My 1St Attempt, 2Ft Planted Cube!

[jameshughes1989]

I thought I best start my journal (although I did set the tank up a wee while ago, better late than never). Ive always had plants in my tanks but they always seemed to die after a while, so I thought I would finally attempt to do it all properly and so far it is going well Fingers crossed for me

On to the Specs:

Tank: Aquaone Aquience cube 550, 22 inches sq. 165 litres so approx 43 US gallons.
Lighting: 1 55 CF warm light tube.
Substrate: Tropica Plant Subrate with a layer of Unipac black sand.
Ferts: EasyCarbo and TPN+, 8ml daily. Will be looking into EI next though.
Co2: D&D Pressurized with glass difusser, and glass drop checker.
Flow and filtration: Korilia 1 pointed just above difusser for co2 dispersal and a Rena Xp2 filter, thinking of upgrading though.
Heating: Rena Smart Heater (cant think of power)
Livestock Cherry Shrimp, Ramshorn snails, 1 Betta Splenden, 12 Cardinal Tetra, 6 Napo Corydoras, 8 Panda Corydoras.
Plants Java Fern, Echinodorus Magdalensi/quadrcostatus, Hydrocotyle Leucocephala, alternanthera reineckii, Sagittaria subulata, Marsilea Crenata, Bocopa Caroliniana, and java moss on coconut cave.
Maintenance: Weekly 30% water change, and pruning here and there
Decor: Large piece of driftwood and a coconut cave.


Everything seems to be growing well and all the fish are happy, the cories and spawned 3 times sinc being in this tank. The Marsilea Crenata arrived quiet tall and then died back and now there is new growth. Am I right in thinking that maybe it was grown emersed and it is changing form?

I ordered some of the plants form plants alive and they werent great so they replaced the order of me. This is a photo when I first planted it.

Added a few more and cocunut cave.

Ill post a few later of how it looks now. It is a lot more filled out, and with the addition of the extra plants im happy with it. For now, some more pics from the other day.

As you can see the java fern ahs been reproducing like mad, even more since this pic. I have since taken off the new leaves and stuck them on a rock to grow. I did have some broad leave swords but they went badly so I got rid of them. I dont know why but I cant seem to be able to grow any swords

Anyway, the latest pics will be to follow, and I hope you enjoy. Comments and critism welcome.

James

 

[Biulu]

Nice tank, and great wood! It is funny that you can't grow swords as they are relatively easy. At first I thought maybe you have an inert substrate and since these are root feeders, but no, you have a tropica substrate, so you should be fine. However, these plants can die back too, maybe you were a bit too quick in throwing them out?

 

[PDSimon]

Tank looks good If you're using co2 why not have some sort of carpeting plant? I think that'd look good.

Can't believe you can't grow swords...!

 

[jameshughes1989]

Nice tank, and great wood! It is funny that you can't grow swords as they are relatively easy. At first I thought maybe you have an inert substrate and since these are root feeders, but no, you have a tropica substrate, so you should be fine. However, these plants can die back too, maybe you were a bit too quick in throwing them out?

Hey thanks, I dont know what is up with the swords, I know they are meant to be easy but Im lost with it, maybe it is die off. Ive got an amazon sword in there right now, it came from my old tank so it doesnt look great. Maybe I will stick this one out and see what happens

Funny thing about the wood. I was browsing swallow aquatics and spotted it for £12, bargain! I knew I was going to have it, I like the shape and it was a nice big size. I just didnt take into consideration Ive got a brace bar. Well with a bit of luck and some shimmying to certain angles, it went in by mm's, Lucky me!

Tank looks good If you're using co2 why not have some sort of carpeting plant? I think that'd look good.

Can't believe you can't grow swords...!

With regards to a carpeting plant, I chose the Marsilea Crenata as I was told that it can be a low light carpeting plant. I went for this because when I was setting the tank up, I wasnt planning on having the co2. Im thinking of maybe trying some HC. What do you think? Any suggestions? Is it okay with sand?

Cheers for the kind comments,

James

 

[PDSimon]

Eleocharis parvula might be worth a shot or HC yeah

 

[ian]

Si, is right, it would look good with a carpet. How about some Riccia?

also the position of the diffuser needs to be under the spraybar, for maximum circulation.

 

[RadaR]

You're supposed to snip the Marsilea Crenata right down so you've only got a few mm left above the roots. The emersed form will just rot away and attract algae.

 

[jameshughes1989]

Yeah I didnt realise it was obviously grown emersed, the pic is when I first planted it. I have since cut it right down and Ive got quite a lot of new growth. I think im going to see how the dwarf four leaf clover does as a carpet. If its not great I think ill try HC. Ive currently got the diffuser situated underneath the koralia 1. It seems to be doing a great job of spreading the bubbles to all parts of the tank. If it becomes an issue I may try to move it but it seems to be effective.

Any suggestions for my setup? ie lighting, plants?

Also, Ive been looking at the all pound solutions external filters, particulary this one. Anyone used one of these? Heard anything about them?

Cheers, James

 

[n3ont3tra]

Hi, I really like the clover, any chance of a new pic of it?

 

[PDSimon]

I bought the 1000LPH hour one for my tank and it works well other than a sound fault which they don't appear to want to replace which is quite annoying. Its in my room as well so i'm going to have to soundproof the cabinet.

 

[jameshughes1989]

Hi, I really like the clover, any chance of a new pic of it?

Yeah ill throw a pic up of it in a bit, it looks a lot different now though.

I bought the 1000LPH hour one for my tank and it works well other than a sound fault which they don't appear to want to replace which is quite annoying. Its in my room as well so i'm going to have to soundproof the cabinet.

Okay cool, what size tank have you got it on? I dont mind too much noise as the tank is downstairs and not in my room. Im happy with a little bit of humming. Im thinking the 1400 lph model but would that be overkill?

Pics to come, James

 

[RadaR]

Im thinking the 1400 lph model but would that be overkill?

Naa, wouldnt be overkill. George Farmer used a 1200lph filter on a 60litre with great results. Fish didnt mind either ofcourse.
Have you looked at the Superfish externals?
I'll hopefully be getting an EFX 300 in a few weeks. See here.

 

[jameshughes1989]

Okay cool, I think I may try the one in the link. Some updates of the tank (pic heavy), but please excuse the quality of the snaps:

When I 1st set it up.

To this now.

Some snaps of the Marsilea Crenata as requested. Its coming along nicely, but I wouldnt mindit doing a bit better. Very green though.

Cherry Shrimp, they are very red which im pleased with. I hate the washed out look.

Napo Cory

Panda Cory

Snail taking a ride on the dwarf sag

The java fern plantlets Ive stuck to a rock to let them mature.

And some more tank shots

All in all, im happy so far. You can see the growth well and the dwarf sag at the front right is spreading very nicely. I will update agin soon with new pics, so I can see how it is progressing. Thanks for looking,

James

 

[Josiee]

Oh wow, that's looking really good! Very jealous How many litres is it?

ETA: Ignore question, re-read your original post!

 

[jameshughes1989]

Thanks for the nice comment.

Just a quick question guys. I want my cherry shrimp to breed so I have put some tights over the filter intake to stop the little shrimplets being sucked into the filter. The problem is that is restricting the flow into the filter. Any ideas? Do they need the tights? Or is it worth getting a cheaper pair that will allow more flow? (I dont know if that'll make a difference )

Cheers, James