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"cubo verde" 60 litre

DHenry

DHenry

Member
Joined
4 Dec 2009
Messages
93
Location
Brighton, UK
This will be a re-scape of my 60l cube and my 3rd scape ever. I have learnt a lot on the first two and I am hoping to take this one up to the next level. For starters I will be using pressurized Co2 this time. The general specs will be much the same with a few changes and upgrades.

SPEC:
tank: 40cm x 40cm x 40 cm
filtration: Fluval 104
heat: Hydor 200w inline
light: DIY High Power LED, 6 x 3w
Co2: DIY pressurized Co2 (welding disposable)
Fert: TPN+ (although I may try other methods on this tank)
Substrate: JBL Aquabasis, black sand (might try something else also, will see what they have)

It starts here, with a Co2 regulator for disposable bottles. The reasons I chose this method are 3 fold. First, I am a die hard DIYist/nerd/cheapskate. Second, I am a welder and I always have a few of these Co2 bottles kicking around. And third, they will fit very neatly in the cabinet and should suit 60l quite well.
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To accompany the regulator is a needle valve purchased online and some glasswear via aquaessentials. The grand total of this systems is about £60 delivered including, glass diffuser, bubble counter, one-way valve and drop checker.

I am currently growing a tub full of emersed dwarf hair grass. It is doing very well after one week. Once this grows in nice and thick I will strip down the tank. I have a few ideas for the scape that will involve a few rocks with the hair grass, HC, riccia and blyxa japonica. This time round I am going to try and grow the plants I want to as I should not be limited by using liquid Co2. My LED's are plenty bright enough so with suitable Co2 and fertilisers I should be able to maintain decent growth.

I may upgrade my filter for the sake of flow, however my cabinet is fairly cramped. I might otherwise get one of Hydor's nano powerheads. I don't like the look of powerheads but I may be able to design the scape in a way that will hide it.

For fertiliser I would like it to be as simple as possible as I am fairly busy day to day and I like being able to get in a routine of dosing a single liquid every morning before work. I liked the TPN+ but I am open to other suggestions. I just bought a bottle of Profito although I didn't realize it hasn't got the macro till I got it home. I might use this in conjunction with AE aqua nourish+ which contains the NPK. Any advice on ferts would be most welcome.
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The needle valve looks and feels to be really good. Very fine. I will let you know how it goes when I get it set up. In welding an inert gas is used to shield the molten metal from atmospheric gases like oxygen. Oxygen causes the weld to become pitted which will make it weaker and allow moisture to be trapped.
 
Next bit of kit.

I wanted to increase flow, without much cost and without too much visual impact on the tank. I never liked the look of powerheads and they are always too big. I found this little number and I must say it is fantastic. The Tunze 106 mini pump. It is tiny, a little more than a matchbox, it is rated at 300l/h but seems to move as much water as my Fluval 104 external. The best part is that it only cost £14 delivered. This pump could easily be hidden in any small tank and should provide adequate flow for my 60l. This brings my flow rating up to 780l/h. Nice.

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This weekend I got the tank setup. Tesco cat litter substrate which was a bit of a trek to find. The local Tesco was sold out. Never did I think I would find myself in such want of a Tesco. I was surprised at how good this stuff appears to be. Good consistent size, good colour and not too much perfume. After I rinsed it well it went in the tank on top of the existing aquabasis. Then some rocks which took a few hours to arrange into a scape I was happy with. Scaping a cube certainly has its challenges. The golden rule doesn't really apply.

Planted it up with hairgrass, riccia, marsilea and juncus repens. HC coming soon. I also got my new Co2 system setup and my new Tunze mini pump. Which really is a fantastic circulation pump. I can see all the grass waving in the current and even a few lighter bits of substrate rolling. I think this should do the trick.

I am going to start with an 8 hour photo period and a 1ml dose of TPN+. I may up the dose of TPN+ over time. As I am running my DIY LED's the amount of light i have is of unknown quantity. Has anybody made any progress in quantifying LED's for planted aquaria? I am running 6x3w. They are very bright but I really have no way of knowing other than how my plants grow.

Picture to follow.
 
DHenry said:
Next bit of kit.

I wanted to increase flow, without much cost and without too much visual impact on the tank. I never liked the look of powerheads and they are always too big. I found this little number and I must say it is fantastic. The Tunze 106 mini pump. It is tiny, a little more than a matchbox, it is rated at 300l/h but seems to move as much water as my Fluval 104 external. The best part is that it only cost £14 delivered. This pump could easily be hidden in any small tank and should provide adequate flow for my 60l. This brings my flow rating up to 780l/h. Nice.

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Click to expand...

Hi mate
Where did you get the Tunze pump from?
Cheers
hoggie
 
I got it from ebay but there are other aquarium suppliers that stock it. It really is very good.
 
Here are some photos. About 10 days in now. I have been keeping Co2 quite high and so far everything is good. I took the braces off of the tank and made a brass support for my DIY led light. This has cleaned up the look massively. I have also moved the Co2 over to the left side and swapped the lilly pipes from the back to the right side. This seems to have improved flow efficiency and distribution of Co2.

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It all looks brilliant! Keep nuking it with co2 till the riccia pearls, that's a great (if primative) way of knowing how much co2 your tank needs during start up. Great scape and light rig. I'm impressed.
 
Light rig is great. Flow is good. Riccia is pearling a little, should i up Co2 anymore? So far I can see plenty of new hairgrass shoots, fresh HC growth and some new leaves on the pogostemon helferi. Keeping a close eye on it. When would be a good time to turn down Co2 and add live stock? I was thinking in a couple more weeks when the plants have began to spread properly.
 
I ran out of Co2 last night. I went through a 600g bottle in a 60l tank in 3 weeks! Is that too much? I would have thought it would last a little longer than that. I have attached a new bottle and I have turned it down somewhat this time.

As for the plants. The riccia is growing well and pearls a little bit in the evening, not a lot but a little. I am seeing a lot of the existing leaves melt in the HC and the pogostemon helferi, however, they all have fresh growth as well. I would imagine this is quite normal as most of the plants were probably grown emersed? I am getting some very fine threads, like the hair algae I have seen before, but very fine and clear not green. It looks like spider webs. There is not a lot of it and it is mostly in the few dead strands of hairgrass but gets stuck in other things also. Also I had an algae bloom on my rocks. Nothing else, just the rocks. It was a kind of rusty colour and showed up over night. It brushed of easily with a tooth brush, followed by a big water change. It hasn't really come back but there is still a little in the cracks etc.

I feel I might be at a point where it could go either way. Any advice on how to manage the tank at this crucial time? Need to steer it towards stable growth and not towards algae bloom.

I was dosing 1ml of TPN+ each day and 1ml of easycarbo. My drop checker has been lime green. My lighting period is 7 hours a day. Not sure if I should try reducing light, upping ferts maybe or just keep it the same. Is there any harm in too much Co2 other than wasting it? Flow appears to be really good. No plant is avoiding it and the Co2 bubbles seem to circulate well.

There is no major problems yet but I want to make sure I dont have any. Any advice will be gladly received. Cheers,

Daniel
 
No, that sounds about right, give or take. Especially if you're very hi light as I suspect you are. I use 2kg and they last around 3 months give or take.

Also, if you're seeing algae the not enough co2 alarm bells should be ringing, keep up water changes and keep the co2 high, or higer still being better! Reduce the light by an hour. Is the co2 coming on before the lights?
 
Ok, I had another clean up. Removed as many dead leaves as I could, removed all the strands of hair algae and did a big water change. I have cut the photoperiod down by 1 hour to 6 and have kept the co2 quite high. I will keep dosing TPN+ at 1ml a day and continue to change water every other day. Let's see how that plays out.
 
Already the little bits of algae at the dead leaves is melting. Cleaned up a little more, trimmed some grass and another water change. I think we will be alright.
 
First an update, then a few questions. Photos to follow this evening.

Things have been much the same for the past few weeks. I have been making 50% water changes every 3rd day after a little algae clean up. The algae has certainly stunted but has not gone yet. I believe the algae was triggered by decaying plant matter. Some of the hairgrass I but in was a little brown and the pogostemon melted and it was in these place the algae grew. The pogostemon has since recovered very well. Most of the dead leaves have been removed or have decayed now and the constant remove of algae has kept it from spreading. The hairgrass has really only grown straight up. Not much spreading. Shall I cut it? My plan this evening is the cut the grass down and remove it along with the last of the algae intertwined with it. I was going to then sprinkle a fresh layer of substrate over to cover any remnants. Is this a good idea? I have planted a bunch of HC along the front. So far so good. I am going to plant some more pogostemon and maybe something else.

Lights are on for 6 hours, I have upped the dosing of TPN+ from 1ml to 2ml daily with no adverse effects, yesterday I added an extra 1ml of trace mix and all of my plants were pearling within about 1 hour. The riccia normally pearls but nothing else. Even the pogostemon was pearling. No water change either. I wondered if this might be due to the added trace mix or if it might have been triggered by the sunny morning we had in Brighton the tank is not in direct sunlight but we had a very bright and sunny day.

This leads me to one of my questions. I know pearling must have been covered a great deal but I still have more questions. If plants are pearling should that be taken as a sign that things are good? I am not trying to achieve pearling necessarily but if my plants pearl does that mean they are content and I should keep doing what I am doing?

I made a slight change to my setup yesterday which should bring some great results. I re-positioned my diffuser underneath my tunze mini pump. Now the Co2 is pulled through the pump and blasted around the tank. I now get tiny tiny bubbles throughout all the water. I would say the whole tank is now rich with tiny bubbles instead of a variety of small and medium size bubbles floating around as I had before.

Thanks for the help. Photos tonight. Cheers,

Daniel
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As you can see the Riccia has grown in nicely. The rest of the tank is not yet living up to the name but it will in time. More pogostemon at the top of the hill to come and maybe some staurogyne. Hopefully the HC will take off along the front and the hairgrass will fill in a little. I trimmed it all down to about 2cm so hopefully that should encourage it. I am thinking this might have been a little easier had I planted more densely from the get go. Even still it is good fun and I am learning and gainng some satisfying results. I forgot to mention that I added some fish. 7 lamp eyes, 1 cardinal and 2 oto's. One oto died after 2 days the other seems happy. The rest of the fish have aclimatised well the first day or two was a little stressful with them sitting at the surface a lot but they are all very happy. Going to add shrimp soon and a few more lamp eyes and cardinals.

I also removed the floating plants I had as I think they were blocking too much light.
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