Schuber-Wright 6g office tank

[toastedtoast]

Current photo, 10/12/12:


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Original 1st post
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I've been thinking that I need an office tank for a while now, and after reading CryptKeeper54's thread on his Schuber-Wright 4g setup I decided to take the plunge.

Planned equipment list:

Schuber-Wright 6g
Finnex canister
FugeRay 16" light
Atomic Nano V3 CO2 regulator on a 20oz paintball tank
GLA inline diffuser
Netlea 'Lambo' soil

Overall the tank is pretty nice, although the back right silicone seam is quite poorly done--the glass doesn't meet well at the top and the glue is quite thick. Since the tank is small and there's little water pressure I'm not going to worry about it, but I probably would have returned a larger tank with this seam. The rest of the silicone is pretty nice though, so maybe it's just a one-off bad seam.

I really like the Finnex FugeRay light, it looks pretty sleek and the overall fit and finish is pretty solid for $40. I was a bit torn between the FugeRay and RayII for a tank this small, but at around 9" between substrate and light I decided to go for the fugeray. We'll see how it does.

Empty-ish tank, I'm trying to optimize the fit of the DIY manzanita tree and larger stones. Since the tank is sitting in front of a window, being able to see through the glass onto the photocopier was a bit distracting. I've put a layer of "clear" contact paper over the back glass for a bit of a frosted effect and I think it's an improvement. It's easy to remove, so if I don't like it I can just peel it off later--much easier then adding it to a full tank.




Substrate in, along with the rest of the stones. I've been using a pyrex dish on my windowsill to grow emersed fissidens on some of these, we'll see how it does with the transition into the tank:


My LFS (Menagerie, Toronto) has started carrying these small "aquapaks" of tissue cultured plants from aqua flora in BC. They're a bit pricy at $7 but the plants are beautiful and once I separated it out there's actually a lot of plant mass here




All planted:



Since taking the last photo I caught the pothole in the front and fixed it.

Not sure how long I'm going to let this dry start, there's pretty decent coverage of HC already, so I may just let it go long enough to get a few roots down (1 week? 2?) before adding some taller plants to the back corners and flooding.

I'm thinking of putting some blyxa in the back left, and maybe more blyxa mixed with some kind of crypt and rotala around the branches on the right. If anyone has plant suggestions for a tank of this size I'd love to hear them.

[TexasCichlid]

Leave the left open. Put blyxa in the back right corner behind the driftwood. Blyxa is very prolific and will quickly dominate the back of the tank if planted on both sides.

[SomeCanuck]

As a fellow Canadian, how are you planning on getting your hands on the Finnex light? I'd asked them and they said they had no distributors in Canada and shipping would be almost 40$ extra. : /

[toastedtoast]

I had all the equipment shipped to my sister's place in the states and she was kind enough to bring it when she came for a visit

[acitydweller]

Wow... has that sleepy hollow feel to it. nice!

[SomeCanuck]

Originally Posted by toastedtoast

I had all the equipment shipped to my sister's place in the states and she was kind enough to bring it when she came for a visit

You lucky so and so! haha

And I agree, the scape looks awesome and definitely has an eery feel to it.

[ramen lover]

that's a beautiful tank/scape! so will this be a low light tank with no co2? im asking because i have a 55g right now and i'd like to setup a simple nano tank similar to yours.

what filter will you be using and what creatures do you plan on putting in there?

[NWA-Planted]

Very nice, what kind of stone are you using?

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

[toastedtoast]

Thanks for the feedback re: blyxa Texas. I've never grown it before, so that's good to know.

I'm hoping this will end up being medium light, it's going to be high-tech with 20oz paintball CO2.

I really like this piece of wood (or pieces actually, there are a couple small branches mounted together). I agree with the comments about spookyness. The rock was called "Okho stone" when I bought it, no idea if that's a standard name or not. It was hard finding pieces of uniform colour since there seemed to be both brown and greenish types.

[talontsiawd]

I really love the scape. Rarely do I like the branchy tree look with larger rocks but the scale is good, plus it's not styled like iwagumi. Though I think I would like it much better with the rocks, I wish you had one picture without any rocks, just to see how it would look. I do think the rocks are the way to go and it has a very "dynamic" look to it. I like the background too.

That's actually a decent amount of HC, IMO, for the money too.


The only thing I am thing is that blyxa may be too big. I have had it grow more compact in the right conditions (fairly high light without CO2 and high plant mass) but it can get big. I cannot think of a plant that would give the same look without being a nuisance. E. tenellus would give the right look but would take a lot of maintenance.

Have you considered star grass? It's a fast grower but really easy to trim and keep tidy. I could see a low bush on the left. You may have to trim weekly but it would just be a few snips.



I mostly just want to see where this goes. Makes me want to redo my first nano but I will wait for it to grow in first.

[SaltyNC]

Looking good. I really like your tree. It is proportioned nicely for the tank.

[toastedtoast]

Originally Posted by talontsiawd

I wish you had one picture without any rocks, just to see how it would look

My initial plan was to do this tank without rocks, but I had a hard time finding small branches that looked plausible balancing on the substrate. I didn't want to do a "tree"-type scape, so having a branch just stuck into the soil looked a bit off to me. Hiding the base with rocks seemed like the best compromise.

The only thing I am thing is that blyxa may be too big...

I'm starting to be afraid that you're right. I have E. tenellus in another tank and while it looks good, the runners are a giant pain. I have never grown star grass, but it looks cool--I will do some research.

Another thing I was considering was Pogostemon helferi, maybe a clump in the back left and by the base of the wood. I could put a couple of crypts or some reddish stem in the far back right corner for colour contrast.

Thanks for the suggestions!

[CryptKeeper54]

Nice. Hope that light works for you. That's a perfect match for that tank. Curious to see how that "frosted/mist" back looks when fillled with water. I was thinking of doing the same.

What filter you going to use? HOB or canister?

[stevencaller]

Wow decent nano iwagumi style tank. There's a great article on iwagumi aquascaping on aquarist magazine that details a few points to beware of

[ReluctantHippy]

It looks great. That $7 worth of HC really went far.