Heavily planted former DSM 10g shrimp tank

pbmax

pbmax

Active Member
Since I've already spent a bunch of money on shrimp recently, I figured I'd start up my newest 10g slowly using the Dry Start Method.  The substrate is aquasoil amazonia and I've planted green crypt wendtii along the back and brazilian micro swords in front.

My giant swiss tropicals 4" cube sponge filter will serve as the centerpiece of this tank. :D And before you say it - YES, the aquascape (and I use the term very loosely here) is pretty ugly; I'm an engineer by trade with little aesthetic creative capacity.  My goal is happy plants and eventually happy shrimp (though I'll call it success if just the plants are happy).

The tank is currently lit by 2 18W 6500K CFL bulbs in an incandescent reflector setup.  I don't have any substrate heating, though the room temperature shouldn't drop below 60F.

Per a forum post I found somewhere my plan is to mist once a day and do a decent air exchange every 2 weeks.  The top is covered in plastic wrap and secured by some cheap custom-cut glass (to support the light fixture).  I added too much water at first, so I siphoned it out until I had no standing water (this encourages cyanobacteria, apparently).

I welcome any comments, suggestions, etc.  Thanks for looking!

Edit: Merged photos into the 1st post.

2013:

Feb 5:


March 14:


April 14:


August 11:


2014:

February 11 - Submersed (Since 8/11/2013) with Chocolate Neocaridina:


 
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flo77

New Member
I had succes with Dry Start Method using HC. You can see some start-finish pictures for a 2.5 gal tank here:
http://www.wafishbox.com/t629-hi-from-lynnwood
Also I had good growth in an other DSM tank for DHG(Eleocharis Parvula). In this set-up I also had Lindernia parviflora flowering.
I didn't seal the tanks, but I kept them cover with a piece of glass/acrylic allowing a small gap for air circulation. Of course I kept the soil moisted all time.
The catch is when you flood the tank, especially for plants like HC: you need CO2.
On your set-up will be interested to see if the Crypts will have flowers.
Good luck!
 
pbmax

pbmax

Active Member
Nice - that looks great! Nice CPDs too. :)

Yeah, I chose easier growers so I wouldn't have to do CO2 once I fill it. We'll see how that turns out!

Flowers would be a definite win. :bounce:

Thanks for the info!
 
pbmax

pbmax

Active Member
Here's an updated photo. The crypts are getting bushier and reconfiguring themselves as crypts generally do. The micro swords are behaving as expected and taking off in all directions. I have another package of these to add to the tank this weekend to help speed the carpeting process (grabbed one of two good packages from Lacey Petsmart :)).

Thanks for looking!

Edit: See first post, March photo.
 
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binbin9

New Member
Sweet. I'm looking forward to seeing how this turns out. Are you spraying with just water or adding anything to it?

I've been playing around with some emersed growth for aquarium plants and added some terrestrial ones too. The terrestrial has been getting some fungus though so I may remove those guys.
 
pbmax

pbmax

Active Member
I've been spraying with just water every morning. When the water level gets too high I drain it with an air-line siphon until there's no standing water visible above the soil.

I cobbled together a new emersed grow setup over the weekend because we're going to start seeds for the garden this year. After we're done growing seeds for the garden I'll use it for aquatic plants. :) I had an old 24" Glo T5HO fixture sitting around unused that handily clamps onto a tub I bought at Lowes. I'm going to put a small heater in there, enough water to cover the heater, a small power head, and platforms to elevate the plants so they're not totally sopping. So far the top will be just plastic wrap, but I may come up with something fancier at some point.
 
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BillHN

New Member
pbmax said:
I've been spraying with just water every morning. When the water level gets too high I drain it with an air-line siphon until there's no standing water visible above the soil.

I cobbled together a new emersed grow setup over the weekend because we're going to start seeds for the garden this year. After we're done growing seeds for the garden I'll use it for aquatic plants. :) I had an old 24" Glo T5HO fixture sitting around unused that handily clamps onto a tub I bought at Lowes. I'm going to put a small heater in there, enough water to cover the heater, a small power head, and platforms to elevate the plants so they're not totally sopping. So far the top will be just plastic wrap, but I may come up with something fancier at some point.
Click to expand...
Oooh, sounds awesome.
 
pbmax

pbmax

Active Member
Added photo taken today, April 14. I kind of cheated between the last photo and this one by adding one more bag of L. Braziliensis purchased at Petsmart a few weeks back. The tank has really taken off since then though. The crypts in particular have started showing some substantial emersed growth. This will likely melt when (if??) I fill it, but the more robust root system should cause them to bounce back rather quickly.

Photo added to the 1st post.
 
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binbin9

New Member
Awesome growth. Never thought Crypts can grow emersed but you've done an awesome job with them.

The Braziliensis almost look like UG

One problem.. I think your sponge is stunted. not enough sponge ferts? :tongue:

Im a bit inspired to do one of these too now.
 
pbmax

pbmax

Active Member
Yeah, unfortunately the sponge has failed to thrive. :suspect: Could be cuz I haven't added the lifter yet... ;)

Thanks! :) From what I've read crypts are fine emersed, but they'll probably lose all their leaves when the tank is flooded. We'll see; regardless, the beefed up root system should make them bounce back pretty quick.

I do have some BGA growing on the surface, but this was expected. Keeping the water level under the surface supposedly helps prevent it, but I've done a pretty good job of that and it's growing anyway. I'm keeping it vented a bit now in an attempt to curtail its growth, but that doesn't seem to be helping much yet. The next step is going a day or so between misting - I currently mist once a day. Thankfully it's not on the plants, just the substrate.

I hadn't heard of UG until I binged it just now - and yes, it does look like it :) The leaves have fattened considerably since I planted the LB.

Since I'm not crazy about more work I think I'll leave the tank as it is for at least a couple more months.

I built a 12" glass terrarium a few weeks back and just planted it with glosso last Friday. It has a 12" finnex fuge ray LED fixture over it and so far the glosso seems very happy! I'll start a thread on it when I have a decent amount of growth to share. I'm using Miracle Gro Organic Choice Garden Soil in that setup.
 
pbmax

pbmax

Active Member
Here's the last dry update to this tank.  One might argue I've waited way too long and I'm going to have a melting debacle on my hands after I fill it, but whatever.  Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right? 8) 

It's been growing like gangbusters with no sign of slowing down since the last update.  I plan to fill it today after I put in a heater and a lifter for the cube filter.  My plan as far as ferts go is the same as my 3g amazonia2 tank - nothing.  I have all root feeders in the tank so ferts shouldn't be necessary for quite a while.

If it survives submersion relatively well I'll post new photos down the line ;)

Here's the photo; I've updated the first post as well so you can see the growth between April and August.

 
pbmax

pbmax

Active Member
Thanks! :) I generally misted it once a day and left a small gap along the front of the tank to facilitate some evaporation, rather than letting it air out for any length of time. The air gap also helped control the cyanobacteria that popped up in a few spots.

It's filled now; we'll see what happens. :suspect: 
 
pbmax

pbmax

Active Member
So far so good - nearly 2 weeks and no wholesale disaster just yet. The tank insta-cycled, which I suppose is because bacteria had already built up in the water in the substrate over all the months it was "dry". It's gobbling up carbonate hardness like crazy, but given amazonia's ammonia production capabilities, this is expected. I've been adding Seachem Alkaline Buffer to keep the PH from crashing. I boosted the GH a little as well with some Seachem equilibrium - should be about 7 dGH right now. I added some floating plants when I filled it to take up any extra goodness that may be drifting around in the water since I have all root feeders in the tank.

I added a single female Malawa shrimp yesterday (canary) and so far she's doing just fine.

In a week or two I plan to buy some chocolate neocaridina to add to the tank. I've wanted these for quite a while now and it looks like I finally have somewhere to put them! :D
 
MorganEA

MorganEA

Member
I hope your crypt doesn't totally melt! I have some in my tank that are making a total mess, I hope I don't lose them.
 
pbmax

pbmax

Active Member
Heh, thanks, me too ;)

I have submersed crypts in at least 6 other tanks at the moment - most are doing pretty well, but they're melting a bit in one of my other tanks. The crypts in this tank will melt some, it's just a question of how much. Hopefully the root system is healthy enough to pull it through the melt fairly quickly. So far nothing catastrophic has happened.

Crypts melt for all sorts of reasons - nutrient imbalances, flourish excel, any change in water parameters or temperature, etc. How long have you had yours? They're especially prone to melt right after being added to a new tank.
 
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