I currently have a 9.6g custom acrylic nano that was originally going to be a reef tank. I move to college life got busy so I decided to make it a FW instead. I set it up with a mix of aragonite, regular sand and pea gravel. I added some Val (dwarf and regular) and some java moss. The fish were originally one Neo. Occelatus and one Julidiochormis transcriptus 'gombi'. Everything was going cherry for a few months, but I had a constant cyano problem which I attribute to the aragonite, poor tap water and improper lighting (I was running a half 10k half actinic 32w PC for a while). Unfortunately I lost my Ocellatus and would like to now turn the tank into a full blown planted which I haven't done in a while.
My current tank specs are:
Lighting: 1x10k 32watt PC ( I have two other 32 watt PCs built into the hood but aren't hooked up)
Substrate: Pea gravel, aragonite and play sand
Filtration: Via sump, floss (changed monthly), Carbon (changed by weekly) powered by a maxijet 1200
Sump: 3 gallons 3chambers
Display: 6.6G
Heater: 25w
Controller: Reek Keeper II
Fish: Julidochormis transcriptus 'Gombi'
Plants: Java moss (growing like a weed), Vals (growing well), new plants; Java fern 'Windelv (sp?)', Rotala indica, Rotala sps, Ludwigia repens, Echinodorus tenellus
Invertebrate: 1x Amano shrimp
First things first, is I am going to be switching over to R/O water that is 2 ppt (trillion) to start controlling the cyano. I will need to buffer this back up to at least 7 to keep the Julidochormis happy. Can anyone recommend a good buffer?
My ultimate goal is to have nice dense plant growth and hopefully a beautiful aquascape with a school of ember tetras or maculata rasbora. Now what do I need to do to get the ball rolling on this. I know my substrate sorely needs to be amended or replaced, any recommendations? I also can bump my lighting up to either 64 or 96watts PC, but don't want to mess with Co2 injection. ould that be overkill? Any other recommendations are welcome.
Thanks
Danny
