2.5 Gallon Tanks - What does yours look like? (2.5 Gallon Tanks ONLY)

I was just curious if anyone here has 2.5 gallon tanks set up, and was curious how they look like.
I've had this 2.5 gallon tank with me for a while now (given to me by jrmakawoody) and I'm trying to get some ideas on how to scape it.

I was thinking of placing torn up Marimo Balls as the base, and skipping substrate (sand/gravel) all together. Maybe a seiryu stone or manza driftwood... I don't know yet. We'll see. Anyway... show off your 2.5 gallon tanks!

I sadly have got away from the small tanks... but here was one that I had going for a little while:
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I was shooting for simplicity. I used a simple calender picture for the background and then kept the decor to a minimum.

wow, that calendar picture really adds some character to the overall tank! Really nice Dmd123!

Thanks, I love nano tanks but have never really embraced the challenge of a full blown planted tank. I find them beautiful looking but just more than I think I can handle. That of course seems funny when you think of the work of a 2.5g vs the tanks in my signature. Yes Im afraid of the hard work 2.5g of plant life would be but have no problem caring for a 210g and a 72g .  

I like to think of it this way... bigger tanks tend to be more of a "set it and forget it" type of deal... where as the smaller you get, the more human intervention it needs.

hehehe

Big tanks require a lot of human intervention too! Big fish = big poop removal!

Hmmm... true. =P

Working on a 2 gallon one but no pics yet...just found the last plant I needed yesterday! Finally>> it had dwarf grass, Anubis Nana and moneywort. And it will have shrimp. Debating if I want tto spend money on a branch to put moss on or not because it will have cherry shrimp but leaning towards no because when the plants finally fill in a lot of the space will look like it dissapears it just all...so tiny right now!! Like the Anubis is thumb nail size >>
I wish I could show you the massive amount of BEAUTIFUL nano tanks the wet spot tropical fish has set up right now absoutly stunning!!

KaraWolf, OOOH neat!!! I kinda have a similar aquascape planned out in my head, and was on the fence about using some sort of driftwood in the tank, and I think I'm going to decide against it... I will want to try and see if I can get it set up so that it looks more Iwagumi-inspired... we'll see if I can pull something off like that. XD

oh man, I've always wanted to go to the Wet Spot for the longest time. One of these days... one of these days.

Here's what I have so far. I decided to just use the torn up marimo ball I already had in my 10 gallon tank... figured it'd look nicer in here, than it does in the 10 gallon, heh.

Water is a bit cloudy, because I added a SUUUUUPER SUPER SUPER miniscule amount of dirt, like, less than half an inch, and only off to one corner where the crypt is growing. I'm just going to do some water changes here and there to clear the tank up a bit.

Stupid me, I realized AFTER I finished setting things up, that I didn't have room for any filter, I just might use a sponge filter, if I can find one, or a HOB filter... or I will just leave it as is, WITHOUT any filters. We'll see.

I will plant in some microswords here and there when I get the chance, but here's how it looks as of now.

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Looking good!   NANO-might! (lame attempt at humor, like the saying 'dynomight!' from the show Good Times - Wow really dated myself there)

What are you doing for filtration? I was using the Azoo palm filter in mine with the custom AC20 sponge mod. Worked great on that size tank.

Watchu talkin' bout dmd123? =P

Y'know...I'm still unsure what I will do for filtration, I just might leave it unfiltered... (most likely not) . . . I'm still trying to look for a filter that's small enough to fit in that 2.5 gallon tank without it sticking out like a sore thumb. hehehe

A sponge filer might work, although I might want something smaller than an AC20, if such a thing exists. hahahaha

This is a filter I have in my 15 column and bookself tank: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
It's pretty unobtrusive and blends in well against a black background

Maybe.............. =_=... maybe.

The real question: why do you need a filter?  

The substrate should have enough surface area for nitrogen cycle bacteria.  You're not heating it, so there isn't a huge need for circulation.  As long as you keep the bio load low you can avoid filtration all together.  My 2.5g, while not exactly looking fantastic these days, supports a healthy, breeding population of RCS with no filter or heater.

Edit: plus, your plants will thank you for lower CO2 off-gassing.

pbmax, yes, and based off of that, is why I'm leaning towards not having a filter. And since I'm only going to keep shrimp in the tank, the bioload will definitely stay low... I assume that the plants will soak up whatever nutrients and nitrates that are in there. With that said, I'm just worried about the water becoming stagnant, or is that something I shouldn't worry about?

You could put an air-stone in and run it a few minutes a day on a timer if you're worried about that. I don't know what would cause "stagnant" water in such a tank or if it's even a problem. I have green water in mine, but that's because of a combination of dirt and sun (it gets morning direct sun and some indirect early on).

Definitely don't want any green water in mine, although it is beneficial for shrimp (I s'pose) . . . . I wouldn't want to display it if it were infested with green water hahaha...

I'll see how things develope. If anything, I'll just add a tiny sponge filter, if I can find one.

Green water doesn't do anything positive for shrimp, as far as I know. If you have too much of it they say it can reduce O2 in the water, though my shrimp don't seem to mind.

Still water in and of itself does not cause green water. I have another window-sill container that has amazonia 2 and marsilea minuta in it that goes months between changes and there's no green water in it.

Still water can encourage the growth of certain types of algae and floating plants, I believe.

Hmm.. dang, I always thought that green water is basically free floating algae in the water column, and since shrimp feed on algae.... well, yeah. lol

Sad. Well, I guess the best I can do is just hope for no green water =P

I've added an Aqueon Quietflow 10 HOB filter for now, just to clarify the water. So far it's working. But I'm pretty sure a water change is the best option still, to clarify the water. Alas...

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I like what you have done with it! I had an aqueon 10 on it when I first got it too lol. The small size makes the crypt look huge (in a good way)

jrmakawoody: Hahaha yeah, once I get that tank established with more plants or something, then i will most likely take out the HOB filter. That filter is so ugly and bulky lol

Here are my two.  They are nothing special; I'm terrible with plants.
One has an Azoo palm filter and the other has a small internal filter, I think it's a Tom's mini.

This tank has a small led fixture that has somehow made those permanent white vertical streaks on the front glass.  
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Yours is looking good!

Betty: Thanks! I love your two tanks! Simple can be good too y'know! Hehehe

Here's currently how mine looks, added some Staurogyne Repens, and the water has cleared up substantially, even without any water changes!

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Mkay, I added some microswords, and some itty bitty echinodorus vesuvius... Myep.

Currently just have 3 little White Cloud Mountain Minnows, but I will eventually put in some shrimp in there... dunno what though. Amano? Maybe. Blue Velvets? Heeeeeeck no... okay maybe.



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And here's its new home . . . our livingroom!

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Looks great! Good luck with it

It's starting to look the way I want it to look. I added two more seiryu stones in there, and added a back light and light diffusing paper behind the tank. It really gives a "sunset-like" appearance, which I think I like. I might swap the bulb to a whiter one at some point, just to see how it looks, we'll see. BUt for now, I like the warm colors it gives off.

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As for the Marimo carpet, it's starting to look bushy, which is great! I'm starting to think that I can take out the 4 White Clouds I have in there and plop in some Blue Velvet Shrimp (yes that's right. I plan on putting some Blue Velvets in there) . . . Now, if only I could just get a filter that's not so butt ugly!!

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Looks great! You could try one of those mini canisters... I don't have any experience with them, but you could probably hide it better than the one you're using and it would certainly take up less tank real estate.

Suggestion...

Get a small sponge filter. Before placing it in the tank, slit the foam in several places all around it and stuff the rhizomes of Java fern, Anubias, or crypts into the slits. In a little while the filter will look like a thick growth of plants! I've done it and it's fun.

When you take it out to ''clean'', just gently squeeze the sponge in a bucket of aquarium water or under a mild stream of water. This will force you not to squeeze out too much of the bacterial colony, because you don't want to squeeze so hard as to break the plant rhizomes!

It was inspired by Steve Waldron of GSAS and soon to be owner manager of the Zen Aquarium LFS in Seattle.

fishloverRon: Oh that's a great idea! Unfortunately, I don't know if having a sponge filter in a 2.5 gallon would work for me. I tried one of the smallest ones I could find (although, cory does have smaller ones for like a 10 gallon tank I think), and even that would look a bit bulky lol! I do like the idea of placing java fern on the sponge filters to cover them up though! I might just have to try that on a bigger filter for my bigger tanks! I think I might go the small canister filter approach, it would fit perfectly behind the shelf thanks for the suggestion fishloverRon and pbmax!!

I like the light diffusing paper, might have to try that sometime, since you're copying me AGAIN (Blue Velvets)

I understand, imitation is the best form of flattery... let's face it, I AM pretty awesome
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If anything, we would be copying pbmax since he is the one that's popularizing shrimp within this forum. Just remember, I copied him FIRST. :-D

Also, I still have more of the light diffusing paper stuff (it actually feels more like plastic) wanna trade some if those clover lookin plants for some light diffusing paper? I could bring it tomorrow at the plant swap if you plan on going. :-)

Looks great flo!

Beautiful How long has it been growing?

Hmmmm, well I was actually planning on bringing the hydrocotyle tripartita as the plant I was gonna swap, not sure if I have enough for both swap and trade, but I'll have to see

That looks pretty cool Poke! I think that "moss" stuff is cool. I have the same stuff growing all over a giant piece of bog wood I picked up off a CL add last winter.

fishloverRon wrote:Suggestion...

Get a small sponge filter.  Before placing it in the tank, slit the foam in several places all around it and stuff the rhizomes of Java fern, Anubias, or crypts into the slits. In a little while the filter will look like a thick growth of plants!  I've done it and it's fun.  

When you take it out to ''clean'', just gently squeeze the sponge in a bucket of aquarium water or under a mild stream of water.  This will force you not to squeeze out too much of the bacterial colony, because you don't want to squeeze so hard as to break the plant rhizomes!

It was inspired by Steve Waldron of GSAS and soon to be owner manager of the Zen Aquarium LFS in Seattle.

This is a neat idea Ron. I am totally going to do this!

Thank you, poke and pbmax. I started that set-up on May 12th. I have a picture but for some reason I can't upload it
Here we go. It looks like I have to use Internet Explorer not Google Chrome to be able to upload a picture
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Great! But you'll have to take your finger out of your nose! You're gonna need both hands..!! Har. Har , Har..! 

flo77 wrote:Thank you, poke and pbmax. I started that set-up on May 12th.

Nice What kind of substrate?

ADA Amazonia 2. But the fissidens and some anubias are self anchored on the rocks. Also it looks like some HC grew some pretty good roots on the rocks. I'll see when I flood the tank if the roots are strong enough.

That would definitely explain the growth Great 'scape too. When do you plan to fill it?

What a growth spurt you got going. Looks good.

Indeed; looks great!

What kind of bulb are you using (wattage / color temp in K) ? How far is it from the water?