Tropical Fish Forums

[Jacko]

Thought I should start with a journal of my new cube, picked the tank up and started on 7/15 and forgot to start up a diary then lol

12" cube tank
Lighting- 1 7w 7200K cfl and 1 23w 4600K cfl (eventually end up with either t5 or halide)
Substrate- Red Sea FloraBase
Rock- just some random ones from my lfs, I'm guessing quartz of some sort
Plants- Eleocharis sp. Belem and Syngonanthus sp. Uapes, Syngonanthus sp. something, Pogostemon helferi and Flame Moss
Fauna- Crystal Red Shrimp

The tank, sitting on the floor at work while I got what I needed


Rocks in:


Water and first plants are in:


7/17 I got my shrimps! FTS:


some random shots of said shrimps




added flame moss


another couple days later I added downoi and the second Syngonanthus sp.


Got pressurized co2 about a week back but didn't take a pic... was too lazy to remove all the equipment, do better next time... but here's one from earlier today


Not a very pretty tank atm, but I'm hoping it'll turn out nice once it's all grown in.
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[Caton]

Looks good! Why not do a dry start? Wouldn't the carpet fill in faster?
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[AquaDee]

What's a "Dry Start" ?

[Jacko]

Thanks! and yeah, I thought about dry start but then I'd have to deal with the belem melting off and coming back, couldn't put my other plants in there and my sygnos really needed some TLC out of my other tank.
Plus I really don't have the patience for a dry start

Remember... tanks need water to live!

Trying to find some decent CBS to add in with my CRS currently, and maybe in a years time I'll scrap whatever shrimp population I have in there at the time and try out blue bolts or king kongs

AquaDee: dry start is a method to kinda give your tank a headstart in growth... simplified, you grow out whatever carpet plant you decide to use first, emersed and out of the water because most species grow a lot faster that way.
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[Jacko]

Well, I never updated this tank as much as I would've liked...

Here was the end of the old scape with those rocks:


Then got new rocks and amazonia:


And tonight:


Still not super happy with it but I'm liking each redo better and better.
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[katienaha]

me too.looking better each time
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Let the current take you where you may not always want to go.

[Caton]

Looks great! You think you could make it to the January meeting for GSAS so that I could buy some CRS from you if you have the time and enough of them? I would need like 10
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[Jacko]

Haha, thanks!

I wish I had CRS still Caton, lost them all when my light fell in the fishtank

I think I'll get another bunch later this month but it'll be a while before they're breeding...
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[Caton]

[Jacko]

You can always call Jimmy at Aquarium Plus and see if he'd deliver them to the meeting for you... he's got some beautiful crystals (probably gonna get half from him and half from another guy).

Yeah, I'm a winner like that
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