my new ~1.4 ft cube tank

[ongtw]

hi guys,

i've finally finished my new tank after spending 6 hours for the whole process. kinldy give me some feedback and advice. i'm planning to do a water change in two days time. anything else that i might need to do?

full frontal


left side


right side


thanks in advance!

[tcy81]

hi, i think it will be good if you can find small rocks/stones to place along the edge of the soil to prevent it mixing will the white sand.

[ongtw]

sorry guys forgot to post the specs. here goes

Tank Dimensions (LxWxH, specify units): 16 x 16 X 16 inches
Lighting Intensity(No of Watts) : 11w x 2 + 15w
Number and type of Lighting (FL/PL/MH) : PL
Age of light bulbs : 2/12/2007
No. of hours your lights are on : 5 hours light + 5 hours break + 5 hours light
CO2 Injection Rate (bps) : ~1 bps
Type of CO2 (DIY/Cylinder) : Cylinder
Method of Injection (e.g. Diffusor/Reactor) : diffusor
Other fertilisers (Product name. E.g. Root Monster) :
ADA Power Sand Special
ADA Amazonia 2
ADA Amazonia 2 powder
clear super - 2 scoops
bacter 100 - 2 scoops
penac p - 2 scoops
tourmaline bc - 7 scoops
penac w - 2 scoops

Type of Filter (overhead/internal/canister, Product name/model if possible) : Canister - dolphine c-500

Fan: normal Cooling Fan

Age of setup (i.e. since initial setup or last major re-do ) : since 13th April 2008

Water change frequency : Every week
Amount changed : 3 inches of water

Water surface movement (None/gentle/turbulent) : Gentle
Circulation (None/gentle/turbulent) : Gentle

Tank Temperature : 29 degree celcius at this moment w/o fan turn on

[aquanatix]

Wah!!! Finally your tank is up and it looks good!
Noticed your use of 11wX2 + another 15w,i'm guess you did not find intensity strong enough? Anyway...what's the stone like item in your last picture?Looks like the stone weights used when you buy plants?

[ongtw]

hi tcy81,

sigh.. its already mixing up.. . i'm planning to probably pay NA a visit next week to get some small stones to do this.

thanks!

[ongtw]

hey aquanatix,

yea finally got everything in place so decided to just give it a go. haha sorry the weight in the last pic is just to weigh the plant down. planting the jap hairgrass is really a back breaking task! yeap... added another 15w light since i plan to try growing some HC

now i'm hoping algae won't visit me

[tcy81]

hi tcy81,

sigh.. its already mixing up.. . i'm planning to probably pay NA a visit next week to get some small stones to do this.

thanks!

after you add the stones, siphon the particles out and top up some sand again

[torque6]

Ong,
scape is abit stiff, the white sand separating the 2 parts of your tank is too artificial for your tank.

But you plants look well placed and i like them.

[tcy81]

by the way, if you can find similar stones that you are using now, will be better for the overall scape.

[torque6]

hehehe, finding similar stones will be a challenge, really envy jervis can fly to japan and get exotic paired stones

Ong,
If you want to get similar stone, make sure you buy them all at 1 place, chances are if you get 1 and try to find matching stones from other LFS, the chances are quite slim, but its possible though.

[ongtw]

hi guys,

thanks for your feedback. yes i find it artificial as well. problem is i got the stones when i went holiday in new zealand. picked it up from the river.. lol.. so i guess i'm doomed if i were to get a matching pair.

i'll try to get something small just to put it in between the white and the ada soil. sigh

[tcy81]

maybe you can tied the small stones you buy with some moss....
actually i like the standing stone, it will be really nice if you have more of it.

[ongtw]

oh by the way guys,

what do you suggest to make it look more natural? any ideas?

[torque6]

Remember, your scape is not confined by what you need to find but what is made available for you. I was at midori 4-5 mths back when they had a new shippment of iwagumi look/granite rocks, i was there for 1hour but couldnt pick a suitable set of 3. I came back 2 weeks later only to find them setup a very nice nano tank with those rocks.

[ongtw]

hi torque6,

good point and point noted

i'll try to get something today and see how things goes. i'll be posting an updated pic for more comments.

thanks!

[aquanatix]

How long did you spend just planting the foreground?
Looks so damn neat!Like torque,i like it very much!I'm even impressed that you had so much patience planting them in! Mine usually starts out like yours and always end up in huge clumps after 15mins! I'm guessing if the division of sand is a little stiff,you could always A)Add in more black gravel to even out the straight borders thats causing the unnatural look or B)Do what most people do by hunting for odd pieces of rocks to insert in between hence "breaking" the border. For me personally i try not to cover the rocks with moss,they usually overgrow and become distractions themselves!

[ongtw]

hi aquanatix,

i've since change the position of some plants. just a little bit. still trying to hunt for stones to insert in between the sand and gravel.

talking about the foreground. man i think it took me at least 2 hours seperating and planting them row by row. something like what they do when they plant padi in the padi fields.. lol!

[torque6]

From the looks of it, seems like you have about 4-6 pots of HG, i should have started with this much plants in my first setup

[ongtw]

torque6,

i only bought 2 pots of jap hg for that. anyway time for a quick update. gonna need some expert advice from the pros here.

this is the tank after adding some stones into the tank seperating the white and brown soil. went almost all lfs but only manage to get these stones from NA today. let me know what you guys think



japanese HG are looking good. at least to me.



also, below is the picture of the tiger lily from thailand which i got from colourful. you'll notice a cherry shrimp there. i just put in a few to test water. fortunately they survived



also, my HC are melting. could it be my lighting problem? currently i'm using 11+11+15 watts and my tank is probably about 15 plus gallons.



one last thing guys. i notice the red plant that i have is turning green. i've read and it seems that either my light is not enough or my ferts are not enough. i'm currently dosing wondergro macro and micro following EI dosing.

please advice.

[Jervis]

one last thing guys. i notice the red plant that i have is turning green. i've read and it seems that either my light is not enough or my ferts are not enough. i'm currently dosing wondergro macro and micro following EI dosing.
please advice.

Your lighting power seems adequate to me... does the back gets as much light as the front portion?