18 oz; Fiona's Minikin Glass Cube (to be named when finished?)

[caykuu]

I'm moving back to college dorms in two days! ...Leaving behind all my fish and aquariums with the parents. Fortunately, I come home every other weekend to tend to all that jazz.
But all the time in between... no aquarium fun.

I've always found pico tanks (and when I say pico, I mean VERY PICO) oddly impressive. And cute. Mostly just cute.
It's especially impressive when the designer is able to realistically and believably capture the scope of an environment on a much larger scale (Grand Canyon? Mountains and valleys?) and fit/control all this overwhelming emerald and rocky substance into a... 3"x3". And that's using the tiniest leafed plants possible in the field, though mostly mosses.

So I've decided to also attempt to set up something believable in this 18 oz glass speck of dust, which was formerly used to hold air fresheners.

And here it is, in all its majestic and overwhelming glory of smallness, sitting on top of my 55 gallon.



^(makes it look much larger than it actually is)

Yeah, this is going on my desk in my dorm. The base is too thick and all that to really look like a nano cube, but this is all I have for now.
And if I ever come upon another similarly-shaped transparent cube that is capable of holding water, the two are going to sit right next to each other and grow pretty, small things.

Now that I think about it, I'm actually going to go out and scavenge for one at Daiso tomorrow.

---

Tank: 18 oz. cube
Filter: none
Lighting: natural lighting
Substrate: common sand
Hardscape: rocks scavenged from my backyard
Flora: Taiwan Moss, Java Moss
Fauna: none... Bacteria.

---

Currently, plans are going for the "mountain range" look.

[caykuu]

Setting up hardscape.

Front view



Side view, which I think I probably like better than the front view.



"Sky view"! With a bit of sand filled in the middle temporarily.



It's too bad the cube isn't made of acrylic though. The clarity isn't the best thing ever.

How things will get done:

[IggyEGuana]

wow. nothing like a good challenge. GL

[ANBU]

Nice! Would love to see how it will turn out

[caykuu]

Thanks!
I only wish I had more access to different small-leafed plants that don't need to root. :s

[mythin]

wow thats tiny! reminds me of this tank, http://aquascaperz.com/files/2010/06...nd-plant-2.jpg you should look into eletine hydropiper its like mini hc! I had some but i melted it all, it didnt like DSM.

[sayurasem]

Wabi Kusa!

[caykuu]

MY god that's adorable! Must look into this.
Widely distributed in Europe? I wish I were british now. D:

[caykuu]

Just Taiwan moss, java moss bits, and a bit of random sand for now... with rocks.
Maybe I'll go outside and hijack some dirt tomorrow somewhere on campus to fill in the substrate. Maybe steal a couple better looking rocks too. Maybe rescape this whole thing. LOL.
Then maybe I can plant HC! Wheee.





Rescaping is probably the easiest thing ever here. ehehe.

[aweeby]

erk is that a cotman brush? IME That's the closest affordable watercolor brush to sable I've found so far... but i digress.

I'm not sure how well HC is going to work in this if you're doing submerged. E. hydropiper's probably kinda similar in that respect. Esp. if it can't handle DSM... and so expensive... Try mini pellia. It's tough and adaptable and much easier to maintain than moss-- it doesn't get too long and shaggy.

[caykuu]

If I do use HC, I'll be trying out DSM.
I can't actually find anywhere that sells hydropiper, and I can see how it would be pretty pricey! Whew.
Mini pellia sounds like a good idea, but not sure where to find a reasonable price for it. Also, does it work well in DSM?

[aweeby]

totally, yes! it's amazing. No die off, even sans co2. the transition is super quick.
Only thing is, like you mentioned, it's a tad expensive. I got some as part of a really awesome plant package deal, but i haven't seen people selling it for a while...

[caykuu]

So all I have is still only Taiwan Moss... EEP. What other incredibly low light small plants are there? Duckweed?

My lovely canon is not with me right now. Booo. Here are some photos from my crappy camera. Everything looks strangely vintage, so I guess I'll pretend it was intentional.

Still looking pretty empty, and wabikusa lingering in the back of my head LOL. Plant suggestions are always cool

[wootlaws]

This is a nice build. Could be nice for my cubicle at work. I was wondering if there are light requirements? Office don't get too much natural lighting.

[bostoneric]

good stuff.
careful near the window, with all the sun we get in socal you'll get algae really quick!