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My first planted tank, P@H cube

S

si-man

Member
Joined
3 Jun 2010
Messages
95
Decided that I wanted another fish tank (after owning a 180L fancy goldfish tank and a 90L marine tank)

Tank:
P@H 27L cube

Light:
11w that came with the tank

Filter:
Eheim 2213 with substrat pro and efimech, blue and fine filter pads

Heater:
Aquael Neo heater 50w

Substrate:
3kg or so of Fluval Shrimp stratum

Hardscape:
redmoor root
2kg of TGM Blue rock

Plants:
Eleocharis Parvula (3x pots)
Hygrophila corymbosa (3 x pots)
Pogostemon helferi (2 x pots)
Limnobium laevigatum (handful)
Java moss (currently growing it under a 60w daylight bulb)

Ferts:

1.5ml tpn+ daily (advise if wrong please)
1.5ml easycarbo daily (advise if wrong please)

Tank is only a week old and currently cycling with bottled ammonia. Test results today show

Ammonia 8ppm
Nitrite 1ppm
Nitrate 10ppm
GH 5
KH 3
Temp 23

Excuse the rubbish photos, even though my phone takes stupidly good photos, the tank light tends to drown it out. Any info or anything you would change, fire away as this is my first experience with a planted setup. Waiting atleast 2 months to add shrimp, thinking of some neons for the fish when the cycle finishes.

Front tank shot
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Angle shot
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Moss growing set up :p
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Day 18 of the cycle, not long to go now. As of today:

Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0.25
Nitrate - 40
Ph - 6.4

The fluval shrimp stratum seems to be doing a good job. Keeps the pH around 6.4 - 6.6, gh 5, and kh 3. Hair grass is starting to pop up in different places now after giving it a good trim and the hygro has loads of new leaves and is growing pretty fast. Got like a fluffy algae growing on parts of the hairgrass, putting that down to flow though. If I use the spray bar, turns the tank into a washing machine. Going to try a wide jet and see what that does.
 
Tank fully cycled yesterday so went and got myself some inhabitants for the tank today. Got myself 4 CRS (guy thought they were cherries so got them cheap! :lol: ) and 4 guppies that I forgot the names of. Not sure on the grade of shrimp, photo isn't brilliant, it's a bright red in person.

2011-09-19142213.jpg


2011-09-19140324.jpg
 
Finally got the TMC 400 tile on the tank and boy what a difference. The moss has grown like crazy so just given it a haircut and the hair grass has gone from a brown colour back to a nice green. This light is very bright, this is on 40% with an Aquaray controller. Hopefully the Hygrophila corymbosa will benefit from this light as the P@H one was pretty poor and caused the majority of it to die off.

Now dosing 3 squirts of TPN+ and 3 squirts of easy carbo daily. Temped to go CO2 as I have a bottle I bought cheap off here but unsure yet, bought on a whim :p

The guppies didn't like the low gh and kh and unfortunately hit the bucket so now I'm left with amano and crs which I prefer.

AUTO shot. Shimmer effect is brilliant in a dark room.
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ISO200
20111204_171919.jpg



20111204_173136.jpg


Top Shot
20111204_175232.jpg


Shimp
20111204_175828.jpg
 
Looks nice mate, currently setting up my P@H cube at work to house my CRS, how much was that light? cheers
 
£65 for light, £60 for controller and £20 for the mount. Light and controller were birthday presents. Needs more plants though, had lot melt or die off as im pretty new to all this.
 
My crs has had babies! Counted around 10 so far. Well excited, they are about the size of ants so far.
 
Excuse the rubbish photo. Phone didnt want to focus as its that small! My substrate is fluval shrimp stratum for comparison.

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This is well cool, well done.

I recieved one of these lights through the post today. The controller is due any time now (crossed fingers for a Saturday delivery). Had to get it up and running just to see the effect though. It is ace, and bright, just as you said.
Your aquascape is better than mine, well done, that is a cool tank, and thanks for posting too! You have given me some ball park parameters on the ferts, as my tank is not much smaller than yours.

once again well done from Bill.
 
With the ferts, 3 squirts = 3ml incase you were wondering. Going to be upgrading to co2 injection in the new year. Already got a pub gas bottle that weighs a tonne, just need the rest of the bits.
 
Nice one mate, congrats on the crs baby.

How much are those lights?
 
Been naughty and bought another 27 cube from pets@home today. Don't come with the light now but for £28 cant complain :p had 3 27l and 2 14l left at the Blackpool store.
 
Is like 4 posts back. £65 light, £60 controller and £20 bracket.
 
Great, i have exactly the same cube and everyone ive seen so far looks about 2489643 x better than mine, im great at researching, not so great at scaping haha! Looks great btw!
 
The baby shrimplets didn't do very get at the old survival game. Not sure if it was the substrate as ive read on an american forum that baby shrimp don't survive with the fluval shrimp stratum. Ive seen one out of about the 30 and that's it :( Got rid of a lot of the hair grass as it just wasn't doing anything. Just waiting on the money to get a regulator for a 6kg co2 bottle I have, then ill be using that set-up. Tempted to do a Java moss carpet at the front now as the foreground is looking a bit sparse and I have loads of the stuff in a jar on the windowsill :)
 
Sorry about the shrimps. Maybe cherries would be hardier if you are looking to breed some?
Bought one of the LED lights myself after seeing your pics. Your set up inspires me greatly, so try not to get too down about the little niggling problems, keep it joyful.

All the best from Bill.
 
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