Schuber-Wright 6g office tank

[toastedtoast]

Originally Posted by CryptKeeper54

Curious to see how that "frosted/mist" back looks when fillled with water

That makes two of us, haha. Hopefully it's OK, otherwise I think it will be easy to peel off.

What filter you going to use? HOB or canister?

I bought the finnex canister, though I'm regretting it a bit now. It doesn't come with quick-disconnects, and buying some will jack up the $35 price to the point where I might as well have bought a 2211. Out of cheapness I'll make do without them, but it will make life more inconvenient then it needs to be.

At this point I'm hoping to avoid heating the tank, since the less hardware I have on my desk the better and I'm not thrilled with the idea of an internal heater in a tank this small. My office is heated to around 23 during the day and drops to 21 on weekends, so I'm afraid it's pushing the limits for tropical species. WCMMs get a bit large, so I may end up being limited to cherry shrimp unless I go for some type of heater. Anyone have suggestions? my main thoughts for this setup have been with the plants, so I don't have much fixed idea about fish yet.

[toastedtoast]

After a week of watching the HC sit there, I got impatient and filled the tank--hopefully I don't regret it

I ended up putting blyxa in the back corner, along with some E. tenellus and rotala that I had kicking around. I wouldn't be surprised if this turns out to be too much, but it's easy to chop excess stems later if needed.



As you can see from the drop checker I'm running the CO2 pretty high for the moment, hopefully that helps the HC adapt. I'm not sure if there's any disadvantage to running the gas this high as long as there are no creatures in the tank, please chime in if you have any thoughts.

I was pleasantly surprised at the lack of dust from the netlea soil, this photo was taken about an hour after filling. A real departure from the weeks of silt you get after filling a fluorite tank.

[radioman]

If there are no fauna in the tank then it is ok to crank the co2. Just be sure to match it with adequate nutrients for the plants.

[Geniusdudekiran]

Excellent scape. Good job.

[tetra10]

the finnex px-360 isnt too bad, just lift it up while holding it at an angle and then put it in a bucket. i have a px-360. did you put the foam pad in front of the biomax? if not you should.

[PinkRasbora]

Wow, that is a stunning tank.

[toastedtoast]

Originally Posted by radioman

If there are no fauna in the tank then it is ok to crank the co2. Just be sure to match it with adequate nutrients for the plants.

That's what I was thinking--thanks! I'm using EI dosing, so hopefully that's enough, especially since my lighting isn't all that high.

Originally Posted by tetra10

...did you put the foam pad in front of the biomax? if not you should.

Thanks for the suggestion, I should check how I have it set up. I think I did foam in the bottom tray and biomax in the top but I don't remember which way the water flow is going.

My regret with this hardscape is the lack of strong substrate slopes. When I look at tanks like Kiran's the contour adds a lot of interest to the layout. Good learning experience anyway, I have trouble learning things without doing them wrong first.

[ramen lover]

any updates? is that long strong enough to grow your plants?

[toastedtoast]

So this tank's been flooded for a week now, figured it was time for some new photos. Updates for this tank will generally be on weekends--my office mates think I'm crazy enough without going around taking photos of an empty aquarium.

Here's a basic overall tank shot:


The rotala is growing in nicely, especially the shorter stems that you can't see behind the blyxa. Blyxa isn't melting, but that's about all I can say for it so far. There are a couple of stem roots forming though, so hopefully it's happy.

HC is staying alive (as far as I can tell) though it's not doing much else so far. In a couple of places it's growing some hanging roots and winching stems toward the substrate, and in others it's going straight up. Hopefully with time it will adjust to being underwater and start growing more quickly. It's pearling at least (starts about an hour after lights on) so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.



When I started the filter on this tank, I swapped out half of the media that came with it and filled it with cycled eheim media. I was hoping that would be enough to prevent a cycle, but apparently the rumors are true and netlea leaches ammonia in a serious way.



Apparently I forgot the colour chart at home, but I think it's safe to say the ammonia is "high" and leave it at that.

Hopefully some major water changes will help clear some of that out


One advantage of setting up a tank in a lab (or across the hall from one anyway) is a handy supply of useful glassware.

What really burns about this setup is that the room across the hall is plumbed for 30psi CO2 (along with natural gas, vacuum and compressed air). I played around with the idea of running lines over the ceiling somehow, but it seemed like I would be pushing physical plant's tolerance for my little toy.

I'm hoping that the ammonia issue sorts itself out soon so I can stock some cherry shrimp and forestall my colleague's various suggestions--At least my immediate neighbour has kept fish before and wants neons, but some of the more absurd have ranged from turtles and axolotls to a red-tailed shark.

[Silmarwen]

I admit, the idea of someone sneaking in at night to siphon off a CO2 line is suitably hilarious.

Other than that, this is a beautiful tank. I'm always amazed at how lovely these tiny tanks can be. In the close-up shots, you sort of lose a sense of scale, until you step back and go "whoa. All that, in there..."

[toastedtoast]

ugh, I just caught my E. tenellus making its first 10cm jump across the tank. Since this is exactly how it behaves in my other tank I'm not surprised, but I think its life expectancy will decrease dramatically with each shoot I have to chase down.

[xAlias]

Seeing that it is the Schuber Wright , is the beveled edge facing to the front for your setup?

I had the same tank so was wondering to have that to the front or go with the normal edge towards the front.

[toastedtoast]

Originally Posted by xAlias

Seeing that it is the Schuber Wright , is the beveled edge facing to the front for your setup?

I put the beveled edge forward, since on my tank the silicone was better on that side. Once the tank is filled with water the bevel is essentially invisible (except the top edge I guess). When I first saw it, my reaction to the bevel could be summed up as "meh" at best, and I strongly considered putting it backward, but it's grown on me and now I'm glad I put it toward the front.

[xAlias]

Originally Posted by toastedtoast

I put the beveled edge forward, since on my tank the silicone was better on that side. Once the tank is filled with water the bevel is essentially invisible (except the top edge I guess). When I first saw it, my reaction to the bevel could be summed up as "meh" at best, and I strongly considered putting it backward, but it's grown on me and now I'm glad I put it toward the front.

Thanks for the info. I will do the same. Yeah, my reaction initially was also meh but i guess looking at the pics of ur tank, it doesnt show when filled with water.

[toastedtoast]

After another week, the filter seems to have the ammonia situation under control and it seemed like a good time to add some fish.

I had a small group of chili rasboras in my home tank that were kind of lost in a larger group of M. kubotai (and unhappy in the higher flow that the kubotai prefer) so I've decided to bring them to work.



They're still a bit pale from the move, but they should colour back up in time and I think they're the perfect size for this tank.

I also have some fire red shrimp that will go in here eventually, but I'm scared about what they might do to the HC before it gets fully rooted.