Mikes 2 Litre Cube - New Begginings...

[mlawson]

Today I went shopping and saw a small glass cube so I decided to get it, it only cost £3. It's a 12cm/4.5" cube and contains 2 litres. With such a small tank I'm not having a filter, heater or CO2, although I'll use Flourish excel for a source of carbon. I'm using a 20watt desk light for lighting which will be mounted over the tank and to prevent algae I can easily change 50% of the water per day.

This is one idea I had on paint:

I'm not very good with paint, but you get the idea ( I hope!) Now looking at it, I think I'd have the path slightly more off center.

With this tank I am trying to achieve a sense of depth and make it appear as a bigger picture. The path should be difficult in such a small tank, but I'll still try. The plants are Pogostemon helferi, Elocharis parvula and Dwarf riccia. I'm not that happy with my plant choice yet. I feel the Pogostemon helferi may lose the illusion of depth, I have other alternatives such as H. micranthemoides and H. callichtroides. The Elocharis might be a problem too because it grows too tall, I could trim it often. Can anyone suggest some other plants which would be good substitutes? The rocks will be mini landscape rocks from AE.

This is really a first idea, anything can change, so all critisism and ideas are welcomed. I have no pictures yet as my camera is broken, but I'm getting it fixed soon, so if all goes well pics should follow.

Cheers,
Mike

 

[DevUK]

Wow, that sounds like it'll be great when its done! What sort of desk lamp will you use?

 

[mlawson]

Wow, that sounds like it'll be great when its done! What sort of desk lamp will you use?

I'll probably use this cheap one from homebase that is currently not in use, Can anyone suggest something more efficient?

Cheers,
Mike

 

[john starkey]

Hi Mike are you going to use dividers to keep the substrate each side of the path from mixing together whilst setting up.

 

[mlawson]

Hi Mike are you going to use dividers to keep the substrate each side of the path from mixing together whilst setting up.

At first I was going to use HC for the carpet at the front which would mean I would have to use a divider because it requires a nutritional substrate. Instead I'm opting for Dwarf riccia which will be on stones. I will just have sand covering the entire bottom and then the riccia covering that, if that makes sense. The sand will be standard silica sand.

Cheers,
Mike

 

[john starkey]

Sounds like its going to be really nice, Cant wait to see it set up and mature

 

[mlawson]

Sounds like its going to be really nice, Cant wait to see it set up and mature

Thanks,
It should be setup soon, I have just ordered the things I need from Aqua essentials.

Cheers,
Mike

 

[Themuleous]

Looks good, looking forward to seeing set up. I keep thinking I would like to set up a vase tank, could look cool.

Sam

 

[mlawson]

Thanks,

I am having trouble thinking of what I should attatch the dwarf riccia to. With such a small tank I would need something very small but also very flat, it will be even more difficult with the sand path. I might buy one of those bags of small peices of slate from an LFS or go searching for some suitable rocks. Has anyone else got any other suitable (preferably cheaper) options?

Cheers,
Mike

 

[cheesy feet]

Pogostemon helferi & the dwarf hairgrass will be excellent choices IMO.SO i wouldn't worry about them!As for the dwarf riccia ,i would attach it to slate.

 

[Themuleous]

Yeh get some small flat slate stones, I got a bag of these from my local MA for £4

Sam

 

[Castellop123]

Cheers...

 

[lljdma06]

My only concern would be inadaquate water circulation creating dead spots in the tank, which could cause algae pockets. Sounds like a fun little project otherwise. Not my cup of tea, as I actually like to keep things other than plants, but cute. There was a shot glass done a while back for a competition, but I don't remember. Was it for last year's ADA competition or the year before? That was almost pointless, cute, but pointless. I can think of a lot better things to go in a shot glass.

I would have in hand some tweezers and such for planting, as it's going to be hard to plant that container. Just be flexible with your layout if it ends up not working the way you want it to.

llj

 

[mlawson]

Pogostemon helferi & the dwarf hairgrass will be excellent choices IMO.SO i wouldn't worry about them!As for the dwarf riccia ,i would attach it to slate.

Yeh get some small flat slate stones, I got a bag of these from my local MA for £4

Sam

Strange you would say that as I have just bought a bag of small peices of slate from a pet store for £2, they range in size from about a cm to 6cm, although I only need a few.

My only concern would be inadaquate water circulation creating dead spots in the tank, which could cause algae pockets. Sounds like a fun little project otherwise. Not my cup of tea, as I actually like to keep things other than plants, but cute. There was a shot glass done a while back for a competition, but I don't remember. Was it for last year's ADA competition or the year before? That was almost pointless, cute, but pointless. I can think of a lot better things to go in a shot glass.

I would have in hand some tweezers and such for planting, as it's going to be hard to plant that container. Just be flexible with your layout if it ends up not working the way you want it to.

llj

Yes, I'm not sure if this little project is going to work entirely, but I think I'll still have a go, it's relatively low cost, the glass cost £3, the slate £2, the Dwarf riccia £5.95, the pogostemon helferi from another tank, the Elocharis from another tank, the mini landscape rocks I would be getting anyway, the desk light I already had and I have some spare Excel. I'm not sure how I could prevent algae in such a small tank, but perhaps a siesta and daily water changes would help. This is more of an experiment for me and also to learn. And I can only imagine how hard it's going to be planting this, with that path.

Thanks for everyones coments,
Mike

 

[Squid]

Mike,

I've never thought about using a desk lamp before. What are they like with regards to the colour spectrum, or with a small tank like this, is it less of a problem.

Squid