First time trying DSM

This is my first time trying out the dry start method. I have been out of the hobby for about 5 years and am back and trying to refresh my knowledge a bit, its slowly coming back to me lol.

Anyway, this day 1 (July 22, 2012) since I redid it all again today as I sloped my substrate originally and the HC in the front was submerged in order to get water to the roots of the plants in the back of the tank and I added a moss wall today as well. I don't know if the moss wall will work or not but I guess there is only one way to find out for sure! :hihi:

I originally bought a 25w JBJ refugium light but took it back as it had a HUGE clamp on it and there was no way to make it work and be able to use the cover. I took it back and bought a Fluval 13w fixture ( the one that comes on the Fluval Flora kit) and its MUCH brighter than the refugium light was, better reflector I would assume. I had to modify the clip of the light fixture as it was too narrow for a framed tank so I removed some of the channel with a dremel so it fit better and I sanded down the glass top a few mm so it would fit with the clip of the light snugly.

Specs:

Tank- standard 2.5g
Lighting- Fluval 13w clip on
Substrate- Safe-T-Sorb over a light dusting of peat moss on the bottom glass.

Flora:

Java moss on Malaysian driftwood and sandwiched between plastic canvas to hopefully form a moss wall.
Micro sword
HC

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nice

Thank you!

I didn't mention this before but, I have been getting some new moss growth coming out of the moss wall. So looks like it just might work out after-all.

I will update it tomorrow at some point with a weekly update as I'm doing a journal of this setup on another forum.

Hopefully it will come in nice and thick for you.

Thanks, I'm hoping so as well.

1 Week Update

Moss is starting to poke through the plastic canvas, here and there:

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Tank shots:

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