TeutonJon78

So here is the start of my journal. The tank was setup before I moved for a year with EcoComplete and lots of plants (some doing well, some not, some algae problems but not out of control that often).

Tank: 24g JBJ Nanocube with the MSS surface skimmer

Lighting: stock 2x36W CFL (one 6700K, one 10000K). I'd like to get an over the tank fixture (or really a MH-I love the shimmering effect).

Pump: stock 290 GPH. I have a MaxiJet 900 I'm going to try replacing it with for less heat generation and better flow. The stock pump really craps out going through my output. For filtration, it has a large coarse foam filter and a smaller fine foam filter. It also comes with ceramic rings and bioballs, but I'm going to remove them once I have the soil going.

Output: Hydor Flo. I also have some LocLine spray bar parts I've been playing with, but not sure if I want to use them.

Substrate: Scott's Earthgro topsoil (NW regional I'm assuming) covered in EcoComplete. Here is the thread about how I prepared the soil.

Decor:
Driftwood (that hard dark red gnarly root kind--been in the tank before)
Cliff Stones
Petrified Wood (I think...it at least looks like it)

Other: 150W Titanium heater, Ti grounding probe. I had DIY CO2 before, but I may not use it for the NPT tank. Either way, you can make a good cap out of these Fourmost bulkhead adapters and the top to a 2L pop bottle (or whatever). The water here in Portland is around pH 6.4 and very soft. I'm probably going to add some crushed coral to the filter section to raise the buffering and hardness slightly.

Flora: From the old tank, the plants that survived the move are:
Microsorium pteropus (Java fern)
Nymphaea zenkeri (Tiger lotus, red and green)
Cryptocoryne wendtii (Wendtii crypt, red and green)
Cladophora aegagropila (moss ball)

It's a long story of what happened to the rest of the plants, but I lost a huge amount including a nice Red Rubin sword, Rotala Indica, and a ton of anubias. The plants that did survive has all died back to the roots and have now recovered.

I ordered some new plants from AquaSpot World and am waiting for them to arrive.
Alternanthera reineckii 'rosaefolia'
Aponogeton ulvaceus
Crinum calamistratum
Cyperus helferi
Echinodorus tenellus (Dwarf Chain Sword)
Hemianthus callitrichoides 'Cuba' (HC)
Hemianthus micranthemoides (Pearl Grass)
Vallisneria americana var natans
Proserpinaca palustris (Mermaid Weed)

Fauna: All I have from the move are snails. I was removing them like mad until I decided to go NPT, now I'm letting the babies be.

TeutonJon78

Just for Historical reference, this is how the tank look the first time I set it up (there were several rescapes before it got torn down). The tank seems to run the best when I ignored it completely and didn't fertilize or anything. When I messed with it, the algae started. That is my main motivation to go NPT.


And here is how it looks in it's temporary setup while it was waiting to setup. But you can see the rocks and such. Unfortunately, since I put the pertified wood in, the Tiger lotus hasn't been very happy, so I don't know if it is reacting poorly to the stone, or the fact that it got disturbed while crushing, or the fact that nutrients may finally be running out since no dirt and no fish and no real food going in. I've never had that good of luck with the tiger lotus though.

TeutonJon78

Here are the plans for the aquascaping:

Background:
Aponogeton ulvaceus
Crinum calamistratum
Cyperus helferi
Vallisneria americana var natans

Midground:
Microsorium pteropus (Java fern) on driftwood
Nymphaea zenkeri (Tiger lotus, red and green)
Cryptocoryne wendtii (Wendtii crypt, red and green)
Alternanthera reineckii 'rosaefolia'
Hemianthus micranthemoides (Pearl Grass)
Proserpinaca palustris (Mermaid Weed)

Foreground:
Cladophora aegagropila (moss ball)
Echinodorus tenellus (Dwarf Chain Sword)
Hemianthus callitrichoides 'Cuba' (HC)

I know it is a large variety of species, but not sure what will grow in my water and in the NPT setup I have. People seem to have had success with most of the species. I'm a little worried about the Vals in my water, but I will have to see how they go. I may add some floating plants, but not sure.

I'm pretty happy with the foreground and background, but the midground is what's leaving me high and dry. Hopefully at least one of the stem plants will work well to fill in around the driftwood and such.

TeutonJon78

Regarding the animals, that is an area totally up for grabs at the moment.

I want to get some Galaxy Rasboras, but I also don't want to further endanger them (plus they cost a lot for their size). Other thoughts are "lots" of little fish or 15+ cardinals or a few bigger fish (like Kribs or rams or some more aggressive pairing fish).

For cleaning crew, I usually use Ottos, but I'm tempted to find some Nerite snails since they seem to be finding good use for algae control and leaf cleaning.

Any suggestions for fish? I'm looking for good color and schooling.

TeutonJon78

OMG...what am I doing? Am I actually adding mud to my aquarium?

I have about 1" of nice dirt/mud.

TeutonJon78

Here is the EcoComplete over the dirt. It's a little over 1" in the front and maybe 1.5" in the back. Since it's about half of the total EC I have sitting around, it would make it around 20lbs.



And here is the first fill of the tank. I'm not running the filter yet, but I'm waiting for it to settle a little bit. A but murky but I expected that. It already had some muddy water in it and I also had to add a little more dirt that hadn't been rinsed to nearly the same standard as the other bucket.


My plants should be in the USPS truck today, so I'll be taking pictures of them when they get here. I will probably let them just sit in a tub for the night to space out again and plant them tomorrow (plus, make sure there isn't any thing I don't want hitching a ride.

I'm seriously hoping that this ends up with a lower maintenance tank, because the setup has been a lot of work. Granted, I created a lot of my work myself. I could have just put the dirt in if I didn't care about clearer water or getting the sticks and rocks out of it.

TeutonJon78

and oh yes...feel free to comment or add suggestions. Otherwise, I'll just keep adding as things progress.

TeutonJon78

My plant order from Aquaspot made it in today. I placed the order last Thrusday/Friday. The plants shipping overseas and cleared USDA and were shipped from Seattle to Portland on Thursday. I got then on Sat around 3:30. So from order cut-off to receiving, it was about 8 days.

Here is the box as I got it. Inside the box was a lot of packing material to cushion the plants. The whole order was then wrapped up together and a big bag. Each of the individual plants was also sealed and labeled in their own bag, which I thought was nice. It also probably helps them pass USDA inspection. I don't know if they were bagged in Singapore though, or Seattle.


Here are close-ups of each of the individually bagged plants and their quantities.


And here are the plants all spread out to get some air before getting planted (which should be done tomorrow).


So, here is my quick analysis of my order with Aquaspot:
pro: good selection and generally good prices, individual bagged and labeled plants (which from a previous order from a different vendor can be very helpful if you order similar looking plants), overall good health and root growth, good customer support so far
cons: delivery date can be up in the air since it's coming from Singapore and has so many steps to clear.

Two of the plants had a little problems. The Aponogeton ulvaceus smelled like dead lettuce and lost most of it's leaves when I removed it from the bag. That didn't really surprise me that much since the plant has such thin, delicate, wavy leaves. The bulb looked really healthy and it had a few young study leaves that survived. One of the HC bundles was pretty dead, but the other once came in seemingly quite excellent condition. The bagged plants were off a stem on 2 of the orders, but each one also had a few that "could" count as 2, so no big deal.


Now, the one thing I've now found from ordering from 2 on-line vendors, is that sometimes (usually?), the plants are smaller than you would like. But they are plants and designed to grow, so not necessarily a bad thing. Particularly, the Echinodorus tenellus was smaller than I expected. And for the price, the Proserpinaca palustris was WAY smaller than I expected. I would like to note that both seems in excellent health however.

So far I would order again from Aquaspot again and not from the other vendor. Good job, Aquaspot. For such a young company, you seem to be doing good work.

Now for the hassle of planting a zillion little, itty-bitty plants (HC and E. tellenus).

littleguy

Posting... too... fast... can't... keep... up....

Tank's gonna be awesome. I'm enjoying watching the progress. I want one of those cubes....

littleguy

I'm thinking of placing an order to Aquaspot in the next week or two. It's nice to see how they ship, and what their quantities look like.