# Skinz180189's 10G(40L) Planted Breeder



## skinz180189 (Jun 26, 2009)

*This tank no longer exists *

Been out and purchased a Superfish Aqua-Qube 40 today. Cost me £55 instead of £70 (they had it listed online at the cheaper price), and I got the driftwood for £2.78. This is purely a tank for dropping the molly and guppy fry from my 60L (15G) into, although I may get an albino bristlenose in there on Algae patrol.

Quick image;









Spec is as follows;
Superfish Aqua-Qube 40L (10G) Tank with Glass Lid
Cheap Filter (Will replace this with an Eheim Aquaball in the near future)
18W of Light (1.8WPG)
No Heater as of yet (will get one soon)

Substrate - JBL Aquabasis, topped with black gravel

Planting List so far;
Java Moss on the wood
Water Wisteria towards the back
Spiral Vallis down the left hand side - blending into the wisteria at the back

Not sure what to do with the foreground yet, shall have to trail through some plants.


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## skinz180189 (Jun 26, 2009)

Oh [email protected]*K. Just smashed the glass lid


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## skinz180189 (Jun 26, 2009)

Done some purchasing to ease my lid woes!

Purchased the following;

Black Gravel
3m of Transparent Blue Airline
Tetratec APS50 Air Pump
6" Airstone
Eheim Jager 50W Heater

Just waiting on the JBL Aquabasis and I can start setting the tank up.

LFS is looking into getting another Glass lid, however, I think it may be better making a plastic one. He's also going to get some Otocinclus in for me, as he only has one left. I've also adjusted the lighting unit so it sits under my shelves a bit better.


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## skinz180189 (Jun 26, 2009)

It's up and running. Planting has slighty changed.

Have 3 mature amazon swords, 13 mature vallis and some cryptocerne sp. in there. Log still needs moss adding, and am waiting on 4 leaved Marsilea for the foreground.

Sneaky shot...


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## legomaniac89 (Mar 16, 2008)

Looks like a good start. If you can get your hands on some dwarf hairgrass, I think it would look pretty nice in the foreground


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## skinz180189 (Jun 26, 2009)

legomaniac89 said:


> Looks like a good start. If you can get your hands on some dwarf hairgrass, I think it would look pretty nice in the foreground


Think it will work well with the Marsilea? Eeek can only find it for £30 on ebay delivered from Malaysia!

Had to order an Eheim Aquaball, the cheap filter is far too noisy. Can't sleep with that racket going.


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## skinz180189 (Jun 26, 2009)

Water has cleared up a fair bit whilst I've been at work. That is without a water change, just the filter off overnight. Must have given the dust time to settle down.


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## skinz180189 (Jun 26, 2009)

Quick shot showing the Marsilea is in (can barely tell yet)


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## ZooTycoonMaster (Jan 2, 2008)

I see no Marselia:icon_roll


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## skinz180189 (Jun 26, 2009)

ZooTycoonMaster said:


> I see no Marselia:icon_roll


Look harder then. It's the deleafed stems up front.


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## ZooTycoonMaster (Jan 2, 2008)

skinz180189 said:


> Look harder then. It's the deleafed stems up front.


Oh you de-leafed them.

Wait, why?!?!?:icon_eek:


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## skinz180189 (Jun 26, 2009)

ZooTycoonMaster said:


> Oh you de-leafed them.
> 
> Wait, why?!?!?:icon_eek:


Because they had been allowed to grow over 10cm tall and had been grown emmersed. So I trimmed them right back so that it will hopefully carpet better.


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## skinz180189 (Jun 26, 2009)

I officially hate Aquabasis. Cleaned pretty much 3/4s of the water out, cleaned everything, then the swords decided to uproot themselves. So my water is now cloudy as hell again, grrrr.

Trimmed the crypt(s) up, 1 of the 3 had completely melted so that's been chucked, the other 2 are very bare, a few leaves between them.
Some of the Marsilea are growing heads, a lot of dead vallis has been chopped out, one sword has been moved to the 60l tank, and the other 2 have had a trim down.

Air stone is annoying me too, it's too big to fit between/behind any plant, so that will be getting replaced tomorrow. I'm supposed to be getting 2 otos either tomorrow or wednesday, but not so sure if I should now the water's so cloudy again.


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

It looks like it's in a bad spot for maintenance. Is it difficult getting your hands in the tank with is being under that shelf? Other than that, this thing looks nice. I like the depth of the thing, and I'm interested to see how you do with it.


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## skinz180189 (Jun 26, 2009)

I've got a 6" gap between the tank and the bottom of the shelf, but I can drain some water slide it forward if I need more room.


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## skinz180189 (Jun 26, 2009)

Another Quick Update...

Marsilea growth...









Crypt...









Overall shot...









Have some filter floss in the aquaball now, it cleared my water up a treat. 

A few growth observations;
The Marsilea seems to thrive in this tank, some stems have shot up over 10cm in a couple of weeks. Wisteria doesn't seem too happy, trimmed a lot of the dead/long stuff out (following the trimming guide on here), yet more dead stuff keeps appearing. Doesn't seem to rot from the base though. Trimmed up the amazon swords and they seem OK for now.

In all honesty though, I get the feeling this tank may need ripping out in a few months time. The only thing I'm doing different to the 60L is the aquabasis, and some higher light, yet this tank just doesn't seem anywhere near as happy as the other one. Maybe when some fish get in there things will change.


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## MistyRiver (Oct 7, 2008)

I very much love the design of this tank! It looks great like nothing I've seen over here in the U.S., and it looks very nice the way you have your aquascape!

I wish you luck.


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## skinz180189 (Jun 26, 2009)

MistyRiver said:


> I very much love the design of this tank! It looks great like nothing I've seen over here in the U.S., and it looks very nice the way you have your aquascape!
> 
> I wish you luck.


Thanks Gabriel (hope i've spelt it right!) 

The tank is made by a dutch firm called superfish, and is called an aquaqube 40.


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## skinz180189 (Jun 26, 2009)

Update time.

Well, back down to 2 otos. Never found the body of the 3rd one, which I still find peculiar. Been dosing easycarbo, and quite frankly it has not helped in any bit (not been using the airstone before people say it.) The crypt is down to roots, the Marsilea all died off (there are some small sprouts appearing through the gravel though), the amazon swords have all but died and the vallis are growing but full of holes. I'm really fed up with this tank, but daren't move the otos and start again.


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## skinz180189 (Jun 26, 2009)

As of tomorrow, this tank will be torn down. Have relocated the 2 Otocinclus into my 60 litre, which will all be moved into the Rekord 120 when I get that set up.


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## skinz180189 (Jun 26, 2009)

The tank is no more. Trying to salvage the amazon swords but they have been chewed up pretty badly. The vallis I'm not bothered about, chucked it all in the garden recycling bin.


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