Long overdue update

Since the last time I posted on my blog a lot has changed. I went to CalPoly SLO for one quarter to take some engineering classes and I brought my tank with me! I apologize for not posting any photos of it sooner!

I also went on a month long eurotrip to visit some friends and travel. I met some penpals, met up with some friends from Plattsburgh, and some old friends I made a while back in my first trip to England. It was super exciting... HOWEVER.... because I could not find a babysitter for my plants, there was significant damage to the plants. Very sad for me... I had to toss out half of the plants and try to recoup what was left. I ended up being able to restore about 5 anubias plants (both nano and bateri), some java moss, and a bit of microsword.

I had to take down the wooden light frame I made earlier in the year because it was difficult to transport without having to take it apart, so I decided to fashion up another frame using some pieces of k'nex. Playing with the k'nex brought alot of good childhood memories... I do not have a picture of the tank from the front, but here is a photo of what I call "ghetto engineering."

I am back from attending my classes and am making a move back out to New York so I cannot take my tank with me. Instead, I have given my sister my plants and my hardscape, and put it in her 10 gallon goldfish tank. Happy goldfish likes to hide and swim around in the plants :). My tank will be put in storage for a while and hopefully I can take it out with me to New York once I settle in out there. Goodbye temporarily my beautiful 7.5 gallon Bowfront!!! I will miss you dearly. 

My Ever Changing Life....

I was getting bored of the layout of my tank so I decided to give it a little white sand to brighten it up. I also purchased some lava rock to give a little more dimension. Perhaps having 2 large hardscape pieces might be a bit much, but it has grown on me.

I made this change about 2 weeks ago and have not had a chance to post it on my neglected blog. The past couple of months have been hectic. This includes a bridal shower, Easter, a wedding, several birthdays, and too much overtime at work.

I made the big decision to study Civil/Environmental Engineering at CalPoly San Luis Obispo starting Fall 2014. As a bonus to this great news, I can take my tank with me! I was granted housing on the On Campus Apartments. After carefully reading the terms and conditions, it states that "Licensees shall not bring or keep any animal in or around University Housing other than fish in aquariums." :) They don't say anything about shrimp.

But I can always get a fish if someone complains. But who would complain when they see THIS BEAUTY:

One other big event coming up in my life is a month long trip to Europe! I'm very excited for that. My tank will have to fend for itself for a month because I don't trust anyone in my family to take care of it. I think it should be ok, but before I leave for my trip, I will have to relocate the entire tank... somewhere in the house, so that my sister and her husband can start preparing the room for their new little human. All will be well! I will try to post more soon. 

Ditch the moss!

So I decided to ditch the moss, because I did not buy enough to make a good mat, and it grows very slowly. It did start to grow a bit, but with recent acceptance letters from graduate schools, I am now on a time limit on how much longer I will have my tank! Maybe, if the school I choose is close enough, I may be able to keep my tank. If not, one lucky person gets to have my tank.

I still want to create a carpet of some sort, but didn't want to try another moss because I wanted a lighter green carpet cover to contrast with the darker leaves of the anubias. I decided to pick hemianthus callitrichoides (HC) also known as dwarf baby tears. I have never used HC before so I hope that it will do well in the tank. I will post a plant profile about it in a week or two so that I can give a better review of the plant.




I also purchased this plant:


I'm not 100% sure what it is, but if I were to guess it is a ludwigia repens also known as creeping primrose. I thought the red color would give more life to the tank, and add more coverage as well. The shrimp are enjoying the new plants!

Aquarium Products: Flourish Excel by Seachem

At the beginning of this month I noticed a sudden explosion in the amount of hair algae in my tank and decided to do a little search on the plantedtank forums to see how people were getting rid of their hair algae issues. Many people were doing peroxide dips which requires you to mix a small amount of peroxide and water and dipping the affected plants. This seemed dangerous to the plant and it also would be inconvenient because my plants are placed strategically on the manzanita wood.

The other solutions to the problem was to: 

1) increase the amount of carbon in the tank 

2) do more frequent minor water changes

3) raise your lighting 

At first I started with increasing the carbon amount by using Flourish Excel by Seachem ($9 on amazon.com). I've been using this product for about a week now and noticed the first signs of it working within the first day. The hair algae began to change to a bright orange color and did not spread as quickly as it had before. Much of the algae began to shrink back and become lighter and weaker. 

The extra liquid carbon did not do any harm to my plants at all! Infact it has improved the growth in my plants. I was afraid that the moss would not do well with the added carbon, but there is an obvious difference between the dying hair algae and the growing moss. 

I started the use of the liquid carbon, by doing a major water change, then shocking the tank with a 2x higher concentration of the flourish excel carbon than recommended, then for every day after I added the recommended dose. 

I also started to do the minor water changes more often, and raised my lights from the tank as seen in my previous post. :) Really love the addition of flourish excel in my tank. I highly recommend it! 

P.S. In case you are wondering, the shrimp don't seem to have any negative effects from it either. 

DIY Project: Light Stand

Ever since the first week I bought my LED lights I've been complaining about how low to the tank the lights were.

Since I mainly have plants that do not require much light to grow, I've been OK leaving the tank lights on the lower setting. However, it's pretty annoying to know that I have a light with a high and low setting, but I can't use the high setting because it is too close to the water! With the lights close to the tank, it produces more heat and the brightness can also harm the leaves of the plants as well.



Challenges:
1) Try not to put holes in the wall. 
This is especially important since I do not own the house I'm living in. 
2) Don't cover the rim of the tank.
What's the point of a rimless tank, if you're gonna put a rim on it? 
3) Try not to make it ugly.
4) Make it simple.
Let's face it, I'm not the best at DIY, I didn't grow up learning to be a master craftsman, so let's not complicate things.
5) Keep the budget low.
I don't make enough money to make it expensive. If I did, I wouldn't be doing a DIY project, I'd just have someone else make it!

With all of these things in mind, I finally figured out what I could do to make my light stand. I went to HomeDepot and walked around the store about 50 times to get some inspiration from the materials they had. The employees looked at me like I was crazy (especially since I was wearing a dress and opened toed sandals). I walked into the lumber section and noticed the scrap wood section. I grabbed 4 pieces of 1ftx.75inx.75in pieces and had 2 pieces of 3ftx.75inx.75in cut in half for me. The total cost was about 5 dollars (that's goal number 5 settled). I also purchased some nails and a couple of corner braces (All together the cost was under $10).


At home I sketched up a little idea that looked something like this: (goals # 1,2, and 4 settled)

Then I started hammering away!

The end product looks like this:

The thin pieces of light colored wood makes it pleasing to look at, but it also does not take away from what's really important, which is the tank itself! (I think I settled goal #3 here). I'm so happy that I can finally turn on my light at full blast without having to worry about it heating up the water or burning the leaves. Hopefully this added light will make my plants grow like mad!

Plant Profile: Fissidens Fontanus

Why I love this plant: this moss has a delicate look to it with a nice light green coloration and clings to wood and stones naturally.

Fissidens Fontanus is also known as Pheonix Moss. Although it is on the pricey side, growing a nice thick carpet of it will give the tank a nice full leafy green look to it. I purchased my moss off of ebay from some sellers in Singapore. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fissidens-fontanus-Live-Aquarium-Plant-Fish-Moss-Tank-/260713686058 I wish I had purchased more, however, it's a pretty expensive and hard to come across! It took me a long time to find this moss. I wanted to buy it from a seller in the US, but it never seems to be in stock. If anyone knows where I can get more fissidens, I would love to know!

Fissidens Fontanus grows quite slowly for a moss, but it is often used to make a carpet or to cover driftwood. The shrimp love the moss and enjoy grazing through them. It originates from the US and is easy to care for. Once it takes root, it does not need much maintenance. It does not require extra CO2 and only needs low light to thrive.

I have attempted to try and grow a moss mat, but I don't think i purchased enough to start one. Also, I left the moss in a cup to the side of the tank for a little too long, and lost quite a significant amount from my original purchase. The moss that I have put into the tank is starting to grow, so perhaps it will start to really take root in another month or so.

I followed this technique to make the carpet square: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMJzW7-iI08

What do you feed your shrimp?

It's always a great feeling when someone asks me: "What do you feed your shrimp?" and I reply with a simple: "I don't." The confusion and shock on their face makes me happy inside.

Part of what I wanted my tank to be was self sustaining. The substrate and light provides the plants with nutrients and energy to grow, and the shrimp live off of the algae that's bound to grow on the plants! Of course... in a closed environment like the tank, I do have to add some extra nutrients for the plants, but I add it to the water I use for water changes.

It is important, that even if you only have shrimp and plants, that you do regular water changes. A closed system will not be able to have pollutants wash downstream or be diluted by new water, unless more water is added!


However, if your substrate and filter are able to house enough good bacteria, the effects of nutrient pollution may lessen. I can sit here watching my shrimp and plants all day!