Rescaping My Uns 45u (dsm)

So after months of working 7 days a week, 12 hours a day, I am finally done and able to focus on my tanks some more before school starts back!

I decided to completely overhaul my rimless 9 gallon UNS tank. Algae, poor plant growth and lots of bare space made it an eyesore... not to mention my ADF kept kicking up any plants I attemped.

I have kept most of the hardscape intact, including the majority of the Christmas moss. It was in poor shape when it arrived, I'm hoping the dry start conditions help it flourish. I am also keeping all the original aquasoil but have topped it off a bit in places.

I am carpeting the entire tank in Monte Carlo, and once it has filled in I will fill the tank and add CO² at a high concentration, gradually dialing it back before adding stock. Lighting is a Chihiros A451.

I'm thinking either Orange Sakura or Tiger shrimp!

 

I just bought a tinger shrimp today! So pretty!
To be honest I'd add both xD
That tank is so beautiful! What is the black topper? I feel like I already know, but also don't...
Didn't think the moss was actually still alive when it dried like that, good to know! I also didn't really know monte carlo would be okay dry either!

 

I just bought a tinger shrimp today! So pretty!
To be honest I'd add both xD
That tank is so beautiful! What is the black topper? I feel like I already know, but also don't...
Didn't think the moss was actually still alive when it dried like that, good to know! I also didn't really know monte carlo would be okay dry either!

Might end up getting both!

The black substrate is extra-fine Controsoil, really good for plant growth and easy to aquascape with.

"Dry-start" just means the tank isn't full of water, but you have to keep everything humid and moist. I have plastic cling film over the top of the tank and mist it once a day with distilled water. This way, plants grow much faster and without algae, at the expense of requiring heavy CO2 once the tank is filled.

 

Update: Added bonsaI driftwood. Looking to attach some minI bucephalandra to it once I fill the tank, unless anyone can suggest a different plant that would look good!

 

Love it! I wish I had the patience and budget to drystart a tank. I love a lush carpet, but don't know enough about co2 or have the additional to do one, so all my tanks are lowtech.

 

Love it! I wish I had the patience and budget to drystart a tank. I love a lush carpet, but don't know enough about co2 or have the additional to do one, so all my tanks are lowtech.

Honestly CO2 isn't difficult, it's just an extra variable to consider along with light and nutrients.

 

Honestly CO2 isn't difficult, it's just an extra variable to consider along with light and nutrients.

It's a little harder around here I think because I already have very acidic soft water naturally, so there's very little buffer to keep my pH stable unless I'm very careful with additional KH supplementing. It's less of a difficulty for me than it is that it is a lot of extra work and budget that I'm not sure I have.
Plus tbh all the different equipment and testing is confusing to me, I need like a "CO2 guide for complete dipshits".

 

It's a little harder around here I think because I already have very acidic soft water naturally, so there's very little buffer to keep my pH stable unless I'm very careful with additional KH supplementing. It's less of a difficulty for me than it is that it is a lot of extra work and budget that I'm not sure I have.
Plus tbh all the different equipment and testing is confusing to me, I need like a "CO2 guide for complete dipshits".

I'm running it on a tank with 0 KH and a pH of 6.4, drops down to almost 5.0 at peak hours

But I gotcha. Honestly I just like the extra challenge!

 

Update on the progress of the dry start, it's getting close to being ready for flooding and CO2!

 

I'm running it on a tank with 0 KH and a pH of 6.4, drops down to almost 5.0 at peak hours

But I gotcha. Honestly I just like the extra challenge!

See I like snails too much, so I would need to keep the pH so much higher than that. It would work if I only wanted to keep low pH inhabitants, but my favorites all seem to best at 6.8-7. Though if I somehow come into the money for it, I'm considering redoing my 10 gallon for it, the problem ends up being rehoming some of my mystery snails and finding the inhabitants for a neat 10gal with low pH.

 

See I like snails too much, so I would need to keep the pH so much higher than that. It would work if I only wanted to keep low pH inhabitants, but my favorites all seem to best at 6.8-7. Though if I somehow come into the money for it, I'm considering redoing my 10 gallon for it, the problem ends up being rehoming some of my mystery snails and finding the inhabitants for a neat 10gal with low pH.

If it makes you feel better I removed CO2 from that tank for my shrimp's wellbeing.

If you have an adequate KH you don't need to worry about your snails.

 

OK, my guess is that I can go ahead and flood the tank and start pumping CO2. I would love your opinion, -Mak- and Vishaquatics (Koiman) !

Also, thoughts on lowering the light intensity and duration? Once flooded I will add a generous portion of salvinia to the tank as well.

Front View:


Top Down:

 

OK, my guess is that I can go ahead and flood the tank and start pumping CO2. I would love your opinion, -Mak- and Vishaquatics (Koiman) !

Also, thoughts on lowering the light intensity and duration? Once flooded I will add a generous portion of salvinia to the tank as well.

Front View:
View attachment 556515
Top Down:
View attachment 556516

I’d start the photo period at 7 hours and gradually increase it to 9 hours. It looks really great right now, it’ll look epic when flooded!

 

Welp... was about to set up the filtration and flood the tank, and my brother stepped on my glass inflow pipe and crushed it!

Oh well, gonna have to wait a few more days now.

 

I love the rock scape!! Really interesting to look at. Like mentioned 6-7 hours at first and a bit lower intensity if the light is dimmable.

 

Finished!!

 

-Mak- currently I have the CO2 cranked up very high, how gradually should I turn it down until it reaches safe levels for fish?

PS - Disregard the betta, I added him temporarily to make sure the flow was not too strong. He's safe now in a temporary tank.

 

-Mak- currently I have the CO2 cranked up very high, how gradually should I turn it down until it reaches safe levels for fish?

PS - Disregard the betta, I added him temporarily to make sure the flow was not too strong. He's safe now in a temporary tank.

Tbh I’m not sure that anything over 40 ppm gives drastic improvements on growth. In the past I’ve kind of turned it down over a week’s time, but I don’t really plan it out, I kind of just adjust when I remember to haha.

 

Just stumbled upon this thread because I ordered the same tank today and was curious if anyone on here had the same one.

Your tank is so inspiring! Can’t wait to see what you do with it!

Co2 scares me, but I’m really tempted to try a Dutch aquarium in this tank.

Into the wormhole of research I go...

 

Just stumbled upon this thread because I ordered the same tank today and was curious if anyone on here had the same one.

Your tank is so inspiring! Can’t wait to see what you do with it!

Co2 scares me, but I’m really tempted to try a Dutch aquarium in this tank.

Into the wormhole of research I go...

How it looks as of trimming a few days ago

 

How it looks as of trimming a few days ago View attachment 561344

So gorgeous! What do you have in there? I think I see a couple guppies?

Your carpet is absolute goals.

 

So gorgeous! What do you have in there? I think I see a couple guppies?

Your carpet is absolute goals.

Six guppies at the moment and an unknown quantity of MTS and ramshorn snails. After the tank has matured for a few more weeks I'm adding shrimp.

My dry start was so successful I recommended it for any tank that will have a carpet (Monte Carlo and DHG would be the least demanding). CO2 is basically a necessity but it honestly isn't that difficult if you don't make it too complicated.

 

Six guppies at the moment and an unknown quantity of MTS and ramshorn snails. After the tank has matured for a few more weeks I'm adding shrimp.

My dry start was so successful I recommended it for any tank that will have a carpet (Monte Carlo and DHG would be the least demanding). CO2 is basically a necessity but it honestly isn't that difficult if you don't make it too complicated.

Honestly, I respect your patience so much but I am probably one of the least patient beings on planet earth.

If I got my tank set up and had to wait any longer than absolutely necessary to get my new betta I would probably explode (hence why I’ve been prepping extra media in my tank to speed up cycling).

Any carpeting or carpet-like plants you can recommend for a hopelessly impatient gal like me? Haha

 

Honestly, I respect your patience so much but I am probably one of the least patient beings on planet earth.

If I got my tank set up and had to wait any longer than absolutely necessary to get my new betta I would probably explode (hence why I’ve been prepping extra media in my tank to speed up cycling).

Any carpeting or carpet-like plants you can recommend for a hopelessly impatient gal like me? Haha

I've learned that rushing things usually leads to wasted money and unnecessary headaches.

The fastest growing one that would work in smaller scale tanks is probably pearlweed, but without CO2 it just grows vertically. You can still get a carpet by trimming and replanting but it takes a long time.

 

I've learned that rushing things usually leads to wasted money and unnecessary headaches.

The fastest growing one that would work in smaller scale tanks is probably pearlweed, but without CO2 it just grows vertically. You can still get a carpet by trimming and replanting but it takes a long time.

Ugh, I know you’re right and I hate it. Lol

All good things take time I suppose.

I already have chronic migraines so I probably should do my best to avoid unnecessary headaches!

How long did it take to dry start the Monte Carlo before you could immerse it? (Sorry if that’s obvious from the above posts)

 

Ugh, I know you’re right and I hate it. Lol

All good things take time I suppose.

I already have chronic migraines so I probably should do my best to avoid unnecessary headaches!

How long did it take to dry start the Monte Carlo before you could immerse it? (Sorry if that’s obvious from the above posts)

My dry start took about 4 weeks, but your mileage may vary depending on substrate, humidity, lighting, plants you choose, etc.

 

My dry start took about 4 weeks, but your mileage may vary depending on substrate, humidity, lighting, plants you choose, etc.

Oh gosh... I was planning on about 60% uns contrasoil for the plants but I also want some sand, because I want some pygmy cories.

For a light I’m thinking of the 450ea twinstar but still don’t know if that’s overkill or not.

Plant-wise I’m open minded but like the Dutch look and definitely would want a carpet plant and some stem plants with some color variety in the background.

Have no idea what type of equipment I would need if I did co2 so any advice for this tank would be super appreciated!

 

Oh gosh... I was planning on about 60% uns contrasoil for the plants but I also want some sand, because I want some pygmy cories.

For a light I’m thinking of the 450ea twinstar but still don’t know if that’s overkill or not.

Plant-wise I’m open minded but like the Dutch look and definitely would want a carpet plant and some stem plants with some color variety in the background.

Have no idea what type of equipment I would need if I did co2 so any advice for this tank would be super appreciated!

If you want a sandy area that's fine. Sand isn't required for corydoras though and if you want a Dutch aquascape which are very high maintenance you might want to think twice about getting bottom feeders that spend all day rooting around as Dutch style requires frequent replanting, which would lead to plants constantly getting dug up.

Twinstar makes very good (and expensive) lights. Not sure if they have adjustable intensity settings or the option to use a power ramp switch, but you'll almost certainly need CO2. I use Chihiros A Series lights as the are very low profile, inexpensive and have 6 intensity settings.

With Dutch you want almost exclusively stem plants in shades of green, red, orange and purple. High lighting, CO2 and nutrient rich substrate are not optional if you desire to achieve the level of color and density of growth seen in this style if aquascaping. You want to reserve your carpet to a small area in the front so attention is focused on the colors and textures of stem plants.

Vishaquatics (Koiman) has a list of necessary CO2 items that won't break the bank.

 

If you want a sandy area that's fine. Sand isn't required for corydoras though and if you want a Dutch aquascape which are very high maintenance you might want to think twice about getting bottom feeders that spend all day rooting around as Dutch style requires frequent replanting, which would lead to plants constantly getting dug up.

Twinstar makes very good (and expensive) lights. Not sure if they have adjustable intensity settings or the option to use a power ramp switch, but you'll almost certainly need CO2. I use Chihiros A Series lights as the are very low profile, inexpensive and have 6 intensity settings.

With Dutch you want almost exclusively stem plants in shades of green, red, orange and purple. High lighting, CO2 and nutrient rich substrate are not optional if you desire to achieve the level of color and density of growth seen in this style if aquascaping. You want to reserve your carpet to a small area in the front so attention is focused on the colors and textures of stem plants.

Vishaquatics (Koiman) has a list of necessary CO2 items that won't break the bank.

Thanks for all the help!

I’m definitely going to do some more research before I decide what I want to with the tank.

I like a challenge, but would prefer not to fail miserably.