1.5 Nano Planted Cube

[KageBunshin]

Hey guys, I haven't posted on this forum in a long long time.

Anyways, I have been running my 1.5 planted cube for a week now, and am ready to post some pictures! But first, some specs:

Equipment:
-1.5 gallon Glass Cube with back spray painted black
-Red Sea Deco Art Filter
-26 watt desklamp

Flora:
-Cryptocoryne sp.
- Small Amazon Sword (will be replanted when it becomes monstrous)
-Anubias Nana
- Java Moss
-Vallisneria
-Java Fern

Fauna:
-7 red cherry shrimp
-a bunch of copepods

Fertilizers:
-under dose (5-6 drops) of Flourish Excel every other day.

Hope you guys like it! Critiques welcomed.

 

[invader]

Very nice! Can't wait to see the moss filling out that tank.

 

[Gill]

very cool tank

 

[corey01]

looks good

 

[Ficious]

hey great tank! its inspired me so now i need your advice. I have a 1.5 hex and have been looking for a good setup for shrimp...so far nothing has set me off as to go out and buy the stuff until now.

im a novice with live plants AND shrimp. i was thinking to buy a couple species of easy to take care of plants. and for a start, some cheap shrimp.

my questions
1. i see you dont have a heater, nor do i have a small enough one. i take it i dont need a heater for the plants or shrimp?
2. what supplies do i need for the plants to thrive
3. what food do the shrimp eat


if you or anyone else can help, thad be great! thanks guys

 

[MermaidMel]

It looks great i am working on 2g exactly the same as yours, not the exact same plants though, i will post pics when i'm done too

 

[JenCliBee]

looks really nice m8 will look even better when the plants fill out abit


jen

 

[KageBunshin]

hey great tank! its inspired me so now i need your advice. I have a 1.5 hex and have been looking for a good setup for shrimp...so far nothing has set me off as to go out and buy the stuff until now.

im a novice with live plants AND shrimp. i was thinking to buy a couple species of easy to take care of plants. and for a start, some cheap shrimp.

my questions
1. i see you dont have a heater, nor do i have a small enough one. i take it i dont need a heater for the plants or shrimp?
2. what supplies do i need for the plants to thrive
3. what food do the shrimp eat


if you or anyone else can help, thad be great! thanks guys

Alright. I will attempt to help you, even though im a noob also hahaha. I'll give you some advice on what ive learned through other people, and from my mistakes.

1. I live in a place where my room rarely drops below 70F. If your room is the same, then you dont need a heater. Shrimps can tolerate a wider range of temps, compared to fish. Mind you that any temp change must be gradual.
2. In my nano cube, I'm planting types of plants that are considered "low light plants." Low light plants are very very hardy, and can live without CO2 injection, or major lighting. If you are considering a small tank like mine, I would advise just buying a cheap desk lamp, with a fluorescent light (not incandescent). Also, low light plants usually aren't too picky on expensive substrate. As a reference, you can start out with the plants I used. However, I do strongly recommend Anubias Nana. Some planted enthusiasts say that this plant is second to algae in its' hardiness... Anubias comes in all shapes and sizes.
3. Concerning Shrimp diet, if you do not overstock your nano, your shrimp will feed on microorganisms and algae in the cube. However, shrimp are prolific breeders. So, given the right conditions they will breed and multiply greatly. In this case, other shrimp owners feed it things like blanched spinach and zucchini, hikari crab cuisine, and some... even fish flakes. Do be careful that the food you feed it does not contain Copper, or its constituent cations (Cu, Cu2+, Cu3+). This is very lethal for shrimp.

There you go, my attempt to shotgun answer some of your questions. Please feel free to correct any of this information, anybody. I'll be around if you have anymore questions

 

[Ficious]

awesome! thanks a lot for your time! i did some research and i ended up with white ribbon and umbrella plants?each is 4'' tall. they didnt have the other common one you said. theyre from petsmart and i didnt pay a whole lot for them. if they get too big im going to end up adding them to my much larger community tank. also if the shrimp DO fornicate i can stock other aquariums with an add on the clean up crew

now, you said use a fluorescent light...im not sure what i have. it came with the aquarium and has a hood. its a different color than my other tank. my other tank is "blue-ish" and this one seems more like sunlight (a lot like a lamp). do you know much about these plants? also im yet to have this nano done. i searched 3 pet shops for shrimp and even went to walmart in desperate needs of shrimpy friends. instead i put 2 guppies from my big tank in there for now to enhance the cycling.

my big questions now are...1. since i dont have a better filter(just underground) will i need to do constant water changes for the shrimp?? 2. do you have to do fluent water changes to keep the tank going? 3. what are the demensions?


appreciate it! i know i have a lot of questions too. i love nanos, perfect for an end piece, in the bathroom, or the kitchen! the only problem is i dont like how mine is a hex. i think when i get paid ill buy a 3-4 gallon cube. they look much nicer!

 

[KageBunshin]

my big questions now are...1. since i dont have a better filter(just underground) will i need to do constant water changes for the shrimp?? 2. do you have to do fluent water changes to keep the tank going? 3. what are the demensions?

It is good to have moving water. However, Under-gravel filter sounds like its powered from a bubbler right? Planted Tank enthusiasts usually stray away from having a bubbler. Why? Plants need CO2, and bubblers seem to increase the partial pressure of oxygen (P02) in the water, leaving less room for the precious CO2 for the plants. Besides, if you are worrying about the oxygen for the shrimp, the plants will do their job in oxygenation. In my cube, I am running a small filter called the Red Sea deco Art filter. This can be found at petco. There is another small filter you might look into, the Azoo palm filter. These are under 20 bucks... and if you are resourceful... under 15. I do weekly water changes for my nano to get rid of Nitrogenous wastes that may accumulate. I can not find my ruler right now so I cant give you the dimensions. Sorry

Hope this helps.

 

[Ficious]

yes thanks for all your help! i think tomorrow i am going to look at a cube type nano. ill scratch everything for the hex tank and leave its underground filter for a betta

 

[Genesis]

Wonderful tank!


I hope your tank lid's on tight, the little buggers tend to crawl out
and it aint pretty picking up shrivelled up, crusty dead shrimp worth over £20, trust me, I'd know

 

[tangokitty]

how many shrimps can you fit in a tank that size? Love it btw, nice color contrast!

 

[KageBunshin]

About 15-20 shrimp should be my max threshold... After that, I should start looking into putting together another tank... Talk about good motivation huh?

 

[dazsmith69]

lovely tank

where did u get it from? im looking for one aswell with a light and filter

how much did u pay?

thanks Darren