Flun

Hello
In my first real post I'd like to present to you, dear reader, my first stumbling steps into the hobby, my 2 gal desk nano. I had bettas before but I never really got really into anything before I wanted something green on my desk and decided on setting up a planted nano mostly with stuff I already had

Tank: Old "betta tank" 2 g
Lighting: (one of my problems) 15w CF 2700k ugly yellowish light, how much of a problem is it for the plants? will get a new bulb soon..
Substrate: gravel with loads of laterite and other clay balls
CO2: DIY through intake of a minipump
Ferts: EI and Excel
Flora: HC and Elocharis Acicluaris


After about 2 weeks emersed



4 weeks after start I filled the tank, temporarily added some floating Egeria densa to help against algae. Have some kind of hair algae growing on substrate and some of the HC which concerns me I have decreased lighting from 23 to 15w started to dose excel daily (recommended dosage). DIY CO2 has slowed down a bit aswell (don't have a good way of measuring CO2 levels but I guess it can't go very wrong anyway).. I try to stay on top of things but I sometimes overlook the obvious, for example I forgot to decrease the photoperiod from 11 hrs to 8 after filling I

I have mixed impressions from my 4 weeks of emersed growing, I should have waited longer before filling as I suspect the HC was just taking off good, I just didn't realize it. Also I should have kept it more dry after week 3, I have algae partly because of that.



My bubblesmasher, small pump that can do 40-80 gph, thoughts on this method? too ugly? I'm thinking of turning it into a small filter with a sponge on the outtake, if I get shrimps.

Thanks for reading! Any comments are welcome and wanted!

Karebear

I like it, I will be looking forward to seeing it filled completly in.

Flun

And I hope you'll see a lush HC carpet rather than an algae acre, thanks!

To clarify what I wanted to say about my emersed HC the main experience I'd like to share with people, keep an eye on the growth so that you don't give in and fill it up just as it is about to take off really good and keep the moist levels down in the later stages. On a side note, it's interesting to plant some HC directly by the glass so you can see the growth of roots, my HC had roots running down to the very bottom after 2 weeks.

jay973

Looks good! It seems like you have new growth. How about a tank shot?

Flun

Thanks for the nice comments, I'm going slightly obsessed with this tank currently fighting algae with a passion. Think it's going well, hopefully the excel+shorter photoperiod will enable me to both curb the growth and get rid of the present algae.

Only 4 days since last pic but here's a side view, idea was to have a "path" of HC going in behind the wood and hairgrass growing in an arch from the sides, wonder if it works...


Nice to see other people's nanos here on the boards, I want to pick up as much as possible because I'm very sure this is not my last nano, love them.

jay973

It seems to be filling in nicely keep up the good work. Hopefully you can conquer your algae problem.

good luck.

BenBOMB

Your HC seems to be doing very well. I honestly can't see the algae so that's probably a good thing . Easier to see in person i'm sure.

The color of the lighting (from what I think) doesn't really effect the plants. I think the K rating is personal choice. It might have a little effect but I honestly don't know for sure.

It's just the normal color is around the 5-7000K rating. Then saltwater you want brighter color and such so you get the 10K. The lower colors just show more natural type light. The yellowish color might actually be cool for a natural look, but if you want to show off your true color of your plants you'll want to get a new bulb.

I am using two 15W CFL 6700K bulbs on my 5G Nano planted. Very pleased. Got them in a 2pack at wal-mart.

Can't wait to see your HC fill in and your hairgrass grow taller in the back.

You planning on putting any moss on that piece of wood or just leaving it?

Flun

Thanks Jay973 and BenBOMB

Here's a tank shot from today


I have a shrimp in there now. It's cleaning the wood like mad, which you can actually tell by the pic

I trimmed the hairgrass down a bit for no reason at all. I want it really bushy-looking. I'm not to pleased with it, some thread algea and assorted gunk tangled up in it

Any suggestions for what could, should or shouldn't be done to the background?

Thanks for the 30 seconds of your time
Flun

jay973

You can give Lilaeopsis brasiliensis (microsword) a try if will grow in your conditions instead of the Eleocharis acicularis (Dwarf hairgrass) if your giving up on it.

I think it looks good though I can't see the algae or other stuff growing in there.

Flun

I'm a bit pedantic when it comes to algae, I've actually only recently grasped that I will just have to live with it ^^

Before I was done experimenting with my ferts (couldn't have had shrimps there then) I picked algae from the HC for 15 minutes or so with a pair of tweezers every other day. Picking hair algae from HC is good for practicing steadiness.

I'll definitely be able to live with the hairgrass tho ... the real problem is that I don't have room for other plant species (not that I can think of anyway).