# 3 Gallon Low Tech CRS Cube



## Asu1776 (Mar 5, 2013)

Sharing the completion of the latest project of mine. A bedside low-tech nano tank. 



















*Specs:*
3 Gallon Tetra Cube
Azoo Mignon Filter
Black sand substrate with oscomote+
Fluval 13W clip on light
Marina internal heater

*Plants:*
Crypt lucens
Anubias nana petite
Trident java fern
Moss

*Fauna:*
CRS

*Fertilization:*
None. Using aquasoil.










Anubias nana's were withering away in another tank. Think it was too much light, but moved them here. They are recovering. Wondering what do with the old dying leaves though.










Azoo mignon filter, customized. Flow rate is good. I see a good breeze in the tank. I took the sponges out and replaced it with some bioballs from a cycled tank which have REALLY speed up the cycle. Showing nitrites way high just 2 days into setting it up! Source of ammonia is from the osmocote+. The filter also comes with a prefilter sponge, which will be essential when I get shrimps in here.

The problem with the filter is that it gets noisy when you put the lid on it, but you can't really turn up the filter all the way without the lid, because the impeller pushes water up the back left of the filter, causing some of it to slightly spill out, and worse if the filter is clogged. But, no worries, I took some plastic packaging (you know the clear ones that hold tools, electronics, etc and are INCREDIBLY hard to open, even with scissors?), and cut out an appropriately fitting bank and cover over the filter to create a ceiling for the water. Now it runs perfectly. 

Let me know what you guys think!


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## ValMM (Feb 22, 2011)

Very cool. I like it.


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## Asu1776 (Mar 5, 2013)

Thanks!!


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## Ebeth (Jan 22, 2014)

Very nice. I love your choice of plants & your aquascape design. Well done.


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## Asu1776 (Mar 5, 2013)

Thanks! It's been an improvement when I first set it up. This is an old pic before my tank got overrun with planaria and nasties.


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## Asu1776 (Mar 5, 2013)

By the way, did you guys know that soaking manzanita wood in water makes the bark fall off? I spent HOURS filing and carving off the bark on some manzanita branch I received. I soak it in water for the plants attached to it to grow and the bark falls off like butter...fml


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## ValMM (Feb 22, 2011)

Well, at least we'll know for next time.


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## Asu1776 (Mar 5, 2013)

Did some changes to the tank. I replaced the sand with Aquasoil to prepare the tank for some CRS. First time keeping CRS and I'm super excited. Right now, I'm using DIY Co2 to expedite growth while the tank cycles.


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## The Goonch (May 10, 2012)

I bet the shrimp will love it! Good job!


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## chris.rivera3 (Apr 15, 2008)

Be careful when adding the CRS....check those rocks first to make sure they aren't changing the water chemistry of your tank


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## Agent69 (Oct 9, 2013)

Man that new scape is looking awesome. Do you plan to add any forground plants? Its hard to believe its only 3 gallons! Looks like it could be an 8 gallon

Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk


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## Asu1776 (Mar 5, 2013)

The Goonch said:


> I bet the shrimp will love it! Good job!


Thanks!



chris.rivera3 said:


> Be careful when adding the CRS....check those rocks first to make sure they aren't changing the water chemistry of your tank


I did a test on the rocks before to make sure they weren't leeching any carbonates. They have been in the tank for over 2 weeks with no rise in KH or GH, so I think they are stable. I don't think they'll deteriorate either. Nothing metallic on them either. Am I missing anything else? Btw, you notice your luscious trident java fern? :red_mouth



Agent69 said:


> Man that new scape is looking awesome. Do you plan to add any forground plants? Its hard to believe its only 3 gallons! Looks like it could be an 8 gallon
> 
> Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk


Thanks! Not sure if I would do a foreground since I wanted some empty space to contrast the shrimp. Before I put in smaller plants, it feel like it was too small!


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## Asu1776 (Mar 5, 2013)

Sharing the room with the two tanks!


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## Asu1776 (Mar 5, 2013)

Update! Added some baby CRS!





































I found a rock with a small spec of gold. I think it might be pyrite, hence the red color of the rocks. Not sure what to do. I think the rocks are relatively inert and CRS are fine, but now I'm worried if I should replace them and do a whole rescape. They were sold to me as field rocks by a LFS.


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## jbig (Jul 13, 2012)

sweet set up. i like the way your moss is growing.


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## Syris (Jul 10, 2008)

Very nice, I like it. 
Been looking to setup a small CRS tank myself.


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## Asu1776 (Mar 5, 2013)

Thanks! So far everything has worked out quite well. I would totally suggest going for it.


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## Asu1776 (Mar 5, 2013)

Look who's getting more comfy in their surroundings.


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## Asu1776 (Mar 5, 2013)

Updated tank shot. I added 14 more CRS. Should have 24 exactly in the tank plus 1 golden bee that came along for the ride, although I haven't seen it lately. So, if it add it up all together, I got the shrimps for $94/25 shrimp = $3.76 per shrimp including shipping! 










Shrimps always love to the graze on those sponges, which they poop all over. When I clean them out, all this nasty stuff gets squeezed out.


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## Little Soprano (Mar 13, 2014)

Beautiful tank! I hope you don't mind me asking, but did you experience any die off when you removed the CO2? I'm doing something fairly similar, with willow moss, anubias nana petite, pennywort, and some fissidens.


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## Asu1776 (Mar 5, 2013)

Thanks! I didn't witness any plant die off when I stopped the CO2. However, my plants aren't particularly demanding and don't really require CO2 injection. The CO2 was mostly just to get the plants going and suck any ammonia/nitrate that was in the water. Right now, they are growing, but at a VERY slow pace. Share your setup when you get a chance!


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## austin.b (Feb 9, 2012)

Nice looking cube! 

Sub'd


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## Asu1776 (Mar 5, 2013)

Alrighty, time for another post weekend update. As you can see, the moss in the tank has really overgrown. It's due a trim today when I get back from work. Surprisingly, though, the tank hasn't had a really bad algae problem. I guess what's helped is keeping up with the water changes and making sure to not feed the shrimps too much, so organic waste is kept to a minimum. Oh, and purigen!



















Video Time!






Anubias and crypts are growing slowly without CO2, but are still growing. roud: Will have to see how many more weeks it'll take for the anubias to put out another leaf. 










I also picked up a petri dish from MsNemoShrimp here on TPT. Originally, I didn't expect the dish to be so tall and thought it would deter shrimps from entering the dish, but to my surprise it didn't. In fact, the taller dish served it's purpose well, since it kept the food primarily in the dish! It also gave me a chance to witness a shrimp feeding frenzy or "shrimp ball".










I thought this was funny. In the frenzy of feeding, one of the shrimps ends up picking at the head of another shrimp like a chimpanzee.










Here's the video.


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## Asu1776 (Mar 5, 2013)

Some recent shots of the nano cube



















I witnessed some odd cannibalism in the tank a few days ago. So, I did a 20-30% water change of the tank this past weekend. Silly me, I should have just topped off, but I wanted to siphon out some moss I had trimmed off. Anyway, one of the tiny babies died because of the water change. You can see him here before he died. He started swimming in circles before doing a flick of death.










Then the shrimps around it started to go crazy and one of the bigger ones starts poking around until he finds the baby shrimps freshly dead body, and then starts to eat it. The others start fighting him for the body so he swims away and eats in peace....










Kind of a sad reality that babies end up on the dinner menu. However, I more concerned as to why the baby died. Haven't dosed bioplus recently and perhaps I changed too much water in too small of a tank. Will have to be more careful next time.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Hey easy protein boost, at least you aren't seeing them catch and bite the heads off of healthy shrimplets.


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## Asu1776 (Mar 5, 2013)

Speaking of protein, is it necessary to supplement CRS with protein or can they find it in algae wafers/biofilm?


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

I cannot say, I'm new to shrimp myself and no real knowledge of crs , sorry.


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## Asu1776 (Mar 5, 2013)

I LOVE feeding time for two reasons.

*1) My shrimps come out from hiding and become super active. *

It's funny to see the desperation and aggressive tactics they have. I've seen a shrimp chase another shrimp for half of the tank, trying to steal food.




























Some are smart, and hide in the plants away from the commotion.










*2) Gives me a chance to count my shrimp.*


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## pferris (Aug 19, 2014)

Knock the stone out with a screw driver and a hammer


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## Asu1776 (Mar 5, 2013)

Just a quick update. 










Been holding out on everyone, but all of a sudden many of my shrimps started to get berried! I didn't think the survival rate would be that great since it's a small tank, but apparently the conditions are good enough that the babies are thriving!



















This has been one of my most successful tanks. The maintenance on this tank is very minimal. Besides topping off the water in the tank, there isn't much work involved. Cleaning doesn't take long, occasionally scrubbing the walls for algae and cleaning the filter only when the flow becomes really affected. Highly recommend a setup like this!


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## TheMonaLisa (Jun 24, 2014)

Asu1776 said:


> Sharing the completion of the latest project of mine. A bedside low-tech nano tank.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14/10/25/0a51928585a1d8d7ae832f27569bc218.jpg
Found if you stuff it with filter fiber on the left side that also fixes the problem. Also but cut some new soft hose that I put on the rim to further reduce vibration noise.


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## chris.rivera3 (Apr 15, 2008)

How is this tank doing? And do you have an updated plant list?

Bump: How is this tank doing? And do you have an updated plant list?


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## Julie7778 (Apr 21, 2015)

What's your temperature in the tank? Update


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## kep (Feb 3, 2015)

Asu1776 said:


> I thought this was funny. In the frenzy of feeding, one of the shrimps ends up picking at the head of another shrimp like a chimpanzee.



LOL! That is so funny! How entertaining watching all of their little antics. I'm totally inspired to start a low-tech shrimp cube for my desk now! 

You said a water change killed one of the babies - how often do you change the water, or is it your routine not to like with the walstead method? Apologies if you already posted an answer, I just kinda skipped through and looked at all your pretty pictures


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