tsunami

As promised to certain members, I shall be creating a journal of my new 12g nano cube on this forum. I'll be updating its progress weekly. I decided to use only easily obtainable, undemanding species for this layout, use only the 2 wpg provided by the JBJ Nano Cube manufacturer, and use DIY CO2 --a forgiving, undemanding setup.

Setup date: March 7, 2004


Out come all the materials! :
Bucket, siphon, glass cleaning wand, tooth brush, tweezers, scissors, and plastic dish are in the bucket. To the right of the bucket is a bag of spaghnum peat moss (base layer), two bags of Florabase, and a box of Ehfisynth (fine filter floss). To the left of the bucket are my mail ordered plants. The cube itself comes with a very spacious filtration compartment in the back, containing three coarse sponges, bioballs, a bag of ceramic rings, and a power head. I decided to take out the activatedgravel and replace it with a big wad of filter floss (Ehfisynth).


Filling it up:
I placed a thin layer of peat on the bottom, followed by a few bits of charcoal, and some crushed Flourish tabs. I used a generous amount of Florabase to cover this mixture. Don't forget to slope the gravel, keeping it deeper in the back and shallower in the front to help create some depth.


The plants I will use for this layout from left to right:
Anubias barteri v nana
Hemianthus micranthemoides (baby tears)
Cryptocoryne wendtii 'Tropica' (synonym: Cryptocoryne wendtii 'bronze')
Eleocharis acicularis (hairgrass)
Vesicularia dubyana (Java moss)


Driftwood:
Assorted bits and pieces of self-collected mangrove driftwood for this layout.


Arrangement:
I played around with what I had for about thirty minutes. In the end, I settled with this arrangement of three pieces. The two smaller spikes between the two larger pieces of driftwood is actually a single, small piece. I felt that the two larger ones looked too plain and uninteresting by themselves. I found that the branches produced by the middle piece enhanced the impression and accented the two main pieces very well.


Planting:
I cut off all of the enormous leaves off of the Anubias barteri v nana I received in an effort to stunt it. Otherwise, they would have been too large for this layout. I placed one under the branch on the extreme left hand side. The other rhizome was placed under the branch on the extreme right hand side. I then planted the Cryptocoryne wendtii v 'Tropica' in a swath between the two branches on the left hand side. The hairgrass bunch was taken apart into smaller, tiny bunches and planted heavily in the midground and more lightly in the foreground. I then planted tiny bunches of java moss between the bunches of hairgrass. Finally, I planted the background heavily with bunches of Hemianthus micranthemoides (as much as I could fit), planting 4-6 stems at a time.



Finished product:
The water is clearing up quickly after only a few hours.

Carlos

mm12463

Looks neat. Can't wait to see the progress.

Any reason why you choose Flora Base? I hate mine. Messes up the KH and Red Sea was not real helpful in explain 'how' they are buffering the water since there is no buffer added. Or so they say.

But my LFS has 2 very nice tanks with the stuff, one is a nano. And the plant grow is really nice.

tsunami

There are several reasons why I chose Florabase:

1) I've already tried Flourite and Eco-complete, so I decided to do a third tank with florabase. Now, I have one tank with flourite, one with eco-complete, and one with florabase.

2) Take advantage of Florabase's water softening properties. Since this cube will eventually house a group of chocolate gouramis currently residing in my 20g long and my tap water is a bit on the hard side, I decided to use this substrate material. For water changes, I plan to mix tap water and RO water at a 1:1 ratio. Currently, the aquarium's GH is 6 and the KH is 3.

Carlos

Pigheaddd

Carlos,

your tank looks good. show us some pix after one month.

tsunami

Quick update:

Not much happened in the first 6 days of the tank's life. A couple new leaves out of the crypts, some new growth out of the hairgrass and H. micranthemoides. Nothing very special. Next time I update the tank will be in two weeks (since I will be leaving for spring break vacation in a couple days).



Carlos

depthc

The tank looks nice. Im sure it will look even better once it grows in some.

.dc

tsunami

Well, after a two week vacation in Miami, I return to this:



A little algae on the glass, some new growth out of the hairgrass and moss. A few more new leaves on the crypts, and a mass of Hemianthus micranthemoides needing a serious trim to encourage bushy growth.

I am thinking of moving around the driftwood... not quite that happy with it at this point.

Carlos

hubbahubbahehe

That is amzing growth, and just think your tank has only been running for a month!? you truly have a green thumb.

one thing I'm wondering about, what kind of lighting is that in your cube?

Paul Higashikawa

Carlos, do you have any pointers for growing hairgrass? As you may or may not know, I am currently starting an aquabowl with some hairgrass in it. It came in a pot, and I divided it into 4 portions. One portion in each corner of the bowl. I cut the top of the grass off as well as lower half of the wool. Any advice would be helpful; dosing ferts, CO2, lights...

If you go to Aquabotanic, under Picture Gallery, you will see a journal I recently made. Thanks!



Paul

dennis

Paul, welcome The bowl and light look good. That should be avery interesting project.