7.5g Cube Journal

Thought I should start with a journal of my new cube, picked the tank up from Jimmy at Aquarium Plus... great place and thanks Jimmy! Started on 7/15 and forgot to start up a diary then lol

12" cube tank
Lighting- 1 7w 7200K cfl and 1 23w 4600K cfl (eventually end up with either t5 or halide)
Substrate- Red Sea FloraBase
Rock- just some random ones from midway, im guessing quartz of some sort
Plants- Eleocharis sp. Belem and Syngonanthus sp. Uapes
Fauna- Crystal Red Shrimp

The tank, sitting on the floor in midway while I got what I needed
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Rocks in:
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Water and plants are in:
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7/17 I got my shrimps! FTS:
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some random shots of said shrimps
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Yesterday I added some flame moss to the back wall:
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Pressurized CO2 later this week! As well as more plants!

Not the prettiest at the moment but once it grows in I hope it'll turn out good

dude awesome looking tank
and those shrimps are crazy looking....great job man

I love these journals.... Just keep them updated weekly... so we can see the progress.... i shouldve done this with my first planted tank instead of doin it in the plant section.... Oh well, next time i do something crazy with a tank I will defintly be makin a jornal....

Your tank will look so awesome... i love how you made the substrate on a hill.... freakin sweet idea. You gonna toss in some fishies too? Just some friendly tropical guys that dont mess with the shrimp?

Looks good man! I really like those rimless tanks. Awesome job!

Thanks all! These are probably my favorite shrimp I've got, and I have 11 different kinds, super active and super bright.

@Sand... no fish, I have a 20 gallon full of micro fish and really don't feel like getting any more I might add some crystal black shrimp down the road or maybe a fish or two that really stand out, but nothing fershur yet

Added more plants the other day, Syngonanthus something and a little downoi plant

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Hopefully I'll be getting the co2 system tomorrow, goin up to Aquarium Plus again

Looks sweet! I bought the 10" cube from Jimmy last weekend. I didn't walk in there intending to buy one but, how can your argue with cheap, rimless cubes?!?! Definitely keep us updated with your progress!

Lol, they're definitely good price for a rimless tank, his bigger rimless tanks are what I really want... wish I had the space
where's your diary Digsy!?

Got the CO2 setup yesterday, another great trip to Aquarium Plus, learned loads of stuff I'd have never thought of before...

you tank looking very good, you make me what to start one too. Keep up the good work, NICE

Hey! You should, especially with your contacts on the rocks... I want your ohko stone from your display lol

Sad news, had a big shrimp die off... not enough oxygen for them to survive on the first night of co2... threw an extra filter on and they perked back up, but not before I lost 6 shrimps. Means a trip up to Aquarium Plus again later this week!

Jacko, don't try to buy other CRS. I admired your set-up but it's not suitable for CRS. I don't think the tank is fully cycled and the CRS are very sensitive. I know that will be some guys who will not agree with me but I think the tank is too small to keep CRS. In a 7.5 gal is very difficult to keep the water parameters constant. CRS love soft water(kH under 3) and adding CO2 without pH controller can result in large pH fluctuation. Not to mention that is not a good ideea to put CRS in a less than 1 month old aquarium.

Yeah, I know the recomended size for most caridina is 10 gallons because it's easier to maintain water conditions... these are far from my first shrimp and definitely not the first time I've kept CRS, just the first time I've used pressurized co2. Filter was off of another tank, old tank water/RO, didn't even experience a cycle... I've been checking everything and I'm averaging 10 ppm n/ate which I have to dose to keep it at. I learned my mistake and I'm now running an airstone at night.

I respect your opinion though. I don't plan to keep this as my main CRS tank, that's gonna be a 10-15 gallon tank elsewhere in my room, these guys are more my canary testers to see if the tank is all good before I get my more expensive shrimp. Possibly a designer crystal or black tigers.

Now tell them what happened next! *spoilers* next part of journal suuuuuuuuux!

its been over a month! lets get some updated picture of that cube!

Yeah... anybody know what compact flourescents have in them? The powdery grit stuff? Whatever it is... not good for tanks after they fall in and explode, tank turned a bit brighter green than this in a couple hours.

Lost eveything except one CRS which I threw in another tank, don't think it made it but I can hope, haven't seen it and a quarter of the plants melted off... it's rough but things are coming back now, had the co2 upped now that no creatures are in there and plants are doing even better.

Dunno when I'll get a pic up again, I've had alot to deal with lately... so other than turning on the lights and fertilizing I'm not paying much attention to any of my tanks right now

Thats mercury and its very toxic. I would clean the tanks out completely before adding anything living to it again bro. Sorry about the accident.

hey they sell light tube covers so that they will be contained if they break.. they have to use these in the supermarket for the reason of mercury... sorry i dont remember the name currently but i have seen the t-12 size sold at homedepot mabey even the t-8 but didnt look that close and i know they make a t-5 used to ship them out by the box full to the supermarkets
btw that sucks hope all gets better for you

Yeah, cleaned it out a couple weeks ago, hated the Red Sea FloraBase so I replaced it with ADA amazonia II...
got myself a fixture that actually fits on the tank that clamps to the sides so I shouldn't have issues with it falling in lol

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And then I need to do a bit of trimming today, will post an updated picture of it then...

looking great man!

woah! love the plants you chose! nice growth! just woah!

tanks is looking great man
what happen to the shrimp??

Nice

Update! I finally got the tank looking good to the point I'm fairly happy, got a few changes to make but for the most part it's good. New LED lighting makes it shimmer so awesome in person!

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Nice composition! It's a work of art.

Alex you change that tank around more than I change fish and tanks

Looks great!

Congratulations is one of the best set-ups I've seen on this forum. It looks like is a fairly new set-up(by the way when you added the new plants) and I'm looking forward to see the evolution of this tank.
I love the wood, is manzanita or vine?
I would trim the stem which extends to the left side of the tank(is that a Ludwigia repensxarcuata?). Also blyxa looks like it is stucked over there. I can't see what stem plant you have in the middle but I have the feeling it doesn't belong to that spot.
What plant do you have for ground cover on the right, is dwarf hair grass? I'm looking forward to see this tank when the foreground will be cover with plants.
I really like the setup, please post pictures at least once a week to see the evolution of the tank.
Apologize if I misidentified some of your plants but I can't zoom in enough to get a positive identification.
Thank you for sharing

Thanks you guys! I know side, but at least it's still the same tank

I do have some dwarf hairgrass, but I need to get another thing of co2 for it to do well (never bothered refilling my co2), I might take out the DHG and the downoi and just not have a foreground beside the hydrocotyle. Don't know what you mean about the blyxa.

I might take out the DHG and the downoi

Don't do it. But if you decide that you don't need the downoi I'll be more than happy to trade you some other plants.

Don't know what you mean about the blyxa.

Blyxa or whatever plant(wish to have a better close-up) is in middle-right midground looks like it doesn't belong to that spot. IMO is too big and that spot looks to be too crowdy.
Now it's your turn too give more details:plants, fish, wood, substrate , hardware, age of set-up... and maybe some close-up.