30 Gallon Cube

[Teeds404]

A Little History:
Set up in the beginning of September I had the tank running “dry” for a two months, attempting to establish a immersed HC/Riccia and Microsword carpet. I was presently surprised with the results as it filled in quite quickly, the HC anchored the Riccia to the ground as it sent out runners and the Riccia grew through the HC to make a nice mixed, and might I say cushy looking carpet.

I wish I had a camera at my disposal to document the growth, as I was astounded at how fast the plants grew. Regardless though I am very happy with the results.

Filled at the beginning of December:

30-Gallon Oceanic Cube

Filter:
Eheim 2213

Lighting:
96W 20” Corallife PC
40W 20” Corallife PC

Substrate:
ADA Amazonia
Flourite Black Sand
2/12 Sand

Ferts:
2 doses of Flourish a week.
No CO2 (one of the reasons I like immersed growth, once established, HC is a very easy plant in my opinion)

Plants:
Hemianthus callitrichoides, riccia fluitans, Blyxa aubertii, Lilaeopsis brasiliensis, Cyperus helferi

Fish:
20+ Emerald Eye Rasbora (Form B), 4 Peacock Grudgen, 5 Bumblebee Goby, 20+ Amano Shrimp

Sorry bout the quality of pics.

Anyway just thought Id share a little something. Thanks for looking.

[joel.uejio]

Amazing! TOTM-ready! :thumbsup:

[Teeds404]

Thank you Joel!

[Lab_Rat]

Great tank!

[satanpie]

wow

[odinthejd]

Nice looking!!! Are those bumble bee gobies I believe is what they are called because they are brackish. But yeah TOTM

[rogers138]

Nicely done!

[Rbishop]

Terrific!

[rich311k]

Fabulous!

[FishFanatic13]

absolutly amazing and im seeing a vision here...the sound of music the musical all performed by ur fish

[beeZer350]

fantastic!

[Teeds404]

Thank you all for the complements. I am really pleased with the tank, I'm glad others like it.

Odinthejd (http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/member.php?u=101077) you are 100% correct that Bumblebees are typically brackish water fish. There are "luckily" two species of Bumble's common to the trade, Brachygobius xanthozona and Brachygobius nunus. The Nunus is a pure brackish water bumble that does not tolerate fresh for very long. The Xanthozona however, can aclimate and live quite well in freshwater.

[Teeds404]

However... on hindsight I now have to see what species I purchased lol. Ill check that when I go to work today. I want to say 95% sure that it is Xanthozona because our BBG's have been there for a long time and are kept in pure freshwater with no deaths in a few months... best to check though to be safe.

[daphilster08]

Very beautiful tank! So you started with just a small patch of ground cover and it grew in that fast in about how long of time??

[myswtsins]

I'd hate to have to keep that lawn trimmed! :eek: Beautiful tank!!

[Teeds404]

I started with about 2 pots of HC, 3 pots of Micro and a few sprigs of Riccia that I found randomly in a few tanks at work. Planted and let it sit for about 2-3 months with occasional misting from a spray bottle, keeping the water level at just below the substrate level. After that it was entirely carpeted so I just filled the tank up. No uprooting or die off. Now it's just plugging along.

Since I do not add CO2 to the tank the trimming is minimal in all honesty. I’ve done a minor trim once since I set it up. Is really is a low maintenance tank surprisingly.

[Teeds404]

I will say though now that it is brought up it is about time to do a little lawn mowing.

[jooranda]

woooooooooooooow is all i can say wanna come round an set all my tanks up like that for me hehehe very impressive :)

[Ryanstech]

stunning tank!

[Teeds404]

Thanks again all. Im very happy with it. I wish I could have had a camera to show its growth over time.

[BettaFishMommy]

wonderful tank Teeds!!

and just to clarify, when plants are grown out of water they are grown 'emersed', not immersed.

[Inka4040]

Gorgeous!

[Teeds404]

Bettafishmommy I am embarrassed :) It will be used properly from now on, thank you for the grammar correction.

[BettaFishMommy]

Bettafishmommy I am embarrassed :) It will be used properly from now on, thank you for the grammar correction.

s'alright Teeds, took me months to figure out emersed vs immersed, lol. i'm just lucky to have a Tropica plants importer as my postman at workjob :D most of what i've learned lately has been from him. yay postman! :thumbsup:

[Nolapete]

Beautiful tank!!! I'm going to try that soon.

And the correct word for growing underwater is submersed not immersed which means plunged or dipped in a fluid.

:D

[BettaFishMommy]

Beautiful tank!!! I'm going to try that soon.

And the correct word for growing underwater is submersed not immersed which means plunged or dipped in a fluid.

:D


courtesy of www.dictionary.reference.com: (http://www.dictionary.reference.com:)

im⋅mersed

1. plunged or sunk in or as if in a liquid. 2. Biology. somewhat or wholly sunk in the surrounding parts, as an organ. 3. Botany. growing under water.


sub⋅mersed

1. submerged. (http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=submerged&db=luna) 2. Botany. growing under water.



both would be considered correct, but when you are speaking of immersed, i believe the opposite is emersed.

[Nolapete]

Ooh, you're a wordsmith too LOL

Guess you showed me not to use Webster instead of my usual dictionary.com!

Better watch it or I'll submerge you in those 55s after I expand them.

[dtd87]

I'm jealous

[BettaFishMommy]

awww Pete, how'd you know i've always wanted to swim with my fishies? lol!

[Nolapete]

Now I'm wishing I had picked up the 50 cube I saw for $40 on CL...darn! It would have been perfect for something like this!!! Maybe I'll do one like it super-sized in one of the new 4' square tanks I'm building.

BFM, I had a hunch. Wanna be a mermaid in my 4300? You can swim with the BIG fishes then.

[Nolapete]

I'm going to setup both my 5 gallons I just resealed like this!!! I might even go through and set up all the 10 gallons, 20 long, and 29 like it to. Love it!!!

[CrimsonBlush]

Wow! Talk about lush!

[BettaFishMommy]

BFM, I had a hunch. Wanna be a mermaid in my 4300? You can swim with the BIG fishes then.

nah, NLS just doesn't taste good enough for me to live in a tank full time. :p:

[Hollygirl]

OMG! I LOVE that carpet. That is something I just have to try in the future. BEAUTIFUL!!!

[Nolapete]

nah, NLS just doesn't taste good enough for me to live in a tank full time. :p:

I don't feed NLS! Can't stand the stuff. How would you know how it tastes? Oh, you're one of those...

[Chrisinator]

Holy...




I love Peacock Gudgeons! My favorite fish!

[BettaFishMommy]

I don't feed NLS! Can't stand the stuff. How would you know how it tastes? Oh, you're one of those...

now whaddya mean, 'one of those'???? hmmm???? lol. come on now, don't tell me you've never tasted some form of pet food to see what it was like???

[Hollygirl]

I started with about 2 pots of HC, 3 pots of Micro and a few sprigs of Riccia that I found randomly in a few tanks at work. Planted and let it sit for about 2-3 months with occasional misting from a spray bottle, keeping the water level at just below the substrate level. After that it was entirely carpeted so I just filled the tank up. No uprooting or die off. Now it's just plugging along.

Since I do not add CO2 to the tank the trimming is minimal in all honesty. I’ve done a minor trim once since I set it up. Is really is a low maintenance tank surprisingly.
That is a really interesting technique. I'm going to be doing another tank in the spring and I might try that. I had no idea you could run a tank "dry". Thanks for sharing that tip with us!

[Nolapete]

now whaddya mean, 'one of those'???? hmmm???? lol. come on now, don't tell me you've never tasted some form of pet food to see what it was like???

Nope, can't say that I have. :barf:

About the closest I've gotten is eating raw sweet prawn and mussels.

[Teeds404]

It's a good way if you have time and don't care about waiting for results. Not to say that the tank was void of life, there were a few silverfish and a colony of spiders that were hidden amongst the rocks, they were living a happy humid life till the floods came.

[Teeds404]

Actually Chrisinator you profile pic is what made me choose to get some Gudgeons. I like them. So thank you for the inspiration :)

[StarStruck8]

I love emerald eye rasboras...can't wait to get more for my 20L. :) Very nice tank!

[Teeds404]

I agree they are a good surface schooler.

[FISHSHROD]

Almost missed this, HOLY Freak and A that is nice !

[thrak76]

Very impressive lawn! The BBGs are very cool too. Thanks for sharing.

[Teeds404]

Thank you for enjoying. Gave it it's first trim today, really nothing different looking just a little shorter riccia.

[tyr]

Thats really cool concept...pardon my questions lol. I have a couple of questions. When you put the plants in did you already have the rock placed? Also where did you get those cool rocks? How long would you keep the lights on when you were growing the carpet? Also would you dose flourish when the carpet was growing? Finally lol does the type of substrate chosen have a direct effect in the quickness of growth and what made you decide to go with the ada sand?

[Chrisinator]

Actually Chrisinator you profile pic is what made me choose to get some Gudgeons. I like them. So thank you for the inspiration :)

Legit? Thanks!

I hope you have good luck with them!

[Teeds404]

TYR this is to you :)
When I placed the plants the hardscape was already set up, this allowed the growth of the plants to take a natural route around the rocks, or on them in some cases. One cool thing with this is that in a humid setting you might just find some terrestrial plants spring up from the rock, I got 2 different forms of terrestrial mosses growing while the tank was growing dry. As for getting the lace rock I found them at the store I work at. Very cool things you can do with the lace rock, one of my favorites.

As for light cycle I kept them on from 9 in the morning to about 9 at night on a timer. 12 Hour photo time was more than they really needed but it worked out. This of course can be altered to your liking, it is not too crucial as long as you give them time to rest with at least a 8 hour break during the cycle.

Dosing is not fully necessary as long as you have a nutrient rich substrate, but I misted daily with a bottle of water mixed with flourish for kicks. I didn't have to worry about algae so why not give the little greenies some extra food.

As for the substrate, at least concerning HC, I would chose some sort of nutrient rich soil for which it can grow into. I used ADA Aquasoil as topsoil with Fluorite Sand and 2/12 sand as a base underneath. With small rooted carpeting plants just make sure that the substrate has small grains for which the delicate root structure can grow into/onto and that there is some source of nutrients they can use.

[jm1212]

your tank is amazing! i think you should send it to me...

[Teeds404]

Thanks JM. You cover the shipping costs I might just think about it.

[tyr]

Wow thanks for answering my questions. I have another lol. Did u have to set up a mist system or did u mist it every X amount of hours?

[Big Mike]

WOW!!! Beautiful tank!!!

[Teeds404]

Misted when I felt like it. Just used a spray bottle. No set times. Sometimes 10 times a day, sometimes I skipped a day. It wasn't to crucial, it just made it so it felt like I was doing something with the tank.

[tropfishsuccess]

Simply Amazing! You have worked hard! Excellent Job!

[-[AnThOnY]-]

amazing, im about to upgrade my ten gallon to a twenty and this might be a good way to go

[Teeds404]

I will never do it any other way after I played around with this kind of setup. It works so well, if you have the patience for it that is.

[WaywardSon]

Absolutely awesome job Matt - great looking tank!

[WeedCali]

This tank is gorgeous!

Any recent pics?

[Teeds404]

Thank you Coy! BTW post pics of the 50. As for recent updates there really hasn’t been any new developments. When I find some I am hoping to replace the whole background with good ol’ C. Helferi but until I find a good source of it I’m sticking with the small aubertii. Trimming has been a minimum; I have only had to do one since the original post (I love no CO2.) Other than that, no new livestock addition or losses, just sitting, letting it plod along. Should any Rainbow Darters come to be in my area for a good price I feel they might find a home. Till then just letting the thing go.

[svf]

Gorgeous. I have the same size tank - the Oceanic 30 cube - that I found in someone's trash. I LOVE what you did with yours! When the baby angels in mine are grown up and out of the house, I think I'd like to try the HC/riccia carpet. :)