# "Cherry Tree" 10 Gallon Planted



## Wood (Jul 27, 2006)

*10 Gallon Planted "Cherry Tree" Journal*

*Here is my 10 gallon planted tank. New pictures taken with Digital. No More camera phone pics!!!

All plants added over month ago, recently trimmed. I figured I would start this journal now since it is not grown out much.*

Inhabitants are 3 Otto's & 20+ Cherry Shrimp.

ADA Aquasoil Amazonia & ADA Bright Sand. One piece of driftwood.

I dose KH2PO4, Flourish Iron and Kent Pro-Plant. DIY C02 with Hagen Ladder. PH 6.5

6500K 14 hours a day. Keeps plants small.​
Plants are as follows:

1. Ammannia gracilis
2. Rotala sp. green
3. Rotala rotundifolia
4. Limnophila aromatica
5. Ludwigia glandulosa
6. Anubias barteri var. nana
7. Hemianthus callitrichoides
8. Rotala wallichii
9. Hemianthus micranthemoides










*Front View*​









*Front Right Side​*









*Front Left Side​*









*Overhead Left Side​*









*Overhead Right Side​*









*Left Side​*









*Lazy Otto​*









*Asian Filter Shrimp (looking overhead)​*









Hope you like it.

-Ryan


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## youjin (Apr 1, 2006)

looking good....

I am surprised that you keep the light on 14 hours a day. No algae issue with so long a light duration (>12 hours) ?


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## Wood (Jul 27, 2006)

youjin said:


> looking good....
> 
> I am surprised that you keep the light on 14 hours a day. No algae issue with so long a light duration (>12 hours) ?


Nope, no algae problems. There is plenty of CO2 being injected as well as more than enough phosphate being fertilized. The HM and the Rotala's grow so fast that the nutrients just get sucked up like a vacuum. Plus 3 Otto's and cherry shrimp help as well.

I do not dose excel. I feel that if you have enough plants, CO2, and nutrients for the plants then the algae can be controlled very easily by tank inhabitants. I even have to feed my Otto's algae wafers so that they don't starve.

-Ryan


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## eklikewhoa (Jul 24, 2006)

nice layout!


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## pyramid (Jun 19, 2006)

I like the way of your tree growing too much! 
The Asian Filter Shrimp is the shrimp i like best...
I saw some Asian Filter Shrimp in Hanoi a few months ago, but the color of them is...green. Very nice.


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## Wood (Jul 27, 2006)

I did some rescaping of the tank. I moved the Ammannia Gracilis to where the Ludwigia glandulosa initially was and traded the glandulosa for some Red Cherry Shrimp. The gladulosa was just too big for my 10 gallon, didn't really fit IMO.

I also took some suggestions and trimmed the HM in a slope to create some perspective. It is kind of hard to see because I recently trimmed it.

I am going to now let the tank start to grow a lot, let it fill in. I have finished scaping it for the time being. I will post updated pictures of the gradual growth.

Take a look at the pics and let me know what you think.

*Front*​









*Front Left*​









*Front Right*​









*Limnophila aromatica*​









*Ammannia gracilis*​









*New Cherry Shrimp added 10 minutes before pic.*​









*Asian Filter Shrimp feeding using its filter fans*​


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## Blue_Dolphinvn (Nov 12, 2006)

The filter shrimp look great!
But I think that your fast growing plants are not suitable for shrimps tank, they need CO2 injected that could harm the baby shrimps if you want to make them breed...you should replace by low growing plant like java moss, anubias, fern, cryps....
cheers,


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## fish newb (May 10, 2006)

Nice to see the tank you've been talking about for a while!

CO2 is fine with shrimp don't worry.

-Andrew


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## GlitcH (Aug 21, 2006)

Very nice Ryan........lookin forward to updates.


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## uttoshii (Sep 13, 2006)

nice tank ,haw many watts do you have there?must be quite a lot to get the sp green to crawl on the floor!or is it because of the 14Hours a day?!?


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## Wood (Jul 27, 2006)

40watts total. 6500k 14hrs a day. I expect to have an issue with the Rotala sp. green to crawl along the floor, it is actually known to do that anyway regardless of total light wattage. the Rotala rotundifolia will also crawl along the surface unless it is packed in very tight bunches, then most stems will compete for the light by going straight up. If you give them any gaps they will fill with horizontal growth.


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## Wood (Jul 27, 2006)

*UPDATE 1/16/07*

I just let the tank grow some more. you can see how the Rotala rotundifolia is starting to appear creating a "mid-contrast" between the Rotala sp. green and the Limnophila aromatica & Ammannia gracilis. The Rotala walichii has also starting coloring very nicely.

Front









Left side shows Rotala rotundifolia poking out









Grazing Cherries









Rotala walichii









Rotala walichii


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## John N. (Dec 11, 2005)

That's one of the reddest Rotala walichii I've seen! Very nice plant growth and layout.

-John N.


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## excaliborg (Sep 18, 2006)

filling out very nicely!


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## Wood (Jul 27, 2006)

Took a new pic tonight. Finally managed to get the "glare" down. Those are cherries eating in the sand flat.



















*Plants are as follows as of 1.22.07*

1. Ammannia gracilis
2. Rotala sp. green
3. Rotala rotundifolia
4. Limnophila aromatica
5. Anubias barteri var. nana
6. Hemianthus callitrichoides
7. Rotala wallichii
8. Hemianthus micranthemoides


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## ed seeley (Dec 1, 2006)

That's looking awesome! Really love that Rotala spilling over the wood, looks superb. Well done!


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## GlitcH (Aug 21, 2006)

Lookin good Ryan!


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## lljdma06 (Sep 11, 2005)

This tank is arguably one of the prettiest tanks I've seen here in a while. I really enjoy your use of color and your manipulation of stemplants. I'm pretty big about color too. I like the contrast between the wallichii and the HM, but a close second is the Rotala sp green. I love how it's spilling over the wood. I have standard Rotala rotundifolia in my 8g and it creates a similar effect, but the tips have blushed a pale pink. I'm hoping your wallichii will eventually shade your anubias, as those are the only plants in your tank that don't look absolutely bursting with vigor. But anubias under direct bright light often have problems with algae clogging the leaves and issues with burning, and you have quite a bit of light. But hopefully your beautiful wallichii will help with that.

Can't wait to see what else you do with this tank. About how old is this? Sorry, I don't feel like searching through the whole tread again.

llj


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## morta_skuld (Sep 20, 2006)

man the aromatica is really red! very nice!


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## aquariageek (May 27, 2006)

lljdma06 said:


> This tank is arguably one of the prettiest tanks I've seen here in a while.


Especially for a 10 gallon... I'm not trying too "pile it on" or anything, but your tank is awesome. I've been fooling around with a 10 gallon and yours puts them all to shame... rayer:


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## Wood (Jul 27, 2006)

I took some more pics today. Tinkered with the frame and decided to add the names as well. I love taking pictures of my tanks, plants, and inhabitants. I will get a much better camera some day, these pictures arent really good quality.


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## bioch (Apr 8, 2006)

OMG! It's so pretty. I want a 10 gallon, easy to maintain and light source is also easy to get. That would equal less money.


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## GlitcH (Aug 21, 2006)

I love closeups......looks awesome Ryan.


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## Jubs (Mar 24, 2006)

Wow is all I can say honestly, this has to be the best 10g I have ever seen the field of depth makes it seem so much bigger! Great layout and choices of plants. 

If you don't mind me asking what messurement of dosing are you doing? What kind of water changes are doing weekly?


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## Wood (Jul 27, 2006)

Thanks a lot guys, there has been a lot of time invested in this tank and I am very happy with it. I cannot wait to get my 55 or 29 up and running soon.

I am dosing KH2PO4 1/4 tsp, 1/4 tsp Flourish Iron, 1/4 tsp Kent Pro Plant, each 3 times a week. 30% water change every week. I do not dose KNO3 at all, nor plantex because of the shrimp. Personally I feel that KNO3 is only necessary for larger tanks with less bioload. In this 10 gallon with 2 ottos and a bunch of shrimp, both which poop a lot, the bioload is much greater in proportion than a 55 gallon with 10 ottos and a bunch of shrimp. So the nitrate is there. Tom Barr told me that overdosing KH2PO4 as well as other ferts including Iron shouldnt hurt the shrimp, and he is right because they are breeding. My point of attack is overdosing the tank with KH2PO4 and Iron in order to really bring out the red... Some wouldnt recommend this though for the RCS but it is a risk I take.

Feel free to ask anymore questions...


-Ryan


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## epicfish (Sep 11, 2006)

What's your hardscape look like to get it to look like that?

I like how the rotala sp. green looks like it's "weeping" over the side...so I was wondering what the hardscape was. =)


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## morta_skuld (Sep 20, 2006)

Wood said:


> Thanks a lot guys, there has been a lot of time invested in this tank and I am very happy with it. I cannot wait to get my 55 or 29 up and running soon.
> 
> I am dosing KH2PO4 1/4 tsp, 1/4 tsp Flourish Iron, 1/4 tsp Kent Pro Plant, each 3 times a week. 30% water change every week. I do not dose KNO3 at all, nor plantex because of the shrimp. Personally I feel that KNO3 is only necessary for larger tanks with less bioload. In this 10 gallon with 2 ottos and a bunch of shrimp, both which poop a lot, the bioload is much greater in proportion than a 55 gallon with 10 ottos and a bunch of shrimp. So the nitrate is there. Tom Barr told me that overdosing KH2PO4 as well as other ferts including Iron shouldnt hurt the shrimp, and he is right because they are breeding. My point of attack is overdosing the tank with KH2PO4 and Iron in order to really bring out the red... Some wouldnt recommend this though for the RCS but it is a risk I take.
> 
> ...


do you dose all the ferts at the same time or you alternate the dosing?


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## Wood (Jul 27, 2006)

morta_skuld said:


> do you dose all the ferts at the same time or you alternate the dosing?


I dose them mostly at the same time. Some say that it is good to dose your macros separate, which would be my Kent and Iron, but I don't see any difference. Sometimes though I will dose seperately, the next day, just to see if any difference, but I don't notice anything..

-Ryan


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## MrSanders (Mar 5, 2006)

> I am dosing KH2PO4 1/4 tsp, 1/4 tsp Flourish Iron, 1/4 tsp Kent Pro Plant, each 3 times a week. 30% water change every week.


 Did I read that right? and was it posted right?

Please correct me if i'm wrong, but that would appear that your doseing nearly 75ppm P per week correct?

Wow!.... if that is right its pretty wild. I've never heard of anyone going that hog wild with it, but apreantly it is working VERY well because your plants look pretty darn healthy to me, and they have STUNNING color

Lets hear some more about this


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## Anti-Pjerrot (Mar 12, 2006)

Like he said - more phosphate brings out the red


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## Wood (Jul 27, 2006)

MrSanders said:


> Did I read that right? and was it posted right?
> 
> Please correct me if i'm wrong, but that would appear that your doseing nearly 75ppm P per week correct?
> 
> ...


Yes you read it right. There are a lot of plants in there, it is very densely planted, and with the CO2 as well as very high light the plants are really soaking up the nutrients. I have been dosing like this for a long time and the RCS as well as otto's aren't having any problems. I am almost positive though that if I dosed any nitrate, let alone lots of nitrate, that the inhabitants would be having trouble.

The thing is that dosing is different for every tank. If someone has a moderately planted tank then they do not need to dose that much of any fert. I do not recommend that anyone reading this thread start dumping lots of phosphate in there tank just to get good color. Every tank is different.

Also remember that with so much plant mass in my tank, combined with very low volume of water, that means the plants are heavily competing with each other for the nutrients in the water column. I over supply that way I ensure that every plant is getting enough.

It has taken me a while to figure this whole planted thing out, and I am still learning a lot thanks to the forums.

-Ryan


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## MrSanders (Mar 5, 2006)

wow thats crazy! Have you ever tested you water with good quality test kits to see what level of P you end up with at the end of a week before a WC? Seems like there would be NO way (huge plant mass or not) that a tank could possibly go through 75ppm P in a week, espically when there is no nitrate being added from outside sources.

Please don't take it as me knocking your methods, or saying that it can't be so. What do I know? not much trust me.... I just find it extremely intresting and am dieing to know more as to how you got to such an extreme number.....

What happens if you dose half that much? do you clearly see deficiency symptoms showing?


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## Wood (Jul 27, 2006)

Recently trimmed the tank. The Limnophila is still there, just hidden behind the rotala's. Trimmed the HM to get a "slope" look. Also trimmed the Wallichii to spread it around some.


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## whitetiger61 (Aug 12, 2006)

I actually think Wood is on to something with his fert schedule..i have a very densely planted 10 gal and i dose basically the same thing.only about 1/2 that much..im going to try and up the doseage and see if i get more vibrant colors..i can always back it back down if i need too.

Wood...very nice tank..


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## myjohnson (Jan 16, 2007)

wood, 
Really love your 10g man....keep up the good work. I myself has a 10g and i'm thinking about upgrading my light. Which light kit are you using to get 40w? I wanted to find someway to get 40w over my 10g, but i cant find one light kit that was that rating. How much of a difference would there be if you used 36w? Do you think 2x36w is overkill?

Also, what filter do you have on your tank? Water looks clear and clean!!!


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## eklikewhoa (Jul 24, 2006)

Wood, your gracilis and aromatica has some awesome colors on them! I just started my tank and things are starting to fill in but nothing like the colors you have! 

I'm gonna give dosing a bit more of P a try to see how it goes.


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## papillon (Jul 12, 2006)

wood, what your secret in keeping that red color of your aromatica


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## eklikewhoa (Jul 24, 2006)

papillon said:


> wood, what your secret in keeping that red color of your aromatica


or getting red on them!


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## nswhite (Aug 25, 2006)

Wow your tank is amazing. You said earlier in your post that you dont dose plantex because of you cherry shrimp I was just wondering why?


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## eklikewhoa (Jul 24, 2006)

nswhite said:


> Wow your tank is amazing. You said earlier in your post that you dont dose plantex because of you cherry shrimp I was just wondering why?


copper is harmful to inverts


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## nswhite (Aug 25, 2006)

What do you use than?


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## Wood (Jul 27, 2006)

Thanks a lot guys. I really appreciate the comments. Please offer any aquascaping suggestions you have. Be prepared in the coming weeks to see much better quality pictures  A buddy of mine is a professional photographer and has the ultimate digital setup. Just think of the best equipment that you can get for digital photography and he has it. I am very excited. Don't be surprised if you see the eyes of the unborn shrimps in the eggs, or the tiniest shrimplet's feeders. Hehe, you will see 

Iron is the key to get the vibrant red. Phosphate does help, but iron definitely gives that extra deep red coloration. Roy Deki gave me that advice a while back, to add iron, and I have to thank him a ton for that! I simply got a bottle of Flourish Iron from the LFS and started dosing 1/4 tbsp every other day. This may sound like a lot of dosing, coupled with all the other ferts that I dose a ton of, but trust me it isn't. My plants grow extremely fast, and they soak up a ton of nutrients from the water. My Otto's and Cherry Shrimp are in great health, I have been watching them like a hawk ever since I started dosing a ton of ferts. There are cherry babies all over the place now, I will have to start trading them into my LFS soon, they give $1 store credit per shrimp thankfully. I will need equipment very soon to get my 55 up and running . I have very very big plans for the 55, I am going to do some cool stuff with it.

I *do not* recommend dosing heavily like I do for tanks that do not have fast growing plants. See people always use the term "overdosing" which really should only be used when someone is dosing more than their plant uptakes, and not based on their tank size. You can have a 55 gallon and a 100 gallon use the exact same nutrients depending all upon the fauna. That is why they have the fert calculator on here. You can actually figure out exactly what your plants are consuming based on a series of tests compared to the amount you are dosing. Some people would probably be surprised to find out what their plants consumption level is. I don't have a test kit and I am too busy to try to figure out what they are consuming... That is where EI comes in  EI is exactly what it says, estimative.

For those of you that were asking about lighting and such, please note that you do not have to go out and purchase an expensive light setup for a 10 gallon that already have a screw-in hood. CF screw-in bulbs are just fine for this application. I have been using them for a long time.

6500K 2 x 20 watts screw in CF. 14 hours a day. Keeps plants small.


I am using the incandescent hood that came with the tank, the outside of the tank looks like crap, that is why it is in my room, not on display. It is sitting on an ugly end table with tubes coming out of it. That is why I only like to show the inside









Go to Walmart and look in the light bulb section. There will be a ton of Compact Fluorescent bulbs there. Get the GE 6500K CF Screw-In 20W (it may be a little less watts I don't remember, too lazy to look under the hood







maybe 19 or 18w). I bought the 2 pack which was like $8.

The hood will not melt, dont worry about it. I did however put aluminum foil around the inside of the hood as a sort of ghetto reflector. I think it may also help with the heat because evaporation is very minimal. I have been using screw-in CF on this tank for a long time now, dont worry about moisture or humidity at all.

*Filtration is an AquaClear 50 which is an excellent HOB filter. Inside of it is 1 foam pad, 1 Purigen bag, & 1 Matrix bag

*I am a HUGE/GIGANTIC/ENORMOUS fan of the AquaClear HOB filters for small tank applications. These filters are very inexpensive and give you an wide range of options. You can put any type of media you want in these filters, which is awesome. If you want to get clear water with great biological filtration, get the AC HOB and throw a bag of matrix, purigen, and a foam pad (that comes with the filter), into the media box and watch your tank improve dramatically.


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## eklikewhoa (Jul 24, 2006)

Thanks for the reply Wood!!! 

Makes me want to go buy a 10g after seeing yours!


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## Wood (Jul 27, 2006)

I let it grow out some. Looks the same. I like having the Rotala Wallichii growing along the surface. Enjoy


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## GlitcH (Aug 21, 2006)

Hey Ryan,

Looks very healthy but it seems your reds have faded.....have you stopped dosing iron?


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## Wood (Jul 27, 2006)

GlitcH said:


> Hey Ryan,
> 
> Looks very healthy but it seems your reds have faded.....have you stopped dosing iron?


No. It is the camera settings that I used, didn't filter out the bright light of the aquarium. When the light overtakes the colors it looks awful. I need to take new pics I just realized.

-Ryan


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## Steven_Chong (Mar 17, 2005)

It's getting too fuzzy now IMO, time to get the scizzors


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## Wood (Jul 27, 2006)

Steven_Chong said:


> It's getting too fuzzy now IMO, time to get the scizzors


I completely agree. I am letting it grow out a whole lot first. I have the scape that I desire, just want it to fill it in more before I trim and shape.


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## Wood (Jul 27, 2006)

I trimmed it a bunch... Let me know if you have any ideas as for the aquascaping. I am still getting the camera skills down, DSLR cameras are complicated as hell....

Later,

Ryan


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## elliott89 (Jan 21, 2007)

Without a doubt one of the best ''dutch'' Style nano tanks there is..absolutley
awesome


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## eklikewhoa (Jul 24, 2006)

Looking really good!


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## Wood (Jul 27, 2006)

OK here are some update pictures. I am still learning how to use this DSLR camera, but I think these are some of the better tank pictures I have taken with it so far. After the trimming the plants are starting to regrow and I really like how the scape is starting to look. Unfortunately they are growing so fast that it is difficult to maintain the scape due to the small tank size. Also, I need to start dosing even more! These plants are soaking up the nutrients like crazy. Anyhow, enjoy.

-Ryan

*Front*









*Side Angle*









*Lonely Shrimp foraging in the HM*









*Tried a little artsy photo*


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## B.A.T. (Dec 10, 2006)

looks great, lots of detail and creativity for a 10 gallon


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## tefsom85 (Jan 27, 2007)

Ryan.. what an awesome tank. Thanks for sharing it with us!!


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## Leonard (Mar 4, 2007)

Looks extremly nice!!!! 
Seems to move on good with your ferts =) I don't get any good colour of my wallichii and acurata. Maybee I'll try to rise my dose of KH2PO4 and micro ferts. I also goes on EI =)


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## pepperonihead (Nov 25, 2004)

*I absolutely agree with you not dosing nitrates*

That is the reason why your Lymnophila Aromatica is some of the most beautiful I've ever seen! I stopped dosing nitrates because I felt my bio load was giving me plenty of nitrates and as soon as I did my L.Aromatica started to look like your does!


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## foofooree (Mar 11, 2007)

update?


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## rountreesj (Aug 14, 2007)

looks much larger than a ten gallon! very well executed if say so myself


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