My 40cm cube journal

[sateman]

This is the journal of my 40cm cube setup started during the recent CNY break. I bought the tank from Aquatic style. Had wanted to go for the 45cm, but was told that I had to wait for another 3 weeks. As this was the only time I could get such a long break, I said “what the heck…I’ll go for the smaller cube instead”.
I then got myself 3 pieces of wood and some lava rocks. Thought I buy separate pieces so I can play around with the design rather than stuck with a single big piece. This will be theme of the design - green (plants) and red (lava rocks).
wood.jpg
I toyed with several layouts before deciding on which one to settle for. Good thing the tank came with a cardboard cover of the same size so it was much easier to sketch out the layout and test the arrangments on it.
layout.jpg
I've finally found the layout that I like. Now it's time to weigh down the wood. I’m using the lava rock to act as the weight. Added some branches cut from the main piece. Using glue gun to hold the pieces in place and then tied them up using fishing line.
glue.jpg
I’ve decided to make a pathway - using white sand bordered by black ADA II soil for the contrast. I used a cardboard to act as a divider to hold the soil in place.
sand.jpg

[sateman]

The moment of truth…time to lift the cardboard hoping that the sand and soil stays. Add some final touches and I’m loving it a lot! Woohoo!


pathway.jpg
I’ve got the flora ready. Will be using mini pelia as the lawn. Tying some spiky on the “tree”. I’ve got java on rocks as well as fissidens. Tied some spiky on toothpicks to act as additional branches. Also having some narrow leaf ferns, staurogyne, Japanese hairgrass, C Wendtii brown…and my favorite mini nana. I am also porting the Eriocaulon which is getting too big from my other tank.
plants.jpg
Tying the plants / adding toothpick branches
tying java.jpgtoothpick.jpg
Watch out for the layout inside the tank!

[sateman]

This is the look of the completed layout inside the tank.
Top view from different angles.
final1.jpgfinal_top.jpg
All went well except….as soon as water was poured in….
Problem 1
I didn’t realized that the rocks used to secure the wood were not heavy enough. One by one the wood started to move and I had to make more adjustments here and there. Although it didn’t turn out exactly like the above picture but nonetheless it seemed pretty okay after many hours of shifting and tying.

Problem 2
The ADA soil was also a cause of concern for me because of the huge amount of black dirt that clouded the water and landed on practically every single blade of leaves making them very unsightly. Even though I poured the water very slowly on one on the rocks using a small cup as I did not want to stir up the soil, the dirt was simply overwhelming…Maybe because it was used soil...hmm, not too sure. I had to make many water changes for the next few days and cleaned whichever plant I could. It also ruined my expensive mini pelia carpet and made it looked dirty. I was hoping my Eheim Ecco Pro 130 does its job which it did remarkably well.

Problem 3
CO2 solution accidentally got spilled into the tank. As a result, the whole tank was infested by fungus. I was worried that I have to dismantle the whole setup. I turned to AQ again for answers and several members gave very effective solutions. I have to prematurely add in the cleaning crew before I could complete the cycling period. However, water tests showed that it was safe as I had used water and some media from a matured tank. In came 4 yamatos and 4 ottos. They performed a great job! This is how it looked with the fungus attack.
fungus.jpg

Will post the picturres of the tank after 3 weeks...stay tuned!

[Timeless]

nice!!! camping here already!!! thanks for sharing!!!

[sateman]

And this is how it looks now after 3 weeks. Comments are most welcome!
tank shot.jpgfull view 2.jpg
My favourite plant...the hardy Mini Nana
mini nana.jpg
C Wendtii brown
wendtii.jpg
Staurogyne and Lindernia rotundifolia
staurogyne.jpg

[sateman]

Not too sure what is the name of this stem plant. Nice shade of green and maroon. Using it for background. Got it for only $1 from OTF.
stalk.jpg
Some of the inhabitants...a school of galaxy rasboras
galaxy.jpg
A berried Rili amongst the sakuras, fire yellow, orange shrimp and the hardworking yamatos and ottos. Also a pair of horned nerite – the best cleaner for spot algae
rili.jpgsnails.jpg

[sateman]

Finally, I’ve decided to add a pair of T5 14W x 2 that is turned on only for 5 hours a day to complement my Ultra Bright Beamworks LED. I’ve added a strip of DIY LEDs on the perimeter of my Beamworks for that extra brightness.

T5new.jpg
side view
views2.jpg
I've really enjoyed putting this tank together. Hope to share the joy with all.
Many thanks for reading.

[Numbskull]

This is a nice tank. Let's see when plants matured how it will look like. Would love to see a jungle.

[hencpu]

Nice tank, bro. Especially the moss on the driftwood, thats a lot of work.

A fan of CPD, too?

[Shadow]

Nice scape,
I suggest you can the java moss with something else, java moss can be very messy unless regularly trim. Worst part is when you trim, those small cutting drop everywhere and impossible to clean. After a while you have java moss entangle everywhere

Not too sure what is the name of this stem plant. Nice shade of green and maroon. Using it for background. Got it for only $1 from OTF.

That look like Alternanthera reineckii

[felix_fx2]

Great job on the spiky tree
The contrast there look nice and natural.

[sateman]

This is a nice tank. Let's see when plants matured how it will look like. Would love to see a jungle.

yes..I think I will let it grow naturally without trimming and see if the growth produce any manageable chaos..hehe

Nice tank, bro. Especially the moss on the driftwood, thats a lot of work.
A fan of CPD, too?

Ya lahhh. someone from this forum go and poison me with his posting leh....hehe. Love these dimunitive creatures!

Nice scape,
I suggest you can the java moss with something else, java moss can be very messy unless regularly trim. Worst part is when you trim, those small cutting drop everywhere and impossible to clean. After a while you have java moss entangle everywhere
That look like Alternanthera reineckii

Thanks for the plant id bro. Will take note of the java when trimming. Anyway, most of the java are tied to small pieces of rocks. Worst case, I'll remove them out of the tank and trim...

Great job on the spiky tree
The contrast there look nice and natural.

Thanks Glosso king..hehe. Yes, the tree did take up a bit of my time but I got a helping hand..(wife grinning)...

[backspace]

Nice journal. The tank setup is looking great.

[chong99]

very nice and neat set up!

[fotoudavid]

wow bro, you also buy!!!! nice nice!!!

[melthazor]

Where did you buy your narrow leaf java fern?

[sateman]

wow bro, you also buy!!!! nice nice!!!

ya..cheap and nice..saw the same tank at tampines selling almost double the price leh

Where did you buy your narrow leaf java fern?

It was given to me by one of the AQ members when I bought some other plants from him.
You can get it from C328..saw some recently

[sateman]

Nice journal. The tank setup is looking great.

very nice and neat set up!

Thank you very much...glad you like it! Just sharing my joy.

[griffinkid]

Wow the woods
Are nice. Where did u get them?
Btw i love your tank's scape!

[sateman]

Wow the woods
Are nice. Where did u get them?
Btw i love your tank's scape!

I got the 3 pieces of wood from C328. But lately, I saw several nice small ones from NA.
Want to buy some to standby for my next tank...hehe