Little Tank Journey

[pnyf]

After several years of being tankless I got the bug again. Since I know that I'll be moving in a few months I decided I didn't want anything too big and hard to move. I found a Marineland Crescent 3 that was on sale and figured why not. 

 
I got it filled with some decorations and plants and a neat Crowntail Betta that I liked.
 

 
I didn't know that the dark green ferny plant wasn't aquatic (it was being sold with the aqatic plants) but I like how it looks there so I figure I'll keep it until it starts looking not so good. 
 
I added some Java Ferns and picked up some Cherry Shrimp at the LFS. There are plenty of hiding places in the tank and the fish and the shrimp seem to be ignoring each other

 
Cute little guy

Future plans are to move the fake driftwood to the other side of the tank to make it so the water flows to both sides of the tank - it was kind of cutting flow in half before. I have some Java Moss ordered that I think I'm going to plant on the fake  driftwood and maybe in one of the corners of the tank. Otherwise it's let it do its things and enjoy watching.
 
Thanks for reading.
Peter
 

 

[Blondielovesfish]

Looks nice!
 
Sounds like a good plan

 

[DiddleBug]

I love your betta!

Nice pics!

 

[greenmumma141]

Great little tank!
 
Are you sure that the fern isnt aquatic? It looks like it might be a bolbeitis type. If it is, it needs to be free from the substrate

 

[pnyf]

Great little tank!
 
Are you sure that the fern isnt aquatic? It looks like it might be a bolbeitis type. If it is, it needs to be free from the substrate

The package the fern came in had a Latin name that I looked up after I bought it (I can't remember of the top of my head what it was) and it looked like it was a plant that will last under water for a while but is more of an out of water type of plant. So I figured I'd leave it in there until it started looking shabby and then figure what to replace it with.

 

[greenmumma141]

Gotcha. That's a bummer... every single petstore I've been in sells non aquatic plants in the fish dept. It makes me nuts!

 

[Aquamaniac]

Gotcha. That's a bummer... every single petstore I've been in sells non aquatic plants in the fish dept. It makes me nuts!

+1 to that.
Was fooled many times in my beginner days with non-aquatic plants. I refuse to buy plants from a shop If I see a single non-aquatic plant in the midldle.
It's a rip off and shows how some shops are willingly to do anything to make the money.

 

[pnyf]

So I rearranged the tank trying to get the flow of the filter a little more even through the tank. I'm still trying to adjust the intake on the filter to get a balance between keeping the water moving and the betta from being pushed all around. i think I got it pretty good for now.

The betta decided to snack on a few of the shrimp, but there are still 2 or 3 in there so I'll see what happens to them. 
I planted some java moss on the tree looking thing and I am liking the look of it. I'll have to get a picture up soon. The java ferns are looking like they are doing good. The other plants less so but I kind of figgured there wasn't enough light in the tank for them.
Still enjoying the tank.

 

[greenmumma141]

Moss works wonders in a tank! Totally blends everything together!
 
If you have a lower light tank then the swords probably won't do well in there, but that's okay. There's plenty of plants that thrive with lower lighting: Java ferns, mosses, anubias (my fav) and crypts as well (kind of have the same shape as a sword). These are all pretty easy as far as car goes as well
 
I set up a little 10g for a hatchery/grow out tank and I had to use my 50g filter. To lessen the flow, I used a big filter sponge and stuck it right in the output. I used a wooden skewer to keep it from getting pushed into the tank.

 

[pnyf]

I like the look of the anubias. Its got a nice darker green that would be a nice contrast to the lighter green of the Java ferns. I'll have to pick one up.
On a sad note all the red cherry shrimp seem to be gone. I caught the betta eating one and I think he got the rest of them. What a cool little critter though! I'll definitely keep them in mind for the future.

 

[pnyf]

 
So I've got the Java Moss planted and the dark green fern was starting to look a little rough so I replaced it with an anubias that I think is looking good. I'm starting to get some new growth on the Java Ferns and the Java Moss is starting to green up. 
While cleaning the tank I found one of the red cherry shrimp that I thought had been eaten. 
I've added 2 Nerite Snails and 3 Ghost Shrimp that I'll need to try to get some pictures of soon.
I added a TrueLumen moonlight LED so I can enjoy the tank in the morning and then have the daytime light come on from about noon to 10pm which is when I have the most time to enjoy the tank. As the stock light is under powered I'm thinking about adding another strip of daylight LEDs to help the plants grow and maybe pick up some basic liquid ferts. 

 

[greenmumma141]

Looks great. When I wanted a basic fert, I went with seachem flourish

 

[pnyf]

I thought I'd update my tank journal since it's been a little while.
Hardware wise, the light that came with the tank wasn't working well for my plants so I replaced it with a WavePoint 6" 8 watt LED that is a very pleasant 6500 k. The filter was an internal canister model that took up way too much room and didn't look good in such a small tank so I replaced that with a small HOB filter from AZOO called a mignon filter 60 that I am using a sponge pre-filter and ceramic media inside. It seems to be working very well and is much better looking in the tank. 
 

 
Most of the plants have started doing well with the better light. I also started using liquid carbon and fertilisers to help the plants grow.
My independent LFS says they are getting some more red cherry shrimp in later this week, and with the plants doing so much better I think I might give them another try. There is one RCS from the original batch that is still going strong.

 

[greenmumma141]

Looks great!! 0oooo0o, a new light unit is always exciting!
 
I've been trying to think of some ways to create some serious ground cover in my 10g so I can get some rcs without my betta having a very expensive snack lol

 

[Blondielovesfish]

Looks good with the new lights