should this work?

[Prometheus]

tell me, if you will please, if yall see any flaws in the setup.

2.5 gallon tank
nano filter
white aquarium sand
piece of bogwood
java lance fern or java fern (which ever is availablie)
java moss
dwarf hairgrass
6 MTS
1 ramshorn snail
possibly "common" snails if they come in on the plants
glass top lid
lighting, something like an incandescent aquarium bulb at 15 watts.
wall socket timer for lights set to go on at 8 am and off at 5 pm

feeding hikari sinking wafers once a week

20% or so water change every 2 weeks at the earliest possible once a month.

i am leaving out a thermometer and heater. are they necessary? i really want this to look pretty so extra stuff like that will be avoided if possible, should this tank be stable? will the plants get enough food or should it be dosed with fertz? this is to be an extremely low maintenance tank.

i am concerned about this growing algae. as i said this is to be a very low maintenance tank. i want it to get running and then be left alone only to do water changes and the occasional pruning, perhaps once a month, maybe once every 2 weeks, and still look pretty.

oh, and tell me about Anubias. how big does it get, how fast does it grow, any specieal needs other than that it gets anchored to the wood like the others, would it be ok to add it to a tank like this?

 

[Lupin]

Get compact fluorescent light. Incandescents give off too much heat. You don't want the tank temperature soaring too high for the inverts to handle.

 

[Prometheus]

ok, i can do that. anything else that needs to be changed?

i dont know what the pH is out of the tap.

would anubias be ok in this tank as well?

 

[yikesjason]

The florescent is a must. Incandescent does not give the right type of light for plants to grow. Even with the florescent, make sure you get the daylight kind.
Anubius is a pretty easy plant to grow. You shouldn't have too much problem there. The one plant you might have a hard time growing is the hairgrass.
Some liquid fertilizer would be a big help. For your size, a small bottle of flourish for less than $10 would last you at least a year. It only takes a little bit a couple of times a week. Without it, the plants are going to run out of nutrients and you can run into problems.
As for algae, it happens. But you should be able to take care of it pretty easily with this set up. Excel can be a simple solution. It is a simple replacement for co2 and it also kills algae. Unfortunately it can also kill moss.

 

[Prometheus]

thanks, i thought about setting this up and giving it to a friend for Christmas. still not sure its something they would really want though, might be what I would want lol. if nothing else iv been considering getting some assassin snails and getting them a little tank to themselves. i might end up giving this to myself instead lol.

 

[Lupin]

Are you going to mix the MTS and ramshorns with the assassins?

 

[WyldFya]

Few issues. First, the ramshorn... what type, if it is columbian ramshorn, he will make your planted tank a buffet. Next, most of the plants you selected will grow too large for your tank size, pick smaller, and slower growing plants. Last, your lighting (as mentioned) will not work.

 

[msjinkzd]

If you already have the incandescent hood, you may be able to use the screw in Compact flourescent bulbs. Lights of america make some that are thinner and easier to fit into aquarium hoods. Also, white sand wouldnt' be my choice as it will show any algae (especially diatoms in a new setup) or poop from inhabitants.

 

[Prometheus]

well not the ramshorn because i like those, but yes, the MTS would go in with the assassin snails

as far as plants getting too big. i thought it would just get pruned from time to time. like a real garden. also, smaller plants? like what? i thought those were about the smallest available.

black sand would be better, i wouldnt want that poop showing up.

hey, and i could always just use RO water make it a cherry shrimp breeding tank too! im not about to buy an RO unit but i think i remember being able to buy it at lfs. if its for a tank as small as this it might be economical to buy the water for it.

 

[msjinkzd]

You don't need ro water for cherry shrimp. they like hard water. If you are thinking crystal red shrimp, they need softer water.

As for plants, I like needleleaf java fern and anubias petite as well in small tanks. They are low light, low requirement plants which are not fast growers.