15 gallon update

The 15 gallon has been planted for nearly a month now, and it has survived a fungus outbreak, a diatom algae outbreak, and is fighting of a minor black beard algae fit.
It is now inhabited by pond snails, mini ramshorn snails, and some type of tiny white worms, as well as a single introduced species, 3 amano shrimp.



The plants are all healthy and growing new leaves. The floating plants need to be thinned once a week or more. All with nothing but a bit of top off water and a pinch of various fertilizer powders weekly. Once set up, low light tanks are extremely easy to maintain!

Equipment for the 15 gallon

One of the beauties of a low light tank, is that the equipment demands are very low.
Everything can be purchased at even the worst of pet stores, and for a relatively low price.

Here is the list for the 15 gallon:
A hang on the back filter, in this case, an Aquaclear 30,
A cheapo powerhead (aquarist term for submersible pump used for water movement),
A submersible heater, in this case a 100 watt marineland visi-therm stealth,
and a home made lighting fixture with 2x15 watt fluorescent bulbs.

The set up of powerhead and heater:


The lighting fixture was assembled using the end caps and ballasts ripped from $8 fixtures from Home Depot. In addition, reflectors from the local weed grower store were added. The bulbs were upgraded to a more plant friendly full spectrum bulb. It is important to shield the ballasts to avoid unnecessary replacements and a smoky house.







That's it. Nothing more than filter, heater, water movement and a bit of light!

Is There Life on Mars?

Just a teaser of what I've been working on...

Almost finished!

Update on the tank: the stand has been polyed and leveled, the lighting hardware has been attached, and the tank has been planted!

I'm using a substrate that is a mixture of eco-complete and topsoil, with a layer of pure eco-complete on top. The topsoil will provide additional nutrients to the rooted plants, and as the rooting plants I'm using (cryptocorynes) hate change, hopefully it will provide them with a greater degree of stability.

The hardscape is manzanita branches and basalt. The plants used so far are cryptocoryne spiralis, cryptocoryne wendtii "red", and narrow leaf java fern, as well as various floating plants.



And here is the complete set up with the hanging lights:



Once more plants have been added, and have had time to stabilize and grow, it will be time to start adding fish!