mrbishi Posted April 4, 2004 Share Posted April 4, 2004 Hi Everyone, Thought I'd share my lil 1ft cube: ------- Specs ------- 1ft cube 28W 5000K screw in CF 50w Tronic Heater Aquaclear mini with just sponge on minimum flow Dupla pressurised CO2 (hehe can you say overkill! Hey its sitting around I might as well use it 2mm gravel with laterite mixed in to the bottom 1/3 At the moment the plants are: Bolbitus heudelotii Anubias barteri var. nana Riccia fluitans Nymphaea lotus 'zenkeri' Cryptocoryne wendtii Cryptocoryne parva There is one lonely little neon in the tank that my boss couldn't help but put in there when I wasn't looking. Final inhabitants I plan to have are a small group of minature corys (not sure of species yet - any suggestions?), a small school of endlers live bearers / harlequin rasboras / other small pretty unusual mid water fish, and probably a baby pepermint or two . I am currently in the process of trying to obtain some Glossostigma elatinoides to get a small carpet of it started at the front of the tank. If this proves to difficult to get hold of I may tie some riccia down to slate and have a riccia carpet. Hope you enjoy the lil tank. Cheers, Jon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anchar Posted April 4, 2004 Share Posted April 4, 2004 I think it's a gorgeous lil set up. You may want to rethink some of your cattie choices. Otocinclus sp. would be a better choice for algae control without plant damage. I have experienced both Corydoras sp and Ancistrus sp damaging plants, especially whilst you are trying to establish a 'carpet'. Livebearers will also graze upon your plants.....try some neons, cardinals, kerris, rummynose, golds or emperors maybe.... merjo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrbishi Posted April 4, 2004 Author Share Posted April 4, 2004 Thanks for the comments Merjo I have never had much sucess with keeping Otocinclus sp. in my other planted tanks. Usually they do well for a little while then mysteriously die. I read somewhere that a lot of them are imported with disease and hence the mysterious deaths. They are one of my favourite little planted tank fish and maybe I will give them another try. I would like to try some more unusual small schooling mid water fish - perhaps some small rasbora species (harlequin/dwarf/pygmy/emerald eye). Cheers, Jon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anchar Posted April 4, 2004 Share Posted April 4, 2004 What about some sparkling or licorise gouramis...both species are small, unusual and peaceful? merjo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CThompson Posted April 6, 2004 Share Posted April 6, 2004 I read a little secret with keeping Otocinclus which I put into practice once with good results. In the article from small magazine/booklet now I believe out of print, called The Planted Aquarium, it mentions that most people buy “X” number of Otocinclus (I think they mentioned 10), put them in their tank, only to find at the end of six months, they only have one or two. I certainly experienced this myself. What it recommended was to quarantine the Otocinclus when first purchased, and put heaps and heaps of things for them to eat. I used a 10” tank, and bulked it out with mangrove stumps, algae encrusted things (from a pond) and even dead leaves water logged from the same pond. I kept them in there for a few weeks, watched their little stomachs to see if they were concaved or convex. Eventually I released them into my 400L planted tank, and I didn’t have the same numbers at the end of six months that I did from my previous experience with these fish. I have since stripped my planted tank out, but I have two heated tanks outside (open to the sky), which are packed out with anubius, java, a few swords and a single cherished bolbotus (excuse spelling). It was just the other day on the weekend, I was watching a few of these guys swimming around, still after a couple of years or so! I feel from this advice, and from my experience, Otocinclus usually succumb to lack of food. I have never seen them eat any food I put into the tank, from flake to frozen to live food, contrary to articles that say they do eat this fare. Your tank needs to be established, not be so well balanced that there is no algae, and not to have too many algae eaters in there to compete for the same food. Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mpwashus Posted April 14, 2004 Share Posted April 14, 2004 I have a similar sized tank at work, only planted with java fern though. In it I have a pair of A. Agassizi, 4 Pygmy Cories, and four sparkling/croaking gouramis - thay all appear to be fairly happy, and the Agassizi even appear to be getting jiggy - hopefully they will spawn. The only thing I would like to add is some aglae control - what are the common names of some of the species discussed in this thread? Oh yeh - nice tank! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrbishi Posted April 16, 2004 Author Share Posted April 16, 2004 Here are some updated images 16/04/04 Cheers, Jon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B4IGO Posted May 18, 2004 Share Posted May 18, 2004 Hi Jon, Any more updated pics? What fish have you put in there now? regards, Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creature100 Posted May 18, 2004 Share Posted May 18, 2004 "28W 5000K screw in CF" what sort of light is that and what does the CF stand for? and is able to be screwed into any light? thanks Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B4IGO Posted May 18, 2004 Share Posted May 18, 2004 CF is "Compact Fluorescent" - ie the "Energy saving" bulbs that replace a normal light bulb. You may also be able to get a bayonette fitting - just depends on what your lamp uses... The 28W is self explanatory, and is probably equivalent to about a 140W incandescent bulb. (20W CF ~ 100W incandescent) 5000K is the colour temperature of the light produced. Hope that helps? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creature100 Posted May 22, 2004 Share Posted May 22, 2004 ok thanks .....so does that mean that these compact flouros have a satisfactory spectrum for growing most kinds of plants then? thanx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grungefreek Posted May 23, 2004 Share Posted May 23, 2004 Ive found 5000K CF's work well for growing plants, 6400K ones work good as well. I think 5000K bulbs are labelled as "natural" and 6400K are "daylight" . The ones to avoid are "warm white" i think is what they are called. These are about 3200K or so and dont do much for plants but cause algae to bloom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foai Posted June 2, 2004 Share Posted June 2, 2004 I love that set up. Could you tell me where you got the nano cube and light and what they cost? Thanks DMJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OziOscar Posted June 4, 2004 Share Posted June 4, 2004 12" cubes are about $25 almost anywhere. The lamp fixture? Maybe Ikea or the like for about $40 - all depends on 'the look' you want. The bulb / lamp? Bunnings etc for about $20-ish for the higher output ones, if I recall correctly. It looks like a cute idea... I've done something similar but I had some blue stricta in it which went NUTS and after a few weeks I ended up with a tank full of it. Anyone know where to get an underwater whipper-snipper? :D Cheers - OziOscar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anchar Posted June 5, 2004 Share Posted June 5, 2004 Hi OziOscar, Anyone know where to get an underwater whipper-snipper? :D Yep! It's called a clown loach merjo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B4IGO Posted June 5, 2004 Share Posted June 5, 2004 I got a very similar light fitting (may even be the same one) from IKEA for $16. comes in black, silver or red, and clips onto the side of a desk or shelf. Aquaclear mini will set you back around $35 (take a look at the online stores for the best prices.) and 50W heater about $50 for the Tronic. You can get cheaper ones though. With that and the light, thats about all you need! Depending what fish you plan to keep though I'd consider a lid. I made one up that sits on top of the tank (with some spacers for a bit of airflow and a slot cut out along one side for the filter). Even so one of my bronze cory's suicided the same night I put them in via the gap left for the filter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grungefreek Posted June 5, 2004 Share Posted June 5, 2004 Could get away with it a little cheaper if ya use a pro aqua heater ~ $15 and a resun HF-2001 HOB filter~$20. Dont know how handy u are, but for lighting u could by some wood and knock up a hood, wood probably cost $10 max. Then get some globe holders, bout$3 each, an extension lead ~ $3 at golo and wire them up (also dont know how old u are so only wire the lights yourself if ya know what your doing!) I like the look of the hood and it avoids having the desk lamp in the way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OziOscar Posted June 5, 2004 Share Posted June 5, 2004 I used a tiny (about the size of a pack of cigs) Chinese made filter, can't recall the brand name and it seems to be doing the trick. $19 at about any LFS. merjo: ROFL... :D :D :D Cheers - OziOscar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B4IGO Posted June 5, 2004 Share Posted June 5, 2004 Another alternative which I found since I bought my equipment is the Hydor heater and filter in one (www.hydor.com). Not sure how much they are (I would expect $150?) but would go a long way towards not cluttering such a small tank. I prefer the "open tank" look, hence I went for the desk lamp, rather than a hood, but if you like hoods then it would be quite easy to knock something up if you're a little bit handy. It would also hold a bit more heat in, which is probably a good thing for such a small water volume. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PHL Posted June 5, 2004 Share Posted June 5, 2004 Without a hood, fish selection is critical. Some have a knack of finding the smallest opening, and jumping out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TimPerthWA Posted June 5, 2004 Share Posted June 5, 2004 If you are after some small cats, why not try Corydoras pygmaeus. I have a school of five in my 3ft planted tank and they are very entertaining and are so small i couldn't imagine they would tear up any plants. They actually school through the midwater to bottom of the tank and put on a good show. I bought mine in perth recently (they were the last at the lfs) rgds, tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PHL Posted June 29, 2004 Share Posted June 29, 2004 My wife has decieded she wants a 1' cube setup as well; we have looked around, but the brightest CF bulb we saw was 18W. Does anyone have the brand of the 28W CF bulb, and where to get them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brett4Perth Posted June 29, 2004 Share Posted June 29, 2004 You can get a 50W halogen globe in a students desk light, which would fit over a small tank. How the 50W holagen compares with 18W CF I am not exactly certain, but I imagine it wpuld give at least as much light and probably more. HTH Brett Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PHL Posted July 4, 2004 Share Posted July 4, 2004 Found that Nelson produces a range of CF up to 48W, available at Bunnings. She got a 24, and was happy with that. Halogens don't put put as much useful plant lights as CF, so 50W may not be enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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