Nbot's 29g D. Puffer Low-tech Planted Biocube (New Pics 9/3/07) 56K

[Nbot]

Well, the wife has been wanting a dwarf puffer tank for 7 months or so, finally going to do it, she's been out of town for 3 weeks, its a surprise for when she gets home Been a little stressed to get it setup on time so it cycles so we can start w/ some Oto's (6?) when she gets here. Next will be some Amanos & RCS (lots), then the puffers (4) and the other tank mates will be 3-4 Kuhli loaches.

Note: I was trying to design something that didn't have the typical empty top section of the tank. The dwarf puffers I've read, to help mediate their aggressiveness, need things that break their line of sight, so wanted something going up to the top of the tank to make it "compartmentalized" so the d.puffers could have more "space" to themselves...

Tank is the biocube, so far I really like the biocube:
Pros: filter is quiet, has a nice all-in-one non cluttered look. I just need to find a heater that fits in the 3rd compartment and there won't be any equipment inside the tank at all. Lighting is nice, except the Actinic is way more "blue" than the actinic on my 55g, not sure why, don't like it as much (edit: new pros: water changes are EASY! Just stick the python in first chamber and drain, it will automatically stop at 50%!!. Also, stuck some foam in the return from the pump, less agitation now)
Cons: the filter pump is ridiculous, its meant for like a high-tide area salt tank, it really moves the water, every plant is swaying, not sure if that's bad for too much movement but I prolly wouldn't mind something a little less active. BIG CON: No hinge on the lid...I guess they make it like this so you can pull it off, but there should be like a "half hinge" to hold it in place if you just want to flip it back.

Modifications to the biocube:
1. I simply filled it up PAST the "max" level on the outside window, so that the 2nd filter chamber area got completely filled up. This eliminates the dry/wet filter and I basically have a built-in cannister filter. I put filter floss under the tray on the 2nd chamber, then on top of that tray 2 mesh bags full of Fluval bio-filter from my established 55g (hoping to have this cycled asap), then a bag of fresh carbon and a bag of purigen, then on top of that the blue/white foam to catch the big stuff.
2. note, I did *not* have to cut away part of the dividing wall from chamber 1 to chamber 2 like some people have been suggesting, the pump has so much flow I don't see why anyone would need to
3. I threw away the little slide-in filter package that's supposed to go in chamber 1

Material:
Substrate: Peatmoss, Aquasoil Amazonia II. I used 12 litres
Lighting: comes w/ 36w 10K, and 36w Actinic (just over 1wpg)
Rocks: Petrified Wood, pretty neat looking I thought...
Plants: All low-tech plants: Anubias coffelias and nana, java ferns, four leaf clover, dwarf sag, crypt wendtii (red/bronze), balansae, hygro corymbosa, wisteria, and going to try some dwarf hair-grass that someone threw in as an extra for me
Moss: Java moss, Peacock moss, Phoenix moss (MacClellan, ie Mossman, hooked me up roak style w/ the moss, also have some Xmas moss, and a tiny sample of string and flame moss to work in, but might put them in the 55g we'll see)
Beer: Miller Genuine Draft Light (got to watch the calories)

Step 1: Big problem w/ step 1, getting the hard-scape to come together, read about it here. (http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/ge...ing-super.html
I take out the Amazonia II that I had already put in the tank back when I thought the boiling was going to work, arghh, and finally got the driftwood to stay attached w/ the super-glue. This process was a little more involved, b/c I had to tie the moss around the driftwood, THEN super-glue it to the plexi, then do the next piece etc. I used a turkey basting brush to apply water to the previous pieces so they didn't dry out while I was doing the next pieces...

So, this part took many hours, wrapping each piece w/ moss then gluing, while keeping the other pieces wet, redbull & vodka helps me thru the hours:

Pic of Phoenix moss on wood:


Pic of Peacock moss on wood:


Pic of all the pieces glued-in (the one in the front right, I had some flame moss on there, but thought it looked to sparse, so broke off the bond and redid w/ java moss and re-glued)


turkey basting:


All done, whew!!! What a long process what w/ the failed boiling and all...I celebrate w/ a beer or 2


Threw in a thin coat of organic peat moss, instead of AS powersand:


Carefully hand poured in the AS Amazonia II, its funny, this stuff really smells like soil, not sure why I was expecting something different...:


Side shot:


Here's a pic after 1/2 of the plants or so are in. You can see how murky the water gets from the aquasoil, it is not very easy to work w/ if you are not an expert "planter", which I learned that I am not lol. Planting in gravel is easy, but the AS makes you realize you really are not efficient. I called it quits for the day to let the water clear up so I could see what the heck I'm doing.


and...


Filled up the tank the rest of the way, this is a few hours later, water is starting to clear:


Day 2, coming soon...we'll see how shoddy of a job planting I did, relevel the substrate, and attempt to get in the anubias, FLClover (ground cover), sag etc.

[cleekdafish]

fantastic...luv ur setup...why did u glue the moss?

[Yoshi]

Looks like a great start Seems like you've spent a lot of time planning and executing the layout of the tank.

[Nbot]

Thanks, yes, spent a TON of time, probably over 100 hours easy researching this new tank...since my 55g is high-tech, it was a whole new ball game for plants, substrate, etc!

The moss is tied on w/ cotton thread (I was an idiot and bought the "moss thread" from ADA, any green cotton thread will work...). Was told to tie the moss on tight so the rhizomes can attach to the wood...

[Zer]

looks nice man

[macclellan]

Nice and different. I like what you did with the moss/driftwood.

ADA Moss String? Nice!

I bet you're gonna wish you didn't glue down that driftwood the first time you want to retie moss...you'll have to tear down your whole tank by the looks of things. I just shove my 'moss towers' down into my substrate...but I don't use aquasoil. (too light and fluffy?).

Start with a short light cycle to keep algae at bay. My lowlight tank has been growing glacially slow, but healthy and algae free with 7 hours.

[Blacksunshine]

I'm liking the layout you have goin there looks real good. keep this journal updated.

[Guillermo]

Nice setup, what kind of rocks are those ? They are really nice.

[mrbelvedere]

Very nice, though I would lose the big rock in the center, and the little ones in the front.

Where did you get all that Fissidens? Local collect?

[Nbot]

Thanks ya'll!

Fissidens was a raok from MacClellan....

Rocks are petrified wood, I like them for now, time will tell! Might pull them out later for some more bushy plants, but for now that's the look I was going for...

Here's a pic of day 3, added in dwarf sag and some dwarf hairgrass (can't see from this pic) and installed the laborious four leaf clover one by one w/ tweezers, yikes...you can see the Amazonia is still a PITA to work with, see how dusty the water is, I'm doing daily water changes, it is clearing up but slowly...Really if Eco complete did the same ph & kh lowering that AquaSoil did I would recommend it to all beginners instead, who cares if AS does 20% better plant growth....

[screename]

You werent messing around with that moss thread Looks great so far!!! Cant wait to see pics with the water cleared up!

[Nbot]

No, I don't mess around...

[jaidexl]

Cool layout, I wasn't sure about it at first though. I especially like the first pic with only a few inches of water, right then I knew it would be an interesting scape, that looks like it would be a cool little turtle vivarium or something, like some eerie place out in the middle of a bog. Nice work, I just hope the moss doesn't take away from the effect of the wood once it starts growing. Keep us posted.

[SearunSimpson]

I can't really tell from the pics, but I hope you didn't plant that Java fern into the substrate, for your own sake.

[Subotaj]

it will be awesome tank.