# Do!Aqua 45x24x30



## theblondskeleton (Aug 28, 2009)

So, it was my birthday. This was good. Right about the same time, my LFS got some ADA branch wood and put it all on display. I had avoided buying it up until now, because I kept thinking to myself that if I got something as interesting as ADA branch wood, it would be lazy aquascaping. Then I thought: "WHAT? Why would I want to make it HARDER on myself?"

I have tried some really awful nanos before. My first few attempts were pretty amusing, actually. I had one with some moss, some hastily glued slate, a couple sprigs of tonina, and after a week or so a HUGE mass of algae. It was awful. I had a 5.5 gal with a betta that had so much lace rock in it it was impossible to actually plant anything. I made a pretty successful HC farm out of my 2.5 gallon and the Up!Aqua Nano CO2 setup. My last attempt was a 2.5 gallon zebra rock iwagumi with HC. This last one wasn't bad, but I am a high school drama teacher and directing the school play is a 16-hours/day job. Little time left over for a cute little nano.

So, I have been eyeballing the Do!Aqua tanks at the LFS for months. Drooling. Eagerly anticipating a day when I had enough disposable cash and a loosely-knit collection of excuses to purchase one. 

I debated getting the ADA Mini-M instead - it was about the same price. But when it came down to it, I wanted some room to 'scape. I would love to be able to throw together a nice little itty bitty picture perfect pico. I do not yet have that much confidence in my nano skills, however. Ultimately, the loss of clarity in the glass wasn't enough to make me spring for the fancier glass box. I did spring for the Archaea 34W lamp, though. The versatility and look of this fixture is pretty sweet.

I picked out two amazing pieces of branch wood (either one alone could be a centerpiece, but I guess that's why it is what it is). Together, they give me exactly what I was looking for: the illusion of a deep jungle scene. Two jungle trees frozen in battle like a pair of giant squid. for foliage, I'm thinking mosses - fissidens, x-mas moss, maybe some weeping moss if I can find some, some bolbitis - if I can find small enough bits - and java fern.

Anyway... I sifted some of my old ADA Amazonia/fluorite black sand/inert gravel/beach sand mixed substrate and threw out the larger gravel pieces. This left a very nicely textured and colored mixture of the sand, smaller Amazonia pieces, and a few kernels of the inert stuff, peppered with lighter beach sand particles. This is perfect for HC, as it is dense enough to hold it down, but light enough that it doesn't compact so much as Fluorite Sand is wont to do. 

I grabbed a double fistful of some great little river rock pieces to accent the trees, wrapped the branches in some x-mas moss, and tucked a few sprigs of HC in the sand in my first attempt at a dry-start.

My first issue is keeping the moss damp. Should I just remove the branch wood and put it my 90 until the HC roots and I can flood it? 

Next, I'm looking at filters. I'm assuming the state-of-the-art canister is the Eheim 2211 - my concern is that it will be too much filter. Is it, or am I just being paranoid? I'm looking to have a nice setup here, as it will be a good long time before my wife will let me do this again  I have a few weeks to decide while things grow in, plus I have a few nano HOB filters that will suffice for now.

Lily pipes? What size? 13mm with the Eheim 2211? I'm thinking GLA for the Cal Aqua Fluxus, but are they too small?

As an alternative, what about the eBay cheapies? How do they fare? I see a few that look very well built, but without the price tag. Brand names mean nothing to me, so fanboys: keep it civil 

Anyway, if you have read all of this, I believe you have earned the right to a few pics. I'm not loving the rocks right now - maybe I need more? Debating some ryuoh or seiryu stone instead. Here you go:














































I'm building an ADA-style stand in the next week or so at my folks' place, so don't worry - that hideous table will disappear soon.

So far, here is the summary:

Dry Start

Do!Aqua Cube Glass 45x24x30cm
Archaea 34W CF @ 6700K 12 hrs/day
Aquasoil/Fluorite Black Sand/Beach Sand substrate
ADA Branch Wood
River Rock

Planned:
Eheim 2211 (?)
Glass lily pipes
ADA-style pollen glass
Pressurized CO2 on a timer

Flora: (to come)

HC
Dwarf Hairgrass
Bolbitis heudelotii
needle leaf java fern
x-mas moss
Fissidens (not sure which yet)
flame moss
Rotala mini type 2
anubias nana petite

Fauna: (to come)

Boraras brigittae or other microrasbora/danio
CRS
zebra otos


Thanks!


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## rountreesj (Jun 12, 2007)

even though i LOVE them, the ferns will both throw the scale way off, the rest looks good for plants though...


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## jms (Apr 5, 2010)

I would up the eheim to a 2213. I had a 2211 on my 45p and it wasn't enough. I quickly went to the 2213. If you decide to stick with the 2211 you'll need the taps to make the outflow 13mm. It's a 9mm outflow so just put one side of the tap at 9mm and the other 13mm that way you can get a set instead of buying one 13 and one 9mm.


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## theblondskeleton (Aug 28, 2009)

Thanks for the pointers 

I was afraid the bolbitis might be too huge for this. I had some a while back that was just gigantic. I still want that feel, though - I have heard of a mini bolbitis, but is that just a marketing scam or what? Any recommendations? I do not want to throw the scale off - especially with this wood. It's really fantastic  Maybe I'll just keep the moss growing in, and see how it goes from there.

I'll check out the 2213 - I'd rather not have to deal with swapping out parts on a filter that isn't quite enough for me


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## jms (Apr 5, 2010)

I would. You can always slow the 2213 down if you get the quick disconnect taps.


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## AquaSpoon (Jun 23, 2010)

Hey blondskeleton! Looking good so far. What LFS did you get your tank/light/wood at? I'm in Seattle and there seems to be a real lack of quality aquarium supplies around here.


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

Oh, this looks nice. Awesome wood in there- looks like two bonsai trees!
Your petite got mailed out today, btw


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## LedxZep (Sep 25, 2009)

Sick looking rocks and awesome driftwood! I also have a lfs that sells ada wood but im still deciding if i should buy it haha. Anyways cant wait till this fills up


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## yikesjason (Jul 2, 2008)

Looks great. That is what happens when you spend too much time in a good LFS.


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## theblondskeleton (Aug 28, 2009)

yikesjason: No kidding! I knew I was hanging out there too much lately!

Aquaspoon: I shop at The Wet Spot in Portland. It's a little pricey sometimes, but the ADA stuff is actually pretty reasonable. 

CL: Ha! thanks  I got a message about that earlier - can't wait to see it!

LedxZep: Thanks - GO FOR IT! I'm a bad influence 

jms: Ok, I'll make sure I puck that up too 

Thanks guys!


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

Whoops. I meant stems haha. My bad


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## theblondskeleton (Aug 28, 2009)

Ha! Whoops... it never even occurred to me that was wrong. I knew what you meant


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## FooDog (Jun 28, 2010)

I wish I had some ADA wood around my way =(


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## PinoyBoy (Mar 14, 2008)

> the illusion of a deep jungle scene. Two jungle trees frozen in battle like a pair of giant squid.


You got the perfect woods for this tank. Just sitting the way it is right now is already nice.


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## theblondskeleton (Aug 28, 2009)

Update:

Things are growing in nicely. I added some more stems of HC to help it fill in faster. I have new growth all over. I also found the random sprig of glosso in my 90 and dropped it in. It's spreading even faster than the HC. There is some anubias nana petitethat has really taken to growing this way. The only issue I'm having is some strange fungus on the wood. Any ideas on how to take care of this?


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## PinoyBoy (Mar 14, 2008)

Fish and shrimps usually eat the mold on the wood, but since this is emersed, I'm guessing it's not the same kind of mold you see in submerged woods.

Best guess is to just hand pick them.

:icon_excl Also... A larger picture would be nicer


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## theblondskeleton (Aug 28, 2009)

I built a stand. ADA inspired, but I loved the grain pattern on the wood so much that I gave it a nice oil treatment to bring out the grain. My issues included not having a plywood blade for the table saw, which resulted in chipping. Less than attractive. Also, because the plywood was not super high grade, it was a bit warped. I didn't notice this until it was fully assembled, and as a result, the door hangs crooked. I used Euro hinges, so I could adjust them a bit, but it still hangs a little crooked. As for my first DIY stand, I think I did well, and I'll fix the flaws in a future version. It needs ports drilled for the hoses and electrical cables, as well as a polyurethane finish, but here it is:










As for the fungus, I know it's not the typical driftwood bacteria cloud. It's something different. I am spraying it down with an Excel solution. Maybe that will help. Here is a shot:


















Meanwhile, the Hc is filling in fast. The last couple of days I've seen some great growth.


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## theblondskeleton (Aug 28, 2009)

By the way, sorry about the size of the earlier pic - I was posting with Tapatalk for the first time. I didn't realize it shrank the pic.


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

Great job on the stand. You're right, the grain is very cool!


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## Damian (Jun 17, 2009)

Stand looks great. Did you follow any sort of diagram or was it just scaled by the ol' eye?


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## theblondskeleton (Aug 28, 2009)

Dream2MkBlve said:


> Stand looks great. Did you follow any sort of diagram or was it just scaled by the ol' eye?


Thanks! I used Jason Baliban's guide on his website as a reference, but for the most part, it was all invention. I drew out the plans so I would be sure to make the right cuts and all, but I haven't seen an ADA stand this size so it was pretty much up to me to make it happen. I actually made it about 4 inches deeper than the tank so that I could have enough room inside for all the gear (pressurized CO2, filter, etc) - the tank is only 9 1/2 inches deep. 

A real bummer about the warped plywood, though. The door looked great before I discovered the twist in the cabinet. Then I had to trim it to fit the weird trapezoid that was now the face of the piece. That's when the chipping happened. I routed the edges flush so that the cabinet isn't bad, but the door is still about 1/16th inch off at the bottom.

Ah well. I think it's still dang pretty


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## theblondskeleton (Aug 28, 2009)

Update 

I filled it a few days ago. Everything looks great except the moss. I'm fairly certain that it was 90% dead to begin with. I did get a few batches of really nice and healthy moss from local members and I can replace it at any time. I'm likely to use the flame moss I have, as I just love the look of it - plus I have a ton. I might be saving the java moss and xmas moss for the 90, as I still have a bunch of barren branches there.

The stumps are a bit floaty yet, and are being weighed down with some rocks. Also, the water is stained with tannens until that passes. I added some erio type 2, windelov java fern, mini pellia and rotala magenta. some of this may stay, some may go away. I would like to see the erio in the 90 instead, but we'll see how it fares. I also added a bunch more anubias nana petite. My glassware is all installed, but I'm waiting on some clear airline elbows to finish the CO2 lines properly, as well as an Ideal needle valve to better control my CO2 levels.

The glosso is melting away (as I figured it would), and I might replace it with some of the eleocharis belem that I have.

Here you go!


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## theblondskeleton (Aug 28, 2009)

Some close-ups of the HC, mini pellia, and anubias nana 'petite' growth:










Some of the nana 'petite' was not in great shape, but as it grows in I'm planning on trimming it into nice little bushes that will surround and creep up the branches - I hope. 

The erio type 2 is bouncing back a bit, but is still looking a little shady in the lower portions. Perhaps it just needs some time to adjust, as the crowns are growing in nicely - albeit slowly. Anyone have some experience with this one? any advice? Should I trim back the undergrowth, or just continue to let it root, and hope it grows in better with time?

The rotala magenta was in crap shape when I received it, so much of it died off. The three stems I have in this tank, I trimmed back as the tops grew in nicer, and replanted. This is another plant I'm new to and I'm learning about as I go along. I'm hoping that it will grow more like it's cousin in my 90 and form a nice hedge as I trim it up, but I fear the lower leaves will melt off as the tops become more dense. I'll have to see. It's looking healthier, though. The stems are firmer, the leaves are brighter, and they seem to be growing steadily.










New residents; 9 boraras maculatus and 2 amano shrimp. The day after I dropped them in, one of the amanos molted  he looks awful purty with his new carapace (I'll throw a pic up as soon as I get a decent one).


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## yikesjason (Jul 2, 2008)

It is looking really nice. The petite seems to be bouncing back very quickly.


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## PzykoSkillz (Jul 6, 2010)

Looks great man, love the driftwood.


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## theblondskeleton (Aug 28, 2009)

yikesjason said:


> It is looking really nice. The petite seems to be bouncing back very quickly.


Thanks - must be the water, because I can't seem to get glosso to grow for the life of me, haha... the nana's really taking to the submerged life. It didn't do much emersed.



PzykoSkillz said:


> Looks great man, love the driftwood.


Thanks!


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## yikesjason (Jul 2, 2008)

I think just pulling all of the plants apart so they had some room to grow probably helped a lot too.


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## theblondskeleton (Aug 28, 2009)

Away for a while, here is some progress over the last couple of weeks:










And now...










The erio type 2 slowly decayed, as I had a lot of trouble finding any care info on it. A few days ago I was informed that it is a heavy root feeder, and was probably in need of some root tabs. I inserted one the substrate, and have one small stem left, so we'll see. I added some stems that came from Wasserpest (not sure what they are yet, but I think it's Lagarosiphon madagascariensis - again, not certain.

I just noticed that I have 3 berried RCS  Woohoo! And wow, that was fast. These girls are very red, too, so I can't wait to see the babies. This is my first outing with a real shrimp tank, so I'm pretty happy 

I'm down to 5 Rasboras - I'm pretty sure my intake is to blame, but the flow on the Eheim is so low, that I can't be sure that's what got them. They have been dropping one by one with little warning, though, so I just have to keep an eye on them.


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## PinoyBoy (Mar 14, 2008)

Tank looks great, plants filling in nicely and nice! Prego shrimps. Just wondering, what's in the rocks with nets? They seem to grow very slow (too lazy to read ... pictures says a thousand words, too bad I can't identify what species they are ^^). Also, any full tank shot including the stand?


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## theblondskeleton (Aug 28, 2009)

PinoyBoy said:


> Tank looks great, plants filling in nicely and nice! Prego shrimps. Just wondering, what's in the rocks with nets? They seem to grow very slow (too lazy to read ... pictures says a thousand words, too bad I can't identify what species they are ^^). Also, any full tank shot including the stand?


Thanks! The rocks are wrapped in mini pellia, but I have no luck with this stuff. When I got it it had a little thread algae in it, and it kind of exploded for a couple weeks. I fixed the issue, and the algae is gone now, but the MP isn't growing. There are still a few green flecks left, but they aren't doing much. I will likely replace it with fissidens if it goes south.


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## theblondskeleton (Aug 28, 2009)

I found out what had been killing my fish: a dragonfly larva. I have no idea how it got in there, and it must have been a genius at hide-and-seek, because it was pretty big. And ugly. Yes, ugly.


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## theblondskeleton (Aug 28, 2009)

Spotted my first shrimplets today! My, they are tiny. I have only seen two or three so far, but the rest are most certainly hiding - the tank is very much in need of a trim. I may pull out the windelov, or at least most of it. While it is doing much what I wanted it to, it is very dense and has pretty much buried my root wood. I will pull off some of the plantlets and tie them to the wood for more specific placement, as well as tie down the moss which has gone completely bonkers in there. I'll likely do this soon, but I don't wish to lose many babies in the process. Though I'm sure they'll make up for it soon  Pics forthcoming.


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## zerojoe0917 (Apr 29, 2009)

congrats on the shirmps! cant wait to see some pictures!!


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## PinoyBoy (Mar 14, 2008)

theblondskeleton said:


> While it is doing much what I wanted it to, it is very dense and has pretty much buried my root wood. I will pull off some of the plantlets and tie them to the wood for more specific placement, as well as tie down the moss which has gone completely bonkers in there. I'll likely do this soon, but I don't wish to lose many babies in the process.


Durring a water change, put your old tank water in a spare bucket/container and take the windelov out. Shake it vigorously (so sad... those baby shrimps might get traumatized) so the baby shrimps will fall off. Then net those little things back to your tank.

Oh and pictures please :icon_smil


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## theblondskeleton (Aug 28, 2009)

Yeah, yeah, I know - clean the equipment! As soon as I can afford a spring brush, I promise!

Sorry for the crap shots - I REALLY need a new camera. 

You see, it's a bit overgrown. The trouble is, the branches make trimming nearly impossible - very difficult at best. Everything grows well - including the clado from the restricted flow (too much plant mass, haha). Actually, the clado isn't too bad, I just pull it out every week. But, the moss didn't attach too well, so it pulls off very easily - yet another reason I'll re-boot this one. This time, I'll use fine fishing line to secure the moss instead of the cotton thread that dissolved before the moss had a chance to really grip the wood. the nice part is that I now have a good quantity of healthy moss - as opposed to the nappy half-dead mat I got from the LFS. PS - I think there are about 4 different types of moss mixed together there. The bulk is Xmas moss, but I see what looks like taiwan moss, flame moss, fissidens, and good ol' java moss.

Also, a little shrimplet pic for your enjoyment!


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## chilled_fire (Jun 4, 2010)

thats an amazing growth , the ferns look absolutely fantastic !


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## PinoyBoy (Mar 14, 2008)

> re-boot


So I'm guessing you're going to tear the tank down?


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## theblondskeleton (Aug 28, 2009)

PinoyBoy said:


> So I'm guessing you're going to tear the tank down?


Essentially, yeah. But it will remain much the same. I just need to remove one of the pieces of root wood and thin out the windelov. I'll likely spread out the HC, add some marsilea, and rearrange some things, but it will have the same feel - without the clutter.

This may happen soon, or it may not happen for several weeks/months - depends on my schedule and how many RCS I think I can tolerate before needing to seriously pare down the population. I have several dozen babies now, another two berried females, and one other is saddled.


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

That is really nice. I like the sense of movement that I see in the driftwood. Is that manzanita?


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## theblondskeleton (Aug 28, 2009)

hydrophyte said:


> That is really nice. I like the sense of movement that I see in the driftwood. Is that manzanita?


Thanks - that's exactly why I love these pieces!

It's ADA Root Wood. My LFS just started carrying it a few months ago. I picked up the two most interesting pieces (in my opinion). My only complaint is that the harvesters cut the branches clean. When I reboot, I'll likely cover the cut ends with moss.

This was my first real go with moss, so I'm learning things as I go along. I think that after the reboot, this will be a really good looking tank. Right now, it's just a bit crowded, haha...


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## PinoyBoy (Mar 14, 2008)

I was about to suggest to not cover the wood so it doesn't look as cluttered next time. I've read someone here that a good way to remove those "cut" ends is to burn and try to make it look natural~ish.

Oh... Off topic but, where does everyone get that avatar? I've seen it around in a couple other forums and my friend's profile picture couple years ago.


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## theblondskeleton (Aug 28, 2009)

I was just trying to remember that earlier today! I made it about 2 years ago, so I think I just searched for "anime avatar" at the time. Unfortunately, now that search may come up with about a billion sites related to the movie, haha. I'll see if I can track it down...


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## theblondskeleton (Aug 28, 2009)

PinoyBoy said:


> I was about to suggest to not cover the wood so it doesn't look as cluttered next time.


Yeah, that's part of the plan, too. I want moss there, just not as much as I ended up having. Mostly it's the windelov fern that's causing the issue. It just needs to be thinned out.


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## theblondskeleton (Aug 28, 2009)

Sooo... busy week  I have changed this over, added seiryu stone, swapped the root wood out twice ------ and I'm STILL not happy. Grrr... I don't know about this one. It's frustrating to have an image in your mind of what it looks and feels like, and then the end product looks like a cluttered disaster. Perhaps it's a reflection of the artist's inner conflicts. 

My Mini-S has been surprisingly pleasant to tinker with. This one... Hmmm. Perhaps I need to clarify my intentions? Simplify my approach? Not try to cram it as full of as many of my favorite plants as I can get in there? Take a note from Buddha and clear my mind of desire - and recreate what remains? That would likely be a bleak landscape, haha...

One way or another, the frustration will lead to some form of awakening. It always does. In real life, I'm a director of live theatre. I also teach. In both of these fields, I have found that things are usually the most frustrating just before enlightenment - the whole darkest before dawn syndrome. When my students have difficulty with something, I always advise them to take a step back, play some video games, and the answer will reveal itself. Typically, the only obstacle to understanding is the self.


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## yikesjason (Jul 2, 2008)

Wow, going for the whole "zen master" thing. Nice.


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## theblondskeleton (Aug 28, 2009)

Well, I figure banging my head against the wall hasn't produced any great insights. Might try a different approach, haha... I have a vision, I just need to simplify, clarify it, and let it be for a while.


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## theblondskeleton (Aug 28, 2009)

Here is a shot from today. Not really pleased but the plants are healthy. I'm avoiding this one by tinkering with my other tanks and playing with my Mr. Aqua cube. Cubes are fun.










Hardscape option for the cube:


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## !shadow! (Jan 25, 2010)

l like it(referring to the last pic). l know it was a pain trying to trim that tank with all the branches in the way but now you don't have to worry about it  not to mention the better view of the shrimp.


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## theblondskeleton (Aug 28, 2009)

Thanks  That's true - the shrimp really stand out now, which is good. They are awfully purty  Maybe I'll just let it do its thing for a while. Oh, and fix the GSA problem, haha...


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## Matty (Dec 4, 2009)

I really like the scape of the cube.


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## theblondskeleton (Aug 28, 2009)

I. Hate. Eheim. 2213. 

PITA to restart after cleaning. Even though I only have to do this once every few months, getting it started again is like push-starting a battleship. It does a great job after that, but I'm not sure it's worth the extra headache.

I should have stuck to my Rena.


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## yikesjason (Jul 2, 2008)

I prefer my marineland c360. The push button priming is really nice.


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