# My 10gal



## Troy McClure

Thought I should finally post a picture of one of my tanks. I'm still waiting for the HC to fill in the front and the xmas moss to adjust to a co2 rich environment. I recently was able to lower my temp from 84 to 78 using a Vantech Stealth 92mm case fan. Evaporation is roughly 25 ounces a day, but that's a small price to pay for a decrease of six degrees!


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## molurus73

Looks very nice. What kind of lighting do you have on there?


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## Troy McClure

AHS 1x36 and 2x13, but I don't use the 2x13 anymore.


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## MatPat

Excellent tank Erik! 

Maybe you can give me a hand at the aquascaping part  
I have some Hedoytis sp 'Rio' that might do nicely in this size tank. It is much smaller and lighter than the E. diversifolia so that could be an issue.


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## Troy McClure

I'd have to see the plant first and decide if it would work in the 'scape. I'm really becoming attached to the Echhornia. It's the most perfect color of green, like right in the middle of the visible EM spectrum (has to do with the 528 Selfiggio frequencies and 518nm light wave.) Maybe when I finish my fall independent study I'll be able to explain it better. Yeah.... I'm really happy with the way this 'scape is turning out. I might post a picture of the tank from a month ago if you folks are interested.

And since nobody has noticed my -secret- just yet, maybe I'll hold off tell you all what it is until the meeting. 8) 

Dosing is simple, EI method, macros/iron/excel on T and S days, traces/excel on MWF, co2 ~30ppm, 50% WC on Sunday.


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## MatPat

I've always liked the color of Eichhornia. The deep green is cool. The growth rate just turns me off.

Didn't notice the secret, is it with the tank or personally?

Some pics of the tank a month ago would be cool. Would let everyone see what a month does to a tank. 

I asume this pic was take shortly before pruning...


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## Troy McClure

The secret is with the tank. I'd prefer to keep my personal secrets clandestine...deep, dark...terrible secrets.

Uh, anways... The picture was taken earlier today. Trimming was done yesterday after the water change, and a couple snips before the picture. I've been keepings a weekly journal of the tank, but it's turned out to be bi-weekly. I'll post a couple more tomorrow!


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## Troy McClure

LOL, yes this is the SAME TANK from exactly one month ago!


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## Rob Tetrazona

Cool ass tank, Dude! :supz: Looks like something from a fish magazine...or maybe a SWOAPE newsletter. Oops, might have opened up Pandora's Box. 

What's the plant in the front left of the old pic?

Seriously, that's a 10 gallon? It looks much better than my 1st 75 at it's best. I'm not in tune to the whole aquascaping scene yet. You are. Maybe I need to brush up on Takashi Amano or something.

I am taking notes....


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## EcleckticGirl

I am VERY interested in how you rigged the case fan to cool your tank. I have an old case sitting around and a tank that's been running in the mid 80's. Pulling the case fan out to cool my little 7 gallon tank would be awesome!


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## MatPat

rwoehr said:


> a SWOAPE newsletter. Oops, might have opened up Pandora's Box.


Sounds like a good idea! Maybe if we ever get a website going we can start working on a newsletter 



rwoehr said:


> What's the plant in the front left of the old pic?


I think that is Riccia fluitans.



rwoehr said:


> I am taking notes....


I'm with you on the note taking. I need all the help I can get when it comes to aquascaping.


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## Troy McClure

rwoehr said:


> Cool ass tank, Dude! :supz: Looks like something from a fish magazine...or maybe a SWOAPE newsletter. Oops, might have opened up Pandora's Box.


I'm glad you like it! Thanks!



rwoehr said:


> What's the plant in the front left of the old pic?


Riccia



rwoehr said:


> Seriously, that's a 10 gallon?


Seriously.



EcleckticGirl said:


> I am VERY interested in how you rigged the case fan to cool your tank. I have an old case sitting around and a tank that's been running in the mid 80's. Pulling the case fan out to cool my little 7 gallon tank would be awesome!


What temp is your 7gal running at? I seriously wouldn't use anything else than Vantec Steal case fans. I'm using a 92mm, but the 80mm would be fine for a 7gal. Anything else it too noisy for me, but YMMV. All I did was wire the case fan up to a RadioShack 12V adapter and prop the canopy up with the fan blowing across the water. I'll take a pic tomorrow for ya!


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## Rob Tetrazona

MatPat said:


> Sounds like a good idea! Maybe if we ever get a website going we can start working on a newsletter


Just to let you all know, between all of my tanks, girlfriend, and summertime activities, I don't have any time to put towards the website right now. Hopefully, my free time will start opening up in a few weeks. If somebody else wants to lead the technological researching side of things, please be my guest. Until then, I'll make a posting to the forum once I can become involved again. This doesn't mean that everbody can't keep brainstorming though.


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## aquaboy

Troy McClure said:


> And since nobody has noticed my -secret- just yet, maybe I'll hold off tell you all what it is until the meeting. 8)
> 
> Dosing is simple, EI method, macros/iron/excel on T and S days, traces/excel on MWF, co2 ~30ppm, 50% WC on Sunday.


Is it the Ecco?

-Brian


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## Troy McClure

I do use EC in my planted tanks, but that's not a secret...just a good substrate.


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## EcleckticGirl

Troy McClure said:


> What temp is your 7gal running at? I seriously wouldn't use anything else than Vantec Steal case fans. I'm using a 92mm, but the 80mm would be fine for a 7gal. Anything else it too noisy for me, but YMMV. All I did was wire the case fan up to a RadioShack 12V adapter and prop the canopy up with the fan blowing across the water. I'll take a pic tomorrow for ya!


Today it was only 80, I am sure with the rain it was cooler yesterday. Things seem to be fine for the guppies because they sure seem interested in courtship this evening.  I would still be interested in seeing the picture of the rig-up you did. I am not such a techie I know the pros and cons of why the Vantec Steal is so great, but I will take your word for it. Thanks for explaining about the 12 v. I had been wondering how once the fan was pulled from the case, where I would get the power.


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## MatPat

rwoehr said:


> Just to let you all know, between all of my tanks, girlfriend, and summertime activities, I don't have any time to put towards the website right now. Hopefully, my free time will start opening up in a few weeks. If somebody else wants to lead the technological researching side of things, please be my guest. Until then, I'll make a posting to the forum once I can become involved again. This doesn't mean that everbody can't keep brainstorming though.


I think we are probably still in the brainstorming mode right now anyway given the recent events 

I was just giving you a hard time on the website thing, we aren't in a rush. I think we all have enough on our plates for the time being!


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## Rob Tetrazona

MatPat said:


> I think we are probably still in the brainstorming mode right now anyway given the recent events
> 
> I was just giving you a hard time on the website thing, we aren't in a rush. I think we all have enough on our plates for the time being!


That's cool. I've just had a lot going on lately all around the board. I need a vacation! ](*,)


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## Troy McClure

Here's tonight's update!









I did a major hack job on the Eichhornia and Heteranthera. The HC is filling in slowly but surely. The combination of Elatine triandra, HC, and Hydrocotyle verticillata make for a great right side foreground. I also split the Limnophila aromatica so I can get some new growth from the bottom stems. The xmas moss is starting to show a lot of new growth now that the temps has dropped and stabilized at 78F. The R. macrandra is -still- taking it's time giving me good stems, but it's getting there!

A couple more:


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## MatPat

Looking good Erik! I do like the H. zosterifolia much better when it is kept lower. Looks like a nice bush in the latest pic. The E. diversifolia looks better when kept lower too.

Are you using a different color bulb now or is it the cam settings? The red seems to have disappeared from the L. aromatica and R. mac...


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## Troy McClure

MatPat said:


> Looking good Erik! I do like the H. zosterifolia much better when it is kept lower. Looks like a nice bush in the latest pic. The E. diversifolia looks better when kept lower too.
> 
> Are you using a different color bulb now or is it the cam settings? The red seems to have disappeared from the L. aromatica and R. mac...


Thanks Matt. It's the camera...I think. For some reason I just couldn't get the pictures to turn out the same. I also didn't spend as much time fiddling with the settings and photoshoping it.


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## EcleckticGirl

I really like your use of the pennywort in the 'scape. It's very nice contrast seeing those round leaves against all the spiky leaves.


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## Simpte 27

Alas, I have decided some people are not meant to aquascape (that would be me if you didn't figure that out).


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## MatPat

I think maybe we just need to work a bit harder at it Damon ](*,) 

Hopefully a few lessons from Erik and we will all be able to 'scape a bit better...


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## Troy McClure

It's all about trial and error, luck, patience, desperation, frustration, emulation...and maybe a few other things. I'm still tweaking.

This 'scape reminds me of a scene from the woods behind our house, down by the creek where a large old tree has fallen over and new growth has filled in around it. While it won't win any contests, I'm really happy with it and it's easy to maintain.


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## MatPat

I been through most of those except luck and emulation! Maybe those are the two that I am missing. 

I actually think my problem with 'scaping is that I want too many plants in the tank. I thnk I have actually come to accept that fact now and just try to enjoy the tanks the way they are. 

I would love to have a nicely scaped tank but I can't usually keep myself to just a few types of plants in one tank! That is the hardest part for me. It's not that I have collectoritis (anymore) just that there are too many things out there I like...or do I still have collectoritis???


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## Troy McClure

My diagnosis would be collectoritis...or is it prognosis? In any case, the number of different plants -can- have an effect. However, it's not like I've limited the number of plants here either - I counted 13 different plants! A lot of it has to do with how the each plant species is grouped together.


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## ranmasatome

well.. you're not alone Matt..lol..welcome to C.A. (collectoritis annonymous)
my name is Jus and i am a collector-holic. *clap* *clap* *clap*


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## Troy McClure

Long time since I last posted a picture. About an hour ago I got the itch to have an open foreground. So the HC and E. triandra came up along with a few B. japonica. It seems to darken the whole scene, which I like, but will also help to feature the xmas moss a bit more. There are a few algae issues that I'm currently addressing. I got lazy for a week or two, probably let the NO3 bottom out and now I've got that stringy algae all over the moss...


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## MatPat

Nice looking tank Erik! I think this is the best scape yet, but I like more reds in my tank than most!

Are there any fish in there or are they hiding from the re-scape?


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## Troy McClure

Just cherry shrimp and possibly one tiger shrimp.


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## EcleckticGirl

Troy McClure said:


> About an hour ago I got the itch to have an open foreground. So the HC and E. triandra came up along with a few B. japonica....


So, Erik... Any plans for that HC and Blyxa? (asks the woman with sparse HC patch and melted B. japonica.)

Ask Jack what nice presents I can leave in pm boxes... 

Oh, and about the scape...

I had to hunt to find the driftwood after comparing it to the August photo. Is the H. zosterifolia turning red? Is that the lighting/camera? Or did you change plants?

I do like the contrast of the bare dark foreground against all the green abundant growth. The rich reds are nice the way they are layered against each other in different textured leaf types as well as colors, almost like our autumn hills here in Ohio. As things have grown in, the money plant's round leaf contrast isn't such a striking thing anymore against the spikyness of the HZ and others like it had been.

But I do like the little bit of jungle you're playing with, Erik.


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## Troy McClure

Terribly sorry but I tossed out the HC. It had become heavily shaded and leggy...certainly not in the condition I would like it to be. Sorta like glosso when it doesn't get enough light. The b. japonica is floating in my 85gal until the meeting. If I can find some extra HC, I'll bring it to the meeting.

There isn't any H. zosterifolia in the tank. It grew too fast for me to keep up with. The back right is a. reineckii with Rotala sp. 'Vietnam' next to it. The back left corning is all Limnophila aromatica which needs a good height reduction.

I'm also thinking about removing the Xmas moss and replacing it with Taiwan moss.


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## EcleckticGirl

Troy McClure said:


> Terribly sorry but I tossed out the HC. It had become heavily shaded and leggy...certainly not in the condition I would like it to be. Sorta like glosso when it doesn't get enough light. The b. japonica is floating in my 85gal until the meeting. If I can find some extra HC, I'll bring it to the meeting.


I'd appreciate whatever you can spare. Thank you.



> There isn't any H. zosterifolia in the tank. It grew too fast for me to keep up with. The back right is a. reineckii with Rotala sp. 'Vietnam' next to it. The back left corning is all Limnophila aromatica which needs a good height reduction.


That definitely explains the differences. I _did _recognize the A. reineckii and some areas of the L. aromatica, but not all of that on the left. I definitely didn't know the Rotala. Although I miss the high contrast of the round leaf of the money plant against the other leaf forms from the previous scape, it could also just be the growth of the plant right now.



> I'm also thinking about removing the Xmas moss and replacing it with Taiwan moss.


I am not so familiar with the different habits of those two mosses. Is the Taiwan less erect, more creeping than the Xmas? I do know that they both aren't as "stringy" in their growth habit as the Java type.


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## Troy McClure

The two look very similar, but Xmas moss seems to be very temperature sensative. Over 80* and it starts to brown out and die. Taiwan doesn't seem to care.


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