[NotThePainter]

This is one of those small cubes that has a back "sump" area.The water enters from the right hand rear through a carbon/floss insert and some ceramic beads. I don't like carbon so I've never replaced the cartridge. I also put some floss to cover the intakes so shrimp don't get in the sump. The water flow out the bottom, up thin sump riser then down through a sponge. I've put some crushed up lace chunks in there to harden the water for the shrimp. Then it flow into the final compartment which has a tiny powerhead to put the water back into the tank near the surface. I've placed a thin, flat, heater in there.

Substrate is traction sand.

Critters are 2 guppies, about 15-20 Bloody Mary shrimp and way too many rams horns.

There are just piles of Anubias in there. Looks like nana in the lower left. I'm not sure what the others are. There is also some narrow leaf Java Fern and some Pellia and Java Moss in there.

I currently does it weekly with Thrive liquid, just a partial squirt. But I have the dry ferts now from NiLogic and I'll have to figure something out. The anubias looks a little yellow in spots. I do about a 1/3 water change weekly now.

Light is just the LED that came with the tank. No CO2, so I guess that makes it low tech also, but not by design.

This tank sits next to my computer monitor. I work from home almost always, even before COVID. I really started enjoying the tank when I got the guppies.

 

[Griznatch]

Nice looking tank!

I love guppies. They are almost bullet proof and are always busy. if you have babies in there, you won't have many aquatic pests. Those little guys are ravenous and relentless.

 

[NotThePainter]

Nice looking tank!

I love guppies. They are almost bullet proof and are always busy. if you have babies in there, you won't have many aquatic pests. Those little guys are ravenous and relentless.

Thanks!

I love how busy they are!

Boys only. I've kept Endlers before and couldn't keep up with all the fry!

 

[Griznatch]

LOL, I made the mistake of getting 4 to help cycle my 75 gallon last March. 3 females and one male... probably 300plus guppies later, I'm down to about 10 or so in a my 20 gallon. There's a lot of tuxedo babies in Idaho now

 

[NotThePainter]

I bought a third guppy today! He's in the Q tank. He's about half Endler, which is nice.

 

[Raith]

I love the look, it reminds me of pothos but in water! Good anubias.

 

[CptnGreenLeaf]

Not bad at all!

 

[NoodleAquatics]

Love how tangly the roots of the anubias are, making caves under them. Great shelter for shrimp!

 

[Skayell]

Pretty tank! I think the cube aquariums are great for the nano tanks, mostly by allowing room for foreground and background plants. Whether planted with all Anubias, or all crypts or all bucephalendras, or a mix of whatever, the depth (front to back) really works.

May I ask what brand of aquarium it is? I am looking for a 4-6 gallon tank to put next to my bed, with lots of RCS or Yellow Sakura shrimp. I will probably put 2-3 male guppies in as well. I would put in a betta, but you can never tell ahead of time which bettas are super territorial. (If somebody knows the way to tell, let me know.)

 

[NotThePainter]

Pretty tank! I think the cube aquariums are great for the nano tanks, mostly by allowing room for foreground and background plants. Whether planted with all Anubias, or all crypts or all bucephalendras, or a mix of whatever, the depth (front to back) really works.

May I ask what brand of aquarium it is? I am looking for a 4-6 gallon tank to put next to my bed, with lots of RCS or Yellow Sakura shrimp. I will probably put 2-3 male guppies in as well. I would put in a betta, but you can never tell ahead of time which bettas are super territorial. (If somebody knows the way to tell, let me know.)

Oh man, sorry I missed this. I must not have been following my own thread!

It is an imaginatarium, from either Petco or Petsmart. My two guppies do not bother the shrimp. I've seen the two species essentially fighting over the same piece of food on the gravel! On the other hand, even though I have lace rock in the "sump" area I'm seeing a failure to thrive with the shrimp. I never get babies and I get egg'd up mamas. KH and GH and probably too low, something like 3-5 degrees for both. I can add GH booster but that's so difficult with a small volume like that.

Oh, the third guppy didn't make it out of quarantine. He was in the Q tank with some Cardinals, all of them died. It was a bad batch, the local store was seeing a 100% death rate also.

I plan on building a structure out of oak branches just so I don't disturb the anubias every time I do a water change.

 

[Skayell]

After having killed a few shrimp because of GH being too low, I learned to watch those parameters closely. That nice active substrate I got talked into made it nearly impossible to keep GH at 4-7° and KH around 4° or more, although this is my experience and my opinion. Your mileage may vary. As for snails, Mystery snails seem to be able to handle slightly lower KH than Nerites, but my personal experience is that Nerites need a pH of at least 7, with 7.2 to 7.6 even better. I learned this the hard way, by ‘killing’ and having to ’resurrect’ my poor Nerite because of low GH/KH/pH.. My snails are all quite speedy now, but our invertebrate’ mileage may vary.

Nano tanks are all I have right now, so I’m always having to measure small amounts to keep my chemistry right. There are also some GH/KH products that are more easily used for small aquariums. For example Seachem’s Equilibrium, which is marketed to raise GH—but ALSO raise KH—can be used quite easily for small doses. You will need an accurate scale that measures to the .1g, preferably to the .01g. I found mine on Amazon, but hadn’t expected all the listings for drug-related supplies that appeared also! Still, the scales was cheap, has lasted several years and allows me to measure the exact amount of additives I need to add to my RO/DI water to get the exact parameters I need regardless of the aquarium size I’m dealing with. Currently my largest aquarium is an 11 gallon, so I want to be accurate when I measure. I admit I never, ever use the measurements given on the backs of labels that say something like “to raise GH by 1 meq, (~3°) add xx mg (approximately y teaspoon) for every zz gallons...” Powders pack down as the bottles are shipped handled, shaken, dropped and just with time, so how much is really in that teaspoon? Weighing it, I know I’m getting the exact mass of chemical additive needed.

Also (and I do not mean to insult you here) but remember that while a measuring teaspoon = 5ml and 5ml of water weighs 5 grams, that’s only true for water! Teaspoons, Tablespoons, cups, etc. are measures of volume only. In aquarium chemistry, only liquid additives should be measured by volume, like milliliters or teaspoon/parts of a teaspoon. I use pipettes marked in .1 ml to help with accuracy dosing nano-aquariums. I found good quality glass pipettes, a set of two 10 ml and two 5 ml for ~$10 or you can buy a huge bag of disposable plastic pipettes pretty cheap, too.

Sorry if I sound like I’m lecturing. I always write too much.

 

[NotThePainter]

Thanks for the in-depth reply. I do have GH Booster from NilocG. I have been dosing that but evidently not enough. I've not measured in awhile but I think I have around 3-4 degrees for both KH and GH.