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This little tank is a 7 gallon bowfront, and it sits on my desk here at home. It has a Fluorite substrate and a 14 watt fluorescent light on it. Filtration is a Penguin mini (no biowheel). I set it up on March 20, transferring the substrate and a lot of the plants from the 10 gallon tank that used to be on the desk. The webcam is still on it, but I think the curved glass front of the tank distorts the pictures a bit.
The Details:
Background: Cork tiles siliconed to plastic grid (the kind you get at Home Depot for recessed ceiling lights- rigid, open squares.) The backing is held off the tank back by strips of the ceiling grid covered with black plastic canvas (finer mesh, so the fish can't swim through. I got this stuff at a craft store.) The filter and heater are behind the background piece, so all the tubes, wires, etc are hidden. There is a "window" of the finer, craft mesh in the lower part of the cork background (behind the driftwood) to provide for circulation of the water. I did find that having the filter behind the cork, while good for the esthetics of the tank, did not provde quite enough circulation in the tank as a whole. I added a small pump to the back of the tank, in front of the moss wall and it has been better. The front of the cork tiles are covered with Vesicularia dubyana (Java moss) that I just stapled in place. There are some pieces of Glossostigma elantoides that escaped into the tank and have begun to grow in among the moss- looks pretty neat, as it is mostly at the surface. The stuff does spread out across the surface, though, and I have to scoop it out regularly.
The Plants:
Microsorum pteropus 'Windelov' (Windelov Java fern) epoxied to the left side of the central driftwood piece.
Various cryptocorynes (including some C. wendtii, C. walkeri, and C. becketti, among others I'm not sure of) across the back, sides and front.
Sagittaria subulata in front of the driftwood in the center.
Eleocharis acicularis in front of driftwood on left.
Rotala rotundifolia (indica) In front of the moss wall, on the center right.
And an arched piece of lava rock with some small Java fern on it in the right rear to hide the extra pump.
The Fish, Etc.:
Three neon tetras and snails.
The Routine:
Weekly 50% water change
Flourish Excel dosed at a bit less than 1 ml/day.
2x weekly doses of Flourish, Flourish Nitrogen, Flourish Potassium, Flourish Trace and Flourish Iron.
Most of the above are dosed at the recommended rate, although I've found I have to up the dose of the Nitrogen just a bit to keep a constant level.