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Will's 13x13x16 40l nano cube(ish) tank

fishkeeper

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Joined
2 Apr 2008
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198
Ok, i started my tank yesterday and have already recieved some advice so im very grateful.

Firstly, the details:

tank- 13x13x16 (LxWxH) which equates to about 40l
2x internal 200lph filters, as the tank is looking cluttered, i think im going to remove the smallest one to have more focus on the tank itself.
Eco-complete substrate
Im not sure how much i'll dose ferts as i dont know. I make my own tpn+ so i think ill dose that every week along with easy carbo and ProFito.
co2 injection will be via a nutrafin fermentation set.

the lighting is by 1 18 watt pl tube from a superfish light. Im thinking on buying another light but there are no cheap good quality ones on ebay and im strapped for cash (im 15 lol)

the planned stocking is going to be:

10x galaxy/emerald eye micro rasboras
6-8x corys (i might egt pygmy corys if i can get my lfs to source them)
cherry shrimp, im not sure where to get these yet, ill probably get some off the member son here if there are any for sale.

Right, now for some pics.

the dry aquascape:

DSC00127.jpg


with some water and basic plants although most of these plants will probably be removed when i buy the plants that i like (hopefully today)

DSC00128Medium.jpg


Can you see what i mean about being cluttered? the nutrafin ladder isnt working either so when i buy plants off AE ill buy a new diffuser that is smaller aswell so its less noticable.

Please comment :)

Will
 
Last night, from Aqua Essentials i ordered 2 pots of:

Tropica rotola sp. green
anubias barteri var. nana
riccia fluitans

So they should be arriving soon :D
 
Right, my plants arrived today so i did a little bt of planing :D
There was a slight change, in the way that AE didnt have any stock of the Rotala sp green, so i got Bacopa Australis instead.I'm thinking about maybe getting some galaxy rasboras at the weekend as i have mature filter media and id like some fish in there, sound ok? Im not entirely sure on the planting, does everything look to be ok?

Here are some pics of the innitial planting, please give me any useful comments on how to improve.

Full tank
DSC00132Medium.jpg


Bacopa Australis
DSC00135Medium.jpg


Riccia
DSC00136Medium.jpg


The anubias nana
DSC00137Medium.jpg


Please comment :D
 
To be honest I'd lose the stones that aren't going to be covered in Riccia and have a really lush planting fill the area in around the wood. As the wood is so contorted and intriguing I wouldn't want to detract from that. I like the Bacopa when it gets growing and you could plant it all around the wood to trail in and out of the wood and really make it look like it's an old gnarled branch growing out from a green woodland canopy.

I'd also wait on the fish too. Without fish your ammonia load in the tank will be much lower meaning even less chance of algae and you can really turn the CO2 up to get the plants growing brilliantly and reduce the chance of getting any algae. When you do add fish then the tank will be already off to a really good start.
 
As my co2 source is from a nutrafin cos unit, if i overdosed on easy carbo would it have the same effect? as in make the plants grow evenmore?

thanks, your comments are appreciated
 
Not sure on that. The main ingredient of Excel/easyCarbo is fairly nasty stuff, so I'd be wary on overdosing too much. People successfully use it double or even triple dosing but any more than that is open to question.

You could always buy another CO2 canister? Ages ago I bought a kit for £15 (can't rememeber what make) that had the sugar solution as a gel. You bought the bottles, removed the seal, added the "activator" and water, screwed the cap on and connected the bubble counter and "hopper" to diffuse the CO2. When it runs out after a couple of weeks you throw the bottle away and buy another one + activator. After a while I ditched the hopper and just bubble it into the filter intake. When it runs out I use my own sugar and yeast mix instead of buying the bottles and now I've ditched the bottle completely and use a 2l coke bottle. The only thing I use now is the bubble counter and the screw cap! Still get a nice tight seal on it as well.
 
fishkeeper said:
As my co2 source is from a nutrafin cos unit, if i overdosed on easy carbo would it have the same effect? as in make the plants grow evenmore?

thanks, your comments are appreciated

I'd double dose the EasyCarbo (the higher amount they suggest on the packaging) and use a bit more yeast in your CO2 mix to upp the amount of CO2 produced. This will shorten the mixes life though so you'll need to change it more regularly. When I did this on my Cube tank I used a drop checker with 3dKH water in it and when that went blueish I knew it was time to change the CO2 as it had dropped below 22.5ppm. That was with fish in though - you could do the same with 4dKH solution to make sure your CO2 stays above 30ppm.
 
I've now become concerned at the filtration. Ive got 2 internals at 200lph which gives me approx 10x flow. However, on the wood, ive started to get like a cloudy mist on it, i think this is co2? one filter gives surface agitation and the other is the other side of the tank, have i got them positioned right? and how do i get rid of this 'mist'?

cheers
 
Time for an update :D

Ive left the tank on its own since planting with the exception of changing the riccia and just double dosed easy carbo, profito and my diy nutrients along with adding co2.

Here is the growth so far:

DSC00143Medium.jpg


DSC00142Medium.jpg

A bud on the Anubias?

DSC00141Medium.jpg

The riccia covered in a hairnet and strapped down using cotton, it looks rubbish now, i was following James Flexton's guide so hopefully it will grow :?

DSC00139Medium.jpg

And the bacopa, this has shown the most growth i think

Im not sure if 1.8wpg is enough, im thinking about buying another lamp like i have to make it 3.6wpg, is this too much on a small tank? I just would like good growth but I dont feel im getting that at the moment.

Cheers for looking
 
Not a picture update just yet (pics will be later)

I recieved a delivery of 20-30 cherry shrimp oday of various sizes so i now have them everywhere in the tank and the plants have grown nicely. As the cherry shrimp are small, they seem to be catching the flow a lot. Should i take out 1 filter so i have only 200lph as opposed to 400lph?

It wil be a while before i get the galaxy rasboras now as i need to save up the money, but, now i have cherry shrimp, do you think i would be able to not get any pygmy catfish but get about 3 ottos so the final stocking would be 10 galaxy rasboras, 20+ cherry shrimp and 2 ottos?
 
fishkeeper said:
Not a picture update just yet (pics will be later)

I recieved a delivery of 20-30 cherry shrimp oday of various sizes so i now have them everywhere in the tank and the plants have grown nicely. As the cherry shrimp are small, they seem to be catching the flow a lot. Should i take out 1 filter so i have only 200lph as opposed to 400lph?

It wil be a while before i get the galaxy rasboras now as i need to save up the money, but, now i have cherry shrimp, do you think i would be able to not get any pygmy catfish but get about 3 ottos so the final stocking would be 10 galaxy rasboras, 20+ cherry shrimp and 2 ottos?

Hi Will,
Leave the flow like that, the cherries love to swim about in the flow, they did that in my tank. The ottos will be fine with the shrimp, even the shrimplets. The Rasboras might eat the shrimplets so leave it for a while and then add them at a later stage. I am not sure about the pygmy but they will most likely also fancy the shrimplets.
Regards
Paulo
 
Whoops, id forgotten about this journal so now i will liven it up again :D

There has been a lot of plant growth and I now feel that it has grown into itself and looks really good and lush (ill let you be the judge of that though). As said above, ive got sheery shimp in there. Now fish yet though, im taking it slowly but tomorrow I should put some galaxy rasboras in there, hopefully my lfs has more than the 3 that I reserved :rolleyes: if not, ill get the 3 galaxy rasboras and maybe some ottos/corydoras to go in the tank tomorrow :)

so, here are some pictures:

Full tank shot- Im trying to do what Ed Seely advised me to do and make the plants grow around the wood, though im not totally sure it is working.
DSC00356Medium.jpg


Anubias Nana, although i was told this was a slow grower, it seems to have made a lot of growth to me.
DSC00357Medium.jpg


My riccia carpet, its riccia on stones and held togetehr with a hairnet and cotton, tied down tightly so no inhabitants get stuck, this has grown by far the most.
DSC00358Medium.jpg


A couple of the current inmates (thanks LondonDragon, these are brilliant shimp)

DSC00359Medium.jpg


Pregnant 8)

DSC00360Medium.jpg


I should also be getting a black background tomorrow which should make the tank look tonnes better than the white paper that I currently have.

Please comment :D
 
Tank is looking great Will, that Riccia and Anubias look really healthy, glad you are happy with the shrimp, they showing a nice colour now which will only get better has they age and lets hope you get some shrimplets soon :)
 
LondonDragon said:
Tank is looking great Will, that Riccia and Anubias look really healthy, glad you are happy with the shrimp, they showing a nice colour now which will only get better has they age and lets hope you get some shrimplets soon :)

I got home from holiday a week ago to see half of the shimp carrying eggs empty and when i looked at the anubias closely, all the leaves were covered in tiny tiny grey lines with black dots and were moving. There was about 30 in all so ive got some shimplets :D they were about 1mm or less big
 
That has grown in really well, the riccia and anubias have done really well! When I last had anubias I found that once settled in it sprouted a new leaf every week or two and ended up growing 'fast' enough that it wasn't really a slow grower at all!
 
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