Ishar's 2.5G Nano- "The Meadow"

ishar

ishar

MFT Staff
#1
Jul 27, 2007
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Hamilton, ON.
#1
Hey guys. I decided impulsively the other day to start up a nano tank. It was originally going have only hairgrass (HG) and some stargrass for a background plant but I think that the HG will be too tall to have right at the front so I am hoping to use Glosso for that cause.

Here is a shot of how it is set up (minus the plastic wrap that is on top of it now) to grow the HG in emersed. The HG is currently planted everywhere but I will unplant it at the front and replace it with glosso once I get some.

I know the angle of the photo below is pretty bad but it was the only way I could do it an not get a glare. The focal point is off-center to the left, and the substrate slopes up from the focal point to the edges and to the back.

Any comments are welcome :)

SPECS
TANK: 2.5G standard
FILTER: Elite Mini
CO2: Will use pressurized once I flood the tank, spread by the filter
LIGHT: 13W PC lamp from Wal-Mart. Full spectrum Daylight bulb.
SUBSTRATE: 1" of soil topped with flourite
FLORA: current: HG; planned: HG, glosso, stargrass
FAUNA: currently none, not sure if it ever will get stocked


 

tom91970

tom91970

Superstar Fish
#2
Jan 2, 2007
1,305
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38
Tejas
www.myspace.com
#2
Looks good so far. A small crypt might look good in the corner. I Do you think the star grass might get too big?

Some red cherry shrimp would look pretty good in that tank.

I had a planted tank just like this at one time. I might have to drag it out of storage and give it another shot.
 

ishar

ishar

MFT Staff
#3
Jul 27, 2007
1,490
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36
36
Hamilton, ON.
#3
tom91970 said:
Looks good so far. A small crypt might look good in the corner. I Do you think the star grass might get too big?

Some red cherry shrimp would look pretty good in that tank.

I had a planted tank just like this at one time. I might have to drag it out of storage and give it another shot.
Click to expand...
Thanks Tom :D.

I have thought of a crypt- I have crypt wendtii brown, and it seems to stay small, but with its off colour I though if I put it in I would have to put it in or near the focal point. Thank you for the suggestion- I will definitely keep it in mind.

I figured the stargrass wouldn't get too too big but I wasn't sure to be honest. I know the leaves get relatively long but it doesn't get too tall for me so I thought it might be worth a shot. I guess I will have to rethink it. I will likely give it a try though once I flood it.

I also thought of RCS... but do you know how hard it is to find them in Canada?! lol Near impossible. I know of one person and she seems to have decent prices, so I may look her up later. Would I need a heater for those shrimp?
 

ishar

ishar

MFT Staff
#5
Jul 27, 2007
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Hamilton, ON.
#5
I fiddled around a bit and I took one of your ideas into action :). I put some crypt wendtii brown in there. I also moved the hairgrass away from where I will be planting glosso when I get some so it is less work to do that later :p. Anyways here is a good quality picture- what do you all think? :)

<a href="http://s487.photobucket.com/albums/rr238/isharmorradchuain/?action=view&current=DSC00200.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i487.photobucket.com/albums/rr238/isharmorradchuain/DSC00200.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

Looking at that picture, it seems I might want to either get rid of the hairgrass from in from of the small piece of wood as it will be bigger than the wood itself, or just keep it trimmed low... not sure what I will do there but I am leaving it for now.
 

Last edited:
PerenGee

PerenGee

Large Fish
#6
Sep 20, 2008
149
0
0
San Diego
#6
looks like a good start! as with all planted nano's, a good carpet of dwarf baby tears would be awesome. But it depends on what kind of a look you're going for. I'm interested to see this one evolve....
 

ishar

ishar

MFT Staff
#7
Jul 27, 2007
1,490
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36
36
Hamilton, ON.
#7
I am not sure I want to get into HC just yet. I am having a very hard time getting a hold of some, and I feel like it might not do well in my tank so I was going to go for glosso instead. Thanks for the compliment though :)
 

ishar

ishar

MFT Staff
#8
Jul 27, 2007
1,490
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36
36
Hamilton, ON.
#8
Ok well after moving some photos around in photobucket I need to repost these:

Original Plan:
<a href="http://s487.photobucket.com/albums/rr238/isharmorradchuain/The%20Meadow/?action=view&current=Photo48.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i487.photobucket.com/albums/rr238/isharmorradchuain/The%20Meadow/th_Photo48.jpg" border="0" alt="Iwagumi Plan" ></a>

April 20 (original planting):
<a href="http://s487.photobucket.com/albums/rr238/isharmorradchuain/The%20Meadow/?action=view&current=Photo49.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i487.photobucket.com/albums/rr238/isharmorradchuain/The%20Meadow/th_Photo49.jpg" border="0" alt="The Meadow's Start- emersed, day 1" ></a>

April 21 (moved hairgrass from front center to make way for glosso):
<a href="http://s487.photobucket.com/albums/rr238/isharmorradchuain/The%20Meadow/?action=view&current=DSC00200.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i487.photobucket.com/albums/rr238/isharmorradchuain/The%20Meadow/th_DSC00200.jpg" border="0" alt="The Meadow, April 21, 2009" ></a>

April 22 (moved hairgrass out of the left side to show the wood):
<a href="http://s487.photobucket.com/albums/rr238/isharmorradchuain/The%20Meadow/?action=view&current=DSC00206_2.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i487.photobucket.com/albums/rr238/isharmorradchuain/The%20Meadow/th_DSC00206_2.jpg" border="0" alt="The Meadow, April 22, 2009" ></a>
 

ishar

ishar

MFT Staff
#10
Jul 27, 2007
1,490
0
36
36
Hamilton, ON.
#10
hahaha that is funny. I did a crap trim job on the 20G for this months POTM, so you are likely going to have me hands down... but come December my nano will be in such tip top shape you won't even be able to believe it!! hhaha
 

ishar

ishar

MFT Staff
#12
Jul 27, 2007
1,490
0
36
36
Hamilton, ON.
#12
PerenGee said:
looks like a good start! as with all planted nano's, a good carpet of dwarf baby tears would be awesome. But it depends on what kind of a look you're going for. I'm interested to see this one evolve....
Click to expand...
Well P.G., I took your advice :D. I found 3" sq of HC for about $10 on ebay so I just grabbed it. I will grow it emersed along with the hairgrass and see how it goes :)

emmanuelchavez said:
Haha, sounds to me like you purposely sabotaged your 20g in fear of losing to me. :D
That makes me afraid of touching my tank later tonight when I try to pretty it up for POTM.
Click to expand...
haha yeah, I definitely purposely sabotaged it ;) lol. It is ok though- Orlando helped me out on another forum and taught me how to correctly trim stem plants- just you wait Emmanuel- next time you see a pic of my tank she'll be a beaut!! haha
 

ishar

ishar

MFT Staff
#13
Jul 27, 2007
1,490
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36
36
Hamilton, ON.
#13
No pic, but I have something to update. The hairgrass is slowly but surely starting to send out some runners, and is looking good. The crypt is pretty much static in terms of growth. And my wood has white mold on it- nothing some hydrogen peroxide can't fix I am sure :)
 

ishar

ishar

MFT Staff
#15
Jul 27, 2007
1,490
0
36
36
Hamilton, ON.
#15
Well it has been a while, but I took pictures a week and a half ago (roughly) but haven't posted them yet. I bought glosso for the tank since I cannot seem to get my hands on any HC, and am actually in the middle of planting it right now. I will take pics when done and post them and the others.

Also, I am finding a bit of algae scum on the substrate, and since I am planning on flooding the tank tonight unless I research that this is a bad idea, I will have to do many many water changes to make sure this stuff is gone.
 

ishar

ishar

MFT Staff
#16
Jul 27, 2007
1,490
0
36
36
Hamilton, ON.
#16
Sorry for the delay- my card reader was not working so I couldn't get the pics off the camera for a while. Here they are :) I would have edited them a bit to fix the colours and whatnot but I am almost late for work as it is :p

May 8, 2009 (I didn't take many shots and they were all like this one)


May 26, 2009- Added glosso and flooded last night, got CO2 working and tonight I will plant some more glosso in there where I can.

CO2!!




Almost full tank shot
 

ishar

ishar

MFT Staff
#17
Jul 27, 2007
1,490
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36
36
Hamilton, ON.
#17
I came home to find the tank looking quite dark- so I think I am going to go to walmart or something tomorrow, and get a desk lamp or two that use normal bulbs, and get some of those spiral bulbs of 6700K or whatever I can find. That should brighten it up.
 

ishar

ishar

MFT Staff
#18
Jul 27, 2007
1,490
0
36
36
Hamilton, ON.
#18
Here is a teaser update of the tank as of today. I have more pics, and I have pics from the 20th but I will post them later.



I doubled the light and started dosing lightly. There is some algae but nothing visible. I have many pond snails though- oh well. The glosso is appreciating the ilght for sure and is starting to grow horizintally.

I have check valves and diffusers coming in the mail right now, so I will be able to hook up some CO2 to this puppy and really watch it go.
 

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