# New Mr. Aqua 7.5G



## Crackjar (Jul 11, 2014)

:bounce: Well, i'm new here, long time Reefer with a soft spot for planted nano tanks, mostly cubes...Anywho, I was thinking about setting up a Cube for a mini-display in my living room, I'm currently redesigning and setting up a 60 Gallon Cube Reef and soon after a 120 Gallon Reef, so I wanted something to fill in some space for a bit :icon_mrgr, I took the plunge and bought this Cube, this will also be a Tank Journal following the progress of this little beauty. I don't have the best hand for aquascaping, so any advice for my aquascape and plants would be greatly appreciated. This will be pic heavy as soon as i can post pics, Happy Planting!

Equipment:

Mr. Aqua 7.5 Gallon Rimless Cube
AquaClear AC 20 w/ inTank Media Basket and Chemi-Pure Elite
WavePoint 6" Daylight Sun LED (8x1W) w/ R2 Solutions Moonlight and Timer
Cobalt Aquatics Neo-Therm 50W Heater
Flourite Planted Brown Gravel/Substrate

Soon:

GreenLeafAquariums.com Atomic Nano CO2 Kit V2 w/ 55mm Atomic Diffuser, Atomic Bubble Counter, and 74mg CO2 Cartridges

Now for some of the fun stuff...So don't ban me for not knowing plant names all that well, right now my plan for plants is: 

Dwarf Baby Tears to carpet substrate
2 Indian Red Swords
1 Rotala Magenta
2 Moneywort
1 Hygrophila

I already have the hardscape laid out fairly minimal but i had some trouble finding matching rocks, but i loved the individual look of these 4 and they seemed to go with the substrate well, so we shall see. 

I also plan to stock the tank with:

6 or more Cardinal Tetra, or possibly another type of schooling/shoaling fish?
2 Oto catfish
6 Red Crystal Shrimp


----------



## Crackjar (Jul 11, 2014)

222


----------



## Crackjar (Jul 11, 2014)

333


----------



## Crackjar (Jul 11, 2014)

444


----------



## Crackjar (Jul 11, 2014)

555


----------



## Crackjar (Jul 11, 2014)

Finally got to uploading pics, tank is cycling as of now. gonna check my water params right now and go buy some plants :tongue:


----------



## JellOh (Apr 5, 2013)

I'd steer clear of the Otos and Cardinal Tetras, as They both need much bigger tanks. If you want something to clean algae then a Nerite snail will work much better and will fit in your tank. Some better schooling fish would be Celestial Peral Danios, Chili Rasbora, or some other small, undemanding fish.


----------



## Crackjar (Jul 11, 2014)

Nerite Snail it is then, as for fish, the chili rasbora looks awesome, think a school of say 6 or 8 would be good for this size tank?


----------



## JellOh (Apr 5, 2013)

6-6 Xhili Rasbora would fit perfectly. Here's a good list of nano fish for a 5 gallon aquarium, so you could even fit one or toe more than the recommended amount, as long as the fish isn't something like a betta. 
- 1 Betta Splendens
- 6 Ember Tetras
- 3 Weitzmani Tetras
- 6 Celestial Pearl Danios
- 6 Sundadanio axelrodi
- 3-4 Fancy Guppies
- 3-6 Endlers Livebearers
- 6 Boraras merah
- 6-8 Chili Rasbora
- 6-8 Dwarf Rasbora
- 1-2 Dwarf Pufferfish
- 1-2 Sparkling Gouramis
- 4-6 Indostomus crocodilus


----------



## Crackjar (Jul 11, 2014)

HA! Never thought about the Dwarf Puffers, think i'd be able to do 2 Dwarf Puffers with 6-8 Chili Rasbora? Id like to have more than one species of fish roaming the tank


----------



## JellOh (Apr 5, 2013)

I'm not an expert on puffer fish, but I'm pretty sure they are best in species only tanks, as they are aggressive little things. I know that you can't keep them with shrimp, or there would be a massacre.


----------



## Crackjar (Jul 11, 2014)

got it, well I'm loving the Chili Rasboras and the Sparkling Gouramis, think those 2 species will fit the bill, i was searching and found some of these guys: Aphyosemion loennbergii, however they're from Russia and are rumored to be very expensive, think i saw a thread stating $300 a piece, but then again I'm not sure:confused1:


----------



## MABJ (Mar 30, 2012)

Definitely skip the puffer, and as I understand it, you'd be able to do 1 puffer only in this tank as a species not tank. 

They are super cool though. I think you should consider it. 

Otherwise consider the chillis. 

Also try for a more vertical hardscape. Makes it more interesting


----------



## Crackjar (Jul 11, 2014)

@MABJ, yeah I'm considering trying a new Main Stone, I couldn't get this one to stand up without adding more substrate and thanks to my reefing background, I'm not too fond of using more substrate than say 1"-2", and I agree the Puffer is an awesome idea, I just like movement in the tank, hence the aim for shoaling/schooling fish, but as the tank cycles I may change my mind


----------



## MABJ (Mar 30, 2012)

You may try more interesting stones or just add driftwood. Something isn't quite right yet about this scape. 

I usually line up everything I have available for aquascaping and just pick and pull.


----------



## Crackjar (Jul 11, 2014)

Quick Update:

I haven't re-arranged or done anything with the aquascape as i will be renovating this tank in the near future to a Nano-Reef...However everything seems to be doing well, the 4 Emerald Eye Rasbora, Gold Mystery Snail, and 2 Cherry Shrimp are doing great, My plants seem to be doing well and growing, however some of them are browning/melting but still growing, I am Dosing SeaChem Flourish and API CO2 Booster, using SeaChem Prime for my tap water, and all parameters are showing well pH 7.2, Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 0. 

So just a few questions:

1. How much flow is too much for Emerald Eye Rasbora? I have the AC 20 pushing quite a bit of water and creating nice surface agitation, and a nice little stream on the surface, it's not "blasting the fish", but the fish seem to always want to swim in the discharge against the glass opposing the filter. I have watched them sleep, swim, and explore other areas of the tank, and for some reason they just love being this one spot.

2. My filter has slowed down to a trickle twice over the last 2 weeks, i do weekly water changes of about 15%-20%, with a partial substrate siphon, glass cleaning, and cleaning out the filter sponges in tank water to remove detritus. But for some reason i'm getting a pretty thick film on the surface of the water that builds over a few days, then as stated, the filter will seem to just slow down and clog up, making no surface agitation, and very, VERY little water movement. I know this happens, but i've never seen it happen this fast though. 

3. Whenever the filter begins slowing I take out the intake tube and media basket, fill a spare container with tank water, and then squeeze both the foam filters in the filter, and the pre filter in tank water to remove detritus (container ends up with a good nasty bit of water), then i replace everything, start up the filter, and replace any water. BUT whenever I have done this, I notice the Tank itself develops pretty cloudy water, nothing like my past bacterial bloom, but the water seems almost "milky", and this lasts for about 36-48 Hours after cleaning the sponges of detritus. 

Lights are off as of now, so i'll try and take some pics and load them up tomorrow after work. Cheers Everyone!


----------

