure system.

oh, and it’s not an ADA tank, but a 45cm cube from SR Aquaristik.

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tonyjuliano

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Substrate...

Gonna go with Caribsea Eco-Complete Black.  It’s not an “active” soil, I know, but it’s got the highest CEC value in the land, and will last almost forever.  I don’t relish the thought of tearing everything down in a year or so, as would be necessary with active soils when they run out of nutrients.  Root tabs and liquid ferts will load it up, and the high CEC will keep it there.

I'm considering dragon stone for hardscape, but am open to suggestions.

Lighting is a no brainer.  Fluval Plant 3.0.  I have Fluval Aquasky’s in my low tech tanks, and really like the Bluetooth setup and control.

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tonyjuliano

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19 minutes ago, Patrick_G said:

That tank is begging for a thick carpet with a school of Nano fish hanging above, not Iwagumi but with a nod towards that style. 
 

Totally agree...

let’s talk livestock.

Large school of chili rasbora, half a dozen gold barbs, and a single blue gourami, maybe?  Plus lots of shrimp, and 3-4 snails.

Looking for input...

 

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Isaac M Mentor

Isaac M

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For rocks I would do a darker stone so it does not contrast the eco-complete too much. I have dragon stone with black sand and if I could do it over, I would do a black lava rock or black sieryu stone to make it look more natural. 

As for fish, maybe a large school of celestial pearl danios since you prefer colder water fish? And some neos of whatever color you like the most. 

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tonyjuliano

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4 minutes ago, Isaac M said:

For rocks I would do a darker stone so it does not contrast the eco-complete too much. I have dragon stone with black sand and if I could do it over, I would do a black lava rock or black sieryu stone to make it look more natural. 

As for fish, maybe a large school of celestial pearl danios since you prefer colder water fish? And some neos of whatever color you like the most. 

Unfortunately, have too much sieryu in house already (my Walstadt setups and my African Cichlid tank are full of it).  The black lava rock idea is intriguing, as it would match my substrate of choice exactly.

The celestial’s are out though, have a tank full of them already (such a pretty schooling fish!)

Neo’s? You mean neon tetras?  Tank would be too hard and cold.

keep those excellent suggestion coming!

 

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Isaac M Mentor

Isaac M

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Sorry @tonyjuliano, I should have wrote it all out, I meant neocaridina shrimp such as red cherry shrimp or blue dream shrimp, etc. 

I keep neon tetras in an unheated 10 gallon with no top and they are looking great. As long as your house is heated, I find I do not have any problems. Coldest my aquariums get is 65 degrees Fahrenheit or so in the winter. What do you mean by too hard? Like the gH would be too high? 

Are you looking for a schooling fish? A species only aquarium? Or a community? 

Then I would go with black lava rock. Even elephant skin stone would work. Or another dark grey stone or black stone, just something more natural. It will make the plants and fish stand out more as well. 

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tonyjuliano

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2 minutes ago, Isaac M said:

Sorry @tonyjuliano, I should have wrote it all out, I meant neocaridina shrimp such as red cherry shrimp or blue dream shrimp, etc. 

Oh! Yes, plenty of shrimp!  That are a staple in all my tanks.

As for hardness, I was referring to KH (directly tied to pH), my tap is close to 8ph.  I can, however make RODI water (and do for topping off).  Not sure I want To get involved in too much “water manipulation” though.

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Isaac M Mentor

Isaac M

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I see, my pH is around 8.0 to 8.4. As a result, you can imagine that my water is hard as well. My neon tetras have been doing great so unless your water is very very cold, I do not see why you could not keep neon tetras from my experience. 

Yeah I do not manipulate my water either. It is a hassle to manufacture water haha 

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tonyjuliano

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Filtration?

I’m partial to canisters (running a Fluval FX4 on my African tank right now).

But I don’t care much for Fluval’s smaller offerings.

I'm thinking Pen-Plax Cascade 500.  It’s small, cheap, reliable, and I like the way the media trays can be setup. 

Oh and one of these...


I run one of these in all my tanks, instead of air stones.  They come in handy (due to the small sponge) when I have to get my quarantine/hospital tank up and running.  I just “borrow” 2 or three and the 10 gallon is cycled.

They’re tiny, so easy to hide.

3CB31F09-2EDD-45E2-AD5A-A1BC8EC25DFA.jpeg

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BIG GREEN Collaborator

BIG GREEN

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3 hours ago, tonyjuliano said:

Filtration?

I’m partial to canisters (running a Fluval FX4 on my African tank right now).

But I don’t care much for Fluval’s smaller offerings.

I'm thinking Pen-Plax Cascade 500.  It’s small, cheap, reliable, and I like the way the media trays can be setup. 

Oh and one of these...


I run one of these in all my tanks, instead of air stones.  They come in handy (due to the small sponge) when I have to get my quarantine/hospital tank up and running.  I just “borrow” 2 or three and the 10 gallon is cycled.

They’re tiny, so easy to hide.

3CB31F09-2EDD-45E2-AD5A-A1BC8EC25DFA.jpeg

what is the name of this tiny sponge/air system

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tonyjuliano

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Back to hardscape...

I really think that this setup screams for a single, large “monolithic” centerpiece.

I like the “keep it black” idea put forth before, and also my original idea of a large piece of dragon stone, but now I’m also considering something else.

Wood... I’ve found a really nice looking piece of manzanita that may fit the bill.

Attached are 3 photos, showing a example of each.  

Thoughts???

 

72A1E7CA-D146-4B30-9760-F25E70A2753E.jpeg

50B0C8EB-780A-45B6-AA51-251810373445.jpeg

398F2E10-BF77-4B90-80D5-C30915EBCF7C.jpeg

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Isaac M Mentor

Isaac M

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I guess it would depend on what plants you are thinking of buying. You can also make multiple pieces look monolithic by glueing them together and sprinkling some dust from the rock onto the glue. The dragon stone does look really cool though, if you plant heavily enough, the contrast with the black substrate would not even be noticeable at that point anymore haha 

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tonyjuliano

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1 hour ago, Isaac M said:

I guess it would depend on what plants you are thinking of buying.

That’s the “million dollar question”, it seems...

My thoughts at the moment are to go with the black lava monolith, infused with moss.

At the base of the stone I’m thinking of a dense carpet, but not covering the entire base of the tank, just radiating out from the central stone and covering about 60%.

Behind the stone, at the rear, I’m thinking tall hair grass, interspersed with something red.

I did purchase all 3 central items, because I’m sure I’ll change my mind along the way, or someone here might too.

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ChemBob Proficient

ChemBob

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Switching back to livestock ideas, what about one of the white cloud varieties or rainbow shiners? If I did the shiners, I'd probably go blue or maybe yellow Neocardina shrimp with them. With the white clouds,it would depend on which type I had.

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tonyjuliano

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35 minutes ago, ChemBob said:

Switching back to livestock ideas, what about one of the white cloud varieties or rainbow shiners?

Love the White Clouds, but already have a good sized “herd” in another setup.  There’s a dozen of the Golden variety in one of my Walstadt tanks, accompanied by 8 cherry barbs.  They shoal together like they’re the same species!  They look GREAT together.  Looking for a single blue paradise fish to top everything off.

I like the idea of shiners for this tank, a lot of them.  That’s going on the final consideration list.

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