PokeSephiroth's 12 Gallon Long Rimless Tank (Mr. Aqua)

So... my 12 gallon long rimless tank has been sitting, not doing anything, ever since I transferred out my axolotl into a bigger tank... I've been thinking of doing a sorority of female bettas, around 12 of them or so, but I think I'd like to get more stocking ideas... what would look nice in a 12 gallon long?

Not trying to go for the microfish approach (brigitae rasbora, exlamation point rasbora, etc...)
Maaaaaaaaaaaybe I'll do shrimp...maybe... MAYBE.

I plan on doing co2 and high light (which won't need much, since it's such a shallow tank already) . . . Maybe a Finnex Fuge Ray Planted+ will suffice.

Thoughts?

 - with a sea of Dwarf grass and something small leafed and rEd as a background plant. Maybe one of those neAt stones?

 - are those "micrO fish" though?

 - a pair of Apisto's?

Shrimppppppp!

Because of the shape of these tanks, you can get away with some craziness in them. Here's what I have in mine...

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There's a lonely tiger barb in there, a quad of head and tail lights, a quintet of sterbais, and about 40 RCS that clean while unseen. One thing to remember is that this tank gets a lot of oxygen from the big surface ratio (and if you can create good current it is even better). The other thing is that if you plant it heavily, it creates a LOT of hiding areas and the fish get a lot of hiding spots. I normally wouldn't have put a tiger barb in there, but I needed a space urgently, and after a few months in there he seems to really like it with very little agression.

Also, I wouldn't do a 36" finnex on this... it would be way overkill. I have a crummy wavepoint on there and look at the growth! (all that vali grew from 6 individual plants in 3 months!) If I didn't have that, I'd have gone with two finnex 10" lights.

I have noticed with these small type "long" tanks that using a light fixture long enough to fit the length , these fixtures are actually designed for larger bodies of water. Like MRTom was saying about outing a 36" LED light on a 12 gallon tank. I have been battling extreme lighting using a 2' specialized LED on a 9.5Long. Sucker is probably designed for 20-30 gallon tanks 18-20" deep but due to the length of the tank the 2" fixture fits perfect. I have gone as far as hot glued plastic mesh on the underside of the fixture to tone down light intensity. However, ultimately it depends on the plants used, and the goal of the system setup. Perhaps it time to invest in a par meter.

fishNAbowl wrote: - a pair of Apisto's?

Are you serious? I decided on Bolivian Rams for my 30g community, but I'd still like to get some Apistos, and I've got a spot where a 12g long will fit nicely, but I didn't want to stock it with boring fish . . . I just hear everywhere that you need at least 20g for Apistos, but I guess a 12g long has the same substrate area as a standard 20g, which is what really matters for Apistos, right? Hmmm, the wheels are turning.


As for the lighting, I'd suggest looking at a Current USA Freshwater LED+, you can custom set any look you want, including individual brightness of each color, and it saves the setting in memory, so you can put it on a timer and it comes back on to the same setting. The light is nice and slim, so it looks okay on top of a 12g long, there's a nice review with some good pictures of this combo at redcherryshrimp.net. Or you could go with anything that uses a 12-24V power supply (any LED from Current or Ecoxotic) and use the Ecoxotic manual dimmer. Current Truelumen Pro LED or Ecoxotic Stunners (would need to make some sort or hood for these) would work well this way. With any of these options, you would have the option of going to the upper end of medium light if you want, or keep it toned down.

-Justin

My boraras brigittae spend nearly all their time hiding. There are much larger fish in the tank, but nothing big enough to eat them. You wouldn't know there are any in the tank until it's food time then there's a whole school of them.    Maybe you'd have better luck keeping them with smaller fish. They can be quite gorgeous when they color up fully.

You have to have shrimp, of course.    If only to clean.

As far as light suggestions are concerned, I think I will go down the current usa freshwater led satellite +... Since they aren't as bright, and are cheaper than Finnex lights, which I already knew would've been overkill for such a shallow tank (Cory and I discussed this at work one day. Even with a fuge ray).

Ooooor... I might go the diy route. I bought these led strip lights that have adhesive backings on it, it's meant for ambient lighting or for home theaters, it's the sylvanna mosaic led strips. It essentially works like the current usa freshwater led satellite + in that they are rgb leds. And is also wirelessly controlled via remote.

It's just not as bright and doesn't have the presets (lightning, cloudy day, etc..)

I'm pretty sure current usa uses similar led straps because they also sell the satellite + lights as strips as well (without the fixture/shell).

The Current LED+ fixture has twice as many white (I think 6500k) as RGB emitters. I think the Sylvanias are only RGB. You can never quite get a good white with only RGB because the output of most LEDs is such a narrow bandwidth - depending on the quality of the emitters and the exact wavelength, you can get something that looks close, but it's not quite 'right' and if you look at a spectrum chart, they have big valleys between the peaks of the emitters in the fixture, which os okay for accent lighting, but for a main light of something that matters, it's not as good. FWIW, the current flexible strips are constructed similarly to the ones you can get at Lowes, etc. but retain that ratio with a good portion of the emitters being white so that you can get a nice, full spectrum white out of them - and the fixtures do not use the flex-strips, the emitters are mounted to a board behind a piece of clear plastic, just like most other LED fixtures.

One of my other long-term 'jobs' (I don't get paid, but have spent 10-20 hours a week for much of the last 18 years) is stage lighting, and LED lighting can be very tricky to get used to compared to halogen or discharge (full spectrum, cold white). We're only now getting to the point that LEDs are available that can be used for main front light of the people on stage and give the same quality of light as halogen - and they use mostly lighter color LEDs (not RGB) to get a nice, full white; the best LED stage lights use 5-7 different colors of emitters.

-Justin

Welp, I did it. I ordered a Current USA Satellite+ for this tank. Still teetering over doing co2... since it's a small tank, I might be able to get away with just using one of those mini co2 kits. I know they're expensive inthe long run, but...whatever. I'drather spend $50 on it now, than have to save up for a $300 system.

That's all I have so far. I still don't know what I will be doing, hardscape wise. I think I will stock the tank with the 12 female bettas. Or maybe I won't. I don't know for sure, just yet =P

I just know that I got the light that I want for it. LOL.

PokeSephiroth wrote:Still teetering over doing co2... since it's a small tank, I might be able to get away with just using one of those mini co2 kits. I know they're expensive inthe long run, but...whatever. I'drather spend $50 on it now, than have to save up for a $300 system.

Do a DIY co2 system like this one.. It's way cheaper but its dedication of making the co2 mixture every week or other week depending on your yeast ratio mix. More yeast faster consumption more co2 output. Less yeast slow steady consumption slow steady co2 output. Good luck on your decision.

I've already tried diy co2, and while it is effective, I can't find myself making a new batch everytime. Not to mention how bad it smells because of the yeast Hehehe!

These small interesting sized tanks are a lot of fun to work with. Tom's tank looks great. I know yours will be a standout too. Keep us posted.

I've been contemplating whether or not if I wanted to paint the back of the tank black, or something like that. I didn't want something too permanent, and I didn't want to spend any effort having to scrape off the paint if I ever decided I wanted to do something different.

So, I ended using window tint! This stuff is awesome, and it was amazingly easy to apply! If you mess up, you can take it off and apply it back on! Really neat stuff. I also kinda like how it's a bit see through. It does kinda remind me of the frosted background/light diffuser stuff that ADA/The Green Machine uses... but at a fraction of the cost! LOL.

Here's how it looks
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My Current USA Freshwater Satellite+ light should be arriving in the mail today, so I will take pictures of the tank when I have that set up as well.

PokeSephiroth wrote:So, I ended using window tint! This stuff is awesome, and it was amazingly easy to apply! If you mess up, you can take it off and apply it back on! Really neat stuff. I also kinda like how it's a bit see through. It does kinda remind me of the frosted background/light diffuser stuff that ADA/The Green Machine uses... but at a fraction of the cost! LOL.

Genius! You sir are Genius. I was looking into getting ABS plastic to put in the back of the tank... but this would look even better. I'm off to buy some now!

MRTom wrote:
Genius! You sir are Genius. I was looking into getting ABS plastic to put in the back of the tank... but this would look even better!

  

LIGHT IS HERE!! LIGHT IS HEEEEEEEEEERE!!!!! <3 omg omg omg omg omg!!
Must. Shoot. Unboxing. Video. NAOOOOOOO...!!! Look! It looks like my 55 gallon tank has a smilie! Too bad it's not for the 55 gallon LOL!

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PokeSephiroth wrote: Look! It looks like my 55 gallon tank has a smilie!
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  - BAHAHAABAHAHA

PokeSephiroth wrote:LIGHT IS HERE!! LIGHT IS HEEEEEEEEEERE!!!!! <3 omg omg omg omg omg!!
Must. Shoot. Unboxing. Video. NAOOOOOOO...!!! Look! It looks like my 55 gallon tank has a smilie! Too bad it's not for the 55 gallon LOL!

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Too cute:)

Here's the tank with the Current Freshwater Satellite LED+ light on it! It looks so spiffy!! I'm in love with it!
(I will make another video once the tank has been filled with life and whatnot... it's a slow on going project, as I'm still looking for a good stand that I've yet to find for it.)

I hear a kitty!! that's an awesome light I was thinking about getting one for my 20 long.

MorganEA: Yes, that's our cat, Bagheera :)He's such a cute little bugger. Biggest scaredy cat I've ever met though. LOL!
Definitely do it, for aesthetic purposes, you might be able to get away with low-medium lighting on the 20 Long.

Here is a more indepth review that I posted not too long ago:
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PokeSephiroth wrote:I will make another video once the tank has been filled with life and whatnot... it's a slow on going project, as I'm still looking for a good stand that I've yet to find for it.

Why dont you build one or have it pro build.

I lack the skills and power tools to make my own stand. And having one built by a pro is costly. What am I, made out of money? Lol!

I'm in no rush with this project/tank.
I will find the perfect stand for it when I find it. Bwahahaha. You know how frugal we Filipinos can be.

Welp, this project is officially put on HOLD until further notice.

Lame.

Got our 2nd Current USA Satellite Freshwater LED+ light fixture today! Yay!
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