# Marimo Hills - Nano Cube



## sohankpatel (Jul 10, 2015)

I like it! Just make sure you rotate the marmio balls every once in a while, or else they lose their spherical shape.


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## doylecolmdoyle (Sep 22, 2015)

Will do, I did squish some into place not to concerned with them staying round but I dont want them to die so will pull then out to rotate / clean every now and then


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## robinc (Jul 24, 2014)

Really neat looking. The texture and color differences between the rocks and the moss is beautiful. Can't wait to see more pics.


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## doylecolmdoyle (Sep 22, 2015)

Rescaped the tank a bit when I pulled all the balls out to clean / rotate, got a batch of balls from ebay that havent been doing well and are a bit brown, I kept them in the fridge but they dont seems to be getting any better so I have popped them into the main tank to see how they go, everything else seems good, I am liking this low maintenance tank. I am going to get some Snow White Crystal Shrimps tomorrow.


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## Chrisinator (Jun 5, 2008)

Really cool tank!


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## dpod (Sep 16, 2014)

Beautiful tank and great photos, but I wanted to throw it out there that if you ever think about trimming the brown parts off your marimo, be prepared for it to smell like someone just put a swamp in your room. That was a recent mistake of mine.


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## doylecolmdoyle (Sep 22, 2015)

dpod said:


> Beautiful tank and great photos, but I wanted to throw it out there that if you ever think about trimming the brown parts off your marimo, be prepared for it to smell like someone just put a swamp in your room. That was a recent mistake of mine.


haha yes the few marimo's that are brown really smelt bad when they arrived in the post, I cleaned them regularly and kept them in the fridge they no longer really smell bad so perhaps are recovering, I hope they dont somehow infect the healthy marimos, tho I dont think this is possible... tho maybe its best to remove the 3 browning balls (top right)


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## Zoidborg (Jan 29, 2014)

Looks great reminds me of the sound of music 

Subbed


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## doylecolmdoyle (Sep 22, 2015)

Got a few Snow White Crystal Shrimps today, its nice watching these little guys swim / potter around, need to get some more but they where rather expensive for tiny little critters.


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## mysticalnet (Dec 2, 2007)

Very nice! I have a question, do you have any prior experience with La plata that you're using right now? Is algae easy to attach or grow on it or substrate becomes green? 

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## bk. (Sep 27, 2014)

This tank is awesome.


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## houseofcards (Mar 21, 2009)

That looks really good! I did a Marimo Ball Moss Scape last month in my Mini S.


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## TLE041 (Jan 16, 2010)

Awesome tank. It doesn't get any more low-maintenance than this.

I wouldn't rotate it too much. Your scape will look more natural if the balls were less spherical and more random.


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## doylecolmdoyle (Sep 22, 2015)

Thanks guys, yes its really low maintenance and I enjoy that as my other planted tank takes up a bit of my time.



mysticalnet said:


> Very nice! I have a question, do you have any prior experience with La plata that you're using right now? Is algae easy to attach or grow on it or substrate becomes green?
> 
> Sent from my GT-N7105 using Tapatalk


This is the first time I am used La Plata, so far no algae but the dust from the Amazona soil does settle on the sand making it look dirty

Bump:


houseofcards said:


> That looks really good! I did a Marimo Ball Moss Scape last month in my Mini S.


Thanks  it was actually a photo of your marimo scape on instragram that inspired me, I didnt know it was your tank until just now (stalked your profile) good work!


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## doylecolmdoyle (Sep 22, 2015)

The shrimp seem to be doing ok, they spend a lot of the time under the marimos / rocks as there is a lot of space / caves they can explore and hide in. Hopefully they keep going well!


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Lovely tank! I recently redid a tank and covered pumice stones in marimo but I really like the contrast of the stones and marimos in yours ^^


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## mysticalnet (Dec 2, 2007)

Some of your stones look almost like manten with the blue tinge. Nice.

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## Nordic (Nov 11, 2003)

put some tiny sticks in a few and plant them like little orange trees... MUHAHAHAH


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## al4n (Nov 18, 2008)

How hot does the tank get? The shrimps prefer cooler water.

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## sohankpatel (Jul 10, 2015)

I read that if you put the marmio ball in brackish water, it can help it recover if it is dying


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## doylecolmdoyle (Sep 22, 2015)

So i put a bunch of floating plants (duckweed?) into this tank as it was starting to overgrow my bookshelf tank, the shrimp seem to love it and it blocks out some of the light for the Marimos, check out the video below of a shrimp going for a ride on the root of the floating weed. It was going around and around for ages just nibbling at the root.

https://vimeo.com/151014091

Bump:


al4n said:


> How hot does the tank get? The shrimps prefer cooler water.


Gets up to about 25 degrees celsius, and as low as 18 if the AC is on all day, its been hot in Perth lately, up around 40 degrees celsius, so I run the aircon in my apartment a fair bit to keep my tanks cool



sohankpatel said:


> I read that if you put the marmio ball in brackish water, it can help it recover if it is dying


Yes, I have moved a few that where brown (like that when I recieved them) into a small container, added sea salt and popped them in the fridge as they like cold water, they seem to be doing well.


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## boredincubicle (Aug 8, 2012)

Your floating plants look like frogbit to me. 

I love this scape and use of marimo moss balls. My wife has been itching to have me start up a tank with dawrf/mini species and a ton of marimo moss balls, I might have to come back and use this as inspiration whenever I get that going.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Its frogtbit. Its a nice floater but its roots can get very long (not always desirable to some people) and it doesn't tolerate condensation dripping on the tops of the leaves (unlike duckweed and salvinia which could care less about condensation).


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## bereninga (Mar 18, 2006)

lol @ the shrimp swinging on the roots like Tarzan.


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## mysticalnet (Dec 2, 2007)

Re: floating plants, aren't they salvinia natans?

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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

mysticalnet said:


> Re: floating plants, aren't they salvinia natans?
> 
> Sent from my GT-N7105 using Tapatalk


Its frogbit in the journal owner's tank. Look at the leaf shape/how the leaves grow up from the roots. Natans doesn't have a cluster of leaves close together its 2 then space than 2 with a sort of stem/rhizome they're growing on. Frogbit can have many leaves sprouting from the same set of roots.
frogbit:









Natans


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## mysticalnet (Dec 2, 2007)

Hmm interesting! Thanks for the clarification and pictures. 

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## doylecolmdoyle (Sep 22, 2015)

AquaAurora said:


> Its frogtbit. Its a nice floater but its roots can get very long (not always desirable to some people) and it doesn't tolerate condensation dripping on the tops of the leaves (unlike duckweed and salvinia which could care less about condensation).


Thanks for the feedback guys, frogbit it is! I always forget, interesting that they dont tolerate getting water on the topside, I am often poking around in my tanks and the frogbit gets flipped over, what effects does water on the tops of the leafs have?


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

doylecolmdoyle said:


> Thanks for the feedback guys, frogbit it is! I always forget, interesting that they dont tolerate getting water on the topside, I am often poking around in my tanks and the frogbit gets flipped over, what effects does water on the tops of the leafs have?


Areas that are getting wet frequently from condensation will get brown spots (from where water set on ti too long) that eventually decay into a hole and that leaf will die. That's what I've read anyways. I've done my best to keep my frostbit from getting any condensation so its doing well. Once fogbit is established in a tank though it typically grows fast enough to compensate for the periodic leaf loss from condensation.


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## doylecolmdoyle (Sep 22, 2015)

AquaAurora said:


> Areas that are getting wet frequently from condensation will get brown spots (from where water set on ti too long) that eventually decay into a hole and that leaf will die. That's what I've read anyways. I've done my best to keep my frostbit from getting any condensation so its doing well. Once fogbit is established in a tank though it typically grows fast enough to compensate for the periodic leaf loss from condensation.


Cheers AquaAurora, helpful info! I do notice a few leafs going yellow / dying every now and then but i just pick them off, I will try to keep the leafs dry, tho I am often disturbing them / getting them wet when poking around in my tanks (as they are only small tanks) I find this plant real helpful for soaking up excess nutrients and it multiplies really fast!


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## doylecolmdoyle (Sep 22, 2015)

not much to report here, apart from needing to clean the glass and marimo's and perhaps try remove some of the aquasoil that has spilled down onto the sand, I love how low tech this tank is, havent moved any of the marimo balls for over a month and they seem fine. Had a few shrimp deaths but most of them seem to be doing well.

Here is a iphone snap of some of the various shrimp feeding


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## AdamTill (Jan 22, 2015)

Neat tank, nice job.


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## doylecolmdoyle (Sep 22, 2015)

@wetarms on instragram featured one of my earlier photos, up to 1200 likes! kind of cool, kind of irrelevant!


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## doylecolmdoyle (Sep 22, 2015)

I took this photo today on my phone, moss balls need to be removed and cleaned, literally have done nothing to this tank since i set it up, no ferts, 1 water change and that is all, probably due for a water change, filter clean and a clean up of the sand area soon.


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## houseofcards (Mar 21, 2009)

Looking good!


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## doylecolmdoyle (Sep 22, 2015)

I have some new additions to the tank, I noticed one of the white shrimp was berried and a few days later i spied a bunch of little white shrimp getting about


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## doylecolmdoyle (Sep 22, 2015)

Took some photos today with my SLR, came out ok, should have cleaned the glass before hand but couldn't be bothered! Spot the baby white shrimp that are really grown fast!


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## doylecolmdoyle (Sep 22, 2015)

Help! Really need to try get rid of the snails in this tank, somehow all the snails from my bookshelf tank have died.... but this tank is overrun with snails! Which i introduced via the frogbit....  Any tips on best method to cut down the snail population!


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## mysticalnet (Dec 2, 2007)

Assassin snails or a dwarf puffer will do the job. Take out the puffer and put in another tank after all snails are eaten if you're afraid that it might eat some shrimplets. Personally I would just leave it in there and feed bloodworms when all snails are gone. Or last option - manually pick out snails everyday until gone. 

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## bereninga (Mar 18, 2006)

I'd go with the assassin snail idea first since you have shrimp in here.


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## doylecolmdoyle (Sep 22, 2015)

Thanks guys, will look into assassin snails, but I have never seen them over here in Perth, Australia.


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## Jamo33 (Feb 18, 2014)

doylecolmdoyle said:


> Thanks guys, will look into assassin snails, but I have never seen them over here in Perth, Australia.


Unfortunately mate, we don't have them here at all.
I have tried desperately to find them for a long time, to no avail.
Dwarf puffer maybe, or a yoyo loach except they grow quite large.
My honest opinion, just go the good old method of placing a snail trap. Make sure you brush off your baby shrimp etc but i see no other way without harming the shrimp at the same time. 
I use a cleaned peanut butter jar with holes melted into the bottom, big enough for snails but not fish, them i add lettuce to it, leaving some air in the jar and the snail end up on it and i collect sometimes a hundred each time....just gotta keep going with it unfortunately.

Bump: Oh and another thing. Awesome tank


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## doylecolmdoyle (Sep 22, 2015)

Jamo33 said:


> Unfortunately mate, we don't have them here at all.
> I have tried desperately to find them for a long time, to no avail.
> Dwarf puffer maybe, or a yoyo loach except they grow quite large.
> My honest opinion, just go the good old method of placing a snail trap. Make sure you brush off your baby shrimp etc but i see no other way without harming the shrimp at the same time.
> ...


Thanks I didnt think we had them in Australia. I have just gone the route of crushing them and not feeding as much, slowly numbers are dropping...


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## doylecolmdoyle (Sep 22, 2015)

Getting the snail issue under control (still a fair few little pesky snails) Rotated my balls for the first time in months.... some are a little white on the underside but not to far gone i hope!


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## bereninga (Mar 18, 2006)

This is such a cool look! How do you like that glass planter? Did you have to put any substrate in there or you just stuck the moss alone in there?


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## doylecolmdoyle (Sep 22, 2015)

Its just a heap of Java moss stuck in there, didn't really like it at first but it hides the the filter nicely and the shrimp like to climb in the moss


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## Cmeister (Jul 5, 2009)

I'd like to see some photos from different angles, if possible? I like the simplicity of the tank, do you use RO water?


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## doylecolmdoyle (Sep 22, 2015)

Cmeister said:


> I'd like to see some photos from different angles, if possible? I like the simplicity of the tank, do you use RO water?


Kind of hard to get a photo on any other angle apart from front on... the tank is squeezed next to my tv in my lounge.










I dont use RO water, just out of the tap, I have only changed the water once in 6 months, shrimp seem to do ok, with a few babies every now and then but no crazy breeding.


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## bereninga (Mar 18, 2006)

doylecolmdoyle said:


> Its just a heap of Java moss stuck in there, didn't really like it at first but it hides the the filter nicely and the shrimp like to climb in the moss


That Java moss is looking nice in there. I might pull the trigger on one because I have moss that has nowhere to go. hahah

Wow, one water change every 6 months must be pretty nice!


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## doylecolmdoyle (Sep 22, 2015)

bereninga said:


> That Java moss is looking nice in there. I might pull the trigger on one because I have moss that has nowhere to go. hahah
> 
> Wow, one water change every 6 months must be pretty nice!


Thanks, the moss lower in the planter doesn't get much light so doesn't really thrive but the upper half really took off.

Yes this tank is the ultimate low maintenance tank, no trimming, no water changes, no ferts, just clean the glass every now and then and rotate the marimo balls every few months.


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## doylecolmdoyle (Sep 22, 2015)

Pulled all the marimo balls out today to give them a rinse and roll, they where getting really fuzzy (compared this photo to the one a few posts back) These things grow so slow its great! 

Note thats lots of little air bubbles on the moss balls, kind of looks like a mass invasion of snails. I should have cleaned the glass before this photo!


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## Cmeister (Jul 5, 2009)

Its like green clouds in the mountains of your aquarium.


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## Mikeygmzmg (Mar 19, 2015)

Great idea, so cool. I too have some marimo in my tank and it's one of my favorites. 

I would have liked to of seen the mountains a little higher. Look into some egg crate if you ever get the chance!


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## doylecolmdoyle (Sep 22, 2015)

I will never be rid of snails in this tank, they dont like lettuce, what other food should l try?

I should probably clean the filter on this soon, whats the norm on a shrimp only tank? I have only changed the water once or twice in 6 months, I am starting to get some algae on the rocks that are exposed to the light, the rock under the marimo balls is very clean, I think its GSA, how could i try reduce this? 

Probably more regular water changes but my shrimp dont like water changes, I usually find one or two of the bigger shrimp dead a few days after a water change, I dose no ferts the light probably on for to long, I manually turn it on from about 5-6pm until 11pm, so about 5 - 6 hrs a day.

Thanks


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## azazan (Aug 17, 2014)

doylecolmdoyle said:


> I will never be rid of snails in this tank, they dont like lettuce, what other food should l try?



I use a piece of boiled potato, full of snails all the time


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## MtAnimals (May 17, 2015)

doylecolmdoyle said:


> I will never be rid of snails in this tank, they dont like lettuce, what other food should l try?
> 
> 
> Thanks


are you freezing the lettuce first to wilt it? and are you using romaine? 

That tank is gorgeous!


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

I get a lot of snails using bleached cucumber slices.
Another email riding option is "No Planaria" shrimp fish and plant safe but kills snails. Will have to do 2-3 treatments as I don't think it kills eggs but it got rid of my mini ramshorns.


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## doylecolmdoyle (Sep 22, 2015)

I have some no planaria from a previous issue, only did a half dose but I did notice the mini ramshorn population dropped. I didnt want to risk my shrimp at the time. I will try a few other natural methods first. Thanks for the advice guys.


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## AquaHobbyist (Jun 8, 2016)

Your tank looks awesome! I just wanted to know, where did you get that glass planter from? Really like it!


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## doylecolmdoyle (Sep 22, 2015)

Just via Ebay, cant recall what seller


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## doylecolmdoyle (Sep 22, 2015)

Happy to say a lot less snails since using the ISTA Snail remover, still a few but no where near as many as about 3 weeks ago.

Gave the filter a clean and did the a water change, I should have cleaned the glass... next time.


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## houseofcards (Mar 21, 2009)

Still looks good! My Marimo Scape is long gone. 

Do you have the problem with the marimo balls splitting open. Many times when I have them long-term they open up.


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## doylecolmdoyle (Sep 22, 2015)

houseofcards said:


> Still looks good! My Marimo Scape is long gone.
> 
> Do you have the problem with the marimo balls splitting open. Many times when I have them long-term they open up.


Yes i have had that issue, I try take them out and roll them around in my hands once a month or so. I have had the odd smaller one fall apart. 

They also get really stringy if you dont roll them.


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## houseofcards (Mar 21, 2009)

doylecolmdoyle said:


> ..They also get really stringy if you dont roll them.


I guess it's their version of bed sores.


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