11" Nano Cube

[Slaigar]

http://fuelthefire.sifen7.com/images...s/nanotank.jpg

It is the custom 11" cube that I made. It was going to be a paludarium, but then I had problems with water flow so it just turned into an aquarium. It is mostly a Cryptocoryne and Aponogeton tank. Cryptocorynes will take the majority while the Aponogetons will line the back the wall. The substrate is pure flourite and I use only bottled water for the tank.

The taiwan moss that Mr. Loh sent me is also free floating in the tank. It has grown quite a bit since it has been moved there. The rock in front has some Erect moss tied to it but that is just temporary until I get more plants.

Still trying to fill it up, but I need to get more C. parva. I got 7 tiny plants of them and it looks like they will not be multiplying anytime soon!

Here is a closeup of the Java Fern "Philippines" in the center:
http://fuelthefire.sifen7.com/images...s/javafern.jpg

Plants so far:
Few mystery crypts (I ordered minima, purpurea and usteriana, but they are too small to identify)
A. natans (recovering)
A. undulatus (narrow, practically the same as Gan's)
A. ulvaceus (recovering)
C. albida
C. affinis
C. nurii
C. parva
C. wendtii(not too sure about it)
Java Fern "Philippines"

If anyone has any suggestions, as long as it does not involve moving the plants, I will be glad to hear it! Still looking for something to fill up the middle foreground and right side foreground(anything that grows as tall as C. albida)

[bowling-name]

Hello. That is an impressive collection of plants which should fill the tank nicely; however, I am curious about the light levels in your tank. I have heard C. parva requires fairly high levels of light and does not tolerate shade - have you had any previous experience growing it? I probably would have gone with C. willisii for the foreground, but then again I'm fairly new to aquatic gardening.

[Slaigar]

I have singe T5 lamp above my nano. It seems like enough and all the plants are happy. The lighting times are odd. Just basicly when I wake up to when I sleep.

I found C. parva easy to grow if you have the lighting. But the growth is very slow. I really want to get my hands on a few pots/bunches of this species so I do not have wait a few years for a good bushy foreground.

I will keep an eye out for C. xwillisii. According to tropica, it is quite a tall plant(atleast for my nano) to be in the center foreground. It would do well on the right side foreground.

[RonWill]

Mark,
I thought you should know that a personal album has been created for you. The linked images were edited to 600pixels with 50% JPEG Compression, which brings your original file size from 150KB to 30KB. It doesn't lose alot of details but sure loads much faster.

Nano tank


Java fern [what is that white thingie on the right?]


That said, I'm wondering if the 11" cube is made by you or custom-made by someone else. Always get jittery in my attempts to cut glass... which unfortunately doesn't come out right (or straight )

A couple of thoughts about your plants...
The Aponogeton ulvaceus) is quite lenghty when growing well. Mine, originally 4" is now 20", with no signs of slowing down. Not sure if the "siamensis" is a cultivar from A. undulatus but with this 2, the entire tank's surface will be covered. Fortunately, crypts are not light-demanding.

I like the dark color of the Flourite which brings out the contrast with plants and fishes. Isn't this supposed to act as base fert? [my memory is now my shortest thing]

Anyway, keep us posted. I may just find a use for those 12" cube lying around :wink:

[Slaigar]

Thanks for the gallery Ronnie, it will take some pressure off my site's bandwidth . I would have compressed them myself, but I have not got around to installing Photoshop yet.

The glass was cut by a professional. It was just the regular people who cut glass for windows. Then after cleaning the glass, I siliconed it all together. About $30 dollars Canadian total.

I am not worried of the plants covering the surface. Just hoping the plants will be thick enough later on to create a "wall". The Aponogetons have not rooted yet, so they are still going at a slow pace. I am hoping they do root soon, I am getting tired of them rolling around the cube! The A. ulvaceus can be seen in the front and the A. undulatus is tied to rock with fishing wire .

The white thing in the Java fern picture was an airstone for DIY Co2. I better take another picture without it, hehe.

Flourite is indeed a substrate fertilizer. After my clay substrate do so miserably, I just decided to go with something that actually works.

A. undulatus can be found in Thailand according to Kasselmann's book. I would be surprised if you have another variety. You guys might have three varieties in your possession. Interesting to see them all side by side.

[RonWill]

Mark, while Photoshop is the defacto software of choice, it's also resource-intensive and not that affordable for the casual user. ACDSee Version 3 is what I installed in the present system and it doesn't have a steep learning curve.

Back to your tank...
With glass panels cut and readied, howabout does one silicon/hold it all together? Was some sort of a jig used?

In my limited experience, most Aponogetons have long leaf petiole or leaf stalk, which may inadequately cover the back wall. If floating leaves don't bother you, I think E. Rubin (red variety) might be a better choice, as it has broader leaves and provides color contrast to the rest of the all-green plants but I'm wondering why your Apo bulbs are rolling around. If you sink it a little, the Flourite should hold it down.

After my clay substrate do so miserably, I just decided to go with something that actually works.

I share the same bad experience and was really skeptical that non aquarium-designated materials will actually work. I'm very happy (for now, anyway) that the aquatic compost, used in my series of DW-Tanks, has exceeded my expectations. There's none of the cloudy water that Freddy spoke of, nor is there a sudden out-burst of green water or algae (touch wood!) Extra space permitting, you might want to reconsider a tank with Walstad's method.

A. undulatus can be found in Thailand according to Kasselmann's book. I would be surprised if you have another variety. You guys might have three varieties in your possession. Interesting to see them all side by side.

Yes, that would also demystify or properly ID what plant they actually are since my guesstimates are rarely correct!

[Slaigar]

I will be sure to take a look at the ACD program.

When the tank was being made, all I needed was another set of hands and some duct tape. Duct tape and the silicone combined holds it all together easily. For making a cube, placing the glass together takes about 15minutes. I did one layer to connect them all and then a second layer to make sure that there will be no leaks. Then I smoothed out the silicone with fingers. Most of my time was spent on removing the excess silicone off the glass. I got lucky and there were no leaks after the second coating of silicone.

The flourite itself is quite light so plants can get shifted around quite easily. Usually moving one plant around shifts everything around it. I had quite a frustration getting C. nurii into the ground!

I am not sure if Echinodorus species will fit well in the cube. I am looking mainly for tall/skinny or short/wide plants. Most echinodorus species may easily outgrow the tank in width. If any of the Aponogetons start growing wide, out they go! I know the A. undulatus and A. natans will stay narrow enough, but I am unsure about the A. ulvaceus.

I was thinking of tearing down my 65g and changing the susbstrate. Just got to find a replacement substrate and a place to put the fish.

[Ptarmigan]

I have not got around to installing Photoshop yet.

I like a free software called IrfanView http://www.irfanview.com/ It is easy, quick and simple to use for operations like resizing, compressing and/or changing between bmp/jpg/etc It can do a lot more as well but for a full-feature advanced image editing software I also like TheGimp http://www.gimp.org/ it is free as well, but it is a big steep learning curve and I have not yet climbed all the way to the top :-)
hth,
Malcolm.

[whuntley]

I use ACDSee and Irfanview as viewers/album-organizers, but for general editing I like Paint Shop Pro 8. It is slightly easier to use than Photoshop at about 1/6 the cost. I have Gimp, too, but took it off my machine, as it would not do a few things essential to Photoshop compatibility. Maybe when I switch to XP, but for now I am very happy with PSP 8. So far, it does everything I could ever do in PS and cost less than US$100.

For the best actual prints, I prefer QImage. One-time fee and lifetime upgrades! It has better interpolation algorithms than either PSP or PS, and it has "filters" as add-ons for many popular pro cameras.

Wright

[Slaigar]

started using the Irfranview program and I like it. It is quick and easy to resize and adjust images. Photoshop is a memory hog. It takes such a long time to load. I will keep it around though since it was free with the desktop computer .

I am going to get some more Aponogeton species into the tank and they can get quite large. The one I have in mind particularly is A. madagascariensis henkelianus. It is coming with the Aponogetons I ordered and I think it's best chances will be in the nano because of soft water and high water flow. I am not worried of it shadowing the plants as the Crypts will not mind so much. Just keeping it in such small quarters will be a problem with leaves that reach 2'! I will just have to find a way to control its growth. Other than henkelianus, some more species are going to get into the tank: A. capuronii, A. longiplumulosus, A. madasgarcariensis "West Coast", A. ulvaceus. Yes, this sounds crazy placing so many large plants in the tank! Atleast no one gets in trouble for over crowding plants . The layout that I got planned might be for one season only or I might be able to pull it off if each one has different dormancy times. They are all from Madasgarscar so my fingers are still crossed for the latter. Just one week til the tubers arrive.

If they start to conflict too much, what does not fit into the tank goes into the 65g.... It will be quite a fight for what stays in the nano!

A. madasgarcariensis "West Coast"- Toyin from Rehoboth Aquatics has said: "The West Coast Lace is narrower leaved with wider
holes and darker colored leaves." I am curious to what it really looks like because I thought the regular madagascariensis was narrow already.