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20l - Forgotten Ancient

Raptorendame

Member
Joined
12 Nov 2016
Messages
45
Location
Germany
Hello Everyone!

I am pretty new to aquascaping at all, but have been thinking about getting something done in this direction for quite a while.

I have a 60l reef tank which is to be upgraded to an 120l sometime next year.
To pass time (hah .. I got a 10% discount, which was my excuse to my significant other ;) ) I got a 20l Dennerle Cube which will be my first freshwater tank. There are a few ideas for tanks which I've been thinking about for a few months now.

I would love a gourami biotope tank, but 20l is not nearly enough for that (I'll also have a 60l tank at hand once I've upgraded *coughs* don't tell my husband *coughs*)
I'd also love a betta, but frankly - I'd not be able to contain myself and try to breed, so nope.
I do have a soft spot for invertebrates - fresh water shrimp!

Cleaned up shelf space today to make room for the new tank.

So, now why is this thread called Forgotten Ancient?

A shop had a piece of Moorkien that's shaped like a six footed huge animal and it sparked the idea to go for something that looks like some strange animal? It'll arrive net week and I'm looking forward to doing the hardscape. As soon as it arrives, I'll get you some pictures of course :)

And now off, getting some more inspirations from here ;)

Kind Regards

Raptorendame
 
I am so sorry it took me so long posting here again - I did not forget you, I just got swept up in work as it tends to happen ..

I also started selling of my saltwater stuff (I will move to a freshwater tank with my 60l) and that's keeping me quite busy.

After some try and error, I went for this. The filter was bigger then I thought .. or 20l a lot smaller then I expected.. well.
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I went on with planting. I got the following plants:
Weeping moss for the branches
Eleocharis acicularis
Hygrophila pinnatifida ( I think..)

Hygrophila 'Siamensis 53B'

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Hmmm. Tasty. In Vitro Gel!

I underestimated the floating power of wood, though ..

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And that's it after a bit more then two weeks. I think I can take down the stone tomorrow ...

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Sorry for the whole mirroring .. I'll try again tomorrow!
 
Got my Shrimps today and two snails also. I also got some dried walnut leaves. Did a water change prior to putting those guys into the water. I am also thinking about buying something for CO2... hmm.. will keep you updated on this.

Some pictures! :D

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All Handy quality, I'm sorry :( Hope you like it anyway.
 
Nice pics :) do you have any full tank shots from distance? :)
 
As promised, a full tank shot.

I lost one shrimp last night, but otherwise everything is zooming happily along. I think the plants I planted between the stones are not really attaching .. will see what will remain. Hmpf. Still thinking about Co2.

Looking at it now I should remove those plant-bits-and-pieces floating around xD' I am very sorry.

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I would be a bit careful with the wood - I did that (not soaking completely) and I destroyed my crystal red shrimp colony because of the fungus the wood was creating and the release of whatever was in the wood as it got waterlogged =(... Not sure about neocaridina but just something you may want to look out for. If all the shrimp are suddenly trying to escape swimming all over without stopping to forage or whatnot, then I would look into taking the piece out and soaking it separately. If you have time - I would also take the bunches of DHG and plant separately - I did what you did before and a lot of it ended up melting and then the whole piece kinda floated up. Also, if you add CO2 your nerites won't appreciate that and may try to escape (happened to me in all my tanks with nerites + co2).
 
Liking that piece of wood, can picture it grown in surrounded by the hair grass. Have considered liquid carbon instead of CO2 gas? I've had decent success with it in the past especially with nanos

Never read about liquid carbon, to be honest. Will have to do some research on that, thank you :)

I would be a bit careful with the wood - I did that (not soaking completely) and I destroyed my crystal red shrimp colony because of the fungus the wood was creating and the release of whatever was in the wood as it got waterlogged =(... Not sure about neocaridina but just something you may want to look out for. If all the shrimp are suddenly trying to escape swimming all over without stopping to forage or whatnot, then I would look into taking the piece out and soaking it separately. If you have time - I would also take the bunches of DHG and plant separately - I did what you did before and a lot of it ended up melting and then the whole piece kinda floated up. Also, if you add CO2 your nerites won't appreciate that and may try to escape (happened to me in all my tanks with nerites + co2).

Thanks for the input! So far everything seems to be doing okay, but I'll def keep an eye on it. I lost one shrimp on the first day, but none after that. The wood is nearly completely soaked though - when I took the stone away two days ago it just twitched a bit, but I decided to keep the stone on it for a bit longer, just to be sure.

DHG is least of my problems right now :/ the Hygrophila pinnatifida seems to be melting away, I will have to replant that one ...

Didn't know that about the nerites! Do you know anything about liquid carbon and nerites?
 
The space between the two rocks right hand side some other small carpet plant would look good growing slightly higher as the hairgrass grows in. Looks really good
 
Waterchange day, also took some photos - plants are growing, as far as I can tell. Shrimps are happy. So I am happy. Tried to fish out as much not-attached plant as possible. I have three pieces of frogbite in there.

Have been talking to a aquarium craftsperson who will prob be making the 120l tank for me - but that's stuff for another thread :)

I am looking at some more plants for the right side of the tank, it could use some more green :D

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Great start. Small dosing of liquid carbon will help things grow in nice and cleanly.
Keep on top of your water changing and keep everything consistent :)
 
Great start. Small dosing of liquid carbon will help things grow in nice and cleanly.
Keep on top of your water changing and keep everything consistent :)

Thank you! Can you recommend a brand of liquid carbon? I read up on it and it mostly seems to be based on Glutaraldehyde, I am not sure how safe this is for my shrimps?
 
Good morning!

It's the day of christmas eve and here in germany we start celebrations this evening, but I wanted to show you a new tank update :D

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As of today I am now dosing:
Daily fertilizer by Dennerle (2 drops)
Weekly Easy Life Profito (2ml)
EasyCarbo (daily, 8 drops)
Dennerle CrustaFit (I forgot)
About 20% water change every week

I am very happy. The background plants are ever growing, the middle plants are growing very VERY nicely (we did have a rough start) and the carpet plant, which according to the lady at the store shouldn't grow at all, is doing very nicely too :) At least for me, the beginner.
 
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