new 1ft cube

[hwchoy]

I just put up a 1ft cube tank for the office (so MINIMUM maintenance is the target!), with ADA Aquasoil substrate (about 3cm) and Eheim Liberty 100 external hanging filter. Lighting is 9W PL although I can add another if necessary. No CO2 but can consider DIY, however understand the Liberty filter is not kind to CO2.

The plan is go for low light plants, perhaps a Xmas moss wall at the back, and crypts around the front. If possible a rock with moss in the centre. Main thing is to avoid algae and the associated maintenance. Fishes will probably be 20 small rasbora/danio type with a pair of Betta brownorum or Parosphromenus sp.

Any alternative suggetions? I'm a little apprehensive of the crypts being too slow and sensitive.

[pipsqueak]

Replace the crpyts with tennellus?

[sonique]

hi, i am new to this planted tank and wanna give a try to it. i also have a 1ft tank and hope dat once u have set up ur tank, u could post the details as a guideline for me...thx!

[hwchoy]

wanted to try something else other than Echinodorus. Anyway just now drop by Gen-X, ended up buying a block of wood with Xmas moss tied-on, $10 quite OK. And couple of C. wendtii 'brown' (think so). See how it goes first.

Sonique, the smaller the tank the more difficult. If you're new suggest you do lots of reading (in this forum plus the links) and be prepared to try and fail. My other advise is there are no short cuts, do weekly 30% water changes, DO NOT OVERFEED! and have enough lights. If can do so please do consider CO2 injection. Otherwise may not be able to enjoy the aquatic planting experience.

[hwchoy]

BTW, when I said "enough lights" it means intensity and not hours. You should never leave your lights on for more than 10 hours, longer hours do not help if the light is too weak to begin with.

[wynx]

Well, from my experience of one footer....I think in order to succeed with Moss is low light and cool water...THe moss in my office one footer is doing great!

Anyhow, if u intend to keep in office like mine..Temperature should be around 24 degree...Really do wonders for mosses.....

[sonique]

thx for the guidance guys...i've done quite a bit of research thru several forums. gained a lot of info...so since someone is oso settinf a 1ft tank, dats y i tink dat i can take the specifications as a guideline..at least i wont go astray and cause a heavy loss!

[hoppinghippo]

Choy: how about couple of anubias and ferns to go with your mossy wood? and I think 20 rasbora/danio with betta is quite alot for 1ft tank? ie. if you're looking for fuss free algae free tank w/o needing to do much water change, etc.

one thing about danios tho, I tried keeping leopard danios with cardinals b4 and once they are settled in the danios do display territorial aggression, so do be careful about keeping danios!

[hoppinghippo]

maybe instead of moss wall use picture of mermaid as backdrop lah.... [] confirm give motivation at work!!

[hwchoy]

looking for those self-sticking black/blue paper for background. now that I have the moss wood and crypts there is no more space for anything else. Perhaps one or two balansae that's all. See if they will make it. The axelrodi are very small so should be OK, thinking to put cherry shrimps to keep hair algae off the moss. Want to try the licorice gouramies in there see if the soft water will improve their colours.

[hwchoy]

I put a thermometer in the office 1ft cube, and I'm not even in the coldest part of the office, and the water temperature is 20.5°C! Is this too cold for the likes of rasboras and licorice gouramies?

However, the moss and possibly the shrimps should go great! But what about the crypts?

[benetay]

No problem with that kind of temperature...i'm sure you know the streams in the wild are very cold too...

[juggler]

With the PL lights, maybe water temp can rise? At night the air-con is off, right? So overall water temp can be higher than the 20.5C.
Consider a small heater?

[hwchoy]

don't think the little 9W PL is going to raise any temperature, and don't want to spend on heater, kiam kar nah leh.

[benetay]

When i turn on my air con at night and sleep till the nx morning when 3AC fans blows on to the surface, the temp is around 21-22 but condensation already took place when i woke up...Plants, fish still okay =)

[juggler]

For air-con room, I think a heater is useful. Especially during water change, your fish don't need to go into shock when much warmer water from the taps are poured in. Unless you store the water previously.

[vinz]

Choy, is the office A/C all weekend too? If not, the change in temp may be too much. It's probably slow enough not to cause major problems to the fishes/plants, but I don't think it's good in the long run.