Intermision's 2.5g nano Journal

[Intermision]

I decided to plant my old 2.5 gallon tank I had from when I was a kid. It used to house my Betta until it jumped. I started with a substrate of 50/50 flourite and gravel. Lighting comes from a 23w CF bulb in a desk lamp. The filter is a cheap HOB I piked up from PetCo. I have a DIY CO2 setup running out of a Gatorade bottle, right now it goes through an airstone, but I have a diffuser on the way, I figure some CO2 is better than none right now. I'm dosing 8/10ml of Flourish Comprehensive Plant Supplement I have it diluted in water so I dose 1oz of the mixture every other day so it's easier to measure.
Flora:
-Anacharis
-Java Moss
-Java fern
-Pygmy chain-sword
- HC
Fauna
-5 unknown shrimp ( any help)

As of know I only have the hard scape and a few plants in.

The Tank
http://www.intermis.rchomepage.com/nano/4.jpg
Shrimp and Java fern
http://www.intermis.rchomepage.com/nano/3.jpg
Shrimp on drift wood
http://www.intermis.rchomepage.com/nano/5.jpg
Shrimp eating it's molted shell
http://www.intermis.rchomepage.com/nano/1.jpg
http://www.intermis.rchomepage.com/nano/layout.jpg

[ChicoRaton]

Looking good! I used to feed my CO2 into the impeller on my HOB filter. The bubbles would dissolve completely in the sponge. Dunno if that'll work for yours but it'd be more aesthetically pleasing to get rid of the airline is such a small tank. The only downdise was a little "click...click" noise from the bubbles hitting the blades.

You going to put a fish in there or just little critters? I would reccomend adding some Malaysian Trumpet Snails. They reproduce quickly and are very good at eating detritus in the gravel and algae but won't harm your plants at all. Keep us updated on your progress.

[ChicoRaton]

BTW those look like red cherry shrimp http://www.plantgeek.net/article_viewer.php?id=19

EDIT: Do they have "fans" on their front legs? Could also be fan shrimp, Atyopsis moluccensis, but I can't tell from the pics. I'm pretty sure that's what they are though. Not brightly colored enough to be red cherry shrimp. They both have that stripe though, I believe.

[Intermision]

I think I plan on just having shrimp, I'm not to worried about the air line beacuse it should be covered up soon. I would use the impeller to chop up the co2, but since it's in my room it would keep me up at night. I'm going to try and update this thread at least once a week.

[Intermision]

I just thought I would post that the java fern has bubbles forming on the bottom of the leaves, and there is a baby shrimp swimming around.

[ChicoRaton]

Awesome! you're definitely on the right track. Java fern is a pretty fast grower. In my 2wpg 55g planted, it had O2 bubbles streaming off of the leaves. a little line of tiny bubbles all the way from the plant to the surface.

[Intermision]

Well I have some good news and some bad news. During the past week two of my shrimp have died, but the others seem to be very healthy and active. Also I have seen more baby shrimp; I have counted at least 3 of them. All of the plants are doing great, withing in about 2 hours of the lights coming on there are already bubbles forming on the java fern's leaves, and in the past week the anacharis has grown over double it's original height.:eek:. The stems sarted out 3-4in now they are 7-8in at least.

[Intermision]

New pics
http://www.intermis.rchomepage.com/nano/6.jpg
http://www.intermis.rchomepage.com/nano/7.jpg
http://www.intermis.rchomepage.com/nano/8.jpg
http://www.intermis.rchomepage.com/nano/9.jpg
http://www.intermis.rchomepage.com/nano/10.jpg

[ChicoRaton]

Looks nice, man! You might want to tilt that piece of driftwood on the right so the java moss gets some more direct light. That'll help it grow and get attached/established on the wood better.Once it gets out a little more from the wood it should be able to pick up more light standing upright like that. Not neccessary but it might help

[Mgamer20o0]

looks good. keep us updated.

[Intermision]

I leaned the wood and moss back some so it could get more light, it now has little bubbles all over it.:cool:

I think I may leave it like this because the wood texture shows up better.

[Intermision]

Here is an update for April 1st

New light setup, it should give more even lighting.
http://www.intermis.rchomepage.com/nano/46.jpg
Full aquarium shot
http://www.intermis.rchomepage.com/nano/45.jpg
[Fat B******d voice]It's a baby[/Fat B******d voice]
http://www.intermis.rchomepage.com/nano/43.jpg
My shrimp
http://www.intermis.rchomepage.com/nano/42.jpg
http://www.intermis.rchomepage.com/nano/41.jpg