Nano 2.0: First attempt with sand substrate

[wyldKard]

Well here it is. My uncle recently brought me a big plastic bag of sand and I decided to redo my nano with it as substrate plus a new piece of driftwood i got from a recent plant show.

Was too excited working on it and as usual forgot to take pics of each step so here's what I got.

 

[GhostShrimpMan]

Sweet! Will look even more sweet once the water clears.

What are your stocking plans?

 

[bigbadfish711]

Awesome looking tank. How many gallons is it? And what ya gonna put in it?

 

[wyldKard]

thanks guys!

this is an 11 gallon tank 18" x 12" x 12", and i'm planning to add more plants by the next upcoming days. i'm thinking of adding vallisneria on the back right corner on top of the mini mound (the one seen on the first pic, but surely needs trimming), a carpet of crystal wort (the round flat stones with hairnet) on selected patches on the sand, and some small cryptocorynes.

fish would be the existing tenants of the tank, 10 neon tetras. planning of adding 10 more of them of if the budget allows, another different species of tetras.

lighting is a 32 led lamp.

 

[bigbadfish711]

Nice make sure you update with lots of pics please

 

[wyldKard]

i will, no doubt about that. itching to get the new plants already.

 

[Liquidplants]

Any updates M8? i would love to see a shot with the tetras.

 

[LBathory]

you've got a good eye for planted hardscapes. I'm excited to see updates.

 

[Saltydapleco]

Did you have to build up the hill area under the driftwood with another material? I always have trouble getting sand to stay where I want it.

 

[wyldKard]

@Liquidplants some shots after the tetras were placed in the tank:

that tetra's dorsal and caudal fins seem to have some kind of fin rot? am treating with ocean free's general aid special.

something's wrong with my digital camera so this is a phone pic.

@LBathory thanks for the kind words, this piece of driftwood was bought from a local plant show 2 months ago, cost me about $3

delivery of the plants have been delayed for about a week so i'm expecting them by friday, and for sure there will be pics over the weekend.

@Saltydapleco: yes I did. If you look closely at the large amber colored rock next to the driftwood, there are also a few more rocks protruding from the sand, those I used to build the structure of the hill and then poured in the sand.

The amber rock is also a means to sink the driftwood, as it is wedged at the base of it. Will take a pic of the wood showing the wedge when I will work on the new additions when the plants arrive.

Am working on a new blog post for my site aquageek.me for a detail "story" of this project!