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The rebirth of two 30cm P@H cubes [pic heavy]

Ben22

Member
Joined
4 Oct 2012
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83
Hello all, as always another long time reader first time poster.

This isn't my first set of tanks but more of my first serious attempt setting up a planted tank. I have been keeping fish for around 9 months in various tanks. However recently I have been interested in planted aquariums but cut corners using gravel and cheap tetra fert or proper lighting. I re used all materials from the original tanks including water.

The tanks are two simple 30cm cubes and I have chosen plants that are low tech. Here we go:

This is tank one V1 powered by a 11w arcadia light with a suitable bulb for plant growth.

Here is a photo of the tank just before the revamp, the tank has been used with gravel for a couple of months now and was well established. The ohko rock was recently purchased and added to the tank to see what it would look like.

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After talking to a friend it finally became obvious that avoiding a decent substrate had come to a head and i had to make the jump! (this all happened at half eight in the morning when i realised no more messing about)

Drainage begins

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I left some of the tetra fert in the tank

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Next up came the substrate:
ADA amazonia
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I didn't really plan any of the layout and knew what I roughly wanted, I did some pre positioning on the ohko rock as seen below: (anyone beat my elastic band ball?)

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Ohko goes straight in!

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move about

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Plants go in, all low tech:

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Filling the tank took a while as I didn't want to disturb the substrate, I used the plastic bag method. It worked sort of! :lol:
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About two hours later the water was clear!

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The heater is a temporary measure until I can get a smaller one.

--------------------------------------------------Tank two---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tank two V1
No idea what i was thinking with this tank but at the time I thought it looked good.

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Emptying the tank: again I had a rough idea what I wanted from the space and read up on what position to go for. i hope it has worked as this scape is only just finished!

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The layout of this tank didn't take as long as the first as I think I was more decisive.

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Once the tank was drained I carried out my idea on what to do with the feature rock.

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The tank as it is right now

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Both tanks need more work for them to be where I want them, however I am pleased with the outcome so far. Amy comments or suggestions will be appreciated negative or positive.

A big thanks to jackrythm for all the support throughout. A small update will follow with pictures of the final outcome.
 
The second scape is good :D I like it.

Word of advice though, the anubias doesn't like its Rhizome below the substrate.
 
Yeah I'm no scaper by any means but the 2nd tank has a nice layout showing lots of promise.
 
Maybe nothing, maybe it will deteriorate! Low tech plants like anubias grow slowly anyway so probably nothing for a while.

Why not get some Cryptocorynes?
 
Yeah as for the Anubis family they can take some time.. your eleocharis parvula on the other had SHOULD begin to shoot and run in around 3-4 weeks once its begun to adjust to your tank.

Will be looking forward to seeing those start to shoot. Just make sure your flow is good and your water quality is good because I've had experience with hair algae attaching itself to my parvula! Just don't forget those water changes ;)

Jack
 
Hypothetically there isnt one.. most if not all plants need high levels of co2 to form carpets, thats why in my nano I aim to use mosses and riccia tied to sheeting. Because I dont think anything will carpet as quickly as we hope. For example cuba is out of the question and so are a few others... but you can achieve a carpet 'like' affect by tying plants down so the grow and bush together... there are a few low tech plants out there that will cover the areas like a carpet but with no co2 it stalls the growth quite a bit. Low tech is excellent for low maintenance but to get fully healthy pearling carpets I personally dont think this can be achieved during ny period of time we would like to wait. If you dose fertz it may help but I wouldn't be disappointed if noting happened. Look up certain mosses, riccia, dwarf riccia is good for nanos as it keeps the proportion accurate, and other low tech plants. parvula will grow low tech and eventually shoot and run but it will just take longer. Its the decision to go low tech you see. its low maintenance and cheaper but in return we need to be more patient with plant growth. If its only a small area of substrate you want to cover take a look at staurogyne repens. staurogyne repens will form lovely carpet affects with out actually running as such. google it. there are many strategies. if you were to order a lot of this you could plant it all together at once and it would eventually clump and bush. This is something I have always wanted to do but havnt been able to find it. This is low to medium tech but looking at your spec your lighting is ample in the second tank and i think you dose once a week any how so this should work... If anyone disagrees with me then please do say :)

Jack
 
I've found Mini Pelia grows fine without co2 and shrimp love it too. I also grew the new mini dwarf hairgrass without co2. It was really slow though..
 
ahh yeah forgot pelia! but that doesn't carpet. you just need to attach it like you would any floating plant or moss. :) I think u have some standard pelia dont you ben?
 
My mini pelia is tied to a bit of lava rock but it spreads across the substrate itself.
 
I was thinking, I know someone that is cultivating staurogyne repens and that is a low tech carpet plant. You may need alot if you cant be arsed to wait for it to run but looking at your tank you dont need loads and loads?

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?hl=en&sa ... 20&bih=900

The idea is to trim it down so it runs outwards not up...
 
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