# ADA 30-C Cube Garden



## timme278 (Jan 1, 2009)

i love the wood


planted pics please  lol


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## ClPat (Apr 30, 2009)

Amazing driftwood!! Should look great once covered up with bolbitis. Also consider needle leaf Java fern and some moss, that would be really cool!


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## Ugly Genius (Sep 27, 2003)

cint, I love it! The driftwood you picked is awesome. The thickness of the wood give the hardscape a look of permanence.

One thing to consider is that with driftwood hardscapes, substrate slope is not as necessary as it is with rock hardscapes; perfectly flat is perfectly acceptable. This is particularly true in the case of cube tanks. I didn't slope my substrate in my cube and the effect is particularly nice in that no one side looks like a "side".
Just something to consider.


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## cintamas (Feb 17, 2009)

Funny you bring up that point *UG*, I have this cue positioned so that I can view it from the right side while lying in bed. I should have gone without a slope so that I could do more scaping especially for the side view. Oh well....I'm excited about this tank because it fulfills my long-time wishes of owning a cubed aquarium and using bolbitis in a scape! 

Here are some pictures after planting. Taken earlier today (5-3-2009).


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## Jack Gilvey (Jun 16, 2008)

Beautiful! That piece of wood is worth buying a 30-c for.


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## Francis Xavier (Oct 8, 2008)

that driftwood has a lot of character behind it, i'm interested in seeing how this will evolve.


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## cintamas (Feb 17, 2009)

The wood is actually 3 pcs. and are litterally tangled together now. Originally, I had bought 5 peices and had planned to use them all. The ones I used were too good together that the other 2 just seemed out of place. I really don't want to attach anything else to the wood as every inch of it adds shape and feel to the layout. I may just move forward with planting around and between instead.


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## Phoenix-cry (Dec 25, 2008)

I love it!


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## kcirtappatrick (Mar 16, 2009)

This cube looks great! The driftwood gives it a nice mysterious look. Do you think you're going to add anymore plants in there?


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## cintamas (Feb 17, 2009)

Still searching for my foreground plant. Other than that, I think the scape is stocked where I want it to be.


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## Ugly Genius (Sep 27, 2003)

I think you're off to a great start. I think the hardscape and plant choices so far are bullet-proof. Keep refining as you go along and this'll tank will be a contender.
Right here and now, a dark-leafed carpet seems most appropriate. Microsword, perhaps. A slow grower such as MS will also serve you well in that trimming won't have to be all that frequent; with a driftwood hardscape like you have, this is an even better thing than it is usually.
Or a Marsilea Sp.. MC, while a bit less fancy-shmancy than all the other carpet plants, would totally vibe with the mood of this tank. Grown under ideal conditions -- which your tank appears to have -- it makes a stunning carpet. Also grows very slow. It's a fern to boot, which makes it even radder.


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

Wow that wood is incredible! You have some great plants too


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## cintamas (Feb 17, 2009)

Is it just me, or does the 'ripple-effect' of the substrate seem annoying? I've tried many times to flatten, but the water changes and the eheim keep screwing it up for me!! When the foreground plant has been chosen, it shouldn't be as big an issue. 

I've been spending each afternoon siphoning off the 'wood mucous' and refilling water, yet more mucous and more brown tint appears. I'm tempted to indulge in some purigen very soon....don't anybody try and stop me! 

I'll be adding some photo updates shortly....TTFN!


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## FrostyNYC (Nov 5, 2007)

I'd like to see a full tank shot showing the wood sticking up out of the water. I think adding some plants (anubius for example) growing out of the water and up the wood would be very interesting. I'm not sure what would survive like that.

Overall, I dig it.


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## cintamas (Feb 17, 2009)

I've thought about doing just that *FrostyNYC*. In fact, I have a very small amount of mini pellia on the wood right at water level as an experiment. I'm not sure what type of plants would be able to survive out-of-substrate & emersed. If you know of any, please let me in on it.


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## cintamas (Feb 17, 2009)

I've been plenty busy with work and haven't had much time to take any pictures or post updates. I've occasionally snapped a picture or two of this tank for me to monitor it's growth and progress. Because I found some spare time tonight (not to mention, I miss all this forum stuff) I thought I would post an update. 

*May 3, 2009 (about 3 days after setup)*








I initially had planned to have DHG growing tight aurrounding the wood. This batch of DHG wasn't very strong to begin with and I couldn't seem to bring it to life. 
*
May 12, 2009*








I really liked the fissidens-covered stone that you see in the center of this picture. After a couple of weeks, I decided that I needed it in another scape I had so I removed it. The DHG was a terrible mess at this point so I changed my foreground vision to that of a _beautiful pasture of flowing elatine triandra._ Still no fauna.








This picture was taken at the same time. When I planted the elatine triandra, I took Uglygenius' advice and leveled the substrate.

*June 25, 2009*








I took this picture just after moving this tank into another room. I also swapped light fixtures from the 27W desk lamp to a 27W Archea fixture. The foreground had only been trimmed once up until the point when this photo was taken. I hadn't been running any CO2 for some time because I didn't have a refill for my ADA Advanced Kit. 
*
July 15, 2009*








This is the best FTS I could get tonight. 









Close-up. Notice I have CO2 running again! I'm now using a pressurized paintball system. Currently inhabitants include 8 shrimp, 2 ottos, and 2 cory hasborus. You can't even spot them in these pictures, but they're there. I'm on an 'every-other-week-if-I-remember-or-don't-fall-asleep-too-soon-after-getting-home-from-work' water change schedule. I do manage to trim the foreground more ofter than I change the water. I'm not too sure what the ID of the long, stem plant that grows in the center of the tank is. If anyone knows, please let me know.

That's all for now.....


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## Outlawboss (Dec 30, 2008)

Sweet take dude! That driftwood jutting out from the top is really cool.


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## mgdmirage (Mar 30, 2009)

Very unique and it looks great! what type of shrimp you have in there?


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## kcirtappatrick (Mar 16, 2009)

Wow your tank looks nice. I love how you changed the layout of your wood and the addition of the anubis nanapetite. Your elatine triandra is a great foreground change. I can't wait to see how this tank comes along!


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## hyphination (Sep 25, 2008)

Cool tank dude. Nice growth! really digging your foreground.


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## Reginald2 (Mar 10, 2009)

Looks good. I have to admit the June 25 picture was my favorite. How long was that ADA advanced kit lasting?


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## kcirtappatrick (Mar 16, 2009)

I have my ADA advanced kit on a 2bps for about 8 hours a day and it seems to last me about a month or so.


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## Ugly Genius (Sep 27, 2003)

The minor tweaks you've made have really made a difference, cint. Tank looks awesome! Love the swoop of the right-hand driftwood piece. It adds a natural "river bank" feel that is only going to get better as the Bolbitis grows in.
The fact that you leveled the substrate really helped the overall flow of the tank, in my opinion. The tank now has a view-from-any-angle vibe that really suits cube tanks well.

I think you knocked it out of the park with this one. I studied the pictures to try to find a flaw so as to give some constructive criticism, but I can't really find one. Maybe the addition of a tiny hint of bronze to the front-left of the left-hand piece of DW or a red stem growing amongst the green in the center, but that's me trying _really_ hard to find a flaw.

I think you've just established yourself as a force to be reckoned with on TPT.


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## cintamas (Feb 17, 2009)

Thanks for the kind words everyone. This tank has been a joy to work with these past few months. I am really comfortable with it's size and shape at this point and am still looking for ways to enhance the layout. I just bought a 2x3" patch of MP and am brainstorming ways to encorporate it now. When it comes to diversifying the colors, I'm real nervous about selecting the right plants. 

I would love a splash of red, but it would need to be something small. Any ideas?

Strangely, I rarely have to clean the glass of algae in this tank like I seem to have to do weekly in my others. I am noticing a lot of green stringy/hair algae that loves it some driftwood. For this I've added an Amano shrimp. The 8 RCS seem to be picky eaters and aren't making a dent in it.


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## cintamas (Feb 17, 2009)

Re-scape alert!


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## hyphination (Sep 25, 2008)

Pics?!


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## kcirtappatrick (Mar 16, 2009)

can't wait to see the new scape!


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## H82LOS3 (Mar 5, 2009)

Thats a kewl looking driftwood!
Love the tank


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## cintamas (Feb 17, 2009)

Note to Self:


Bolbitis is too large of a plant for this tank

SE Asian drift wood leaks tannins into the water for far too long

Pygmy cories are excellent at hiding under the leaves of e. triandra, be careful not to suck them up when doing water changes!

The eheim ecco is great for this tank!

Try again....

A few of my key learnings. The hardscape I went with the first time around posed MANY problems for the ongoing maintenance of this tank. I found that no matter what tool I used, I could never keep the foreground tame. Watching me do trimmings on this tank was like watching a circus performer. On the chair, off the chair, side-ways, tippy-toe, bend down, look reeeeeeeally closely, step back, on the chair, TWIST. We'll have to see what happens next around.....

I'll update as soon as I'm able to. Thanks for your interest guys!


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## SearunSimpson (Jun 5, 2007)

What is that carpet plant you have going on in there? I love it!


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## cintamas (Feb 17, 2009)

SearunSimpson said:


> What is that carpet plant you have going on in there? I love it!


It's called elatine triandra. It makes a great foreground and has been relatively simple to grow so far.


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## cintamas (Feb 17, 2009)

New layout was completed today. The e. Triandra had to be pulled because it grew to a frightening height and began looking more like a mid ground option rather than a carpet. I think the 27W lamp wasn't strong enough to help keep it low-growing. I decided to use lilaeopsis sp. Instead. All DW has been removed. A few stem plants were added. Pics soon to come.


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## zerojoe0917 (Apr 29, 2009)

well i think 27watt should be enough, how close did you put between the light and the tank?


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## cintamas (Feb 17, 2009)

It's been around 6" from the surface because of the heat. Normally 4" would suffice on a tank of these dimensions, for me anyway. Once the summer is over I may end up lowering it back to 4". We'll see...


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## hyphination (Sep 25, 2008)

pics of new layout?


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## cintamas (Feb 17, 2009)

Sorry it's taken so long to get some picture updates. I've been putting plants into this tank slowly, little by little. I think I have everything in there now. Enjoy!









FTS









From a distance, notice the RCS taking the stage for this shot.









Closeup! Can you spot the amano shrimp?

I know the rocks seem to be sloppily placed. I believe that after I achieve my targeted growth, the rock placement will make more sense.


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## trigun808 (May 18, 2008)

haha i like it and i do believe you on the rock. i can picture it and it will look great!


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## kcirtappatrick (Mar 16, 2009)

i like it! i can't wait till those plants grow in.

how are your other tanks doing?


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## hyphination (Sep 25, 2008)

looking good! what plants do you have in there?


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## trigun808 (May 18, 2008)

looks to me like blyxa, HM, and some liliopsis?
gotta give that liliopsis some time, if i remember its not a very fast grower


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## cintamas (Feb 17, 2009)

trigun808 said:


> gotta give that liliopsis some time, if i remember its not a very fast grower


I've heard the some thing about it being a slow grower. We'll see what happens here.


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## ADA (Dec 31, 2010)

Just noticed both of your sig threads have gone dark since 2009.. anything new?


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