# ADA Cube Garden 45-F Iwagumi (NEW PHOTOS ADDED! 5/21)



## neueklare_ein (Jan 25, 2012)

Size:
45x24x16cm; around 4.6 gallon

Plants:
Rotala Nanjenshan
Rotala Singapore
Dwarf Baby Tears (HC)
Dwarf Hair Grass
One unknown plant on the left middle ground Between the two stones on the left. (ID)

Inhabitants:
5 Oto. Cat (I know that's a lot for a 4.6 gallon but don't blame me because I figure that they do much much better in a group of three or above, especially when there are "horrible" looking (to them) inhabitants like shrimps. My water passes all kinds of water test but they were still so stressed that they suffered form inch when there were only two of them. They are the most gentle and timid fish I have ever seen)
9 Taiwan Red Fire Shrimps
9 Amano Shrimps
A bunch of Malaysian Trumpet Snails.

Substrate:
ADA Amazonia 

*CO2 when the light is on.
*Archaea 36W power compact light fixture (clamp on type)
*25W Marina Internal Heater
*Seiryu stones.

Let me know what you guys think!


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## Nocturnal (Jan 25, 2012)

Very nice!


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## Studman0143 (Mar 20, 2011)

Wow, very cool. The left side looks pretty much grown out. Have fun with all the trimmings.


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## neueklare_ein (Jan 25, 2012)

Hmm...My friend and I just planted those things on the left. Should I spread them out a bit?


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## green_valley (Sep 14, 2011)

You did well. You did good with the picture it really makes me think it's a big tank. But I was wrong, it's actually not even 5 gallon. 

If there is any critique, I think the rocks seem to be over powering. I would personally go with a little smaller ones. But your placements are excellent.


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## neueklare_ein (Jan 25, 2012)

Thanks for your comments! Actually, I am surprised of how it looks like in photos too...I am still constantly fooled by the photos. My friend and I believe that scaping small tanks are even more challenging (but of coz the main reason is that we don't have enough space...:icon_frow)!

The stones...I thought of breaking them up with force but they are so gorgeous that I stopped myself from doing that. But you are right, they seem a bit disproportionate. 



green_valley said:


> You did well. You did good with the picture it really makes me think it's a big tank. But I was wrong, it's actually not even 5 gallon.
> 
> If there is any critique, I think the rocks seem to be over powering. I would personally go with a little smaller ones. But your placements are excellent.


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## neueklare_ein (Jan 25, 2012)

Now we will have to think of what fish to add.

As I have said, it's just a 4.8 gallon tank. I need some really really small fish. Good schooler, of course.

Rule out Neon, Cardinal, Ember.

Green Neon Tetra? They seem a bit too big.

Chili Rosbora...they are the really small ones, right? But they look really shy to me.


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## ktownhero (Mar 21, 2011)

neueklare_ein said:


> The stones...I thought of breaking them up with force but they are so gorgeous that I stopped myself from doing that. But you are right, they seem a bit disproportionate.


I don't feel like the rocks are disproportionate at all. Their size really makes for an epic-feeling landscape, and I think you'd be crazy to change them. If had you told me that was a 40 gallon tank, I'd have believed you. You did a great job!


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## neueklare_ein (Jan 25, 2012)

Thank you so much for your comment! Does anyone think that the rotala on the left looks overgrown? And is there any suggestion of what tiny fish to add?



ktownhero said:


> I don't feel like the rocks are disproportionate at all. Their size really makes for an epic-feeling landscape, and I think you'd be crazy to change them. If had you told me that was a 40 gallon tank, I'd have believed you. You did a great job!


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## simply amazing (Aug 2, 2011)

wow thats amazing! i'm about to start on a lid-less fluval edge and i wish mine can come out nearly half as good as that. awesome job on the scape!!

ever think about painting the back of the tank?


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## green_valley (Sep 14, 2011)

As for fish, I would go with Galaxy Rasboras. Research them on youtube or google. I love them. Very tiny and very cute.


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## neueklare_ein (Jan 25, 2012)

I am kinda interested in green neon tetra. Is it good for the tiny tank? Are they small enough? Do they school well?


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## Elliot (Oct 3, 2010)

Green neons do school well, but I'm not sure about them being small enough for you tank. CPDs are the only thing that I know of that would fit in your tank, but they don't school well (if at all)


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## neueklare_ein (Jan 25, 2012)

I would rather have some bigger schooling fish then smaller non-schooling fish.

Is this kind of light going to give rise to green water though? How many hours of light should I have?


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## green_valley (Sep 14, 2011)

neueklare_ein said:


> I would rather have some bigger schooling fish then smaller non-schooling fish.


In my experience (as I have them now), they're pretty much tight together.


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## CPD (Feb 7, 2012)

Don't change a thing!!! Tank looks unreal. I'd go with some celestial pearl danios IMO. A group of five would suffice in a 4.8g.


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## neueklare_ein (Jan 25, 2012)

I am sorry but which fish are you referring to?



green_valley said:


> In my experience (as I have them now), they're pretty much tight together.


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## green_valley (Sep 14, 2011)

neueklare_ein said:


> I am sorry but which fish are you referring to?


CPD or Galaxy Rasboras. Btw, if your schooling fish is too big, they won't be schooling much in smaller tanks.


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## green_valley (Sep 14, 2011)

Oh also, I noticed that you do have shrimps. In my experience with all tetras that I had, they would nip, even eat my shrimps. Don't be fooled by the size, they're basically small pirana .......hahahah


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## neueklare_ein (Jan 25, 2012)

What do you mean? What makes the tank looks unreal?



CPD said:


> Don't change a thing!!! Tank looks unreal. I'd go with some celestial pearl danios IMO. A group of five would suffice in a 4.8g.


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## Nocturnal (Jan 25, 2012)

neueklare_ein said:


> What do you mean? What makes the tank looks unreal?


By "unreal", CPD means it looks great


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## neueklare_ein (Jan 25, 2012)

Hmm...I thought Tetras are quite timid though...But yea, I should look for smaller fish. They do seem too large for my tiny tank.



green_valley said:


> Oh also, I noticed that you do have shrimps. In my experience with all tetras that I had, they would nip, even eat my shrimps. Don't be fooled by the size, they're basically small pirana .......hahahah


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## neueklare_ein (Jan 25, 2012)

Haha!!! Like I asked a stupid question eh?



Nocturnal said:


> By "unreal", CPD means it looks great


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## CPD (Feb 7, 2012)

Haha sorry that's the 19 year old lingo


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## neueklare_ein (Jan 25, 2012)

Strangely enough...I don't get much comments on how the tank looks like, what I can change and stuff like that...


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## wiredconcepts (Dec 4, 2011)

Look into a trio of clown killifish. I keep them with my yellow neo shrimp and they don't even eat the very small young shrimp. And as a bonus they are really cool little fish.


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## Nocturnal (Jan 25, 2012)

neueklare_ein said:


> Strangely enough...I don't get much comments on how the tank looks like, what I can change and stuff like that...


I think it's great the way it is!


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## neueklare_ein (Jan 25, 2012)

Photos taken two weeks after initial set-up

























































Green Neon Tetras added and I love them!
I also added a lid on it so that I don't have to rescue the Amanos...

Let me know what you think about it!


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## kcartwright856 (Jan 16, 2012)

I really love it!


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## neueklare_ein (Jan 25, 2012)

The main reason why they aren't swimming at a higher level is that the light is too bright...but if it's not bright enough, the dwarf baby tears won't grow.


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## vvDO (Oct 18, 2010)

Nice scape, good choice with green neons, they are a favorite of mine.


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

neueklare_ein said:


> Hmm...My friend and I just planted those things on the left. Should I spread them out a bit?



I might be a bit late to the party lol

Dont spread them out, trim them... and trim them aggressively. 

Take a look at this thread, it will give you some ideas on how to shape and trim the stems. It could lead to an even more impressive tank (to the impressiveness that is already present)

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/aquascaping/57960-pruning-timeline.html


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## Quentin (Mar 16, 2011)

Looks really good. And totally looks like a 20 gallon.


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## johnson18 (Apr 29, 2011)

Awesome scape! Nice work!


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## neueklare_ein (Jan 25, 2012)

I don't quite get what the site's saying...Does anyone have anything to say about trimming? They are growing crazily! 



Noahma said:


> I might be a bit late to the party lol
> 
> Dont spread them out, trim them... and trim them aggressively.
> 
> ...


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

neueklare_ein said:


> I don't quite get what the site's saying...Does anyone have anything to say about trimming? They are growing crazily!


Basically, let them start growing, then trim low, let the side shoots get high, then trim a little higher than the last trim, let the side shoots get higher, then trim again. the more you trim with most stems, the bushier they get. if you trim them in say a mound shape, the new growth will follow that shape. ect.


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## neueklare_ein (Jan 25, 2012)

As you might have already found out, there is dwarf baby tears on the right hand side of the tank. They seem to be growing but kinda slowly...How long do I have to wait until they finally form a nice carpet?


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## neueklare_ein (Jan 25, 2012)

It's sometimes disappointing, when people do not know how to appreciate art works. To some, it's just a fish tank with some stones and plants. They know nothing about composition of the stones and plants, choice of stones, plants and fish. They don't know how important imagination is in art: they can get why a few pieces of stones symbolize an epic landscape. 

Well, it's definitely not a masterpiece; it can only be loosely classified as a piece of art (because of the little effort and time spent on placing the stones in a less casual way); I am an ameteur but it's not a fish tank with a few pieces of stones.


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## kamikazi (Sep 3, 2010)

nice job! looks like a much bigger tank.


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## neueklare_ein (Jan 25, 2012)

I would love to stick with iwagumi style. To me, it doesn't look like it now. I kinda think that the problem is the bush on the left. It kinda attract our attention away from the stones.

I want to replace the bush with dwarf hair grass so that viewers can focus more on the placement of the stones. What do you guys think?


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## Elliot (Oct 3, 2010)

I think that would be fine. Anything that won't grow to bush and full would be ideal. I think that the bushiness of the stems on the left is what is dragging your eye away from the stones


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## neueklare_ein (Jan 25, 2012)

Does anyone know how i am supposed to deal with the background of the tank? Someone paints it but I don't think that it's going to look good coz I can't paint professionally.

What color should I use? Where can I get that?


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## vincenz (Jan 29, 2012)

Nice, looks bigger than it actually is. If it were me though, I would've picked slightly smaller rocks to exaggerate the scale even more. Plus I'd use a little less substrate; you need all the real estate you can get and you don't have any heavy stem plants that need that much, technically.


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## neueklare_ein (Jan 25, 2012)

New Photos with the bush removed.
And now I should really wait...there were too much constructions in the past month...


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## jamesyu (Feb 13, 2012)

great aquarium setup =) nice work on the scape as well!


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## neueklare_ein (Jan 25, 2012)

Just an update.
All the little creatures are doing quite well.
Algae problem solved by just lifting the lamp a little bit higher above the tank.
Hair algae attacks DHG, a common experience to all those who have DHG.

Hmm...still haven't got the desired lush HC carpet...wondering why...

It looks to me like the tank is actually self-sustainable: did a little experiment by not feeding any of them for five days. Found that the fish fed on the bugs that were there naturally, shrimps and otos feeding on algae (the otos always have round bellies). 

They weren't even that interested in the fish/shrimp food and algae wafers afterwards.

I am pretty happy about the result! :red_mouth


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## cradleoffilthfan (Jan 19, 2009)

coral red pencilfish? Those are awesome.


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## neueklare_ein (Jan 25, 2012)

hmm...are you talking about the Taiwan Reds? 



cradleoffilthfan said:


> coral red pencilfish? Those are awesome.


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## markusdowny (Mar 8, 2012)

That looks nice!


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## neueklare_ein (Jan 25, 2012)

Just a little update:
Did a partial rescape; Added a little piece of stone on the right and replaced the huge piece on left corner of the tank with a much smaller stone.
What do you guys think about the changes?

And...umm...does my HC carpet looks fine? I feel like it can be more "lush"...I have CO2 running (of coz) and I dose Excel regularly. There are also some root tabs. Should I add any other supplement for better outcomes?


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## Aqua'd (Dec 20, 2009)

I would try dosing Potassium and Micros - Worked great for me in my 60-p when I was growing a dense HC carpet. The aquasoil seemed to take care of Nitrogen and Phosphorus, but I think long term you need to supplement with NPK + Micros anyway.


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## neueklare_ein (Jan 25, 2012)

Hmm...thanks for your advice! I will get some potassium soon. That's always insufficient, right?



Aqua'd said:


> I would try dosing Potassium and Micros - Worked great for me in my 60-p when I was growing a dense HC carpet. The aquasoil seemed to take care of Nitrogen and Phosphorus, but I think long term you need to supplement with NPK + Micros anyway.


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## bigd603 (May 10, 2011)

Love the hardscape, the rocks look great!


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## neueklare_ein (Jan 25, 2012)

Thanks! God knows how much time I spent on choosing them at my LFS...It took me over an hour...! If I could spend more money on those stones I would have bough a bunch of them home. But I just couldn't...those are Seiryu stones--we all know how awfully expensive they are==

They look lovely though!



bigd603 said:


> Love the hardscape, the rocks look great!


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## Mr. Fish (Apr 24, 2012)

How is that a 4.8 gallon tank? lol

Looks way larger


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## neueklare_ein (Jan 25, 2012)

I take that as a compliment! XDD

It really is...look at how big my green neon tetras are in this tank!



Mr. Fish said:


> How is that a 4.8 gallon tank? lol
> 
> Looks way larger


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## neueklare_ein (Jan 25, 2012)

These are photos taken before I leave for my long trip. I will transport the whole tank to my friend's house and have in look after everything for a little bit more than two months. He is really experienced in keeping fish (any kind of fish) but not quite in aquascaping...anywayz, just keep fingers crossed.

I always lack the skills of taking nice pictures of my tank. It might look like I am bragging but the tank actually looks really nice. In photos, though, it looks like a mess...

I don't know if anyone of you notice that or not but after sticking with just two plants, HC and DHG, for around four months (am I right?), I added glosso and some staurogyne r....I plan on adding micro sword at the back too.





























Photos taken right after the last trimming session before I leave...the DHG will not be trimmed in quite a while.



















I really hope that everything survives.
I have never had any major algae problem (touch wood), neither have I ever had any major die offs of livestock. 

Wish all my fish, shrimps, and plants good luck. I will see them soon!


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## neueklare_ein (Jan 25, 2012)

They have already left my house...I really miss them. I thought I hear that noise made by the filters...I will see them again in August...


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## Mr. Fish (Apr 24, 2012)

Very stunning stunning tank! Really love the rock placement. Are you sure this is a 4.8 gallon tank? lol

I dont know maybe its just me, but I would fill the hc all through the front and bit on the right side.. then towards the back i'd place the DHG.. would look a bit more natural then combining and mixing towards the front


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## neueklare_ein (Jan 25, 2012)

Thanks for your compliments and comments! 

I doubt if having one plant at the back and the other in front is really a NATURAL placement. It is, however, a conventional Iwagumi placement.
My idea, though, is to have the DHG growing out from around the rocks because they are plants that are less demanding (less light, easier to grow etc.). HC, on the other hand, needs more space, light etc.. That is what I would call natural! 

It's just my second scape...So any kind of comments are very much welcome!



Mr. Fish said:


> Very stunning stunning tank! Really love the rock placement. Are you sure this is a 4.8 gallon tank? lol
> 
> I dont know maybe its just me, but I would fill the hc all through the front and bit on the right side.. then towards the back i'd place the DHG.. would look a bit more natural then combining and mixing towards the front


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