29 gallon lab tank

[gconcepcion]

Hey all,

I haven't fallen off the side of the planet, but have been pretty busy with work/divorce etc... hence my entire life has been living in boxes for the past 4 months (including the LED setup that is 95% complete...)

Anyway, here's something that's doing pretty well now:

PRE-SETUP:


POST Hemianthus planting:


2 months later....:



current plants:
Hemianthus callitrichoides
Anubias nana var gold
Pogostemon helferi
Pistia stratiotes- var 'mini' - Mini Water Lettuce
Salvinia minima
Monosolenium tenerum - Pellia
Vesicularia dubyana - Java Moss
Microsorum pteropus var Narrow Leaf - Java Fern
Cryptocorne wendtii
Ludwigia arcuata
Eleocharis vivipara
Fissidens fontanus


Current inhabitants:
Neocaridina denticulata - Red cherry shrimp
Corydoras adolfoi - Adolfo's Cory Cat
Misc. Plecostomus
Tylomenia sp. - Orange Rabbit snails
Neritina natalensis - Zebra Nerites snail


I'll take some better photos one night when I work late and there is no glare from the windows.

[krisw]

Looking good. That HC carpet has filled in nicely for you!

[ddavila06]

looks great! except you named so many things but doesn't look like it awesome! how are your tylomanias doing?

[gconcepcion]

Several things were only added within the past two weeks so they haven't had a chance to fill in.

The Tylomenia's are doing great. I started with two adults (~3") 3 months ago in a 10 gallon bare bottom tank with some beakers full of aquasoil and misc. plant cuttings. No artificial lighting - tank is sitting on the windowsill. Didn't really pay attention to the tank at all other than to monitor the water level for a couple months.

Checked a couple weeks ago and there were 4 babys, here's one:


I never paid close enough attention to the tank to notice any egg deposits. The babies are supposed to hatch into almost perfect miniature versions of the adults. I threw the 4 of them into the 29 gallon lab tank. I'll let you know how they do in there.

I'm also not exactly sure what they're eating. Apparently they eat some plants, but I haven't noticed and serious problems with them.

[gconcepcion]

Decided to empty out the 10 gallon at home and throw the two big ones in the lab tank today.

Here's a pic of the mommy?/daddy? eating an algae wafer that I snapped with my iPhone a couple of minutes ago:




Here is the tank that they've lived in for the past several months:

[gconcepcion]

Looking good. That HC carpet has filled in nicely for you!

Thanks!

This is my 2nd (or 4th depending on how you look at it) attempt at growing an H. callitrichoides lawn.

I've tried on two tanks, this 10 gallon back in 2006:


and the current 29 gallon. Due to my fishtank ADHD, both tanks had their HC lawns planted and lights on before I had a consistent CO2 supply. Both tanks experienced horrible hair algae problems to the point where I had to basically strip the tank and start over.

after both tanks were started with consistent CO2, the lawns took off like I could do no wrong!

morale of the story: don't skimp on the CO2, go pressurized from the start. The function of photosynthesis is to convert light energy and Carbon Dioxide gas into fixated carbon (and oxygen gas as a by-product). Carbon, being the backbone of almost every organic molecule (read: carbohydrates), is the most essential component for almost every cellular process. The more you provide, the quicker your plants are able to grow.

[gconcepcion]

Here, this picture is a little cleaner:



inhabitants:





So by staying late after work today, I discovered that the light timer has been set to "Always ON" for the past 2 weeks

I was wondering why things didn't seem quite right...

At least everybody in the tank is enjoying a good nights sleep right now!