# new 8" cube



## ovenmit331 (Mar 27, 2007)

here's the 8" cube i just set up. no shrimp yet. gotta figure out where to put the betta.









last night JUST after set up.









after 20 min of filtering









this morning










sorry for the TERRIBLE pictures. they're from a BlackBerry Pearl...


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## bsmith (Jan 8, 2007)

that looks great! you did a good job picking out those rocks. 

what kind of sub. are you using, and what kind of filtration and lighting do you have?


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## ovenmit331 (Mar 27, 2007)

bsmith782 said:


> that looks great! you did a good job picking out those rocks.
> 
> what kind of sub. are you using, and what kind of filtration and lighting do you have?


substrate is eco
filtration is an azoo palm filter
lighting is the home depot 27w CF desklamp

thanks for the compliments. just threw some plants in there for a little while. they'll all outgrow the tank in a hurry (moneywort, crypts wendtii, and anacharis). thinkin about DHG or HC as a foreground. may need to get some more eco for behind the rocks. not really sure. also kinda wish i had some more of these rocks but much smaller. i've thought about breaking the third one i got from you up and using them.

also, i added 6ish RCS and we'll see how they do...

and my black molly completely disappeared...


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## bsmith (Jan 8, 2007)

where could the molly have one, thats wierd. 

are you going to do co2 or xcel?

i would smash the rocks, maybe the one your not using. i was thinking about doing that with one of the rocks i have left and adding them to my m.


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## ovenmit331 (Mar 27, 2007)

i have no idea where he went... looked ALL over.

i have some DIY co2 stuff but the bubble ladder i have won't fit and would look HORRIBLE. i think i may just go with the excel, although i would like to get the ada mini diffusor thing.

how much excel should i dose daily on that little thing?

and i may smash the rocks today and see what happens...


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## ovenmit331 (Mar 27, 2007)

also, i have an anubias nana.. where should i plant it?


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## bsmith (Jan 8, 2007)

you know about the progression of my tank as far as the co2 is concerned, i found it very hard to diffuse co2 through a ceramic disk with the diy setup (probly needed 2-2L bottles to get a decent ppm of dissolved co2. 

what tank are you using the toms filter on? it may be worth your time to put it in this one and dissolve the co2 in it. in my mini m its working like a champ!

you will probly need to get a syringe to dose the excell in that tank, thats what i use but im a diabetic and have needles all over the place. .25ml-.3ml would do the trick.

if the nana is petiete id put it in the front if its regular nana id put it in the back.


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## ovenmit331 (Mar 27, 2007)

i think i'm just gonna go with excel. at only 3mL / day the bottle should last quite a while. where can i get a syringe?

my Tom's is on my 10g and working perfectly. i think i may start bubbling the co2 into it and not use the bubble ladder. do you just have the co2 tube somehow stuck under the intake? got any pictures?

if i put the tom's on the cube i think the flow would be ridiculous.
and it's nana petite. i'll throw it in front. maybe get some normal nana for the back, and then think about going with DHG for the foreground cover.


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## bsmith (Jan 8, 2007)

you can get a syringe from wallgreens or any pharmacy in your area (or i could throw one in an envelope and just mail it to you, if you like).

i cant get a clear pic of my intake but i just have the co2 tubing wedged into the strainer on the intake and have a prefilter ontop of that so my shrimps dont get sucked up. it just bubbles up the intake tube and gets dissolved in the cannister..


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## ovenmit331 (Mar 27, 2007)

i'm headed to walmart for black thread anyways... i'll stop by the pharmacy. gotta get it from the counter i assume? just ask for a syringe? (actually need a couple)


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## bsmith (Jan 8, 2007)

ovenmit331 said:


> i'm headed to walmart for black thread anyways... i'll stop by the pharmacy. gotta get it from the counter i assume? just ask for a syringe? (actually need a couple)


just get them in a 1cc size 1cc=1ml i was wrong about the excel dosing, you only need .25-.3 ml of excel!!! get the u100 syringes, with them 10units is .1 ml.


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## ovenmit331 (Mar 27, 2007)

oh dang... that coulda been overdose city.

i bought some plastic oral syringes that have down to .2ml but they're gonna be pretty tough to use on the cube... you said you've got one you could send, right? how much?


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## bsmith (Jan 8, 2007)

ovenmit331 said:


> oh dang... that coulda been overdose city.
> 
> i bought some plastic oral syringes that have down to .2ml but they're gonna be pretty tough to use on the cube... you said you've got one you could send, right? how much?


yeah im glad i caught that one!:icon_eek: 

i probly have a unopened bag of 10 lying around somewhere, ill check when i get home and just toss them in the mail for ya.


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## ovenmit331 (Mar 27, 2007)

bsmith782 said:


> yeah im glad i caught that one!:icon_eek:
> 
> i probly have a unopened bag of 10 lying around somewhere, ill check when i get home and just toss them in the mail for ya.


that would be fantastic. they're re-useable, right? any reason to ever switch to a new one?


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## bsmith (Jan 8, 2007)

no problem, they are re-useable but you never know.


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## ovenmit331 (Mar 27, 2007)

awesome. thanks again man...


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## bsmith (Jan 8, 2007)

updates.....


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## matt s (Jun 6, 2007)

Looks cool. but keep the pics comin.


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## ovenmit331 (Mar 27, 2007)

threw some anubias nana petite and weeping moss in the cube. also put in some RCS (like 6). haven't really had a chance to see if they've survived Cab.'s apetite. Cab (short for Cabernet) is the betta. 

i did find one on my desk the next morning. should i cover the tank? or just leave it open?

lemme get a real digital camera and take some pictures... so far, i love the little tank. and i'm pretty darn sure i'm getting a mini-m for myself for Christmas.


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## bsmith (Jan 8, 2007)

i havent had any rcs jump out of the cube (when i had it) or my m, it could be a sign that the water isnt quite ready for them, or cab is just chasing them out.


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## dirkgent001 (Nov 20, 2007)

I use to have a betta in my nano with 3 ghost shrimp. I never saw him chase after them, but 2 eventually died and I can't say he was or wasn't responsible. Of course, not all betta are the same, some are more aggressive, some not as much. Just keep an eye on how he interacts with them.


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## bsmith (Jan 8, 2007)

whats the word mitt???? merry belated x mas to you and a happy new year btw!


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## Speshall*K (Jun 24, 2007)

yo dude first of all.... GET RID OF THE BETTA. it (in my opinion) completely ruins the setup. (nice rock choice though) and second, since this is a PLANTED TANK forum, (again, my opinion) Up yur lighting and get some nicer plants... Otherwise nice tank...SRY TO BE MEAN! i dont want to come acrooss that way thouugh....


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## ovenmit331 (Mar 27, 2007)

bsmith782 said:


> whats the word mitt???? merry belated x mas to you and a happy new year btw!


hey man, things have been nuts. all the tanks are still goin strong. trying to get the hairgrass to fill in on the cube... grr.

also, ordered a mini-m (should be here today) that may just be the project for the weekend.

got The Lady a new digital camera for christmas and i'll have to take some tank shots (of all 5 or 6 tanks) with it... :icon_evil


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## bsmith (Jan 8, 2007)

im in, lets see em'.


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## ovenmit331 (Mar 27, 2007)

Speshall*K said:


> yo dude first of all.... GET RID OF THE BETTA. it (in my opinion) completely ruins the setup. (nice rock choice though) and second, since this is a PLANTED TANK forum, (again, my opinion) Up yur lighting and get some nicer plants... Otherwise nice tank...SRY TO BE MEAN! i dont want to come acrooss that way thouugh....


so ... "dude" i think you really struck a chord with me.

first of all, i like the betta. i respect your opinion as it's totally a matter of preference... but i don't agree with it, or the way you screamed it at me...:icon_eek: 

second... as for upping the lighting, how would i benefit from more than 27w (what i currently have) over a 2.2g tank? that's already more light than i have over my TEN gallon! 

third... "since this is a PLANTED TANK forum" how is this tank not planted? it's a tank, with plants in it, i call it a planted tank.

fourth... i think you missed this:


ovenmit331 said:


> just threw some plants in there for a little while. they'll all outgrow the tank in a hurry (moneywort, crypts wendtii, and anacharis).


they're temporary plants. there's now some weeping moss occupying the back left corner with the crypts wendtii. and an anubias nana petite in between the rocks.

fifth... "otherwise nice tank" otherwise? the only thing you didn't say you hated was the rocks. so "otherwise nice tank" means, nice rocks, but everything else blows.

i think i'll just stop here.


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## frasertheking (Jun 15, 2007)

keep the betta reminds me of a dragon flying over hills lol

tank looks great btw :thumbsup: 


clearly 13.5 wpg is not enough for some people lol


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## ovenmit331 (Mar 27, 2007)

frasertheking said:


> keep the betta reminds me of a dragon flying over hills lol
> 
> tank looks great btw :thumbsup:
> 
> ...


thanks man. it looks even better now... just gotta get some new pictures up.


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## Speshall*K (Jun 24, 2007)

ok i stand corrected.... i rly didnt want to come across as rude though... sry. and Technically its a "planted tank" but i think that (with the time and effort that you put into this) you should have more stand out/"nicer" plants... in MY OPINION... but it looks good, and if u like the betta, keep it. im just saying you could have some shrimp and maybe a few other things rather than the betta... w/e its your tank, have fun with it!...i guess


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## ovenmit331 (Mar 27, 2007)

new pictures... still with the crappy phone camera...


you can see the anubias nana petite between the rocks behind the random stem of moneywort (which will be removed soon), and the flame moss in the back left with the crypt wendtii, also DHG in the foreground.










blurry as crap...










there's Cab in the top corner










another FTS.










there's also a couple (maybe) RCS still alive. may add some more now that they have some room to hide... and an oto in there too.

the DHG isn't really doin anything. not sure how to help it along. i lowered the light a bunch so it's closer to the tank, we'll see if that helps.

also, i wanna pull out the anacharis and moneywort but don't know what to put in it's place in the back. any ideas?


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## ovenmit331 (Mar 27, 2007)

also, check this thread out for my first tank then and now... http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/low-tech-forum/44574-just-started-10g-need-opinions.html

also, also, this is my new tank/toy for my office:


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## bsmith (Jan 8, 2007)

giant hairgrass, thats what im doing in mine!

what are your plans for the m??? if you are looking for plants shoot me a pm i might have what you need!:smile:


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## ovenmit331 (Mar 27, 2007)

bsmith782 said:


> giant hairgrass, thats what im doing in mine!
> 
> what are your plans for the m??? if you are looking for plants shoot me a pm i might have what you need!:smile:


giant? grr, i was told it was dwarf. oh well. grass is grass, right? here's hoping it starts growing.

i have NO idea for the m. i've got some pretty cool pieces of wood and one of those sieryu stones left. i'd like to do more of a rock oriented layout like the cube, but with only one rock... kinda hard. and as for plants... i have NO idea. I'm tired of using the same plant clippings from all three of my tanks... so you now have a PM... 

did you check out the 10g "journal"?


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## ovenmit331 (Mar 27, 2007)

you said you were doing hairgrass here http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/506581-post32.html and i hadn't heard otherwise... oh well. here's hoping i can get it to work in mine


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## bsmith (Jan 8, 2007)

Yeah im the one on the crack, after I got home I realized that I did have hairgrass in my 29g. Its just waiting for me to move it to the nano. The problem is it's kinda looking crappy, some strands ar3e bright green while some others are brown.


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## ovenmit331 (Mar 27, 2007)

yeah, thats kinda what i'm experiencing... but in my 30g at work, the stuff is growing like CRAZY!!!


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## bsmith (Jan 8, 2007)

They lat you have a 30g at work!:icon_eek:


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## bsmith (Jan 8, 2007)

I will also add that my hairgrass is ALL turning brown and dieng, is that just what it does then comes back to life miraculously???


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## Nihongo (Apr 4, 2007)

Nice blackberrry!!! I have one too, not too bad for the price:hihi:


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## ovenmit331 (Mar 27, 2007)

Nihongo said:


> Nice blackberrry!!! I have one too, not too bad for the price:hihi:


especially when The Company buys it for you.


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## ovenmit331 (Mar 27, 2007)

did some more planting... i'll try to get new pics.


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## bsmith (Jan 8, 2007)

Where has this tank been............


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## ovenmit331 (Mar 27, 2007)

bsmith782 said:


> Where has this tank been............


on my desk...

apparently i died 3 months ago.... but i am alive...


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## bsmith (Jan 8, 2007)

ovenmit331 said:


> on my desk...
> 
> apparently i died 3 months ago.... but i am alive...


Explain....


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## ovenmit331 (Mar 27, 2007)

bsmith782 said:


> Explain....


died 3 months ago = i haven't been on here or posted in about 3 months

i'm alive = i'm back



i'm about 10 times busier than i was 3 months ago so i won't have all kinds of time to drop in and hang out, but i'm back.

the cube is doing well. needs a little cleaning and trimming, but it's not doing too bad.

the betta is no longer in the tank and i haven't seen the Oto in a WHILE... but there are baby RCS in there...


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