# 10 Gallons of Green



## Fish on the Mind (Feb 9, 2012)

Ok so I decided to plant this 10 gal because I got bored on the weekend  and can never have to many aquariums.

Specs:
- 10 Gallon Hagen tank
- Eco-complete substrate and some rocks donated by the backyard.
- 2 CF 25 watt bulbs
- DIY CO2
- Ferts

OK, so here is how the landscape is going to be done.










Plants list 
- HC Cuba
- Echinodorus "RENI"
- Hygrophila polysperma

And if my oscar decides he does not like the anubias I just got him it will get put in this tank also.

Livestock
- ottos
- common pleco
- and some cardinal tetras in a few weeks

Freshly planted










lol mind the dates never set the date up in the camera.

any comments/thoughs would be appreciated. Not sure how everything will grow or what problems the tank may have. ( Cant think of any right now but if you guys see anything please point er out)


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## Fish on the Mind (Feb 9, 2012)

Small update.

Updated the CO2 system, instead if having the air bubbles go into the pump and get chopped by the blades (possibly damaging the prop and definitely wearing it down quicker) it now goes through a DIY CO2 diffuser.

The diffuser is made up of a syringe which has a filter foam tightly packed into it. Got the idea from another thread on the internet. The only that got changed was the filter foam ... they used facial cotton and the filter foam seams to be doing well making small bubbles as seem below of a picture of it.










Again sorry for the poor picture quality. How can I take better pictures??


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## greg (Apr 29, 2012)

Wow those are small CO2 bubbles - cool idea.

I'm thinking the bubbles won't stay small for long as channels will open in the cotton but who knows....keep us posted.

Not sure about the photo quality. Its definitely very yellow, could be lighting or camera quality. Do you know k value of the bulbs. If its low 1000s such as 2700k-3000k that may explain the yellow hue. I'm no photographer though so hopefully others will add more expert opinions.

Looks like a nice start for your spur of the moment tank.

Greg


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## Fish on the Mind (Feb 9, 2012)

Thanks.

I used the filter foam so hopefully it wont channel out like cotton might but ill keep you all posted.

As for the camera I am using a Iphone 4 and a older kodak. Both seem to take poor pictures. The lights could be a bit bright for taking pictures its 2, 25 watt compact fluorescents so that could be it.


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## Fish on the Mind (Feb 9, 2012)

Hygro is growing really quick!

After 1 week









The DIY CO2 has slowed down a lot wondering if another bottle should be put on. Cant really tell in the pic that it has slowed down because of that figure above the diffuser .... not sure what that is but its not bubbles lol. what do you guys think should I put one more 2L bottle on it?

*pictures are getting better ... next week ill see if I can get the picture lighter *


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## Fish on the Mind (Feb 9, 2012)

*Week 2*

Upon reading that I could have split up the HC Cuba more, the tank got a immediate rescape. Probably a good thing too because the roots on the bunches were going brown because the roots were so dense. Should be better for the long run that they were divided up.

Also the bubbles on the DIY diffuser are still small .


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## nightowl1350 (Mar 19, 2006)

Looking good so far. I never got into planted tanks, but love how they look.


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## Fish on the Mind (Feb 9, 2012)

nightowl1350 said:


> Looking good so far. I never got into planted tanks, but love how they look.


Thanks.

You should give it a try there is plants that need little to no looking after ... kinda "plant and play"


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## Fish on the Mind (Feb 9, 2012)

*Week 3*

Starting to grow in nice.









Its amazing how fast the hygro grows! I've taken 10 stems out and planted them in my 90 gallon, and as you can see in the picture it does not really look like i took that many out.


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## djmoosa (Dec 17, 2012)

HC is growing nicely .. keep the updates coming I am getting into high tech planted tank and currently looking for a nice starphire tank to start it up with.


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## Fish on the Mind (Feb 9, 2012)

djmoosa said:


> HC is growing nicely .. keep the updates coming I am getting into high tech planted tank and currently looking for a nice starphire tank to start it up with.


Thanks.

Looking forward to seeing yours.


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## greg (Apr 29, 2012)

Wow! Great growth on the HC.

I'm going to have to make room on my desk for a small tank I'm thinking...

Greg


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## Fish on the Mind (Feb 9, 2012)

greg said:


> Wow! Great growth on the HC.
> 
> I'm going to have to make room on my desk for a small tank I'm thinking...
> 
> Greg


I use more nitrogen than prescribed in the readings which could be why I'm getting that amount of growth. In fact I am using way more ferts than in the readings . It gets the dry ferts as seen in the EI index AND a full cap of Flourish nitrogen on Sunday and Wednesday and a half cap of Flourish phosphorus as well on Sunday and Wednesday. oh and a half cap of Flourish iron on sunday (to get the reni to hopefully show some more red soon ... the new leaves are growing are reddy green)

Those starphire tanks look really nice if you do go and get another tank deff get one of those (I was on AI and looking at the 60x40x40 one ... my mouth was drooling!) and you already have the shrimp form your tank system that could go in there too!


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## Fish on the Mind (Feb 9, 2012)

*One Month in!! 3 Weeks Since Last Landscape.*

Well heres an update. 
Finally added some livestock. Went with 27 red cherry shrimp and some frogbit plants, thanks again prolific8 for the shrimp and the bonus frogbit, much appreciated.

Heres the RCS. They are so cool and are definitely going to keep the tank cleaner. Its fun watching them pick away at things in the tank.

















And the aquarium. Week 4, and 3 weeks since last landscape.


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## John_C (Dec 17, 2007)

*[email protected]*

Ahh I love HC cuba! Best looking carpeting plant in my opinion,.. The front half of my 35gal is full of it...

http://lushaquatics.wordpress.com/


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## Fish on the Mind (Feb 9, 2012)

BERRIED!!!!


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## Fish on the Mind (Feb 9, 2012)

OK, so not much has changed and I have not uploaded pics every week like I have done. By not much change I mean there has been *little if any growth* on the HC cuba and hygro. ... and they are *pearling*? I thought that when a plant was pearling that means they are producing like mad??

Oh yea even the reni is producing little bubbles on the leaves, however it is growing like mad!! (but its undecided if they are just bubbles that drifted or not)

proof that they it is pearling will be comming once the pictures decide they want to upload.

*Any thoughts* on the slow growth? every thing has been kept the same except the addititon of RCS and the the growth has been slow for almost 2 weeks now... it was growing really fast for the first 4 weeks.


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## Fish on the Mind (Feb 9, 2012)

They are little tiny bubbles show up in that picture as dashes lol. Also can see the bubbles on the reni.


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