One Foot Cube Garden to be

Hi guys its great to post in the setups section again, had no tank for quite a while now so really want to start up again.

So here goes tank specs;
Tank - 300x300x300 with built in rear filter chamber - 3 sections for 50 watt heater, bioballs, filter floss and return pump.
wooden cabinet around tank.
lighting - wanted to go very high light but ended up settling on 1 watt per liter. - 15 watt cfl and 5 watt led
gravel is flourite dark
C02 - will start will excel till i get my diffuser and then use pressurized c02
Ferts will use prof dirks ferts.

want to keep the tank as simple as possible.
as for fish have no idea as yet .


heres some pics

the tank




the scape im almost 100% happy with. The scape with rocks only







the scape with a piece of drift wood



Please let me know about the scape do i change anything, should i go with rocks only or keep the wood. liking only the rocks but wanted to tie some java fern to the wood.

 

Looking really cool! cant wait to see it filled up

 

Both hardscapes work in my opinion...but if I remember your plant list from the other day correctly,I would opt for the rock only scape.... Floor space is at a premium for stems,so that piece of wood completly takes away that option in that corner...

Also,size of the scape.... Unless you attach a Mini Windelov type Java Fern,it's going to look a bit "lopsided" sitting on that wood.... Rather stick to very fine leaved stuff to make the aquascape look "bigger"

It's nice to have you back and keeping fishies again @Linga. Thought we lost you to the Dark Side or something..?

 

thanks guys @azurekoi i really like the rock only scape so i think thats the way i will be going. cant wait to start some planting.
expected plants to be ;

S.Repens
Hair grass
UG
Star Grass
HC
and some Rotala

will post pics as soon as i get the plants.

 

Oh wow, that looks amazing! Why not put a betta in there and a small school of neons? Would look awesome!

 

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Thanks cant wait to fill it up. With lots of plants im gonna have high flow rates so unfortunately the betta will just not work.

 

hi guys just a quick question on lighting. has anyone tried splitting there light periods will this work or is it a bad idea. eg 4 hours in the morning say 7-11 then on again from 5-9 or so.

 

Zoom used to do this on his big tank....

 

thanks wanted to know, so i can get the max viewing time on the tank. will try some tests

 

Why dont you start your lighting later say 12 to eight and then you do have some viewing time in the evening, plants like constant light for 8 hours more than that you will be battling algae.

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yep im thinking thats the way to go, late on so late off, will work out just right.

 

Splitting you lights with a 3-4 hour siesta is one of the best things you can do on your lighting. Its a sure way to keep algae at bay, and gives you viewing pleasure when YOU want to view. Plants do not suffer at all, and your fish will a tually be healthier and stronger.

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I disagree... For one very good reason. If you're running pressurized co2 and you stop your lighting you will create heavy co2 imbalances. You will have constantly fluctuating co2 levels and you could also get monster BBA outbreaks... Not to mention having the co2 on during the 4 hour siesta, would gas your fish too... If you did it this way, you would need to run the co2 an hour or so before lights on, off when the lights went off and then on again an hour before lights on and off with the lights again. On top of that, have an air pump running on a reverse timer to the co2. So pump goes on when co2 and lights go off, then pump goes off when co2 comes on.

 

I only ran the CO2 with the lights. CO2 came on 20mins before loghts on, and went off 30 mins before lights out. That way the CO2 levels were up the moment lights came on, and the plants used up all CO2 before lights went out.

Never used an airpump.
Never had any algae problems. The siesta period actually SOLVED my algae issues.

Obviously with my new light setup Im running differently, and dont get to use the siesta principle. Will see how that works for me before I make any changes.

 

thanks for the input guys. being doing some searching and it seems everyone has conflicting issues, esp with the algae situation.

 

ok got a suprize today. guess the delivery guys were bored or something. only expected this stuff in a week or two . so now i have to wait for the plants, hopefully i should get this by tmr if all goes well.

 

Nice equipment

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thanks. now just need to get a nice glass bubble counter, will use my ex plastic one in the mean time. stupid me didnt fill up my c02 as i tort i wouldnt get my diffuser yet.
so need to fill c02 and get this puppy planted, have a small bottle of excel will use that till its finished.

good news package checked in at the post office should be planting this evening will post pics as soon as im done.

 

Happy day - Yay

Got the plants awesome stuff. the tank finally gets water again. i tort glosso was a pain to plant darn its pie compared to planting HC.
ok enuf talk heres the pics.

 

ok heres one more pic