# 17 Gallon Starfire Journal



## Jaysan (Dec 19, 2011)

I recently acquired a 17Gal starfire tank from AI. I had it sitting for a bit before I started it up.

I had the start up pictures on my other phone which I erased so I don't have any pictures of when I started it up  ah well.
This tank will most likely be the future home of some really nice CRS or Taiwan bees 

Equipment:
External 120 filter
24" Coralife T5NO dual bulb light
100W Heater (keeps it constant at 25 degrees) 
Netlea Shrimp Soil

Plants:
Phoenix moss on driftwood and SS mesh
Anubias nana on driftwood 
Some glosso in a cup in the back corner

Inhabitants:
1 female guppy
8-10 Self Cloning crays (will be for sale soon, if anyone is interested)

Here is the only picture I took recently.


The stand that I sanded and repainted (first time) Although you cant really see it in this picture, haha


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## greg (Apr 29, 2012)

Phoenix moss will make quite a nice carpet when it fills in across the front. Is the glosso going to be planted throughout the rest of the substrate or is that still to be decided?

Greg


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## Jaysan (Dec 19, 2011)

greg said:


> Phoenix moss will make quite a nice carpet when it fills in across the front. Is the glosso going to be planted throughout the rest of the substrate or is that still to be decided?
> 
> Greg


Glosso is probably going to be taken out. 
I kinda had no where to put it and got lazy with the plant, so I placed it into a cup and left it in the back corner.


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## Jaysan (Dec 19, 2011)

So I haven't updated this tank in a bit. So here goes 

I took out the Glosso. Added in some flame moss instead to help give the shrimps more moss to munch on.
I also took some of my CRS and placed them into this tank. More will be going in here soon enough 
The phoenix moss has grown in nicely on the driftwood and has started to spread to new areas of the driftwood randomly. Its weird. Maybe it will be fully engulfed in phoenix moss 

Full tank shot. I haven't added in the flame moss yet


New sheets of Phoenix moss  Hope to have this grow in nice 


Phoenix moss on the branches


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## manmadecorals (Jan 17, 2012)

Very nice! I like the new light's look


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## LTPGuy (Aug 8, 2012)

Jaysan said:


> Phoenix moss on the branches


This is a very nice picture! I haven't seen anything like it. I hope you don't mind the 10K questions..

Are the mossed tied down to the wood and eventually attached themselves the wood? Does the new growth self attached? Do you have to trim new growth to make it look this nice?

How is the moss grown on the mesh? Do you put the mesh over the moss, or weave them into the mess? What condition do the moss grow under? pH, kH, Lighting, CO2, fert? What's the rate of growth?

Thanks very much in advance.


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## Jaysan (Dec 19, 2011)

LTPGuy said:


> This is a very nice picture! I haven't seen anything like it. I hope you don't mind the 10K questions..
> 
> Are the mossed tied down to the wood and eventually attached themselves the wood? Does the new growth self attached? Do you have to trim new growth to make it look this nice?
> 
> ...


Thanks 

The moss was initially tied down to the driftwood with black string. This moss will attach itself to the wood overtime. The new growth will self attach. I havent trimmed since I attached it to the wood so nope, it grows out nice by itself 

The moss is placed ontop of the stainless steel mesh and I just tie it with fishing line string and done  This moss is pretty hardy and can grow in many conditions. It doesn't depend on pH or kH. It can grow in low light or high light.

This tank currently, is low tech other than the light. I dont dose anything and dont do any ferts. Growth rate is slow right now since I dont have co2 going into this tank yet. Once I have my next setup completed, I'll add co2 in it and the moss should grow faster. 
Hope that answers all your questions


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## AquaInspiration (Jul 3, 2010)

Looking good, my friend 
I would try adding some mid ground plants around the centre piece (driftwood)


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## Jaysan (Dec 19, 2011)

AquaInspiration said:


> Looking good, my friend
> I would try adding some mid ground plants around the centre piece (driftwood)


Yeah, I was thinking that...
Not too sure what to put there yet.


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## AquaInspiration (Jul 3, 2010)

Blyxa Japonica, crypts, or staurogyne repens.


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## Jaysan (Dec 19, 2011)

AquaInspiration said:


> Blyxa Japonica, crypts, or staurogyne repens.


Hrmm, Maybe I'll transfer some crypt parva from my planted tank to here 

Update:
Since using the Glo light, the anubias has started to grow new leafs.  I'm pretty happy about this as the past occupants in my tank ate away at my leafs while I was on vacation lol
My mom wasnt feeding enough I guess...


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## Reckon (Mar 6, 2013)

I'm pretty sure I felt my pupils dilate when I saw the close up of the phoenix moss on branches. You got a fortune's worth of Fissidens! Looks awesome.


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## Jaysan (Dec 19, 2011)

*Update*

So I thought it was time for an update!

I changed the light last time to a GLO T5HO 2 bulb fixture to give the moss some more growth as I thought they grew to the max of the T5NO fixture.

Onto the pics!!!

FTS:


Front shot of the growing Phoenix moss!


Back shot of the newer additions of Phoenix moss. These guys were placed into the tank I think about 7-9 days ago. They are starting to grow out now  I had no growth for the first 5 days. I left the house for 4 days and came back to this 
Really happy its finally decided to grow in:


The left side of my tank has flame moss sheets. These are growing in nicely!
Going to have this area where the babies can grow up hidden from the adults, haha


Phoenix Moss on the branches. Their growing in very nicely now. Even better than when I had the T5NO bulbs


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## Kimchi24 (Mar 22, 2013)

I have a question. Why is it that you have plant specific substrate if ur not really planting anything? i was going to do a similar kind of thing but did not know whether i should just have regular substrate going on rather then something expensive like flourite or stratum


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## Jaysan (Dec 19, 2011)

Kimchi24 said:


> I have a question. Why is it that you have plant specific substrate if ur not really planting anything? i was going to do a similar kind of thing but did not know whether i should just have regular substrate going on rather then something expensive like flourite or stratum


Hey,
This soil is netlea shrimp soil. Although it looks the same as netlea plant soil, this one has less nutrients thats suited for plants and more for shrimps. 
Hope that helps


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## Kimchi24 (Mar 22, 2013)

Jaysan said:


> Hey,
> This soil is netlea shrimp soil. Although it looks the same as netlea plant soil, this one has less nutrients thats suited for plants and more for shrimps.
> Hope that helps


Oh, so the substrate is mainly for the shrimps? I want to keep CRS so badly but im having no luck with red cherries. UGH.


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## Jaysan (Dec 19, 2011)

Kimchi24 said:


> Oh, so the substrate is mainly for the shrimps? I want to keep CRS so badly but im having no luck with red cherries. UGH.


Keep sticking with red cherrys until you get them to breed. 
Once they are able to breed in your tanks, you are good to go with them, and can possibly move up the chain of shrimps. thats what I did.


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## 10G (Sep 15, 2013)

moss on that wood is lookin fresh!


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## jimmyjam (Nov 6, 2007)

Hey Jay, what is the water parameters in this tank? are you using Ro ? Any luck breeding?


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## Jaysan (Dec 19, 2011)

jimmyjam said:


> Hey Jay, what is the water parameters in this tank? are you using Ro ? Any luck breeding?


Hey Jimmy,
I havent taken parameters for this tank in while.

My shrimps are doing good. Breeding is slow but I haven't been paying much attention to this tank in the past couple months, lol

The fissidens has grown though, up to the maximum without co2.

There are a few berried now so hope to see the best when I go look at the tank.

Ive only been topping off the water so no water changes in the past few months


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## jimmyjam (Nov 6, 2007)

Thank jay, are you using tap or ro?


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## Jaysan (Dec 19, 2011)

Right now, using tap.
Once I move, it'll be ro


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## jimmyjam (Nov 6, 2007)

RO it is... might as well make the plunge now! I have bred CRS CBS ss grades but I always get blocked at some point with low reproduction, even with ADA substrate, and monthly 10 percent changes with topups


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