I started a thread not long ago where I was going to do a Mr. Aqua 12" cube Buddha tank. That's been placed on hold. After speedie408 unleashed his awesome Blue Diamond shrimp on us, I jumped at the chance to be one of the first to obtain these beautiful shrimp. In doing so, I decided that the 12" cube tank just wasn't enough real estate and I wanted to go with a more natural scape. So, I decided to stay frameless and being very happy with the first Mr. Aqua tank, I grabbed another. This time an 11.4g, 18.9" X 11.8" X 11.8" tank.
Plans for this tank include a large rock mound, maybe two filled with Eco-Complete and covered in moss/fissidens. There will be some other low light plants such as a handful of crypts I have on hand and some Hydrocotyle Japan hopefully to form a foreground carpet of sorts. I'll also be heavily planting my HOB filter and possibly going full riparium with the tank.
So here's the break down:
Equipment
Tank - Mr. Aqua 11.4g, 18.9" X 11.8" X 11.8"
Filter - AquaClear 50 HOB
Light - Finnex FugeRay-R Ultra Slim LED Fixture +RED boost, will probably upgrade to afugeRAY soon for more medium light
Scape
Locally collect rock and/or lava rock mounds
Eco-Complete
Critters
Blue Diamond neos
Possibly Super Tigers if the water parameters cooperate
Plants
Fissidens fontanus
Aluminum plant
Wandering Jew
Pilea cadierei
Fittonia argyroneura
Ludwigia Hybrid Red
Hydrocotyle Japan
UG - included in plant package I just grabbed from FS section, doubt I'll have the lights to make it work though. Might try to incorporate it into the planted HOB.
Have you considered Seiryu rocks? They look amazing in water. I recently got some and added it to my tank. The light reflects very nicely on the rocks.
I did, but I don't want to pay for rocks...lol...I think I'll go that route when I setup my 12" cube though. I do love the look of Seiryu stone and your tank looks great, nice and healthy.
Thanks! Been watching yours as well. I'll be doing the scape in this thing this evening and flooding it. Shrimp will be here this week, not sure what day speedie is shipping. Hopefully he'll send out a PM to let us know so we can expect them.
Express. I hated to shell out that much but since I paid $9 per shrimp, I figured better safe than sorry. I'm on the east coast so I can't really get too much further from him. I was afraid that the shrimp would take several days to get here just going priority.
It really only takes two to three days if planned around busy times. A friend and I who shipped together are also east coast. We did express in winter but priority now. Nick's a pro packer
Stand nearly done. I re-purposed an old cabinet that I had. It's really old judging by how it's built. It was in the house when I bought it. I'd have to guess from the 50's or 60's. Lady I bought my house from lived in it since 1927.
Anyways, I stripped it, repainted, and replaced the top. I went with a tile top. Mostly because that was easy and I have stuff on hand. I didn't take progress or before pics, but here's an idea...still need to re-install the doors and paint the trim around the top, which I ripped from old 2x6 from the carport I tore down and rebuilt over the winter, but that can wait...
So now there's plants and water! Mostly crypts, I have no idea what they are, there's one anubias nana that's been in a old 10g that's been hiding under my 75g tank in complete darkness for literally a couple months, Fissidens tied to the wood, Hydrocotyle Japan in the foreground, hoping it will carpet for me, and some subwassertang in the corner. Not sure if that's staying, but I wanted it in there for the biofilm and for what small amount of biofiltration it might provide. I shoved a well seeded sponge filter sponge in the AC50, there's also a small piece of foam media that's seeded as well as the biomax stuff that came with the AC30 I originally bought that's seeded. I'll leave that stuff in until I'm satisfied the tank is completely seeded and ready to stand on it's own.
Don't mind the big rock up front, it's just there to weight down the end of the branch. It'll come out once the wood is water logged completely...
So now there's plants and water! Mostly crypts, I have no idea what they are, there's one anubias nana that's been in a old 10g that's been hiding under my 75g tank in complete darkness for literally a couple months, Fissidens tied to the wood, Hydrocotyle Japan in the foreground, hoping it will carpet for me, and some subwassertang in the corner. Not sure if that's staying, but I wanted it in there for the biofilm and for what small amount of biofiltration it might provide. I shoved a well seeded sponge filter sponge in the AC50, there's also a small piece of foam media that's seeded as well as the biomax stuff that came with the AC30 I originally bought that's seeded. I'll leave that stuff in until I'm satisfied the tank is completely seeded and ready to stand on it's own.
Don't mind the big rock up front, it's just there to weight down the end of the branch. It'll come out once the wood is water logged completely...
I'll check parameters but I'm hoping it will be good to go right away. I have enough seeded stuff in there to cover the bioload I think, it's just whether or not anything in the tank is producing ammonia. I never did find out if Eco-Complete leeches anything.
Thanks. Water really clear up a lot over night. Still lots of bubbles everywhere but they should be gone before long. Plants looking a little sad but I figure it's just transplant shock. Hopefully they rebound quick. I'm hoping to get the HOB planted or partially planted this evening.
Not sure if the shrimp will make it here today or not. They went from CA to MD since yesterday, I'm hoping they get here to WV today. Already too late to be delivered to my house but if they get to my PO before 5pm I can at least pick them up.
Looks like it to me. I'm going to try hard to keep my tank as my "flagship" tank. I tend to get a little lazy at times and let things get out of whack, not with this tank.
I like the term. I have a super small flagship tank. I set it up so other than moss growing out, it is pretty much fail proof. My CRS spec. Super tiny, pretty self sustaining.
Nice. I want to do a small tank for my office. Probably not as small as yours...I'm thinking a 3g tank or something. Probably just a neo cull tank. I need to get the 12" cube up and running. I'll probably put all my PFR's in it and shut down the last 20L I have running. Then I might, I might get one more tank, another frameless, and try super tigers again...if I don't try them in one of the other tanks.
Shrimp were about 45 minutes from me at 11:30 this morning according to updated shipping. So...they should be here before 5pm with the PO closes so I'm hoping that I'll have this this evening.
This tank looks great! I'm definitely subscribing to this. I'm also looking forward to my shrimp they need to get here NOW!
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