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Deja cube & the wild bunch

Laoshan

Member
Joined
14 Jun 2013
Messages
98
Hi fellows and ladies,

From this point I would like to journal the progress of my 30 cm office cube (previously seen in the planted tank gallery section) and my 45 cm tank in the living room. Amateur level throughout!

The cube has just been rescaped with plants I already had and a bit of fresh aquasoil. I decided to put a Bucephalandra in the center. Theia red. It was pressing against the front pane, that’s why the leaves are tilted forward! Hopefully it will regain it’s posture now that it has more space to grow.

The 45 cm tank is improving in terms of plant growth but still suffering from BGA. More details and photos coming soon!

I run both tanks with CO2 injection and medium intensity lighting.

Deja Cube


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Wild bunch

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Plant list
Rotala rotundifolia
Rotala yao yai
Limnophila sp. Vietnam
Nymphaea lotus
Cryptocoryne Tropica
Cryptocoryne costata
Cyperus helferi
Hygrophila siamensis 53b
Cryptocoryne wendtii brown
Cryptocoryne petchii pink
Cryptocoryne purpurea
Cryptocoryne nevelii
Lilaeopsis novaezelandiae
Eleocharis parvula
Hygrophila pinnatifida
Microsorum pteroptus mini
Bucephalandra broad leaf
Bucephalandra blue green
Hydrocotyle leucocephala
Hygrorhyza aristata (thanks Mort)
 
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After a trim for the rotalas. Maybe I will take them out at one point to make room for more carpet. The tank feels quite stuffy already and the planted list is excessively long. This has a number of causes (I can explain), among which some species not doing so well at first and rebounding, and me trying to increase the plant mass during a very long BGA outbreak. The BGA did disappear after adding more plants and decreasing light intensity. And adding floaters. Blackouts and magic potions (Easy Life etc.) did not do much for me. On the contrary I think that the light shock after blackout caused plant melt (mainly crypts) and in turn more BGA.

Shrimps are berried so hoping for more babies soon. They do a tremendous job cleaning up all types of algae. Thanks for watching!

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the planted list is excessively long.
No such thing! 😄
Its almost an iwagumi by collectoritis standards 😁

Also ordered some Centrolepsis Drummondia “Blood vomit” for in the left foreground. Now the algorithm seems to think I am into death metal!
This is the funniest thing ive read all week, thank you for this :lol:
 
centrolepis drummondiana is a pretty cool plant. not that difficult, just decent light and co2 and it grows.
 
centrolepis drummondiana is a pretty cool plant. not that difficult, just decent light and co2 and it grows.

Thanks for the info. I worried a bit that it might need RO or something. My tap water has around 4 dKH so I hope that is soft enough. Can’t deal with an RO system at the moment and I would feel guilty for the waste of water. Would love to have a black water tank at one point though.
 
Thanks for the info. I worried a bit that it might need RO or something. My tap water has around 4 dKH so I hope that is soft enough. Can’t deal with an RO system at the moment and I would feel guilty for the waste of water. Would love to have a black water tank at one point though.
4dkh is borderline, tiny bit outside its optimal range. could do great though!
 
Dark tank side shot, is that also an instagram thing? This tank is growing in. Rotalas looking healthy but they could color up a bit more. Also not as dense as could be. But am uneasy at turning up the light even more. It is a Twinstar S currently at 70% for 8 hours. Hair grass and lilaeopsis carpet is messy but improving.

I need to do some serious trimming. I have a lotus in there and some crypts which may be simply to big for this tank (45p).

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how is the blood vomit fairing? love the lily! its gorgeous. and tank aswell ofcourse:)
 
Thanks 🙏

The blood vomit seems to have settled in. It is not quite red, perhaps due to the water parameters or not enough light at the substrate. But I need to give it some more time!

I have a dense mat of floating plants (Hydrocotyle leucocephala, Hygrorhyza aristata, Phyllanthus fluitans). So it is easy to increase light by removing some floaters.
 
After a trim and stem reset

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I am hoping the Rotalas will colour up a bit this time. Aiming for a denser carpet. Upped the light a bit.

Also got a new Crepidomanes sp from a hobbyist trader nearby 👍. It’s a messy tank but leaves room to improve here and there.
 
It’s a very pretty little tank isn’t it?
If you were nearer, or I closer, you could have had some of my p gayi, it’d fit in perfectly in that central gap.
 
Thanks @Garuf! That’s a kind offer. If I were nearer I would definitely go to the Tivoli one time.

I actually had P Gayi in my cube tank. It got lost in the rescape just a few weeks ago. Too bad because it’s a pretty plant. I should have kept it.

The cube scape is suffering a brown fuzzy algae outbreak. Kind of nasty. I might empty it soon.
 
After rearranging once more. I have some BBA on the Cyperus helferi. That one is hard to grow algae free isn’t it?



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image.jpg


Meanwhile the floating grass in the cube has grown interesting chubby stems. It almost looks tasty. And as you can see my Duckweed Index is contaminated with… duckweed. Will need some work to clean up. The cube needs work anyhow. After most algae have subsided it is unfortunately completely out of shape.

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Apologies for the low res photos. One day I will learn to use a real camera. Could be a good epitaph?
 
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12/06/2022

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  • Removed the C. helferi and most of the stems. Rehomed the floating plants. Tank needed better flow. Next up is a carpet trim.
  • Treated wood and buces with gluteraldehyde to get rid of BBA.
  • Growth is pretty okay. The Microsorum and brown Cryptocoryne and the right are overtaking a bit. I use small pieces of Bucephalandra Blue Green on the wood to add more points of interest. A real focal point is missing unfortunately. Lesson for the next scape.
  • In other news I am going to try to hatch Clown killie eggs. Epiplatys annulatus. Pics coming soon. Or not, if they don’t hatch.

Cheers!
 
Hi all,
Meanwhile the floating grass in the cube has grown interesting chubby stems.
They are "inflated sheaths" and they act as floats.
And as you can see my Duckweed Index is contaminated with… duckweed.
<"It is a p.i.t.a."> I'm assuming that it (the Lemna minor) was a bit yellow because of the soft water, both Hygrorhyza aristata and Phyllanthus fluitans looked healthy.

cheers Darrel
 
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