I have had a D-D NanoCube 24 for a couple of years now and it has been great for plants as the lighting levels out of the box are really high (2 x 36W T5) and the internal filter has a great capacity, seeing as it can also be used as a marine tank. My previous planting as seen below, was a bit hectic; you know, bought a standard set of plants online so that you get lots of species, and just stuck them in without much thought except small at front, large at back.
Great for a "jungle" effect, but not so good for anything else. Everything was beginning to look a bit tired and the substrate needed replacing ( this photo was taken a few months ago and you can already see the leaves of the sword are beginning to curl due to nutrient deficiencies - then I got the dreaded crypt melt when I changed a bulb) so I thought I would re-do the scaping. I was inspired by visiting the ukaps stand at the Festival of Fishkeeping a few weeks ago and go for a bit more minimalism this time.
So, temporarily moved my fish to a spare tank and began to remove everything except the filter media and some of the existing substrate to give it a good start in life.
Had trouble finding some good stone at my LFS, so not quite as happy with the hardscaping as I would like. Pieces labelled the same stone at the shop turned out to be two different shades when I got them wet at home and I would have liked at least one more smaller stone to balance the layout, but you have to start somewhere! I have used a dark coarse sand above Colombo Florigrow nutriplus (and some of the existing substrate). The internal filter means that I have a black background, so wanted to see how well bright green plants would stand out in front of a dark substrate too.
After doing the hardscape, my plants from The Green Machine arrived a few days later: 5 pots of Hemianthus "cuba", 3 of Eleocharis parvula and 3 of Rotala rotundifolia. Had taken a little bit of advice from George at the APS stand on planting the HC carpet. Got everything ready, plantlets on the board, tweezers and mister in hand etc, but was much harder than expected! After one week, the plants seem to be settling in though the plantlets were a bit too large really! Nitrate levels are a little high at the moment (50ppm), as I had to put the fish back sooner than I should. No nitrites or ammonia 2 weeks later though, so the existing filter media and substrate must be doing their job.
I have a pressurised CO2 system with 3 bubbles per sec at the moment. I am also trying to find a new home for my swordtails and siamese fighter, leaving just a simple shoal of lampeyes to keep the minimalist aesthetic. Apologies for the slightly blurry photos. Have just got a new camera this week and am only just getting used to it.
Have not started putting in any fertiliser yet, after reading various things on the forums. Any advice for a new member on this topic would be greatly appreciated. When should I start dosing, which one to use......I already have a bottle of Floraboost from an Interpet competition I won a month or so ago. Is it any good and should I dose once a week as suggested, or would it be better to do a small dose everyday?
Cheers,
Elliot Carter (Enviroman)
Great for a "jungle" effect, but not so good for anything else. Everything was beginning to look a bit tired and the substrate needed replacing ( this photo was taken a few months ago and you can already see the leaves of the sword are beginning to curl due to nutrient deficiencies - then I got the dreaded crypt melt when I changed a bulb) so I thought I would re-do the scaping. I was inspired by visiting the ukaps stand at the Festival of Fishkeeping a few weeks ago and go for a bit more minimalism this time.
So, temporarily moved my fish to a spare tank and began to remove everything except the filter media and some of the existing substrate to give it a good start in life.
Had trouble finding some good stone at my LFS, so not quite as happy with the hardscaping as I would like. Pieces labelled the same stone at the shop turned out to be two different shades when I got them wet at home and I would have liked at least one more smaller stone to balance the layout, but you have to start somewhere! I have used a dark coarse sand above Colombo Florigrow nutriplus (and some of the existing substrate). The internal filter means that I have a black background, so wanted to see how well bright green plants would stand out in front of a dark substrate too.
After doing the hardscape, my plants from The Green Machine arrived a few days later: 5 pots of Hemianthus "cuba", 3 of Eleocharis parvula and 3 of Rotala rotundifolia. Had taken a little bit of advice from George at the APS stand on planting the HC carpet. Got everything ready, plantlets on the board, tweezers and mister in hand etc, but was much harder than expected! After one week, the plants seem to be settling in though the plantlets were a bit too large really! Nitrate levels are a little high at the moment (50ppm), as I had to put the fish back sooner than I should. No nitrites or ammonia 2 weeks later though, so the existing filter media and substrate must be doing their job.
I have a pressurised CO2 system with 3 bubbles per sec at the moment. I am also trying to find a new home for my swordtails and siamese fighter, leaving just a simple shoal of lampeyes to keep the minimalist aesthetic. Apologies for the slightly blurry photos. Have just got a new camera this week and am only just getting used to it.
Have not started putting in any fertiliser yet, after reading various things on the forums. Any advice for a new member on this topic would be greatly appreciated. When should I start dosing, which one to use......I already have a bottle of Floraboost from an Interpet competition I won a month or so ago. Is it any good and should I dose once a week as suggested, or would it be better to do a small dose everyday?
Cheers,
Elliot Carter (Enviroman)