I would really like to tear down my 26 gallon aquarium and start from scratch. I want to move the fish and snails to my 20 gallon aquarium (which I would need to setup), remove all plants, driftwood, and substrate.

I want to give the glass a thorough cleaning. I will be replacing my red flourite substrate with natural soil plus a sand cap.

What I already have:

26 gallon aquarium
Fluval 205
Hydor Koralia Nano Powerhead
Sand banks for raised areas
Driftwood
Fish

Things I still need to purchase:

Organic soil
Tahitian Moon black sand
Medium gravel to make raised areas
New heater
Rocks
A ton of new plants

I want to make a better moss wall, covering the whole back of the tank, using magnets to hold it in place. My current moss wall is mostly a failure. It only covers about half of the back wall and growth is sporadic.

I will probably try the “dry start” method, to promote fast growth before I fill the aquarium completely with water.

You might think I’m converting to an “el natural” tank, but I’m staying high tech. I’ll be using the same lighting, same filter, same pressurized CO2, and adding a power head for more circulation.

I still need to plan out what plants I’ll get this time, and also plan out the aquascape.

I’m keeping the same fish, except eventually I might get rid of the Chinese algae eaters and replace them with a couple otocinclus. I’d also like to get a few zebra nerite snails. I love my neon tetras, but I only have 7. I might bring that number to 10, I’m not sure yet.

I’ll have to get everything I need before I start this project of course. And then I’ll have to setup the 20 gallon aquarium and cycle it before I move the fish and snails over.

I also need to figure out where I’m going to put the 20 gallon. Not much room in the kitchen right now. Maybe I’ll put it in my office for the time being. I’ve been planning an “el natural” setup for this one, so I’ll probably set it up the way I want it so I won’t have to redo it after I’m done with the 26 gallon.

So that’s the plan. What do you think?

I’ve been wanting to be more green at home. I’ve already looked at solar, which would make me at least 50% independant from PG&E, but is way over my budget and wouldn’t pay for itself fast enough.

I’ve changed all of my light bulbs to CFL’s. That’s great on energy savings, but it definitely isn’t near enough. I’ve considered going with LED lighting, but I think it’s a bit more expensive than the CFL’s. I’ll have to look more into that.

I need to start replacing my appliances with energy saving ones. Appliances such as my refridgerator, dish washer, washer and dryer. I’d also like to replace my water heater with a tanless water heater. I’d also like to replace the hvac system with a multiple zone system. But that’ll have to wait until after I have the room addition over the garage, which probably won’t be for another 5-10 years.

Being a computer geek, I have several computers. In my office, I have my main computer running Ubuntu Linux (also my file server), and my media machine that runs Windows 7 Ultimate. I rarely turn these computers off. I’m going to start turning off the media computer when not in use. I also have a 24″ iMac in my bedroom.

As for outside the house, I’d like to get a rain barrel connected to a gutter downspout and water my trees and plants using rainwater. That way I use less water from the water company and it’s environmentally friendly.

I’m already being green when it comes to mowing the lawns. I have a battery powered lawn mower that I charge once month. My next yard project is to install sprinklers.

What are you doing to be green and reduce energy usage?

I’ve never successfully made a budget before, and I really need one. I make plenty of money, but I over spend a lot and don’t keep good enough track of my bills.

My father keeps asking me if I’d like help making a spreadsheet for my budget, but I’ve been thinking about using Intuit QuickBooks. I know it isn’t a free product, but I want to try it out and see if I like it. I can have it automatically connect to my banks to download my transactions, and then create a budget for me.

From there, I can fine tune the budget, and track my bills better.

Have you set up a budget? Did you stick with it? How did you set it up? Did you use something like QuickBooks? Leave me a comment.

Fissidens fontanus from Aqua Botanic

I’m planning on making a tree/bush using Fissidens fontanus for my 26 gallon aquarium. I’m still researching on ways to do this, and also the best ways to trim to keep the tree/bush look.  I think this will look really good in my aquarium, once I’m able to replace the substrate and work a new aqua-scape.  I think it will look really good sitting close to my Cabomba furcata.  My new aqua-scape will be kind of a hill scape, with driftwood.  Of course I’ll have a ton of other plants in there, along with cryptocoryne parva, cryptocoryne wendtii, anubias minima, vallisneria nana, hygrophila corymbosa kompact, christmas moss, and peacock moss.  I might also try dwarf hairgrass again.  I’ll keep you updated once I start playing with the fissidens fontanus.

Do you have experience with Fissidens fontanus?  Leave a comment!

I’m currently in the planning stage of my 20 gallon aquarium.  I already have the tank (it’s a tank that I’ve had for a while now), the lighting, the filter, heater, and some of the hard scape materials.  I still need to get the organic soil, sand, plants, and of course, shrimp and fish.

Equipment I Already Have:

1. Single GLO Life-Glo T5 HO 24W 6700K
2. 20 Gallon Tall Aquarium
3. Eheim ECCO 2232
4. Catalina Titanium Heater 100W
5. Two Red/Brown Sand Banks

Stuff I Still Need:

1. Organic Topsoil (un-fertilized)
2. CaribSea Tahitian Moon Substrate

Planned Fauna:

1. Neon Tetra x10
2. Red Cherry Shrimp x5
3. Amano Shrimp x5
4. Otocinclus x5
5. Zebra Nerite Snail x5

Planned Flora:

1. E. tenellus, Marselia minuta, or dwarf sag
2. Hygros, Bacopa, Rotala indica, Ludwigia repens, Hydrocoytle leucocephala for stem plants
3. Mosses, ferns, anubias, and crypts

I have a strange nutrient deficiency (or something) going on with one of my plants. the leaves are curling and turning black. The black parts are fairly rough to the touch. I’m also still having trouble with string hair algae. I change 50% water weekly, and dose dry fertilizers, 1/16 tsp Trace & Fe 3x week and 1/16 tsp KH2PO4, K2SO4, 1/2 tsp KNO3 3x week. I think I’ll try increasing my CO2 injection. I need to find my drop checker. I have no idea where it is, and I really don’t want to order a new one.

Any ideas/suggestions?

Update: Seems that this is normal for this type of anubias.  I might also have a low phosphate level.  I’ve decided to up my KH2PO4 from 1/16 tsp to 1/8 tsp.  I’ll see if that helps.  I need to get a phosphate level test kit.

It’s been a few days since I re-scaped my 26 gallon aquarium. You can find more photos here, and my aquarium journal here.

I finally re-scaped my 26 gallon aquarium. I took out all my plants, and put in my driftwood that I boiled and soaked the other night, and replanted all my old and new plants. I started fearing that I was running out of space. Indeed, I started to run out of space for my smaller foreground plants. But that’s ok, I got them in. I’ll have to re-scape in the near future anyway, once I’m ready to take out all the substrate and replace it with soil and sand. By that time, I’ll have my 20 gallon aquarium set up and can use that to house my fish and snails while I redo the substrate.

Here’s a couple photos I took right after. There’s still a lot of crap in the water column. I’ll take more photos once it all settles and/or gets filtered out.

I ordered a bunch of new plants for my aquarium this week. These include crypts, anubias, mosses, and a carpet plant. Here’s a list:

Crypt wendtii
Anubias nana
Anubia minima
Crypt parva
Christmas moss (for moss wall)
Weeping moss (for moss wall)

I haven’t had the time to plant them, so I just tossed them into the tank until I can rescape. I plan on rescaping tomorrow. I’m going to pull all the plants out and change everything around. Wish me luck!

I recently purchased an EHEIM 2232 Ecco External Canister Filter for my 20 gallon el natural tank. I installed it on my 26 gallon high tech aquarium to seed it with beneficial bacteria.

I really like this filter. It was super easy to set up. The only thing I don’t like about it is that is has ugly green hoses, filter and intake. But that’s easily replaceable.

It’s increased the flow in my 26 gallon tank. I have a spare Fluval 205 that I’ll add to it once I have the 20 gallon tank set up and move the Eheim over. I’ve also been considering putting a power head in the tank instead if the second Fluval 205. If I do that, I can create great flow for the carpet plants I plan on putting in the 26 gallon tank.

I really can’t say if I like it any more or less than my Fluval 205 though. They both work very well, and I haven’t had problems with either. Anyway, the EHEIM 2232 is good for tank sizes up to 35 gallons, which is plenty of flow for my 20 gallon tank.

The flora and fauna that I’ll eventually put in it will love it.