# vvDO's Mr. Aqua 7.5g cube... New inhabitants



## vvDO (Oct 18, 2010)

Out goes Eco-complete for a bit while I switch with New Amazonia. Also have a piece of lava rock that I just picked up and decided to try a scape.

Plan is to fill in and top with ecocomplete. The rock gets a lot darker when wet.


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## vvDO (Oct 18, 2010)

Slept on it and made some changes, added 7-8 rootmedic tabs then a top dressing of eco-complete. The light is a Finnex Fuge-Ray 12" with daylight and moonlight.


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## GMYukonon24s (May 3, 2009)

Nice start


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## GMYukonon24s (May 3, 2009)

Did you fill this up with water ? or made any changes?


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## vvDO (Oct 18, 2010)

Not yet, planning to dry start next week with Glosso it's gonna be a slow progress due to travel plans/work.


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## tropicalmackdaddy (Mar 7, 2012)

Update?


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## ObeytheFish (Feb 27, 2012)

Can you take a pic of the LED box? I wanna see if It's the same as mine
Thanks!


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## vvDO (Oct 18, 2010)

*Planted 1/20/13*

Had a huge delay in setting this up. At least now I have just about everything I need. Never knew having a kid would set me back so far. 

A friend in the Bay Area was able to supply me with a bunch of cuttings. Planned glosso is out since my emersed set up dried out while I was away. I gave away half to my friend however his became overgrown by microsword so there went all my glosso. Not a big deal I guess since that same friend is the one hooking me up with the following:

2 unknown stems (one has longish, fine needle like green leaves, the other sends shoots out at 90 deg and comes apart very easily.)
Corkscrew Val
Staurogyne Repens
Dwarf hairgrass (? Belem)
Rotala macandra red
Bacopa sp

Plus a bunch more to stock my 20g long.

I am dry starting the cube. Unsure if some of the stem plants are going to make it. I may reconsider the light since these plants may require more. First I will get CO2 going and see how things grow. 20g is planted, filled, and pressurized CO2 is running... Much easier than I thought thanks to this forum.


Pics to follow, right now I'm off to get some much needed sleep.


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## vvDO (Oct 18, 2010)

Pics as promised, first here's why progress came to a halt...









6 months later...










And here's the tank planted and ready for dry start. I sprayed and sprayed, poured some water, sprayed some more then covered with saran wrap, added my light and now the waiting and watching begins. I kept the front 2 inches unplanted and will attempt to keep it clean since i am planning to have shrimp. I want an open area to provide a feeding ground.


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## Darth Toro (Mar 6, 2010)

Love the set up! Glad your back to it. Your son is very handsome and I love the Yankee hat! Can't wait to see it thriving. Please keep us updated if you find the time. I know too well how it is with my 17 month old boy. Sooner or later I'll get around to posting pics


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## vvDO (Oct 18, 2010)

Darth Toro said:


> Love the set up! Glad your back to it. Your son is very handsome and I love the Yankee hat! Can't wait to see it thriving. Please keep us updated if you find the time. I know too well how it is with my 17 month old boy. Sooner or later I'll get around to posting pics


Thanks, I plan to update as often as I can.


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## vvDO (Oct 18, 2010)

1 week after planting and things are slowly growing, much better here in dry start than my 20L.


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## vvDO (Oct 18, 2010)

Some melting on S. repens, dwarf hairgrass is spreading somewhat, bacopa growing fairly well.

View from top...

















From the front...


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## The Dude (Feb 8, 2011)

*vvDO's Mr. Aqua 7.5g cube (Pics updated 2/11/13)*

Any updates on this?


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## vvDO (Oct 18, 2010)

S. repens didn't do so well, only 1 stem remaining, I will probably flood it soon once I have my CO2 paintball setup for this and transfer plants over from my 20L.


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## vvDO (Oct 18, 2010)

Dry start was killing me, only thing growing well were a small bit of HM and bacopa australis. DHG wasn't growing much, S. repens almost completely melted. It needed a drastic change. Thanks to my friend for hooking me up with some stems of S. repens, r macandra Japanese and a single stem of a bacopa. Well here goes... Oh and I filled the sucka. Paintball tanks also filled, have a cool paintball setup that I want to try more to follow on that.

FTS:









Right side









Riccia stuck well on my lava rock


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## ctls (Aug 15, 2012)

*vvDO's Mr. Aqua 7.5g cube (Pics updated 2/11/13)*

I have the same size tank but its by deep blue. I've been looking to replace the fluval mini powered compact light with something more powerful. 

Tanks looking nice by the way.


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## vvDO (Oct 18, 2010)

ctls said:


> I have the same size tank but its by deep blue. I've been looking to replace the fluval mini powered compact light with something more powerful.
> 
> Tanks looking nice by the way.


That was one of my thoughts, and I would have probably placed 2 of those over the tank. I'm not sure this light is strong enough to get the colors I want however it does look nice. I took the pics without the moonlights on. There's a bit of a glimmer especially with water movement from the output bar.


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## vvDO (Oct 18, 2010)

Had some issues getting CO2 to work, tank was leaking from the relief valve and I tried tightening it however no change, hopefully I can return it. I have another idea for setting up my paintball CO2 but I need to have a working tank of course. Also my JBJ bubble counter's check valve already gave way and I hope the water didn't ruin the reg setup. Waiting for everything to dry until I try with my 2nd bottle.

S. repens loves to melt until cycle is over. I am surprised this tank is taking this long to cycle since I added medium from my 20L. At least nitrites are coming up which means the cycle's end is coming. I hope to stock soon and will likely try my hand at shrimp once the tank matures some.

Here's an update...


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## mosspearl (Jan 30, 2013)

Nice start, and your son is adorable.  How did you get the riccia to stick to your lava rock?


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## vvDO (Oct 18, 2010)

Thanks, he's growing like crazy.

Nothing special really, during dry start it sat there for about a month and when it filled I was surprised it was stuck on.


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## vvDO (Oct 18, 2010)

YAY... CO2 is working with my other tank and I also received word my paintball is going to be replaced and Empire is also covering shipping to return my tank.

Here's the setup. I bought a paintball regulator made by RAP4 which attaches to my ASA on/off valve. This reduces the tank pressure to 50psi. I also modified a paintball setup from Nilocg to add a more accurate needle valve and a solenoid. I was afraid to use the original setup nor let it go to waste/sell it off, I did a lot of research on adapters etc and this seemed to be the most reasonable. Better to play with 50-100 psi than 800. Major problem is the gauge has a large scale so I can't see where my output pressure sits. I am looking into buying a smaller scale gauge to replace one of the 2 gauges and may plug the other.


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## vvDO (Oct 18, 2010)

Once it finally cycles this tank will be a temporary home for this guy...


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## vvDO (Oct 18, 2010)

I've decided not to add the betta, tank has been running plants and snails alone. Minor changes... Added hydrocotyle from my 20L however it's overgrowing and will likely come out. Bacopa and R. Macandra Japanese are growing well. The Finnex is pretty bright however does not bring out the reds as much as in my 20L.


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## vvDO (Oct 18, 2010)

Not bad... A little over 2 months on a 20 oz paintball CO2 canister. I bought 6 juvenile long finned golden rams and added end them last weeks. They are juveniles and are aggressive eaters. Plan is to move half of them out once I have a better idea on sex and to see which fish pair off. The rest I will likely sell or move to another tank that I'm planning. Pics to come once they are a bit less skittish.


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## vvDO (Oct 18, 2010)

*Long fin golden rams update*

Pics as promised, if you have an idea on gender, please feel free to comment...


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## mitchfish9 (Apr 30, 2012)

Sweet tank! Where did you get the rams?


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## I<3<*))))>< (Jun 10, 2013)

Wow, this tank looks amazing, great job! Love the contrast in the plants as well, and the fish choice is spectacular. I was _this_ close to going Rams myself.


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## vvDO (Oct 18, 2010)

Thanks. Rams came from a Bay Area hobbyist of CG. I removed 3 rams and transferred them to my 20L. Turns out I only have 1 female.


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## vvDO (Oct 18, 2010)

New Stand...









Some new plants...









And new fish...
Betta baby all grown up, turns out its a double tail...








Also added 2 rosy loaches, if I can find more, I would definitely add more. Very cool fish but the need more company....


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## parrottbay (May 14, 2012)

So is this a high light tank? Could it grow dwarf baby tears?


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## vvDO (Oct 18, 2010)

Not sure if HC would grow well. HM and DHG are growing well just slow. I'm using a fugeray 12" which give low light, but it has CO2 which helps.

I am planning to turn this into a med-high light tank. I recently purchased LEDs off eBay and am awaiting delivery.


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## parrottbay (May 14, 2012)

HUMMM... that is a shame that the fugeray doesn't put enough out . I am looking for a light for my cube like yours but want to do HC. BTW I am subscribing so keep up the good work and posts, please!


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## vvDO (Oct 18, 2010)

Hold out for finnex's newest LED, planted+. It should be somewhere in between a fugeray and a ray2. Expected release was Oct last I heard.


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## parrottbay (May 14, 2012)

AWESOME, I heard about it in a few threads but I hope they have more sizes than the ray2 like 12" lol.

Have you thought about shrimp for this tank?


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## vvDO (Oct 18, 2010)

Yes, I have, but I'm sure my betta will turn them into lunch.


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## parrottbay (May 14, 2012)

You think if you get enough cherries that he wont be able to eat as fast as that they can produce?


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## parrottbay (May 14, 2012)

Any update?


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## vvDO (Oct 18, 2010)

Rescaped a couple times, will post a few pics soon


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## vvDO (Oct 18, 2010)

Last update before I moved, unfortunately my betta went to fishy heaven. This gave me the ability to get more fish.

Added 6 Cory pygmaeus and 6 bororas (exclamation point). One Cory died soon after purchase. Then found a great deal on chili rasboras and added 10, since then I can count 7-8 but they move so fast. I had issues with my CO2 valve turning up without adjustment probably due to my son messing with all the tubing and who knows what when I'm at work. Will post a more recent pic once the lights turn on again.

About 3 months ago


About 2-3 weeks ago...


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## vvDO (Oct 18, 2010)

Today...


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## vvDO (Oct 18, 2010)

Top/down view...


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