1.5 gallon Cube Journal - Nano Aquariums

MrSanders · 11-14-2006, 05:32 PM

Well I just wanted to share and show progress of the most recent addition of my tanks. Its a 1.5 gallon cube tank

I have been getting really frustrated lately with all the effort put into my other tanks and lack of success. So as a project to A.) test out aquasoil... and B.) get away from my other tanks and do something creative I set this up! I just wanted to get away from trying to grow great plants and have a hassle free, fun project that I can work my art skills on more.

Speaking of art skills let me take this time right now to say I am NOT photographer and I do not have a very high quality camera like some others here do. My pics arnt to good and I know this

bear with me LoL I think I may take this as a chance to get better at aquarium photography also

I would also like to take a moment to thank John N. for helping me out on this one. He really came through with a great package to help me get this thing going... I basically had the tank and an idea... he pretty much helped me out with everything that goes into that tank minus a few plants and the sand

thanks a bunch john!!

I was having a bit of trouble getting pictures to load into my album properly so I am just going to attach them at the end. These first ones are of the set up. For substrate I went with ADA Aquasoil, as I already mentioned, in the back.... I also placed a little home made "powesand" LoL.... on the bottom. (just a bit of top soil and dry bacteria mix to help kick things off, with a broken up root tab also mixed in.)

This was a really challenging hardscape for me. First off because it is really one of the few I have made a true effort at, also because of the size of the tank and shape of rocks... I found it very difficult to place them and have them look natural. After about an hour or so of brain storming and "dry fitting" I broke a few of the pieces and came up with a basic foundation and idea.... I then pretty much went with it as it came togeather "free hand" you could say

Right now lighting is on for 8 hours a day. I really dont know how many watts I have going, one is a red sea light I believe its only the 7 watt one... the other light is what came with the cube which is 9 LED's in sort of a little "pendant" I would guess its some where between 10-15 total watts. And probably won't be enough for the long run. However Im going to run with it right now and see how things are going after a week or two... die back, leggy growth I will upgrade... but again for right now Im going to run with it.

There are no critters in here yet and wont be until its settled in more, but when the time comes I think its just going to house a few cherry shrimp. As far as plants I am using...
~Eleocharis acicularis
~Hemianthus callitrichoides
~Anubias barteri v. nana 'Petite'
~Taxiphyllum sp. 'Peacock'
~Rotala Macrandra 'Green'
~Limnobium laevigatum

I dont really know about the Rotala yet though... i felt like i needed some height and something bushy to sort of fill in... however im not sure that is going to work and feel right with the layout. I am also considering some very small plugs of weeping moss placed in a few of the holes of the rock, again however im not sure it will grow in and creep down over the rocks the way I invision it. I may try it out anyway and see how it does.

thats about all for now, sorry about the pics i know they are bad!

Nor do they give the tank justice.... it lost a lot of depth in the pics, and also detail of the rocks and planting.... though that could just be because they are so blurry

MrSanders · 11-14-2006, 05:45 PM

Here it is right after filling on the first day...

YzMxer99 · 11-14-2006, 07:02 PM

looks great, love the rocks with the white sand. Keep it updated as it grows out

hoppycalif · 11-15-2006, 08:33 AM

I am very impressed with the rock work! That is beautiful. People keep showing these very interesting aquascapes in little tanks, and I keep resisting the urge to follow suit with one of my own. I'm still hanging tough, but this one really makes it hard to do. Where did you find those rocks?

redstrat · 11-15-2006, 09:03 AM

I definately agree with hoppy, you have a very inspirational nano here. I'll be subscribing to this one, keep us posted with updates, I can't wait to watch it fill in.

Thanks for sharing!

cs_gardener · 11-15-2006, 09:41 AM

Excellent rockwork and I like your choice of plants. The sand really sets everything off. Nicely done!

MrSanders · 11-15-2006, 12:12 PM

Wow... Thanks a lot guys! Really surprising to me to be getting such positive feed back on this. This is my first attempt at a scape that is really dominated by the rock work... and to be totally honest I didnt know what I was doing other than I have always been good at art and I know what flows and what doesnt. I thought this did (however that REALLY doesnt mean that it does! in my mind though.... it appears to be some what balanced

)

I don't really know much about this rock, I posted a WTB thread for nano supplies a while back. ADA "style" rocks were one of the things I was looking for. John N. came through big time and helped me out with two pieces that worked out perfect for me. He has told me this rock is called Ohko stone, and apparently is sold by ADA.

I was very supprised at how soft this stone is. To me, it seems more like a sort of petrified wood rather than stone. Like I said it was very soft and easy to break apart, I also found it to have a lot of clay like dirt deep inside of it when broked apart. It is very intresting, and very good looking also

Today is the 3rd day the cube has been set up, I started yesterday with Excel. .5 ml per dose. I think the lower light to start, short photo period and Excel should really help cut back on any algae issues while it gets estlabished. However the water is a bit cloudy today.... I don't know if that's from the Excel or just a bit of bacteria bloom since this is newly set up. I am thinking it may be a little bit of both. Possibly .25ml of Excel daily would be a better choice. Any thoughts on that?

Well anyway thanks for all the kind words

and I will be sure to add weekly photo's and up date on a regular basis.

~Matt

MrSanders · 11-23-2006, 05:44 AM

Well Just a quick update. Things have been slow to get going... I'm not really so sure that it is because of the lack of light... though I know that is a factor and I would prefer slower growth on this tank anyway but the plants aren’t really yellowing on me, dieing back or stretching towards the light.

The major factor is that I got pretty slammed with work the week that I set this tank up and just really didn’t have time to look after it like I had wanted to. I think I also went to heavy on the Excel to start. I was adding .5 ml daily for the first few days. Needless to say I got a pretty nasty bacteria bloom, the water went a bit stagnant from lack of water changes, and a good bit of my plants melted on me! lol So this one didn’t start out as smooth as I hoped, however Had i been able to do daily WC's that first week and had some sort of circulation in it I think things would have taken off much better.

I have a bit more HC on the way to make up for the meltdown... that is really the one plant that suffered the most. Everything else faired pretty well through the neglect. I did a nice big 90% water change to get most of the 'bad' water out, cleaned the tank sides and added a small bubble wand on the back wall... that REALLY helps circulate the water around. Yes it really isn't all to pretty, however I think its better than having a huge filter on the tank and it really serves its purpose. Water quality seems to have improved 90% due to that alone.

As far as the Excel goes I am going with the recommended amounts for now until I get more plant mass growing. I believe that would be .5ml after WC's and about 2 drops everyday there after.

So far the major important points learned... a.) Do MANY water changes that first week or two when setting up tiny tanks like this with no filter.... b.) Added aeration greatly helps to keep water quality up when a filter isn't an option... and last but not least C.) always.... ALWAYS stay on top of keeping these tiny little tanks SPOTLESS I can see how easily and quickly they can go down hill and crash with out proper care!

chinaboy1021 · 11-29-2006, 04:04 PM

fantastic tank there. those are my thoughts exactly, im not a great writer or else i'd express my love for this little gem some more.

i really like the tank itself, where you get it?

MrSanders · 11-29-2006, 06:57 PM

It's actually just a cheap little acrylic tank made by whisper I believe.... I bought mine at walmart... and just recently saw them at petsmart. It comes with the big dome type lid that was rather ugly. I just used it as a pattern, and cut a new one out of a sheet of acrylic i bought at the hardware store. It comes with the little LED light... actually 9 LED's in it... which really doesn't spread much, and I don't feel would have ever been enough light So i added the Redsea clip on... So far so good... I'm hoping it will be enough to maintain slow healthy growth. I would like this to be a long term tank.