My First Planted

[Graeme Edwards]

Keep an eye on your shrimps. With such a small volume of water, you stats can very quickly change and shock your shrimp. Minute traces of ammonia are known to kill shrimp, and with a small water volume, this is highly likely. One which I have had my own experiences with.

Other than that, it looks great. You will find you get the bug for PICO's/ nano's very quickly if it is a success.
Next time you photograph it, try removing the equipment, this will help confuse people about the size .

Great stuff.

Regards,
Graeme.

 

[PaperArrow]

Thanks everyone for the comments and advice….. so far so good, shrimps are still looking well,…… and everything is still growing well, thanks for the plant ideas…I decided to go for Hydrocotlye sibthorpioides……………

However having picked the plant from the tropica picture (it costing 99p also had a influence~) I had no idea how large it was, it arrived today easily a foot in length!
So I will only be using a very small cutting from it.

Anybody any experience with it?.... says it can be pain to grow/keep alive

Also i should be receiving a second hob filter soon…… I worry about the shrimp! the extra bio filtration should help, plus after stuffing the inlet of the original with foam for shrimplet safety.....flow has dramatically decreased Picture to come after planting this weekend

a nano/pico is very challenging rewarding frustrating .....hooked

Happy Easter

 

[Themuleous]

Tanks coming along in leaps and bounds, excellent work

Do probs re the deodorant, I'd been doing it a full year before I found out, must have killed 40 dwarf rasboras and a similar number of shrimp in the process

Sam

 

[PaperArrow]

Thanks about the photo tips Graeme, Here are some snaps of day 23, past the 3 week mark now, the 3 pots form aqua essentials now look like this....

the new addition of Hydrocotlye sibthorpioides appears to be having a tough start, but pearls by the end of the day.

verticle growth seems to have been induced by 2 x 4 hour photoperiod days, this was due to my co2 running out, a couple of days ago, so i decided to cut the light in an attemp to to keep algae at bay.

I may start to increase photoperiod by 15 mins per day for a week..

lastly i think i need to start pruning the hc, but i dont know where to start. should i just take of the tips of the runners with sharp scissors? anybody else think it looks like it needs a haircut? or should i leave it a few more weeks?

Happy easter

 

[fishbone]

Your tank looks absolutely amazing. I wish I had the patience to set up and maintain a planted tank.

 

[PaperArrow]

Thanks fishbone, once set up, this tiny little tank only occupies under 5 mins a day maintainace, Some days i find myself wishing there was more to do in the tank at th mo, and start thinking about starting another.

Anyway any body any advice on pruning the HC, does it look ready for its 1st snip? if so how would you do it? prune all to the desired height?, or just the runners plus how far would you go? the tips? or more? Hc pro's please respond.

Regards Paperarrow

 

[planter]

I REALY like this! love the combination of plants youve used. I let my HC run wild and have never trimmed it, though i can see in such a small tank it may need controlling. The HC in my aquaqube is of a depth now where the lower part is dying with a lush new green growth on top. I would also be interested to know about trimming it! I watch this post with interest.

 

[Graeme Edwards]

I cut my HC like i would cut grass. Just trim it back to the hight you wish. No real technique, just chop it back.

It looks really nice this Pico, have you got the bug?

Ooo forgot to ask, how are those shrimp doing?

 

[PaperArrow]

Thanks Planter, i have just been admiring your aqua cube again, great great great stuff (definitely enter the pfk comp), and ........wow you got some amazing thick HC....

So I think I will follow your lead and leave it for poss another week or 2, then get the scissors out.

Cheers for the advice Graeme and kind comments, your nano too.... also immense, There Is some vast green fingerd talent around. Re the HC, i assume there is a risk of taking to much off and killing the lot?

OHHH yea that pico bug …so much so that almost everything I look at turns into a possible nano project, inspiration, or improvement to this one. The hobby seems to be moving so quickly.

P.s I am just starting to collect equipment and research for planted number 2 and 3. Lol

The shrimp....They hide a lot, i have 5 females to 1 male. females very very red now which is very pleasing they must have had a tough time getting to the lfs, i think 4 of the females are just maturing there saddles are just appearing. and the berried female is still carrying.....i will get a pic asap, great little things when you can see them.

 

[zig]

Looks very good, I would start pruning now though before it gets out of control.

 

[PaperArrow]

Well i couldn’t wait and set about pruning the Hc to about 2cm height, a couple of days later and its looking much better for it thanks for the encouragement.

Oh and Graeme got a couple of pictures of the berried shrimp today, i was so glad to see her out and about she’s been sulking for the past week.

 

[Liam]

Its a really beautiful little tank, first class. The cherry shrimp look good and happy.