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Reditus (return)

Wolf6

Member
Joined
18 Dec 2014
Messages
958
Location
Netherlands
While saving up for a larger main tank I decided to start up my old dennerle nano cube again. Last weekend I finished the cabinet, please dont judge :facepalm: I'm no carpenter, but I needed a cabinet with slider doors that could in theory hold the weight of my 180l tank easily. We wanted slider doors, because its right behind our working desks, and the kids will be keeping their boardgames and drawing stuff in the half I dont use for aquarium stuffs and should be able to get things out of there without us having to move the chairs because of stupid doors :). Last night I dug out the tank that had been stored on a shelf for the past 3 years. It still needs a clean, but it looks like it survived being stored for so long without too much damage. So, tech:

- 45x36x34 cm 55 l dennerle scapers tank/nano cube
- 1x dennerle Scapers light
- Pressurized co2, if my old set still works using disposable bottles.
- Eden 511 filter with heater (provided it doesnt leak and still works after being inactive for 3 years). Will probably use the spraybar, but I've got a lily pipe lying around as well.

Hardscape will probably be the seiryu rocks that I've still got lying around, together with some wood. I want an island scape with some sand around it, with the island in the back right corner, as I will be viewing it from my desk most of the time.
Soil, grit and sand will make up the substrate.
Plants: Havent fully decided, but I want mosses (fissidens and fontinalis), blyxa, hairgrass and probably rotala, and some anubias.
Livestock: No idea yet, but I might just end up moving my stock from my bigger tank into this one so I can sell that one and help pay for the bigger one :)
Ferts: Some form of all in 1 fert, I'm liking the tropica one this far on my main tank. I cba making my own from powders anymore :)

Included a pic of the tank 3 years ago, it had its own thread here too (green refuge). I'll probably get started with some hardscape layouts in the next few days and post the stuff I kind of like here for some feedback :)

dennerlenanocube.jpg dennerlenanocube2.jpg dennerlenanocube3.jpg greenrefugeending.JPG
 
First idea with 2 variations, leaving this one (var1) till tomorrow at least to see if I like it at various moments, and then try something different for a few days and hopefully find one that is best.

Version1, called var2 because I mixxed up the filenames
frontvar2.jpg sidevar2.jpg

Version 2:
frontvar1.jpg sidevar1.jpg

Open for all criticism and tips. Sand/soil would be a lot higher at the back then this, its just playsand for trying out (dont have a sandbox suited for testing :)). Planting would be rotala between back and wood/rock, blyxa between wood/right side, dwarf hair grass rightfront corner, fontinalis and anubias nana for some details here and there, and a few patches of fissidens growing on the wood, but also open for suggestions here. The rest would be sand.
 
Found some more pieces of azalea root I'd been saving, nice and dry, but I cant manage to get all the bark off. How bad is it if some bark remains? How do you remove it easily without damaging the wood? I'm not happy with the rock layout yet, especially the smaller rocks at the front will have to go. Do you guys think this layout has potential, or should I just start from scratch?

Frontvar3b.jpg


sidevar3.jpg

Frontvar3.jpg
 
Had to put this on hold for a few weeks while I had to focus on reorganising the garden that was getting overgrown :) But I got round to testing and cleaning my old filter last weekend. Alas, I ordered a new filter last night, the previous one (old Eden filter) had sprung a leak after not having been used for 3 years, and kept making noise/bubbles as if it was sucking in air. Ordered an Oase filtosmart 100, with build in heater. I thought to myself it looked a lot like the Eden filter. I then found out Eden had been bought by Oase, so no wonder they look so similar, it probably is the exact same filter :) But thats fine, the previous filter worked well for years, and no heater in the tank on a low budget makes this a no brainer for me. Also ordered some soil, baikal grit, sand, and some glassware.
I still have a glass diffusor that I havent used in 3 years, do you guys think it will still be fine to use, or should I just order a new one?
 
Looks great and diffuser should be fine put clean it in bleach solution and boiling water to be safe then use some seachem prime or somethkng similar to clean it afterwards

Sent from my SM-G970F using Tapatalk
 
I still have a glass diffusor that I havent used in 3 years, do you guys think it will still be fine to use, or should I just order a new one?

Deans suggestion is good. If it was stored clean and doesn’t need clearing out I usually just soak the diffuser in RO/distilled water for a couple of hours, then hook it up to the Co2 and give it a test @Wolf6
 
Looks great and diffuser should be fine put clean it in bleach solution and boiling water to be safe then use some seachem prime or somethkng similar to clean it afterwards

Sent from my SM-G970F using Tapatalk
Thanks, I'll definitely do that!
 
Plants are ordered, if they're here before the weekend, then saturday is the day I'll set it all up. Ordered the following:
- Hemianthus micranthemoides
- Ludwigia palustris
- Blyxa japonica
- Eleocharis acicularis 'Mini'
- Fissidens "miroshaki"
- Koraalmos Micro"
- Bucephalandra 'Brownie Helena'"
- Dwarf coral moss

and some floaters for startup.

And from my existing tank I'll be getting:
- Fissidens fontanus
- Fissidens fox
- Fontinalis antipyretica
- maybe monte carlo
- maybe anubias nana
- maybe hygrophila corymbosa

Almost :D
 
Most of the plants arrived, so I decided to finish mucking about and just settle for one layout. This is the end result. Just Blyxa missing on island, they didnt have it in stock.
Filled the empty space with some leftover dwarf hairgrass for now. Accidentally blew up some sand with the last waterchange, will fix that tonight with the next change, and even out the sand again.
Also broke my CO2 S-glass, gonna have to get another at some stage. The way the filter in/out is positioned means I cant put the glass plate down completely.
I might just make another cover out of acrylic or something thats a few cm shorter, or get/make raised holders. Dont want to risk it without a cover with the cats, its a bit too accesible where it is now. If these lights dont work out, I might get a small twinstar s or aqua medic qube light. But since I still had these, I figured I'd try this first before spending even more money :)

Full frontal:
overview front.jpg

closeup grass.jpg
side.jpg
corner overview.jpg
 

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First signs of growth of the hemianthus and mosses, and Ludwigia starting to get red tops. Cycling since Sunday. Might add some sacrificial shrimp at the end of the week as I have countless in the other tank.
 

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2 weeks in, the blyxa has arrived at last and its planted, going to take a while for it to grow to size. I've pruned the ludwigia and replanted the tops for the first time. Hemianthus growing well, everything seems to be growing, had one patch of bba that I spot treated which seems to have worked, and thats about it. I think it came with a moss I ordered and must have missed it when planting, as it was growing on top of the moss. Minimal diatoms. I've added 3 cherry shrimp, they seem happy enough this far. I've also discovered a few uninvited guests, can anyone ID this type of snail? They move about fast and also like to float across the surface, I've never had these in my tank before. They remind me of apple snails with the long feelers and the floating, but the shape of their house is different. If its a type that breeds fast I'll remove some, as I've discovered 5 this far.
I'm down to water changes twice a week (coming from daily in week 1, once every other day in week 2). I've started to think about livestock, I'm thinking some nano cory's (8 or so) and maybe some microrasbora (10 ish), but I'm not decided on those yet. And of course a few amano shrimp (5) and 3 otos. Anyone else have suggestions for the main group fish for a small size tank like this? I've had kubotai in the past, which I loved, but I want something else this time round.
 

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Forgot a frontal shot as I mostly view it from the side. Blyxa is planted between the hairgrass near the twinstar behind the rock. Seeing a few new leaves already I think. Also discovered more critters somehow got into the tank. Cyclops and some tiny wormlike things.
20201103_123609.jpg
 
Looking great.
I think it may be a ramshorn snail.
Harmless but some don’t like them. I don’t mind a snail :)
 
Tank is looking really nice @Wolf6 - agree with Ady, looks like a Ramshorn. I have some in my tank that @dw1305 helped me ID. They end up with really thin transparent shells as in your image, presumably due to the acidity of the CO2 injected water.

As a result they don't tend to live too long sadly. I found that in my tank their population was somewhat self controlling almost to the point of rarely seeming them, due I suspect to the shell attrition mentioned above, and also the lack of available food in a fairly well maintained tank. Also consider that they are good algae eaters, so personally I'd encourage them rather than remove them.
 
I'm down to water changes twice a week (coming from daily in week 1, once every other day in week 2). I've started to think about livestock, I'm thinking some nano cory's (8 or so) and maybe some microrasbora (10 ish), but I'm not decided on those yet. And of course a few amano shrimp (5) and 3 otos. Anyone else have suggestions for the main group fish for a small size tank like this? I've had kubotai in the past, which I loved, but I want something else this time round.
I love so called 'nano' fish - they're a preference of mine.

If you're going for dwarf Cories I can recommend Hasborsus (Salt and Pepper Cories) - I've just added a picture of mine to my journal here. They stay on the bottom like the bigger Cories do. Pygmaeus and Hastatus tend to spend a lot more of their time hanging with the tetras in the mid-water.

As for top level fish, Chilli's are always a nice option if you have softer water, or, as you've got a lid and floating plants, perhaps some dwarf pencil fish (Nannostomus marginatus) - I'd have had some of those if I were using a lid, but I think they'd jump from an open top.

Mid-water you've got lots of choice. Assuming you don't want to go as large as mainstream tetra (Cardinals, Black Neons etc) Kubotai would have been one of my recommendations - again I've just got some myself, and they are beautiful fish with bags of character. Embers are a nano staple of course, or you could look for some Tucano Tetra (Tucanoichthys Tucano) if you can find some and stomach the price. Yellow Phantom Tetra (Hyphessobrycon Roseus) are another choice that stays below 3cm, if you want a more silvery fish. For a different body shape Gold Ring Danios (Danio Tinwini) are really pretty and stay small (again, if you can find them and have softer water).
 
Not much new to report, accidentally blew sand across the tank changing water, but I fixed most of it again. Plants growing well this far, except for my miroshaki moss which took a hit from spot dosing due to some bba in week 1. One part still seems to be doing ok, but the rest seems to be suffering. No new signs of algae this far, fingers crossed.

If you're going for dwarf Cories I can recommend Hasborsus (Salt and Pepper Cories) - I've just added a picture of mine to my journal here. They stay on the bottom like the bigger Cories do. Pygmaeus and Hastatus tend to spend a lot more of their time hanging with the tetras in the mid-water.

As for top level fish, Chilli's are always a nice option if you have softer water, or, as you've got a lid and floating plants, perhaps some dwarf pencil fish (Nannostomus marginatus) - I'd have had some of those if I were using a lid, but I think they'd jump from an open top.

Mid-water you've got lots of choice. Assuming you don't want to go as large as mainstream tetra (Cardinals, Black Neons etc) Kubotai would have been one of my recommendations - again I've just got some myself, and they are beautiful fish with bags of character. Embers are a nano staple of course, or you could look for some Tucano Tetra (Tucanoichthys Tucano) if you can find some and stomach the price. Yellow Phantom Tetra (Hyphessobrycon Roseus) are another choice that stays below 3cm, if you want a more silvery fish. For a different body shape Gold Ring Danios (Danio Tinwini) are really pretty and stay small (again, if you can find them and have softer water).
Thanks for the suggestions :) I'll see if I can find some habrosus, I made a long beach especially for the dwarf cory's :)
I've had kubotai before and I loved them, but I want to try something new now :) Those tucano's look pretty, but if they are that pricey I might just pass. Danio tinwini looks fun, lets see if I can find any :)
 
Some pics with only one light on, which I find most pleasant for viewing. Ludwigia getting a nice red hue, Blyxa taking off, hairgrass covered by sand because of my stupid, buce with new leaf, and the downer: Fissidens struggling.
 

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