My friend is tattooing me for free, so as a favor for him I offered to set up a small aquarium in his shop.

I want to do a setup like the Nature Aquarium Club of Utah's PASS setup. We would de-rim a standard 10 Gallon and go to town.

( NACU - Nature Aquarium Club of Utah)

The thing is I would like it to be as low maintenance as possible. My friend has told me he wants to do nothing to the tank. I will stop by weekly to do a water change ect. , but I think daily dosing is out of the question.

The plan is to use ADA AS II and use mostly ferns and mosses. We're actually going to try to use part of an animal skeleton and some wood the give the tank an erie feel. Has anyone used bones in an aquascape before? I don't know what it will to do the water. Will the calcium in the bones dissolve into the water and increase the hardness? It really doesn't matter, but I was just curious.

The only fauna will be some type of shrimp.

How much light should I put over the tank to still have good growth rates and still not having to dose to keep algae away? DIY CO2 can be added if needed. I would like to use a USA Current CF fixture from a mail order retailer.

Whatcha' Think?

Thanks,
Creighton Tynes

You might have some fungal issues with bone in water. Not only is it a mineral of phosphorus and calcium, but also a matrix of connective proteins. Ferns, mosses, and inverts should do just fine in a low tech setup.

Just give them a good bleaching first, soak them for awhile, use activated carbon in the filter, do lots of water changes, Deer antlers, cattle skulls, etc, all have been used, but not much.

Would seem well suited to piranha tank though.

Looks like a good start and youi are thinking about different ideas, that's good and the site and club look like it's off to a great start.

Regards,
Tom Barr

Signus,

Thanks for the heads up.


Tom,

I wish that wasy my club's website. I'm actually starting a club in Birmingham, Alabama. NACU is Kevin from Utah's club. He has been paitent enough to answer all of my annoying e-mails . I hope that the Birmingham Planted Aquarium Society will be able to offer a simmilar setup for a simmilar price.

Do you have any advice on setting up a website with a forum? I would like a local place to discuss plant swaps, meeting times, ect. and a place to achive presentations , but I have NO CLUE about web design.

I am actually giving a presentation on the basics of growing aquatic plants on March 22 for our first meeting. Hopefully we can get off to a good start as well.

Tom, could I send you the presentation via-email for some criticism? I really am trying to premote the hobby and would hate to give some bad info to people. The presentation is not that long

Another crazy thing...the translator for Mr.Amano, Tomoko Shum, lives an hour away from me. I was lucky enough to get to meet her when I was promoting the plant club at a local reef club meeting. She has much more experience than I do, and I think I could learn a lot from her. I really hope she can attend.

What lighting would you recomend? Is 40watts too much to not be adding any ferts with ADA AS II? Is the CO2 nesecarry if I go with the higher light?


Thanks,
Creighton

Where's a good place to get some hanging light fixtures? I'm going to make a bar out of the conduit, but I still don't know what lights to use.

"Fishneedit" on ebay are for great lights.
Really nice stuff, 140$ or so for 150w HQI with bulb which you can chose.
The fixture is about as nice as a AM Ocean light.
But 1/2 the cost.

Regards,
Tom Barr

I talked to Fishneedit and he said he has nothing small enough for a 10 gallon. Really nice looking fixtures though. What has everyone had good results with for a 10gallon tank?