# New 93g cube Riparium



## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

So after watching Tanked on Monday we decided to set up a slightly brackish riparium with 3 archerfish, 4 Mono argentus and a green spotted puffer. Decorated with real wood and fake stumps along with 2 bags full of anubias and emergent plants from my friend Denis (some are plants originally from Kevin (algaebeater)).


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

Some more pics.


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

Specs:

93g Marineland 30" x 30" x 24" (cubish)
Finnex LED
Eheim Pro 2028 (cycled & rinsed in tank water from the goldfish tank)
Eheim 2036 cannister filter
Small HK-clone wave maker
Large sponge filter
100w submersible heater (maybe Eheim)

Tank is only 1/2 filled with water. Many of the plants have been placed so some of the taller leaves are emergent. Plan to add more wood (maybe even silicone to back glass) to create more places for bugs to walk around on until they get shot down by the archer fish.


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## The Guy (Nov 26, 2010)

Hey Anthony looks like a great project and fun for the girls to help with too, I suppose you you could use any tall tank and just half fill it. Hmmmmm!


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

Yes tall tanks with square footprints or rectangular or even hexagon footprints, doesn't really matter. Each shape will create aquascaping/ripa-scaping challenges. I'm now looking for branchy wood to add above water so the archers will have an interesting shooting gallery for the insects, a taller, colourful marsh/bog plant or two, a pair of "true" orange chromides (brackish water Asian cichlids) and some Mono sebae.

Will also look into adding a nice pleco that doesn't grow too big and is tolerant of a bit of salt. Need to do some research on this.

Anthony


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

Clearer pics of riparium and my morning harvest of Burnaby grown peaches


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## Newt (Jan 28, 2015)

That looks great! Love the idea of a riparium. May have to do something on a smaller scale for my baby newtlet as I am trying to get him to go aquatic...slowly lol. Amazing that you've set all that up since Monday!

I am planning to re-scape my 45 gallon aquarium this weekend, may have some branchy wood available. The tank has a lot of wood and rocks and i need to make some changes.


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

This was pretty fast, I agree.

Monday night - watched Tanked
Tuesday - start my search for archers & monos
Wednesday - tear down existing 2' cube goldfish tank, pull everything out of that corner, rinse off filters in tank water, set up new goldfish cube on other side of living room, rinse 1.5 buckets of black gravel, add gravel and water (both fresh and some saltwater from my reef tanks), get 2 Eheim canister filters & 1 large sponge filter going. Clean up all the buckets, hoses, fish stuff and mess in the living room - finish at 2 a.m.
Thursday - cut & screw on some cup & plate holder shelves onto stand, tour the Valley with Felicia & Isabella picking up plants, fish & sockeye from different friends, acclimate & release fish, repot plants into little coconut core pots with hydroton, rockwool seedling media, and some black gravel to weigh down the pots, quick aquascaping and sit back and enjoy.

Helps to be OCD and a night owl. When I'm into a project, I kick it into overdrive. Most of my tanks have been set up within a day to 3 days after conception. It helps that I already had the 93g and stand in my car port waiting to be set up. 

Gotta thank my friend Ivan for giving me a hand with the tear down & set up, Denis for the plants, & Fish Addicts for a great selection of brackish fish (nobody else usually stocks brackish fish locally & it's a PITA for most LFS to order in a bagful just so I can get a few cause brackish is not very popular among local aquarists).


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## Gaia (Jun 20, 2016)

Very nice! I'm sure the girls just love it! How are the quail?

Sent from my SM-G900W8 using Tapatalk


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## Luke78 (Apr 24, 2010)

Nice looking setup. Hard to believe looking from your pics that resembles 93 gallons. Peaches look amazing and if u wanna trade for plums or figs let me know. Wouldn't mind grabbing a few from you. Thanks for sharing your journal, keep the updates coming


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

Quick update.

Friday - Day 1

Caught, killed several flies and other bugs and fed both live & freshly killed insects to the fish. Archers feasted. 

Sunday - Day 3

All fish (archers, Monos, and puffer) have been eating since day 1. They eat frozen mysis shrimp, freeze dried shrimp, flakes, and small pellets. Added a nice branchy piece of manzanita and anubias from CatfishBlues and a beautiful peace lily from April. What do you all think?


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

Sorry Luke, we just picked, ate & shared the last of the peaches for this year on Friday. I have Green Gage plums & Santa Rosa plums, as well as Desert King & Negronne Dwarf fig trees (I have 33 fruit trees in my Burnaby backyard, 50+ Citrus, 20+ Berries) but if you come next late July/early August, I'll let you have a few Burnaby-grown peaches). 

Gaia, the quails doing well but no eggs yet.

Newt, let me know if any branchy pieces are available.

Anthony


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## The Guy (Nov 26, 2010)

I like it, looks awesome


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## liquid_krystale (Dec 13, 2011)

Looks great...the tank and the produce!


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## Newt (Jan 28, 2015)

It's looking great, nice environment you've set up there! I am still fiddling around with my rocks and wood, but will definitely have at least one piece you can have. Once I figure out which one, I will measure it for you and let you know.


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## jhj0112 (Jul 30, 2013)

It looks great Anthony.. so one less saltwater tank now? 

Sent from my SM-G900W8 using Tapatalk


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## Dou (Dec 4, 2015)

Very cool =). I was just doing some googling earlier and read that blue light can't really grow plants very well - not sure what kind of light you're using but if you notice that plants aren't really thriving you may want to consider changing the light!


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

Still same number of tanks, just tore down an Eheim 6g and added another med/large cube for the goldfish and then replaced the 2' goldfish cube with a 30" riparium cube. So increased my total volume by about 70 gallons in the livingroom but still same number of tanks:bigsmile:

I have a blue & white LED but getting a full spectrum fw LED (Finnex Stingray) or maybe a hang a CFL Daylight over top for the plants. The existing light is what I had on hand.

Thanks for the positive comments. We have been very much enjoying this new tank.

Anthony


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## Sean's Ponds (Dec 3, 2015)

SeaHorse_Fanatic said:


> Clearer pics of riparium and my morning harvest of Burnaby grown peaches


Is the Peach tree your own, if so, has it been treated with insecticides? I have read dwarf shrimp love peach leaves and I am looking for some.

Cheers,
Sean


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

My garden is entirely organic. I use Neem oil to spray the citrus and rabbit compost/frozen fish "waste" (freezer burnt fish/fish guts) as my regular fertilizers. The peach trees are in my backyard, along with nectarines, apricots, plums, pears, Asian pears, persimmon, cherries, etc.


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## Sean's Ponds (Dec 3, 2015)

You might need to start an organic line of fruit tree leaves for those of us who raise shrimp.

A bit of research shows these are all great local alternatives for leaf litter as food in the shrimp tank.

Alder (leaves and cones)
Almond
Apple*
Apricot*
Ash
Banana*
Beech
Crabapple
Guava
Hibiscus
Indian Almond
Madrona
Maple
Mulberry
Oak
Peach*
Plum*
Poplar
Baby spinach
Stinging Nettles

Cheers,
Sean


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

OK, well I have:

Apple*
Apricot*
Mulberry
Peach*
Plum*
Baby spinach

These are what I grow from that list.


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## Sean's Ponds (Dec 3, 2015)

All of those would need to be brown and dried to work, (except spinach). Maybe you can place a sale ad for mixed organic shrimp leaves in the autumn?
Just a thought.

Cheers,
Sean


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

I actually collect mulberry leaves fresh, freeze them, then let them dry out crisp in an open container to feed my CRS breeding colony.


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## Newt (Jan 28, 2015)

The piece of 'branchy wood' I have...


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

PM sent.... :bigsmile:


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

Thanks newt (Christine) for the beautiful air plant and branchy wood... positioned on the right side of the refugium.


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

A few more quick smartphone shots: (btw anyone know the names of these plants, especially the red stem in the third pic and the crypt next to it?)


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

Day 9 Riparium Update. 

New green spotted puffer in pic 1. 

New Sterbai cories (from Laurie) on my fossil rock and red plants from Stuart in pic 2. 

New dome light with CFL bulb seen in pic 3.


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## Luke78 (Apr 24, 2010)

Thank you for the generous offer. I'll take you up on it. You must have an amazing back yard no doubt with what u listed here. Nice additions in your recent post. Where did u find those branches ?



SeaHorse_Fanatic said:


> Sorry Luke, we just picked, ate & shared the last of the peaches for this year on Friday. I have Green Gage plums & Santa Rosa plums, as well as Desert King & Negronne Dwarf fig trees (I have 33 fruit trees in my Burnaby backyard, 50+ Citrus, 20+ Berries) but if you come next late July/early August, I'll let you have a few Burnaby-grown peaches).
> 
> Gaia, the quails doing well but no eggs yet.
> 
> ...


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

I received two branchy pieces of wood from Newt (Christine) and bought the big branchy piece from CatfishBlues (Denis).


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## The Guy (Nov 26, 2010)

How are the Sterbai's doing in the brackish water?


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

The Guy said:


> How are the Sterbai's doing in the brackish water?


No problems at all. They are swimming around, exploring and eating pellets already. Thanks again Laurie.

Tonight I was able to drop in a large moth and video the archers shooting at the moth (but too big to completely knock down). It kept flying back up before it could hit the water. Very cool to see.


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

Tested my salinity and its just above 0.001 so VERY low salinity level. This is probably good for most of the plants and the non-traditional "brackish" fish I'm adding to the tank.

Added a breeding pair of kribensis (several other aquarists have posted success stories keeping them up to 0.005 salinity) and they are busy swimming around, looking over the tank. Staying together and not bothering any of the other fish and are being left alone as well. The kribs appear to have already chosen their own hidey-hole under a piece of wood as their new home.


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