[2wheelsx2]

Decided to start the New Year off with a bang and finally got around to getting the cube dry started with HC.

Thanks to jiang604 for your advice and help, Pat from Canadian Aquatics for the Aquasoil and HC (and there was a ton of it), Charles for the LED.

Equipment used:

ADA 30cm cube garden
Beamworks 12" LED light
ADA New Amazonia
Tom Rapids canister filter (to be used when the tank is flooded)
Leftover flagstone from yardwork originally from Northwest Landscaping

Flora:
HC

Fauna:
None until dry start is completed.

Not sure what other plants are going in it, but I fancy some S. repens or UG in the back and sides above the "cliff" but haven't decided. I just wanted the HC going and there was so much from the cell cultured stuff from Pat that I filled the whole cube. Still have a half a portion left floating in my 20 gallon growout tank, visible in the full shot.

 

[Diztrbd1]

Sounds cool Gary .....looking forward to seeing the progress and some pix

 

[2wheelsx2]

Anyway, on with the pics:

All the gear. you can hardly see the LED light, it's so slim.

Washed cube up close. You have to see these ADA tanks in person to appreciate what a work of art they are. There is NO visible silicone.

Oops, forgot something in the first shot....added the flora:

Planted HC. Took about 15 minutes with forceps. Finally had use for my planting kit.

Side view:

Misted, plastic wrapped, and light in place:

This is where the tank is. Stand was a DIY I used at work a long time ago, that a friend made for me. Sturdy but nothing special. Growout tank has L10a, L147, L333, L066, and L134 juvies, along with a bazillion cherry shrimp for cleanup.

 

[2wheelsx2]

Sounds cool Gary .....looking forward to seeing the progress and some pix

Too quick on the draw John. Pics are up.

 

[Diztrbd1]

Somehow I had a feeling I was :bigsmile: lol Looks great, I'm liking your grow out tank as well.

 

[2wheelsx2]

Somehow I had a feeling I was :bigsmile: lol Looks great, I'm liking your grow out tank as well.

Thanks John. It's been a long time coming. I've had this tank since the summer. I was just dying to set it up but my job was in flux and I didn't know where to put it. It's going up on my desk in my home office now. As for the growout, it's a bit of a shameful mess, but it's easy to maintain (I change 25% of the water almost every day) and I already had everything. I am hoping to be growing out a pile of L134's this spring when they get going again.

 

[target]

Man, shoulda let me know you were starting. I still have that super big chunk of HC floating in my 15g tank at work. Let me know if you want it and we can work it out. Might be enough to fully cover the bottom of your tank. Looks good though.

 

[crazy72]

Very nice, Gary. Have you seen the one at Aq. West? It looks really good now.

 

[2wheelsx2]

Man, shoulda let me know you were starting. I still have that super big chunk of HC floating in my 15g tank at work. Let me know if you want it and we can work it out. Might be enough to fully cover the bottom of your tank. Looks good though.

Yes, I remember. But I don't get downtown much anymore, and that much cost me only $10 and I only used half. If I wanted to I can cover the whole tank with it, but I want to grow it out properly as a carpet and then weed out the top half for other plants. Thanks though.

Very nice, Gary. Have you seen the one at Aq. West? It looks really good now.

I've only seen the pics and that's kind of what kicked my behind into gear to get this one going. This will have a full CO2 setup in it as I have got a new toy recently--dual stage Praxair medical CO2 regulator.

 

[tang daddy]

Well that didnt take long....I bet it will fill out in 2 weeks once filled.

I did the dry set up before and found it was kinda slow compared to when it was filled with co2, with such a small tank it will take no time to fill in once flodded.

how about some brazillian microsword for the back half to keep it low?

Also mini bolbitis,nana petite and a small staurogyne bush, let me know when you fill it if you are interested in a few plants!

 

[2wheelsx2]

Well that didnt take long....I bet it will fill out in 2 weeks once filled.

I did the dry set up before and found it was kinda slow compared to when it was filled with co2, with such a small tank it will take no time to fill in once flodded.

how about some brazillian microsword for the back half to keep it low?

Also mini bolbitis,nana petite and a small staurogyne bush, let me know when you fill it if you are interested in a few plants!

I'm trying to keep it low maintenance while I'm deciding on what desk to order for my office, so I'll wait it out a bit.

You mean Lilaeopsis brasiliensis? Does it grow like a weed like E. tenellus? That stuff drove me nuts, so I don't want any if it's like that. But a patch of it above the "cliff" would be cool.

Don't think I want Anubias in this tank as I've heard that any cutting of the rhizome is poisonous to shrimp? Is that true?

S. repens would certainly be welcome, so yes, we'll have to talk in about a month when I fill it and jack up the CO2. Thanks bud, for the insight and for the regulator.

 

[jobber]

Nice to see the project roll along. Those LEDs are nice!
Btw, that 20 gallon take has some serious plant growth. I still remember it was bare.

 

[2wheelsx2]

Nice to see the project roll along. Those LEDs are nice!
Btw, that 20 gallon take has some serious plant growth. I still remember it was bare.

Yeah, I'm actually thinking I might get a second LED so the light spread is better.

Hahaha...yeah, the Subwassertang took off and is a jungle in there.

 

[tang daddy]

I keep BM in the back of my tank and it grows ok...to stop it from going crazy I spool it up into a clump and plant it in a bunch.

when I said nana petite I meant a Pico size, I have a few baby pieces the size of your pinky nail looks tiny and kinda cool. If you cut the rhizomes it could be poisonous I guess but I have some in my crs tank for over a year with no problems.

 

[jobber]

Funny. Earlier, when you sent word that you finished planting the cube, I thought you planted HC into the CUBE cube. Then it occurred....oh yeah, Gary's Mini-cube. How many gallons is the tank?
The 20 looks likes a Scandanavian woodlands 'scape. The Subwassertang looks like coniferous.

 

[2wheelsx2]

I keep BM in the back of my tank and it grows ok...to stop it from going crazy I spool it up into a clump and plant it in a bunch.

when I said nana petite I meant a Pico size, I have a few baby pieces the size of your pinky nail looks tiny and kinda cool. If you cut the rhizomes it could be poisonous I guess but I have some in my crs tank for over a year with no problems.

Hmmmm...maybe I'll have try the tiny nana petite, sounds nice, but I think I'll stick with the original plan of UG or S. repens in the back. Want to keep the tank simple.

Funny. Earlier, when you sent word that you finished planting the cube, I thought you planted HC into the CUBE cube. Then it occurred....oh yeah, Gary's Mini-cube. How many gallons is the tank?
The 20 looks likes a Scandanavian woodlands 'scape. The Subwassertang looks like coniferous.

Hahaha...I can't imagine the HC staying more than 3 secs with all that flow and cories and plecos in there. The cube garden is roughly 8 gallons.

 

[zhasan]

Awesome little tank Gary! Looking forward to see the progress!!

 

[2wheelsx2]

Did some rescaping tonight. Thanks to tang daddy for the petrified wood and fragglerock for the fissidens.

Lots of mist as I remoistened after the planting.

 

[2wheelsx2]

For those of your wondering, there is no visible growth of the HC, but the ones I had to pull were starting to root already, so it seems to be working well, the dry start method.

 

[Luke78]

Looking good Gary,nice start to another lengthy projectThose cubes are something else,i can see why they are favoured by so many.You planning on adding any other plants or thats it? Keep updating, and thanks for sharing.