50cm cube tank ideas,stocking suggestions &more!

[Lennie]

@Patrick_G To my liking, your tank looks great. I really enjoy the overgrown jungle look🙃. As long as you keep species that dont need so much open space, I feel like fish/shrimp enjoy it as much as we do as well! My gourami loves to sleep on top of floating elodeas every night!

Yea, MD just instantly puts lots of plants, woods, etc. directly which really requires a good amount of budget. My main tank is full of MTS. I love them, they help me a lot with the maintenance and keeping the tank healthy, but I don't wanna transfer them to my new tank, at least for now. So I guess I will have to buy new plants from 0 instead of getting cuttings from my 29g :'). Goodbye money.

Btw, I tried carpeting plants before. I planted some dwarf hairgrass, but over time they all ended up dying in my 29g which has a 40 cm height. I believe it was my LED as it is a cheap one and probably not great to reach substrate level to grow a carpet. My plants generally have an okay growth but I realize my fast growing root feeder plants create new leaves not tightly until they reach to the surface.  Considering my next one is a 50cm cube, I give it a very low chance to grow any carpet. If dwarf hairglass does not work, Idk what can 🤣

And I love the main display tank in your bio. Do you use dirt on the bottom or just inert substrate and root tabs or something? Looks gorgeous man. 

Keep it up!

Edited January 15, 2023 by Lennie

[Rube_Goldfish]

On 1/15/2023 at 5:26 PM, Lennie said:

My main tank is full of MTS. I love them, they help me a lot with the maintenance and keeping the tank healthy, but I don't wanna transfer them to my new tank, at least for now. So I guess I will have to buy new plants from 0 instead of getting cuttings from my 29g :'). Goodbye money.

If you want to use the trimmings and hitchhikers are a concern, you can use reverse respiration for the trimmings after clipping from the 29 but before planting in the 50 cm cube:

You should read the whole thing, but the short version is that ordinary seltzer water will kill algae, snails, worms, basically everything but vascular plants, which actually get a little boost. It's nothing short of amazing.

[Lennie]

On 1/16/2023 at 6:00 PM, Rube_Goldfish said:

You should read the whole thing, but the short version is that ordinary seltzer water will kill algae, snails, worms, basically everything but vascular plants, which actually get a little boost. It's nothing short of amazing.

That's really interesting. When I was transferring some plants to my quarantine tank, I washed the cuttings like 10 times and observed them closely, dropped every baby snail   I've found back to the tank. . Still found two hitchhiker MTS in quarantine 😄 These snails really surprise me every time 😄

I want them to stay alive, but only in my main tank :'). I can def try this to prevent hair algae transfer or whatsover tho. Very useful info, thanks for sharing!! That looks like a too much work and effort put in, wow. Def gonna read it in depth when I have time!

Believe it or not, seltzer water is not common here at all. It is not the same thing with mineral water right? We have some options like carbonated natural mineral waters too.

Maybe it is a similar thing but under different names. I gotta read it post  in depth before!

thanks again 🙂

 

[Tommy Vercetti]

I love the tank and stand have fun get inspired for the hard scape bu goggle image search and youbtube aquascape videos.

Here is a picture of my 40cm cube.

[Lennie]

@Tommy Vercetti That looks really pretty. I like it!

Im thinking of trying something like this. Nooo way I am getting this many plants at once obviously. But it gave me an inspiration! I should visit my lfs to check some wood/stone options sometime.

The tank I liked the most by now that seems to have similar look to mine is this one:

 

I've never used aquasoil before tho. So I am not sure if I should give it a try. Im scared of it messing up with my water parameters even if I have a hard water, 20 kh and 8.2 ph in tap. I have neo and tropical aquasoil options available in my lfs.

Btw, @Patrick_G, I ordered a better lighting this time. Still on the cheaper end, but also suitable for high tech tanks. Not planning to have co2 system so won't be forcing high tech part a lot for sure, but I may give monte carlo carpeting a try. I only find them being sold in vitro here tho. I heard some people facing melting issues while doing dry start, while others say dry start for in vitro is better. *confusion* I'd rather not do a dry start I guess as I will already have to keep up with lots of water changes  for a month if I use aquasoil as they tend to leech a lot, including ammonia. So no fishies for a month after starting the tank already :')

Edited January 16, 2023 by Lennie

[Tommy Vercetti]

In my last set up, I had a thick Monte Carlo carpet, grown from one ACO live plant, but it was Co2 injected.

 

https://youtube.com/watch?v=-AfGppKRe6Q&feature=shares

[Lennie]

Update time!

I planted the tank and filled it an hour ago. Couldn’t find a huge wood piece, so I decided to be creative and try something on my own.  Tried to give this tree and root look with lots of different pieces combined. Just added an usb airstone to help with circulation until I put a filter in.

I got some inspiration from MD’s video, but I wanted to try the plants I like but never given a chance before!

Assuming the new LED will be home this friday!

I have some questions:

1- I used tropica aquasoil. I have never used an active substrate before. It advices to make water changes twice a week for a month. I read some people saying it may leach ammonia and stuff.

Should I avoid adding fish for a month? I have a cycled filter that I can add anytime. Would like to hear about experiences

2- I have a really hard water, 20kh. 8.2 ph. Would this aquasoil mess up my parameters? 

3- I wanna transfer my HOB filter from my 29g to this cube, and use my sponge filter I have in quarantine tank with rabbit snails/shrimps in my 29g. What would be the best idea to make sure sponge filter gets more bacteria to handle 29g bioload so that I can safely move the HOB to the new tank?

Keeping them at the 29g together for maybe two weeks? 

4- I’ve used frodo stone as I love its look. Some people say it has an affect on Kh/ph. I did some vinegar test but no bubbles. Also considering my ph is already 8.2, and kh is 20, would it increase it even more or nah?

 

Any suggestions and  opinions are surely welcomed. I have literally 0 experience with all these plants this time, except for java fern.

Tried a lil bit of monte carlo too to see how it will grow in my new light. If it performs well, I may carpet some area

Edited January 18, 2023 by Lennie

[Rube_Goldfish]

On 1/18/2023 at 1:50 PM, Lennie said:

Update time!

I planted the tank and filled it an hour ago. Couldn’t find a huge wood piece, so I decided to be creative and try something on my own.  Tried to give this tree and root look with lots of different pieces combined. Just added an usb airstone to help with circulation until I put a filter in.

I got some inspiration from MD’s video, but I wanted to try the plants I like but never given a chance before!

Assuming the new LED will be home this friday!

I have some questions:

1- I used tropica aquasoil. I have never used an active substrate before. It advices to make water changes twice a week for a month. I read some people saying it may leach ammonia and stuff.

Should I avoid adding fish for a month? I have a cycled filter that I can add anytime. Would like to hear about experiences

2- I have a really hard water, 20kh. 8.2 ph. Would this aquasoil mess up my parameters? 

3- I wanna transfer my HOB filter from my 29g to this cube, and use my sponge filter I have in quarantine tank with rabbit snails/shrimps in my 29g. What would be the best idea to make sure sponge filter gets more bacteria to handle 29g bioload so that I can safely move the HOB to the new tank?

Keeping them at the 29g together for maybe two weeks? 

4- I’ve used frodo stone as I love its look. Some people say it has an affect on Kh/ph. I did some vinegar test but no bubbles. Also considering my ph is already 8.2, and kh is 20, would it increase it even more or nah?

 

Any suggestions and  opinions are surely welcomed. I have literally 0 experience with all these plants this time, except for java fern.

Tried a lil bit of monte carlo too to see how it will grow in my new light. If it performs well, I may carpet some area

First of all, it looks fantastic!

Let's see: 1) there are two ways to know when to add fish during a fishless cycle, but it's the same as cycling with inert substrate. Measure the ammonia levels, measure the nitrite, measure the nitrate, add fish when the first two are back down to zero (you might call this the chemical approach). Alternately, closely observe plant and algae growth; when they're visibly noticeable, add fish (the naturalistic approach?). I saw some disagreement on a quick web search of Tropica soil's ammonia leeching, but the safe play is just test the water until the plants and biofilter are converting it faster than the soil is leeching it.

2) Tropica advertises its soil as acidifying. You've got a lot of carbonate hardness, though, so the soil's acid would have to deplete that first, and every water change would "recharge" that KH buffer. So I doubt it would have a big effect at all.

3) Running both filters simultaneously for two weeks is probably longer than you'd need in an established, planted tank, but on the other hand, it's a bit on the overstocked side. Probably a good plan, yeah.

4) I think that the rate of dissolution of minerals from stones goes down proportionately with pH. So low pH dissolves minerals quickly to a certain equilibrium point and then slows and then stops. Your pH is high enough that they might not dissolve at all. I wouldn't worry about it.

Good luck, and keep us posted!

[Lennie]

Hey again @Rube_Goldfish!

Many thanks for your detailed post. Very much appreciated.

Btw, I wanted to dip my plants in accordance with the seltzer water method you have shared but we seem to not have it available in here. All I could find was mineral water and I'm not sure it would meet the required conditions as their statistics even change a lot from one brand to another. 😓So I had to go with my classic alum dip again.

Your recommendations and ideas seem to be very familiar of what I was expecting when I ask the questions. So I feel relieved! 

I'm almost out of water test strips, only 3 left and probably gotta get a new ammonia test kit. All test kits are so expensive here sadly. I can easily go and buy an average sized tank and scape it instead of buying a test kit. That's kinda sad. Or even fully stock a tank. 😥

I normally add a pinch of fish food to a planted tank after it shows a sign of plant growth, and then after a couple days of adding fish food, I dose seachem stability for a week or so. When everything seems fine and I see readings on the test kit, I start stocking very lightly.

But when I move an established filter to a new tank, I don't think I will need any of it right? This filter is currently keeping up with 23 fish+ tons of MTS and shrimp colony bioload. Would throwing it in an empty tank or 1-2 small fish tank would starve the bacteria?

Thanks for the help again!🙃

 

 

Edited January 19, 2023 by Lennie

[Rube_Goldfish]

On 1/19/2023 at 4:52 AM, Lennie said:

Hey again @Rube_Goldfish!

Many thanks for your detailed post. Very much appreciated.

Btw, I wanted to dip my plants in accordance with the seltzer water method you have shared but we seem to not have it available in here. All I could find was mineral water and I'm not sure it would meet the required conditions as their statistics even change a lot from one brand to another. 😓So I had to go with my classic alum dip again.

Your recommendations and ideas seem to be very familiar of what I was expecting when I ask the questions. So I feel relieved! 

I'm almost out of water test strips, only 3 left and probably gotta get a new ammonia test kit. All test kits are so expensive here sadly. I can easily go and buy an average sized tank and scape it instead of buying a test kit. That's kinda sad. Or even fully stock a tank. 😥

I normally add a pinch of fish food to a planted tank after it shows a sign of plant growth, and then after a couple days of adding fish food, I dose seachem stability for a week or so. When everything seems fine and I see readings on the test kit, I start stocking very lightly.

But when I move an established filter to a new tank, I don't think I will need any of it right? This filter is currently keeping up with 23 fish+ tons of MTS and shrimp colony bioload. Would throwing it in an empty tank or 1-2 small fish tank would starve the bacteria?

Thanks for the help again!🙃

 

 

That all sounds right. An established, robust filter should be ready to go right away. If you were using an inert substrate I'd say you could transfer the filter and put fish in immediately, but the ammonia-leeching aquasoil is a bit of a wildcard here. I haven't used one, and I just don't know how much or how fast they left ammonia. Maybe it is so little that the plants can handle it, maybe it's so much that it would even overwhelm your filter. Without a test kit/strip or at least some other experience with Tropica's soil, I just don't know.

My understanding of the way beneficial bacteria work is that their population grows or dies back according to the amount of ammonia and nitrite available, and that as long as they stay wet, they go into a kind of dormancy and can ramp back up pretty quickly. So the biofilter might "starve" a little but you could toss in a pinch of flake or pellet every third day or so.

The thing is, your normal plan (see signs of plant growth, ghost feed new tank, add Stability, slowly increase stocking) is probably fine, but I just don't know aquasoils enough to fully endorse it. It's a real shame testing supplies are so hard for you to find.

[Rube_Goldfish]

You know, I've been thinking more about this. I know you're an MD Fishtanks fan, and I know he has specifically used Tropica soil before and still put fish in straight away, often using an established filter, often using bacteria-in-a-bottle. He's also mentioned that he does daily testing and daily water changes for the first week (two weeks?) on new setups, so that might not be as helpful as I think. Hopefully one of our veterans can weigh in here. Otherwise we'll have to do some research on Tropica's ammonia levels.

[Lennie]

@Rube_Goldfish !!! I love the fact that you are searching a lot to help me. I'm really happy to see. 😊 Thanks again.

I've searched a lot too, but after my finals pass this weekend, I will look into it even more!

On 1/19/2023 at 5:50 PM, Rube_Goldfish said:

I've been thinking more about this. I know you're an MD Fishtanks fan, and I know he has specifically used Tropica soil before and still put fish in straight away, often using an established filter, often using bacteria-in-a-bottle. He's also mentioned that he does daily testing and daily water changes for the first week (two weeks?) on new setups, so that might not be as helpful as I think.

I agree!! I've watched so many MD videos and he always put fish on day one, or even sometimes 1-3 fish without a cycled filter, if I'm not wrong. But he usually  plants very densely, mine is not dense enough I believe. 

I guess I won't rush and risk it anyway. Potentially hurting my fish is the last thing I want. I usually wait until I see nitrite in the tank and then I never see it for a couple days  and all I read is nitrate.

I've watched so many videos about fishless cycling, but after @Irene's video about testing the Dr. Tims cycling kit, even when the established filter dealing with normal fish but the drops. It feels kinda unnatural to me.  When she tried keeping 2 poop machine mollys in a tank with only an established filter but in a fresh new tank with no plants or whatsoever, she only saw the readings of nitrate! However, the 1 year long established filter still couldn't deal with 2ppm ammonia standard/per day.

But yea, the topic is kinda aquasoil leaching here.

So light stocking with an established filter  especially with lots of plants seems to be the key in general. And in my scenario, the best way to be safe seems to be lots of frequent water changes while my two filters getting seeded and cycled in 29g. 

Plans for now:

- I will do around 50% water changes every 2-3 days for the for a couple weeks. 

- I introduced my rabbit snails to 29g now after the lights are off. If they seem to do well, then I will put the sponge filter in to start cycling it more. Didn't want to put it in directly because it could be hell to try to get rid off all baby mts and shrimpies on it if things go wrong :D.

 

On 1/19/2023 at 5:34 PM, Rube_Goldfish said:

It's a real shame testing supplies are so hard for you to find.

It really is. At least cutting test strips into half helps a bit but liquid test kids, not so much, especially considering they only show one thing and even more expensive then any test strips in general. At least here

Here is the Irene's video I was talking about:

 

Edited January 19, 2023 by Lennie

[Rube_Goldfish]

On 1/19/2023 at 11:36 AM, Lennie said:

@Rube_Goldfish !!! I love the fact that you are searching a lot to help me. I'm really happy to see. 😊 Thanks again.

I've searched a lot too, but after my finals pass this weekend, I will look into it even more!

I agree!! I've watched so many MD videos and he always put fish on day one, or even sometimes 1-3 fish without a cycled filter, if I'm not wrong. But he usually  plants very densely, mine is not dense enough I believe. 

I guess I won't rush and risk it anyway. Potentially hurting my fish is the last thing I want. I usually wait until I see nitrite in the tank and then I never see it for a couple days  and all I read is nitrate.

I've watched so many videos about fishless cycling, but after @Irene's video about testing the Dr. Tims cycling kit, even when the established filter dealing with normal fish but the drops. It feels kinda unnatural to me.  When she tried keeping 2 poop machine mollys in a tank with only an established filter but in a fresh new tank with no plants or whatsoever, she only saw the readings of nitrate! However, the 1 year long established filter still couldn't deal with 2ppm ammonia standard/per day.

But yea, the topic is kinda aquasoil leaching here.

So light stocking with an established filter  especially with lots of plants seems to be the key in general. And in my scenario, the best way to be safe seems to be lots of frequent water changes while my two filters getting seeded and cycled in 29g. 

Plans for now:

- I will do around 50% water changes every 2-3 days for the for a couple weeks. 

- I introduced my rabbit snails to 29g now after the lights are off. If they seem to do well, then I will put the sponge filter in to start cycling it more. Didn't want to put it in directly because it could be hell to try to get rid off all baby mts and shrimpies on it if things go wrong :D.

 

It really is. At least cutting test strips into half helps a bit but liquid test kids, not so much, especially considering they only show one thing and even more expensive then any test strips in general. At least here

Here is the Irene's video I was talking about:

 

That all sounds like a great plan. It's probably a little more conservative or careful than you truly need to be, but we just don't know, do we? And this is a hobby for the patient, isn't it? Can't wait to see everything grow out in the meantime!

[Lennie]

On 1/19/2023 at 8:15 PM, Rube_Goldfish said:

It's probably a little more conservative or careful than you truly need to be, but we just don't know, do we?

Definitely, especially considering I don't own an ammonia test kit rn. Better safe than sorry!🙃I will try to get one just in case.

Btw, I use a clay based substrate on my 29g(JBL Manado). And rabbits directly started to bury in a few minutes after I've put them in the tank. I'm surprised. They seem to love it already.

I've been keeping them in sand, but they seemed to struggle to move. Then I added some small round gravels except the places they like to sleep, it helped with their movement but still no burying on the sand. And now, they enjoy burying! I guess what they like is not actually the sand nor gravel. Experience teaches a lot. Gonna keep observing them.

Cheers!