Monochrome5's Planted Cube

[ian]

hello and welcome Monochrome5, i would leave the old substrate alone...don't put it in the freshwater tank. If you're thinking of the Dutch scape, you won't really need a active substrate, an inert one will be fine. With the majority of plants being stems in a dutch, stem plants tend to take the nutrients freely from the water, rather than the substrate.

 

[Monochrome5]

hello and welcome Monochrome5, i would leave the old substrate alone...don't put it in the freshwater tank. If you're thinking of the Dutch scape, you won't really need a active substrate, an inert one will be fine. With the majority of plants being stems in a dutch, stem plants tend to take the nutrients freely from the water, rather than the substrate.

Awesome. I figured as much, but thought I would check before tossing out this sand. So stem plants take the most from the water? Very nice. I plan on dosing a fert of some kind in the water, so that should work nicely. Thanks for the tip!!

 

[ian]

sorry, i'm not sure my post was clear (sorry, after reading back). You'll need to get rid of the S/W substrate, as it will still contain minerals that freshwater fish won't be able to deal with.

 

[lljdma06]

NO, young Powadan, change the substrate you must!

Haha, I'm not keeping my freshwater substrate.

Liz

 

[Monochrome5]

What looks best with a Dutch tank? Maybe black substrate? Or dark red? So many choices!

 

[lljdma06]

What looks best with a Dutch tank? Maybe black substrate? Or dark red? So many choices!

It's up to you. Actually, with Dutch scapes, there is typically almost 100% substrate coverage by plants, so it really doesn't matter, as you won't see the substrate much. I find that the small-grained gravel that I mentioned is very nice for the job. Easy to work with, very easy to keep clean, and for many plants, it's an excellent rooting medium. Not too big that small plants will struggle, but not too fine either.

Liz

 

[Monochrome5]

What looks best with a Dutch tank? Maybe black substrate? Or dark red? So many choices!

It's up to you. Actually, with Dutch scapes, there is typically almost 100% substrate coverage by plants, so it really doesn't matter, as you won't see the substrate much. I find that the small-grained gravel that I mentioned is very nice for the job. Easy to work with, very easy to keep clean, and for many plants, it's an excellent rooting medium. Not too big that small plants will struggle, but not too fine either.

Liz

Awesome. About what grain size? 1-3mm I think you said? Or did I just make that number up?

Also... They have ghost shrimp at the LFS. They're pretty cool looking. Are they a good idea or not?

 

[lljdma06]

Hi Monochrome5, No you're not insane, I did say 1-3mm grain size.

There are better shrimp than ghost shrimp out there. But they are ok for planted tanks. They don't eat algae, though, but scavenge.

How are things going with this setup?

Liz

 

[Monochrome5]

Awesome. I should be getting everything together next week (I'm going out of town this weekend). I've had someone offer to trade me a stock BioCube hood (2x 18W Power Compacts) plus cash for my LED rig, and I'm definitely considering it. I know it's a huge downgrade so to speak, but it's still 4.5W per gallon and I can get the proper wavelength bulbs... Not sure if I should or not. It leaves me with very little in the event I want to return this tank to SW. Any thoughts?

 

[SuperColey1]

keep the LEDs. You don't want 4.5WPG and I would think if your LED rig has been used on reef/coral it is probs putting out more PAR than 4.5WPG of CF already.

Plus offers you the flexibility to return the tank to salt at any stage in the future

Andy

 

[lljdma06]

keep the LEDs. You don't want 4.5WPG and I would think if your LED rig has been used on reef/coral it is probs putting out more PAR than 4.5WPG of CF already.

Plus offers you the flexibility to return the tank to salt at any stage in the future

Andy

Hehehe, besides, I seem to be the only one here who can make more than 3WPG of CF bulbs work. Right Andy? Especially when I don't add CO2.

+1 on keeping the LEDs. They are very cool and look wonderful. CF is an ugly light. Just happens to work extremely well for me.

 

[Monochrome5]

Just happens to work extremely well for me.

Show off

LEDs it is!

 

[Monochrome5]

Sooooooo.... a package came in the mail yesterday! Unfortunately I've been working all weekend so I didn't get to open it until about 5 minutes ago... Anyway, many thanks to Lissette for hooking me up!! Without further ado:

The package was cleverly disguised as a box of chocolates. Perhaps it's a secret message?

Opening the box revealed not only more Godiva branded paper, but also some pink Victoria's Secret paper. Again, hidden messages

The box yielded a plethora of goodies - a Rhinox 1000, some rocks, a sweet piece of driftwood, two drop checkers, a new jar of yeast, two CO2 canisters, tubing/valves/mounts for the CO2, a package of Laterite, and two plastic things that look like stairways. Someone's going to have to tell me what the heck these things are and what I do with them.

And finally... How perfect is this piece of wood? It's like it was designed just for a cube tank. I love it! (I could make a joke about how nice Liz's wood is, but I'll leave that one alone).

 

[lljdma06]

Big sigh of relief that everything seems in order. Man, when I saw the lady at the post office throw the box, I practically died.

The ladder thingys go with the CO2 canisters. It's a bubble ladder. Literally, the CO2 gas travels from the canister to the bubble ladder via the tubing. Then a bubble of gas is released at the bottom of the ladder. It travels up the ladder and gets smaller as it goes up, releasing CO2 gas into the water. Not a bad method of diffusion, actually, but there are better ways.

So embarrased now that everybody knows I shop Victoria's Secret.

 

[ian]

thats a nice package to get!


You better get this right M, or llj will be after you!