ZeeZ

The time has come, FINALLY!

I got some Osmocote tabs, which is plant fertilizer, but I chose to open the capulets and let them spread out evenly on the bottom of the tank in place of the usual recipe for mineralized soil -






I decided not to use the bottom portion because it raised the tank too high. I chose to put it in the bathroom -




The on-off switch. Yes, that's a laptop power cord. I intend on creating a plexiglas box for this so it'll help keep water out but my friend who made the light assured me he sprayed a TON of silicone on both this and the LED unit itself but I'm still going to create a plexiglas lens of a sort to cut down on humidity inside the tank. I also need to drill vent holes. And yes, my name is Adam D. -









The light was so bright it blinded my phone camera. -




And from a different angle so the camera wasn't blinded. Pretty bright, ain't it? -




I chose not to fill it all the way up yet because I don't have the plexiglas lens installed yet. I chose to try and grow in my Dwarf Chain Swords and pick up some other higher light plants.


Plants I've been considering -

Sulawesi Plant - Lymnocharus sp.

Eriocaulon sp. 'Ban Ba Wa


Do you guys have any suggestions for what else I could plant? In the future I want to try and pick up some Sulawesi shrimp for this 3 gallon once the plants are more established. I also want to do a Moss Wall but with something that's higher light.

ZeeZ

I just ordered a few more plants for this tank but I won't say what exactly. I want them to be a surprise, but I really think they'll be very nice additions. However, I will say that a couple of plants that are coming in the mail will require Excel as well as the high light that's given by the LED setup I have. So I'll be dosing Excel soon.

I bought some Platinum 6 LB fishing line since I needed fishing line anyway because I just got permission to fish a neighbor's lake. I finally made the HC/Baby Tears Wall. I had to tie the HC to the mesh. I'm really hoping this works but I have absolutely no idea if it will or if it won't.

When I opened the tank, the sides were covered with green algae and there was some kind of slime inside the water when I stirred it up. No idea what it was, but I did a small water change to get most of it and the debris out then used a paper towel to wipe away the green spot algae.

Photos -




Air bubbles from the freshly added water -




There are already two new baby Dwarf Chain Swords and ALL plants are sprouting brand-new leaves that are a much brighter green than the old leaves were. I have no idea why. I couldn't get the phone camera to focus, so I apologize about the blurry photo.




As it sits now -

Michael

Interesting little tank, and it will be lots of fun to experiment with. It would interesting to put a PAR meter under your LED fixture.

ZeeZ

Thank you! I'm nowhere advanced enough to even begin understanding how to use PAR correctly or the light spectrum levels, etc.

Update: My new plants arrived today! The tank is jammed now!

I experienced a new way of shipping and protecting against the heat. This seller wrapped his plants in protective bubbled heat shield and even used heat tape. Which was good because where they lived, it was 110 degrees! The plants would have definitely wilted under that kind of heat.

Pics -

Here you can see the two-three baby Dwarf Chain Swords better. They're at the edges by the acrylic. -




The heat shield type thing -




Filled up -












It's hard to get decent photos because of the warped look the acrylic has. It's hard to clearly see the tank when you're in person too unless you look directly at it at eye level. Still, I love how easy it is to wipe the sides clean. I only have to wipe them one time with paper towels unlike with glass, you have to wipe it repeatedly to get it clear and dry.


A chicken dinner goes to anyone who can guess the species of the plants that are in the tank!