5.5G planted nano

[BCOrchidGuy]

If you go to "the krib" site, and do a search on PMDD, Poor mans dosing drops, you'll find some articles on making your own fertilizer for planted tanks. You can pick up the ingredients between a drug store and hydroponics shop. It seems like a lot of work but you can control the amounts of each ingredient so if you need less iron you can mix it with half the iron etc.

There should also be an article about making fertilizer balls. Red clay powder from an art supplies store works wonders but if you are going to try this WEAR RUBBER GLOVES while rolling the balls, your hands will be red for a week.

And finally, one thing I tried when I had planted tanks is to use sterilized garden soil on the bottom, cover it with unbleached paper (like the paper grocery bags used to be made from). Cover the paper with your gravel, then when you put your plants in simply poke a hole in the paper and your plants have access to an amazing substrate. If you try this make sure your soil is unfertilized, sterilized, clean, natural soil. Never hurts to bake it in the oven for a couple hours at 350 just to make sure it's sterile.

Douglas

[bignose]

Thanks for the link BCOrchidGuy I'll check it out.

[reefy]

I recently started a 2 Gallon planted tank. Here is some picture.

[Rbacchiega]

Good looking Tank...looks alot bigger than 2 gallons, but I LOVE baby tears...

[bignose]

Looking good Rbacchiega. Did you wrap that material around the wood to hold that plant on? I tried stapling the plant with horrible results. I really like the baby tears too. I think those are what I planted in in my gravel.
What kind of fish is that?

Here is a updated picture of my tank.


I put some kind of plant on the wood hoping it will root to it. My tank has stabalized and no more casualites since the one shrimp.
I dosed .1ml of iron and flourish a couple of times and I'm happy to see that my plants aren't degrading. I think I may be doing something right this time!

[rocketlily]

Very nice. After watching this thread I'm looking forward to trying one.

[bignose]

I picked up some red crystal shrimp from someone on AA. They seem to be more active than the other shrimp I have. I think there are 8 shrimp in the tank now.

I trimed the taller plants in the back and replanted them. I got a new plant that came with the shrimp. I have no idea what they are. They are planted on the left side of the tank near the powerhead.


FTS


Some shrimp

[bignose]

Hi it's been over a month so here is a update.
The red crystal shrimp I bought awhile back have spawned a couple times or more now. I have lots of little shrimp of different sizes. My girlfriend counted over 30 a couple of weeks back! The plants are growing and spreading well.

[reefy]

Originally Posted by bignose

Looking good Rbacchiega. Did you wrap that material around the wood to hold that plant on? I tried stapling the plant with horrible results. I really like the baby tears too. I think those are what I planted in in my gravel.
What kind of fish is that?

I put some kind of plant on the wood hoping it will root to it. My tank has stabalized and no more casualites since the one shrimp.
I dosed .1ml of iron and flourish a couple of times and I'm happy to see that my plants aren't degrading. I think I may be doing something right this time!

Actually the pics above is mine "reefy" not "Rbacchiega''. I wraped riccia(floating rootless plant), those fishes are cardinal tetras, I made a mistake of putting them in such a small tank. I will post some upgrade later.

[bignose]

Sorry for the mix up reefy, your tank is looking great. Can't wait to see it when everything is planted and the wood is in place. I should have used that substrate under my gravel, oh well next time. What kind of filter is that?

If you need some insperation for your tank check out this link I found. ADA International Aquatic Plants Layout Contest 2008: Top 10 Tanks. Perhaps I will make one of these tank some day.