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Hey Everyone,


My mom has been wanting a tank for the kitchen so we just got a Eclipse 5 gal Corner model. It fits perfectly in a corner of the kitchen and with the bow to the front makes it look quite a bit bigger than it actually is. I'm going to be planting this tank and (obviously) want it to look as best as possible, so if you could give some pointers or help me with some things I might have overlooked it would be appreciated.

Here are some specs:

I set the tank up and started the filtering 1/23/06.

The tank is approx 11" tall, 15" wide, 3" deep.

The filter is a Bio Wheel.

The light is an 11 watt compact flourescent, which puts the tank at 2.2 wpg.

I don't know what the K is on the bulb, but from my limited search there really isn't a range of lights for this tank so it's probably all I'll have to work with.

The substrate is common brown (roughly) 1/8" gravel I lifted from my 29 gallon tank. (I'm going to be working on the 29 gal soon too, so prepare for more questions.)

The fish: Nothing is set in stone yet, but Neons are the leading candidate. My mom likes them a lot and they seem to be one of the more fitting fish that would be colorful and able to live in a small school comfortably in a 5 gal tank.

Reading from other posts, it looks like for small tanks one of the better methods to go with is a mound. I like the looks of the mounds I've seen so I think I'll probably go in this direction.

I've read that java moss and anubias nana petite should be good for this.
What else would be good? What would be manageable, yet grow tall enough to block the filter and heater?

Since this will probably become a log here is a picture of what it looks like without anything. I can't wait to see what kind of progression this thing goes through.

[/href] (eg. [link=Bare Basics]http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f154/KLEPROCK/b88696ca.jpg [/link]

P.S. I know I need a background, my dad was just trying to be funny with that one.

Hey Jeff,

I hope you are having fun with this tank

A few questions, if you don’t mind:

a) Your provided dimensions seem a little off, I guess it is not that easy to describe a corner tank. From what you say I calculate only a little over 2G volume. And 3 inches seems awefully narrow, are you sure about that?
b) You wpg (watts per gallon) calculation is right, but given how small the tank is (5G) it would be just low light. As such Moss and Anubias seem fitting, maybe you can also look into a few crypt species.
c) A mount is a good idea, you can get quite some information about this concept by reading through ChaosMaximus’s Thread.
d) Also, you will not be able to place any rooting plants in the substrate if its height is only 1/8 of an inch. But then again, from looking at your picture I doubt that it is that low.

Well, hope this helps a little,

Ingo

EDIT: And Welcome to FP

Last edited by LITTLE_FISH at 24-Jan-2006 11:36

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Well, you've certainly done some reading beforehand, good work

Welcome to FP too

First thing's first: the lighting. I looked around and the color temperature of that bulb is 5100K, which is fine for growing live plants. However, the 2WPG doesn't hold up on small tanks - a lot of light is lost through the glass, so you're not really getting that much light over the planted portion of the tank. Low light plants are going to be your best bet here.

You mentioned java moss - good choice, and anubias nana - also a good choice, don't go with anything bigger than nana. Java fern may be a good choice for the background of your tank, though it may become a little big over time. Crypt. wendtii may also be workable. The low amount of lighting limits your choices, but since we don't want to overcomplicate things here we'll just stick with that. Also, get more substrate, what you have in there is a little low. Adding more will allow you to make a mound of sorts, or to at least add some depth to the tank by having different levels fo substrate - flat looks very unnatural.

You've set up the tank and have the filter running, right? Well, it may be a good idea to just leave it like that right now - which means, no fish... not just yet anyway. It's important to

1.) set up the design of your tank first - where the plants will go, and more importanly, where to put any rocks or driftwood. Rock and/ or driftwood can be the difference between a "blah" tank and one that really looks great. I think in this case a nice piece of DW is a must - you can grow java moss attached to it. The point is, design and layout the tank first before throwing fish in.

and 2.) Whoops, the fish! Stop me if you know already, but do you know about cycling a tank before adding fish? If not you may want to ask around here about it first, or read up on it elsewhere.

Neons are neat little fish but they're also sensitive. In a decently planted tank I think 5-6 would do well. All post-cycling of course...

Last edited by NowherMan6 at 24-Jan-2006 11:39

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Back in the saddle!

My dimensions were way off for the depth. I did a quick measure while writing this ( the 3 was from the bow to the back of the corner of the side/), it's really more about 8 1/2" deep.

For now the substrate is just what I could take from one area of my 29 gal that would just cover the bottom of my 5. I'll be adding more once I start doing some planting. That's when I'll be sloping the gravel and making it more natural. I was just anxious to set this up last night (much to the dismay of my girlfriend).

I'm definitely going to be getting the plant situation worked out before I add fish. I'm aware that Neons can be sensitive. I know about the nitrogen cycle but I do have a question. Once I'm confident in my layout and get my plants in there, do you think the Neons would be OK if I added them with a pack of Bio Spira?

Or I have another idea... There are 6 Zebra Danios in my 29 gallon tank (along with 5 Rosy Barbs.) I want to increase their school to at least 12. If I were to get another 6 of the Zebras, would it be OK to put them in the 5 gal w/ a pack of Bio Spira, keep them for a couple weeks...transfer them to my 29 gal and add the Neons to the 5? Would that be too much stress on the Zebras?

I have a piece of DW for the 5 gal, but I'll be looking for others for the mound / a big piece for my 29 gal. I'll probably be using some porous rocks for the mound too. Those will be good foundations for the moss to attach to, right?

OK cool, so you've got yourself pretty grounded with tank set-ups and cycling

Either way you mentioned is fine. I have enough faith in a fresh properly cared for batch of Bio-spira to dump it in with the neons... or if you're getting the danios anyway you can do it the second way you described. 5-6 Neons won't add all that much to the bio-load anyway.

Do you have a pic of the DW to post?


EDIT: Oh, and java moss will attch itself to anything eventually. Spread it on thin, not in big clumps, and tie it to whatever hard thing with fishing line. Eventually it'll overgrow the line and attach itself with it's own little rooting mechanisms and that'll be that. I've seen pics of it where the java moss colonized the inside of a HOB filter.

Last edited by NowherMan6 at 24-Jan-2006 12:27

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Back in the saddle!

Here is a picture of my planted 5g Minibow. It is not anything special though. I am actually in the process of taking it down. I have a male betta in my 5g. The neons are a good idea though..if that is all you plan to put in there. Good luck!

For plants..Corkscrew Vals did great in my 5g...but didn't in my 55g. I guess having the light closer helps. They didn't get very tall in the 5g either so they would be great as a mid-background plant.

Last edited by GirlieGirl8519 at 24-Jan-2006 12:47

*Kristin*

Alright, I've had some time to play around a little bit.

I got a background. I decided the black looked better than the blue.

I got a couple of the smallest black rocks I could find that I thought would work well.

Here is an idea I have for my mound with the black rocks and the piece of drift wood I had.

I need to get a couple more black rocks. One for the front, one for the back. I think this would complete the mound pretty well. I figure with growth of java moss and anubias nana on the rocks this could look pretty cool.

Opinions, suggestions....

[link= Background + Mound Idea]http:// i47.photobucket.com/albums/f154/KLEPROCK/P1000433.jpg [/link]