# 0.9g Cubus (tank #3 ... MTS settles in)



## theDeanorama (Nov 6, 2010)

My wife picked me up one of the little cubus 6"x6"x6" tanks for xmas (yay) as I wanted a little shrimp tank on my side table. I have a little elite filter for it which if this really keeps me happy may end up getting some diy 1/4" acrylic lily-ish replacements hooked into a Toms Canister. Heat will be from a Hydor mini heater under the sand. Substrate will be Flourite Black Sand.

I love the size, but the ball was really dropped for lighting although I'm sure that it wasn't designed with live plants in mind, more like a torture device for poor unsuspecting bettas.










I have the little piece of foam media in my 12gallon tank sitting on top of the rest of the foam, hopefully seeding itself. I have one of the little hydor heaters that I'll put on the bottom under the sand. The only thing I'm going to change on this tank is the lighting. I don't think there is much of anything that would grow under that light. I'm thinking something along the lines of this crappy tire task light to improve on things. If I could locally source the ones I see like this that are simpler and plug into a USB port, I'll jump all over it. Some poking around tomorrow around town is going to be my 1st thing on my list of things to do.

In the meantime I stopped it at a Bonsai Tree dealer and dug through some of the rock she had and came up with some nice options. A few of these coupled with some nice low tech plants and I think I'll have myself a nice little tank:


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## kcharm (Apr 1, 2007)

I love my cub us! Best looking tank I have ever set up. I have a 13 watt cfl daylight bulb in home depot work light fixture above it. Black fluorite, black background, and a tom's filter on it. A marina heater and diy jello co2.

Tell me more about how you would add your canister filter. I'm curious about the 1/4 inch Lilly pipe idea.


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## theDeanorama (Nov 6, 2010)

kcharm said:


> I love my cub us! Best looking tank I have ever set up. I have a 13 watt cfl daylight bulb in home depot work light fixture above it. Black fluorite, black background, and a tom's filter on it. A marina heater and diy jello co2.
> 
> Tell me more about how you would add your canister filter. I'm curious about the 1/4 inch Lilly pipe idea.


I would just use reducers, but in retrospect I may have to go 3/8 vs 1/4, hard to say until I try. There are plenty of threads around about DIY acrylic tubing (I think I even posted a pic of my lily blown attempt for my 15 gallon. I've been playing around with 5/8 and getting half decent results so downscaling shouldn't be an issue.

I think I'm resigned to getting a gooseneck lamp with a CFL screwed into it. How high are you placing the light above the tank and for how long? I wont be using any CO2 in this tank ... at least thats the plan for now. I will just dose excel daily.


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## kcharm (Apr 1, 2007)

It's about 6 inches above the tank. For some reason I really like the fixture above this tank. I have the same fixture above my fluval flora with a 26 watt bulb and I don't like it there.

I'll do search for acrylic lily pipes, thanks!


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## theDeanorama (Nov 6, 2010)

I found a clip on 9 watt at the same store my wife sourced the tank. Looking at the box its from china and definately not a name brand. Closest thing I could find on the box was a website address, after going there and digging around I found it ... sort of, the clip is a little different but the rest of the light is the same. I have no idea what the colour temperature is, but I'll probably go online and try and order a 6000-6700k for it, I can tell that its outside that temp for sure, it has a bit of a green hue to it.

You can also see in the pics I'm playing with stone layouts. I may have to break up some of these stones as some are still a bit big. I already cut one of the rocks to get the larger peice in the back, I like that one, but all the others fill the tank quickly when used. I would like to try terracing with the one in front but it may be a bit big. I'll be able to tell more once I get some sand in there ... most likely in a slow going from the lower right to wards the back left to allow enough clearance for the filter. 

The plan as it stands is anubias petite nana along the terracing behind the curved stone before the stone "mountain" (I'll call this midground). Unsure what I'll put behind the mountain or as a foreground plant. If anyone has any suggestions for the background that would survive lowish light and dosing only please feel free to chime in.

Forground will be either dwarf hairgrass or UG (if I can source the UG, I know I can get the DHG), I dont think HC would survive with the lower light and no CO2 being bubbled in.

*Light out to show the full fixture as attached:*









*Light on:*


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## MeanGreenEyes (Sep 24, 2010)

That is so cute...it's going to be beautiful w/ shrimp...and I love anubias...that's my main plant in my 2.5...you should journal this!


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## theDeanorama (Nov 6, 2010)

Correction to my last post: The light fixture I posted about is the* 5watt *not the 9watt I incorrectly listed it as.




MeanGreenEyes said:


> That is so cute...it's going to be beautiful w/ shrimp...and I love anubias...that's my main plant in my 2.5...you should journal this!


Thanks  unless I'm doing it in the wrong place I was just going to journal it right here in this post.


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## MeanGreenEyes (Sep 24, 2010)

Lol...idk where the "right" place is...but I'm subscribed...I'm falling in love with nano's and out of all of my tanks...my 2.5 is my fav and it's on my nightstand...I threw my RCS in w/ my CRS into my 30G (my second fav tank) and my 20G high is next to that...can't wait to see this progress! Good luck!


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## theDeanorama (Nov 6, 2010)

Today saw the application of the same frosted glass film I applied to the 15g I'm putting together. I also spent an hour over the sink rinsing sand for the tank .. this one. I am SOOOOO not looking forward to rinsing enough of this sand for the 15g!

This is my 1st layout attempt, the bottom rock may have to go for some smaller ones. I'm not sold on the appearance.


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## theDeanorama (Nov 6, 2010)

round 2 in the scaping.

I added more sand up front and did a more pronounced terracing in the mid. This is a little closer to what I was looking for I think. The terrace sits about an inch higher than the foreground now with a more defined border (unburied the curved terracing rock and just set it on top).

Here is a question for those of you who have gone to picos, should I pop in a couple of root tabs, not knowing exactly what I'm going to plant yet other than anubias nana? I was thinking 1 in each range (fore/mid and back) or would this be overkill?

*Left Side*









*Right Side*









*Front*









*Top*


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## x_stephanie_x (Aug 5, 2010)

Its coming along great


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## amphirion (Nov 13, 2008)

i wouldnt put any type of slow dispense ferts into the soil unless i have enough plant mass to absorb it readily. the problem with pico tanks is that if they are too small, that's asking for trouble since values: water level, temps, nitrates, pH, CO2, whatever---will be quick to shift perimeters within hours if not maintained properly. in the case with the ferts, you'd be asking for a very long and hard visit with mr. algae. 

what type of slow release tablets are they? can they be broken into smaller pieces? that way you can have small fertilizer tablets in all three sections and not experience too much eutrophication. 

dwarf hairgrass will do well in the back/mid, but you're going to need some sort of barrier to prevent it from growing all over the tank. HC and UG are good foreground candidates. where will the anubias be placed?


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## theDeanorama (Nov 6, 2010)

amphirion said:


> i wouldnt put any type of slow dispense ferts into the soil unless i have enough plant mass to absorb it readily. the problem with pico tanks is that if they are too small, that's asking for trouble since values: water level, temps, nitrates, pH, CO2, whatever---will be quick to shift perimeters within hours if not maintained properly. in the case with the ferts, you'd be asking for a very long and hard visit with mr. algae.
> 
> what type of slow release tablets are they? can they be broken into smaller pieces? that way you can have small fertilizer tablets in all three sections and not experience too much eutrophication.
> 
> dwarf hairgrass will do well in the back/mid, but you're going to need some sort of barrier to prevent it from growing all over the tank. HC and UG are good foreground candidates. where will the anubias be placed?


I have seachem tabs for my 12g. After mulling it over last night I was thinking of slicing one or two up and distributing quarted up slices in the foreground and up the sides into the back corner.

Right now my plan is the Anubias on the terrace, DHG in the fore/sides up towards the 'mountain' and then something that grows a little taller about 1/2 way up the hill just past the terrace that will grow up behind the rock.

I don't mind chasing down DHG as it spreads, this is going to be a really easy tank to ride reign over when it comes to pruning/cleaning. If it encrouches on the Anubias I will decide if I like it or not and clean as needed. I was looking at all the usual candidates for foreground plants and for this scale, something I can mow low like a lawn is probably going to be the best, otherwise the scale will get tossed around. Glosso I don't think will cut it, stems are too tall for my taste. UG looks good on paper but I dont know if I can source it locally. I have a tank full of flourishing HC right now, but its a high tech tank ... I don't know how it will survive in low tech.

For the area leading up to and behind the 'mountain' I would love something like blyxa japonica but I think it would grow too tall. Hygrophila difformis looks like it may be alright but I dont think there is enough room to allow the leaves to fully expand based on where I want to put it. I dont mind trimming stems down to height, but width is a consideration on this pico as well .... so many plants .... so little available to me :icon_eek:


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## theDeanorama (Nov 6, 2010)

TIAD! (today is acronym day)

I stopped off at the LFS on my way home today to buy some DHG, they had nice pads of roughly 4" x 5". Its now in my QT with my ANP. 

This tank has turned into a staging/holding ground, as you can see, for a few different plants. I have some ebay star moss thats kinda sorta growing (not really sure I'll ever see anything positive out of those pads. I also have some (what I think is) christmas moss also on a pad trying to grow bigger, its staying green but not really expanding. There is also a bit of floating moss here and there as I hope it grows out ... but if it is, its immeasurable.

So as it stands, I have enough of a DHG pad to do the all the planting in this pico I want I think, and more than enough ANP .... now I just have to decide what I want to put in the back corner.

Sorry for the bad pics but I kicked up a lot of dust while moving things around (will teach me to not rinse this Flora Base before putting into a tank).

*DWF* _(Dwarf Hairgrass)_









*ANP* _(Anubias Nana Petite)_









*QT* _(Quarantine Tank)_


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## houseofcards (Mar 21, 2009)

I picked up one of these a few weeks ago when I was buying dog food. Figured it would look good on my desk at work. I'm going with a minimalist approach. No filter, just sand and a few rocks with some moss. I'm even using the ridiculously dim light that came with it. On your scape I would break the rock in the foreground and go with a three rock layout.


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## theDeanorama (Nov 6, 2010)

houseofcards said:


> I picked up one of these a few weeks ago when I was buying dog food. Figured it would look good on my desk at work. I'm going with a minimalist approach. No filter, just sand and a few rocks with some moss. I'm even using the ridiculously dim light that came with it. On your scape I would break the rock in the foreground and go with a three rock layout.


I considered it, but there is already a long horizontal hairline crack that goes for about a 3rd of the rock. If I try to break it up I'm afraid I'll end up with 4 pieces as This rock is soft enough that I managed to cut one piece of it in half with a cheap hobby sized hacksaw (the mountain is a result of this cut). 

Before I plant I may check out the bonsai store again for some smaller pieces that would still allow me to terrace. If I could get away with 3 tiny peaked pieces as the terracing wall, I would be that much happier I think.


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## theDeanorama (Nov 6, 2010)

Well, instead of planting the tank today, I decided to redo the terrace (again). I went back and picked up some smaller okho stones (read tiny) and reterraced. I don't think this conforms in any way to "Iwagumi" though but it does look a little more interesting.

Version 3:

*Front:*









*Left:*









*Right:*


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## Morainy (Feb 8, 2010)

I hope that you post your pics once you've filled it and planted it, Deanorama! I am looking forward to seeing new pics!


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

that may not be classic iwagumi, but it will still look hella nice with HC and dwarf hair.


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## MeanGreenEyes (Sep 24, 2010)

Newman said:


> that may not be classic iwagumi, but it will still look hella nice with HC and dwarf hair.


EXACTLY...lol...who says you always have to follow the rules anyway? Maybe I'm just a rebel...but I can't wait to see this filled in! :biggrin:


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

this has the potential to be an extremely interesting scape, i say go for it *nods*


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## theDeanorama (Nov 6, 2010)

The hairgrass and anubias nana will be in Saturday. I'm not sure if HC will flourish in this tank. I'll try with just these 2 at 1st, as it is I'm a little concerned about the hairgrass.


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

i dont see how anubias would work here... surprise us lol.


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## theDeanorama (Nov 6, 2010)

*[Day 0]* pt.1

Forgive this 1st part as it was all taken with my iphone. Planting dwarf hairgrass can only be likened to inserting hairplugs:

Here are the 1st few plugs going in:









This took a lot longer than I expected. It was about 90 mins to separate and then insert the grass:









From the top, you can see where I'm going to stick my anubias:









And here it is with my 1st length of anubias I tried out (eventually changed it to a different length):


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## theDeanorama (Nov 6, 2010)

*[Day 0]* pt.2

Once the planting was over, I wanted a slow way to introduce the water in such a way as to not make a mess of things, using the tank's lid that has a hole already in it with a single coffee filter holder right over top of the big peice of rock allowed water to trickle in slowing then disperse gently over the stone:









There was a few dusty particles that sat on the surface of the water along with a few bits of dead grass, this was taken care of by hand and when the filter was installed and ran (left side):









Centered shot, as you can see here, the anubias still allows the stone to be seen and acts as the centerpeice plant (probably the 1st time an Anubias Petite Nana could claim that!):









Right side, my viewing angle when seated is somewhere in between the one above and this one this foremost corner is a little swept away now, the tiny elite filter I'm using is still too much for this tank. I think I will use the pump from this and create a tiny cannister filter when I have some time. 

This is still not the length of APN that I used, I will post a shot of this shortly that also shows the filter. I'll try and take the shot from my exact viewing angle. The other peice I tried sits a little smaller and tighter.:


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## theDeanorama (Nov 6, 2010)

*[Day 0]* pt.3

This is the final incarnation of the tank, filter installed and running now for a few hours and the smaller/tighter Anubias in place. You can see in the front corner where the current that was generated pushed a bit of the sand around. I have turned the jet upside down on the filter which helps a bit and I also added some floss at both intakes of the bottom peice as well as the stock peice of foam in hopes of slowing down the flow but its STILL too much for this tiny tank (see the surface of the tank at the foremost corner). The little pump on this I think will push water well enough to design a tiny cannister filter. I have it cut off as much as it can be with the little cutoff valve so I think it is very achievable.

Taken from a very close approximation of my viewing angle when seated near it:


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

well this could look interesting. i was thinking more of HC on that ledge where the anubias is and also where you put hairgrass in front, and hairgrass shoulda been in the background...


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## theDeanorama (Nov 6, 2010)

Newman said:


> well this could look interesting. i was thinking more of HC on that ledge where the anubias is and also where you put hairgrass in front, and hairgrass shoulda been in the background...


Well, if the hairgrass grows at all I think it will be slowly. I will be pruning it low in the front, allowing it go longer the farther back into the tank it goes. If this grows better than I expect, I can always pull up from the front center and try HC. The nice thing about a little tank like this, its VERY easy to rescape!  I will try to maintain the height the grass is currently at in the front corner of the tank that is demonstrated in the photo. If it gets taller than the little rocks up front it will be trimmed down.


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## theDeanorama (Nov 6, 2010)

*[day 2]*

Quicky update:

Despite initial reservations with using the hydor mini heater pad, my tank's temp is maintaining a consistent 80 degrees. What I didn't expect was the level of evaporation I'm getting. I'm loosing about 1/8 of an inch of water a day, not a lot of water considering how little volume is here to begin with but very noticeable at less than a gallon. At this rate, water changes will not be overly necessary - especially since I have no fauna.


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

remember the concept of topping off with RO water. if you top off with tap water (especially if your tap is very hard) all youre doing is constantly adding salts and minerals to the tank and allowing them to build up if you dont do WCs. topping off with RO water prevents that sort of change in water chemistry. Salts and minerals dont evaporate with the water....you could wind up with mad high levels of GH, KH, and pH eventually.


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## theDeanorama (Nov 6, 2010)

Newman said:


> remember the concept of topping off with RO water. if you top off with tap water (especially if your tap is very hard) all youre doing is constantly adding salts and minerals to the tank and allowing them to build up if you dont do WCs. topping off with RO water prevents that sort of change in water chemistry. Salts and minerals dont evaporate with the water....you could wind up with mad high levels of GH, KH, and pH eventually.


The water in my neighbourhood is very very soft. ph5 and a gh of about 4 degrees. Should things start to get high, I could always do a 100% water change ... at least up to the point before I add anything living into the tank (if that happens). Nice thing about a tank this small, a big water change is just a turkey baster away 

Should I ever add anything living into the tank it would probably just be a snail or 2, in which case I'll have to really monitor the water parameters. I think this tank is even too small for shrimp, the shrimp in my bigger tank like to swim around a bit.


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