[Aqua'd]

Hey all, new to the forums and relatively new to planted tanks, I picked up a nice 10" cube and am ready to go once I get a new bulb and a DIY co2 setup. The substrate is some fine lava rock underneath a 50/50 sand/eco-complete mix.

Plan to stock with 2 otocinclus, a few amanos and a few crystal reds

For planting I am thinking of doing blyxa japonica behind the large rock, having it wrap around the left side of the tank halfway, doing an HC lawn around most of the middle and right, and using something taller to hide the intake and heater cord. also maybe tossing an anubias nana on the small rock that is touching the big one [in that little alcove the large rock makes?] Suggestions on any plants, stocking, or anything is greatly appreciated!!

Pictures were taken in a hurry, so the lighting makes the rock seem very stark, but it has some fun color.

So far this is just the hardscape, will update when I get everything in and going!

Enjoy and thanks again for the opinions

 

[i love planted tanks]

looking nice.good placement of rocks

 

[AlexXx]

god i cant find awesome rocks like these anywhere! very nice! cant wait to see the outcome!

 

[JennaH]

the rocks look great! only suggestion i have is to maybe switch the two smaller ones, it looks like the one in front is a little bigger and may look better the other way around, but it is looking fantastic. i like the stocking and plant listroud:

 

[Aqua'd]

The smaller rock is actually big, just shoved down more to lift the big rock up. I was thinking about burying the front rock a bit more, but it is one of the coolest rocks! haha

I'll play around with them a little bit more, trying to get this hardscape down before any plants go in.

 

[RcScRs]

I think the rocks look unnaturally placed. All of them are all leaning at about 30 degree angle and makes the scape too geometrically sound. You should bury the rocks a little more and change the angles within a 10 degree margin. I was just doing geometry homework lol.

Cheers,
Justin

 

[Aqua'd]

I am kinda going for the angled look actually,although I agree with you that it looks unnatural right now. I really liked the look of many smaller (and larger!) rock formations around Red Rock Amphitheatre in Colorado when I was there last winter.
Do you think that the rocks should be angled lower or higher?
Or just vary the angles a bit more?
Thanks!

ex: (rocks close and small hills in background)

(about.com)

 

[NJAquaBarren]

Aqua'd,

My experience with formations is that even when they don't "line up" exactly, there is always a relationship. You can almost always see where rocks are part of the same layer, or where some has broken, fallen and/or tilted.

I think you were close in your first layout. This is going to sound philosophical, but try to emulate how you think a natural layer of rock would erode, move, lift and fall naturally and you'll come up with a layout that looks like it conveys the relationship that you see in the canyons.

Have fun.

AB

 

[Aqua'd]

Thanks NJAquaBarren, I actually toyed with them last night with this in mind and I'm really liking the way it looks. Now I just need to get in my plants and my C02!
I'll update when I get stuff in

 

[Aqua'd]

Hey all, I have a few questions, hopefully I can get some answers out of ya
I bought a CO2 diffuser and I am wondering if DIY CO2 will build enough pressure for it, or if they need much pressure at all? No bubble counter, as I was just going to toss the tube from the CO2 setup into the filter intake before today. Also, with about 3.5ish gallons (10x10x10 tank) Will a 9 watt compact fluorescent be enough for most plants? (esp. HC and Blyxa Japonica?) Thanks very much!!
Also got some fast growing stems (forgot names, but i remember recognizing it when I bought it ) in there and a few small fish, dont know the names (were scientific on the glass) but i've never seen them before I'll get more pics up later tonight.

 

[Aqua'd]

Ok, Heres a FTS, and a pic of the fish I picked up. Scientific name starts with a B (I think.) This guy is next to an otocinclus in the last pic, but they get like 2.5 cm long, this is a male. they have orangish stripes but this guy is stressed. I'll try and get better pics too, water is couldy and camera was acting up. Just put the plant in all random to get everything going haha

 

[SearunSimpson]

Not gonna lie, but you might have wanted to have waited more than three or so days before adding the fish, unless you had the tank up and running before you posted about it for the first time on the 20th.
Just keep doing small partial water changes until the ammonia goes down and the tank cycles through, especially since you've added fish and the benificial bacteria may not have colonized enough to eat up the ammonia that will be produced by the fish.
The fish looks like either a Badis of some sort, or Dario dario.

 

[Aqua'd]

The tank had cycled a while back with guppies in it, and the oto has been doing great since I posted the first shots
Babis sounds right!! I'll do a little searching and see if I recognize the specific name! thanks!!

 

[Aqua'd]

Dario Dario looks right! Thanks
So much for correct labelling in my LFS. Although I don't think he was too far off..
Merry Christmas everyone!!