[Jimbo]

DESKTOP JUNGLE - Office Planted Shrimp Tank

SETUP:
Tank: 17 gallon, 40cm x 40cm x 40cm Starphire Cube with built in overflow area
Lighting: Zetlight Aqua mini with controller - Freshwater
Filtration: Back overflow area - Eheim Compact Pump 600 for return
Filter Media: Eheim matrix and substrate, purigen and filter floss
Heater: Probably no heater as my office stays the same temperature
Co2: 5lb tank, single stage hydroponics regulator, hoke needle valve, inline bubble counter and atomic diffuser (hopefully hide this in back chamber)
Substrate: ADA Aquasoil - Amazonia

Flora:
HC, Hemianthus callitrichoides
Christmas Moss
Staurogyne Repens
Taller background plant TBD

Fauna:
Various Shrimp - not too sure on variety yet
Galaxy Rasbora - if I decide to put fish in

Fertilizers:
I will be dosing the following from self made solutions using the EI dosing guide.
KNO3
KH2P04
CSM +B

I bought the tank and light from Frank, aka aQ.LED, a couple of weeks ago. Everything else I basically had kicking around. I have wanted to set up something at my office for awhile now. I was originally planning on setting up a 12g long tank as I had a light for it already but this worked out much better. The tank is beautiful and I am very excited about the back overflow section. It will make the filtration very contained and make the whole thing much more compact at work. The only thing outside the tank will be the co2.

I meant to start this journal right when I started the project but I got excited and started it first. I am doing a dry start at home for a few weeks or a month before moving it to my office.

My cat checking out the tank.

She needed to test it with the light on...

Here it is right after planting:

Another angle:

It's been one week so far and it mostly looks the same. I had a bit of mold on some of the patches of HC which was annoying. I added a bit of Hydrogen Peroxide to my spray bottle and I think it's gone now. I think it'll be another week before I see any real growth. I will update as soon as there is change.

Thanks for looking!

James

 

[scott tang]

wow nice lookin start

 

[Jimbo]

Thanks Scott. I'm really looking forward to it all coming together.

wow nice lookin start

 

[aQ.LED]

I have been told too much water could promote mold, maybe some other freshwater expert can confirm that

 

[Pamela]

I love that piece of wood you have in there, it fits the tank perfectly!

Your cat is adorable too!

 

[Jimbo]

I love that piece of wood you have in there, it fits the tank perfectly!

Your cat is adorable too!

Thanks! I'm really stoked on the piece of wood and I got it half off at IPU. Don't tell the cat that she is adorable. She has a big enough ego as it is.

 

[blurry]

Which ipu did you go-to?

 

[Jimbo]

Which ipu did you go-to?

The one in Burnaby. They were having a sale on all their branched wood. I spent 40 minutes playing with it all. There was tons. That was about 2 weeks or so ago... but there was lots.

 

[blurry]

How's the moss going with dsm?

 

[Jimbo]

How's the moss going with dsm?

I think it's going well moss wise. The moss is all still really green and looks good. It hasn't really shown any growth but I think it will take a bit. As long as it takes a good hold on the wood before I flood that I will be happy.

I am having a harder time with the HC though. I lost half of the patches to mold. After doing a bunch of research I think that I had it too humid inside the tank. I had it completely sealed. Apparently you need at least a corner open so there is some air exchange so that it doesn't get too humid. Now I need to decided to either leave the HC I have now and let it take ages and ages to cover, get more HC or add something else to the tank. I could put more s. repens in or add some dwarf hair grass from my big tank. I'm not really sure.

 

[Jimbo]

Update

I had a difficult time with the dry start. In order for the moss to grow on the branches I had to keep the humidity in the tank super high... but when the humidity was super high, mold grew on the HC on the substrate. After about 10 days of trying to balance the two and succeeding at neither I threw in the towel. I moved the branch into my big tank to try to save some of the Christmass Moss and pulled all of the HC out. I then flooded the cube and planted a giant chunk of Dwarf Hair Grass in it instead. Once the hairgrass spreads, I will drain it and move it to my office and put the branch back in.

I lost all of my S. Repens though which was a bummer so I will probably try to get some more soon. I have an Anubias barter nana growing in my big tank which I will throw in the cube as well on the bottom of the wood when I put it back in.

On the plus side though, I scored a fantastic stand for it off craigslist. It's really good looking and is on 5 rollers underneath, so I can roll the whole thing to the sink for water changes.

 

[Jimbo]

Well this tank has gone through some evolution. I got a hold of some nice manzanita branches and decided to try for a tree. I attached flame moss to it about a week and a half ago and it has already doubled in amount. I have 2 lights on it right now until it fills in. I am cranking the co2 and ferts to get this established and looking good. I then plan on moving it to my office and lowering the co2 and ferts and just using the one light. I am hoping for slow but stable growth once I get it set up at work. I got a piece of glass for the top so the cat would stop drinking out of it and put some lucky bamboo in the back.

I also figured my bonsai would like a little extra light.

 

[Reckon]

Haha good use of your Glo. Also consider tying anubias to your 'tree?' You can get a leafier look from it this way

 

[Jimbo]

Oooh that's a great idea. I am going to give that a try. Thanks!

Haha good use of your Glo. Also consider tying anubias to your 'tree?' You can get a leafier look from it this way

 

[Dawna]

Oooh that's a great idea. I am going to give that a try. Thanks!

God James, I seriously envy your driftwoods all the time Geez. Let the flame moss grow and it will look awesome. Like a real tree. Some people use peacock/spiky moss too.

 

[Jimbo]

Here is the latest picture. I think I will move it my office right after Christmas. Enjoy.

 

[Reckon]

Looks so clean. I don't see hardware! So what are you using for filtration?

 

[Jimbo]

Looks so clean. I don't see hardware! So what are you using for filtration?

It has a back overflow area. I have all my media, heater and co2 diffuser back behind. I also have the bamboo in there. It worked out super well. I'm really happy with it.

 

[aQ.LED]

i hope you like both the lights you got and the tank as well =)

 

[Jimbo]

i hope you like both the lights you got and the tank as well =)

I love them both. It has worked out perfect for me. Thanks again.