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6 Gallon Hex NPT

87K views 67 replies 13 participants last post by  mudboots 
#1 ·
I set up a new natural planted tank at work (on 5/2) and thought I'd document the process.

It's a 6 gallon plexiglass hex that I picked up for cheap at a local club meeting.


The first step was to add about an inch of topsoil. I used a cheapo topsoil from Home Depot called EarthGro. We went thru it and removed some sticks and broke up any clods.


Then sprinkled a layer of crushed oyster shell over the top, mixed it in and then evened it out.




Next I ran a layer of gravel (pool filter media) around the outer edge of the tank.


and then started setting in plants. I had some bronze crypt wendetti potted in soil already, so I unpotted those and plopped them in the center of the rear of the tank. Stripped the bottom leaves off some sunset hygro.

and planted that on the right of the crypts. On the left, there's limnophilia and in front of the crypts are a stem of hygro difformis. e tennelus was planted around the front and middle of the tank.



Then using a small plastic dish to deflect the water, I filled the tank with several inches of water.


There wasn't any cloudiness happening, so I moved the tank into my office and finished filling it. It's a little hazy, but not bad at all. I also added some najas grass and hornwort to take up the slack while the rooted plants are filling in. and added some java moss. I also ended up with MTS, pond and ramshorn snails in the tank.

Here's the front


and the side




More pics are here.

This tank has a powerhead built into the hood, so I left the sponge filter it came with in over nite to remove the haze.

It has one of the incandescent bulbs in it. I plan to replace that with a compact fluorescent bulb. It will be getting direct sunlight in the afternoon, so it'll be interesting to see what it takes to adjust the blinds so it doesn't get boiled but still gets plenty of sunlight.

Tested the water on 5/3 and it's ready for fish!
pH: 7.8
KH: 4dh
ammonia: a trace *maybe*
nitrIte: 0ppm

Here it is on 5/4 and the tank is lookin great!! I removed the sponge from the filter cuz there shouldn't be that much debris happening with some snails and a betta.





The najas grass is pearling under direct sunlight in the evening.

I stopped by a LPS this morning and picked up a crowntail betta boy. Here's the lucky betta. He's a little manly man! Keeps seeing his reflection in the side of the tank and is determined to run that other betta off. :lol:






Last week, I replaced the incandescent bulb with a 20 watt 6500K fluorescent bulb. I may drop back to 15 watts since it's also getting direct sunlight in the evenings.

Also, my coworker has been keeping a betta in a vase. I had a 2.5 gallon bowfront that was sitting around--another local aquarium club steal, and set that up as a NPT for her betta.


Plants include e tennelus, sag subulata, sunset hygro with najas grass and hornwort floating. There's a little powerfilter in the tank for water movement with no filter pad in it. It has an incandescent bulb in it and we're looking for a small CF bulb to replace it with. It's also getting direct sunlight in the evening.

Here's her veiltail betta boy, Will-E. He wasn't very cooperative, but I got a somewhat decent pic. His finnage is awsome.
 
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#54 ·
I think one of my Java Ferns is having Potassium deficiency (black holes in middle of leaf). Where do you find someone that knows where to find that stuff called 'potash'? Or do you just dose a small amount of Seachem Potassium?

I won't add the Calcium Carbonate unless I need to. My water is 7.4 and the hardness is medium hard (the actual number is in my profile and I honestly forget what the # is).
 
#56 ·
Turn black? Or get holes in the middle of the leaves?

These Java Ferns in my 9 Cup Betta Vase @ Home are the most perfect I have ever grown.
They are not huge, but they have been spotless and NO ALGAE at all on them ever. It has been amazing.

The only tank I have had in the past where I did nothing except feed the Betta!

Before this Nano/Pico I had not known before that this was possible.
 
#58 · (Edited)
Betty - Have you seen my latest marketing pitch based on your idea of getting boxes from the local vets office? That was a FANTASTIC idea by the way. Get the PERFECT PLANT shipping box and RECYCLE at the same time.

You really are a genius!

By the way, it has 123 views and 3 replies so far. 41 views per reply. Not bad.

I will need some help marketing this idea much more. Any ideas?
Do you think someone would make it into a sticky?
 
#60 ·
#62 ·
I need to do a how to mail fish and plants article for the GAB. I could add it in there.
Great! Thank you. Together, we will make you famous!

By the way, do you know of a Moderator to ask to turn it into a sticky and exactly WHERE to post the sticky?
 
#63 ·
Here's an update on the two natural planted tanks at work.
Right now then only have cherry shrimp and snails in them.
The bettas are still at home from christmas break.



Here's the little 5 gallon bowfront. That one's maybe been set up for two years now. It has the evil lowes topsoil in it that took forever to settle down. The plants all seem happy, tho there's some very tough to get off green algae growing on the acrylic. It's a buggar to get off.


Here's the 5 gallon hex NPT.
front.


angled view from the right side


This one only has a little hair algae and little of some kind of algae on the acrylic. not bad. the plants in it are very happy. I haven't had to clean the acrylic in ages. I still keep hornwort and duckweed floating.
 
#67 ·
Thanks Michael! I have some questions about soil, few days ago I completed Diana's book "Ecology of planted Aquarium" in her book she recommended, "Soil should not be used from brackish areas". So, I want to clear some of my concern, the basic source of our tap water is coming from river and the Ph. of this river is recorded different in different areas for example where river starts Ph. is recorded 7.2 and where the river falls in sea the highest is 8.2. Area where I live around 7.8. I want to ask I can use the soil from that area, and please tell me, what is the difference between "Alkaline" and "Brackish" water? please advice, if you can.
 
#68 ·
Brackish is a term regarding salt content, which is not a happy ingredient for most plant species that you'll be growing in the aquarium. Alkalinity relates specifically to pH values over 7.0.

Beautiful crown-tail by the way; I bet he's quite pleased with 6 gallons of real-estate to claim. The tank looks great and I look forward to seeing it mature.
 
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