# 17 Gallon Cube - Office Planted Shrimp Tank



## Jimbo (Apr 23, 2013)

*DESKTOP JUNGLE - Office Planted Shrimp Tank*

*SETUP:*
Tank: 17 gallon, 40cm x 40cm x 40cm Starphire Cube with built in overflow area
Lighting: Zetlight Aqua mini with controller - Freshwater
Filtration: Back overflow area - Eheim Compact Pump 600 for return
Filter Media: Eheim matrix and substrate, purigen and filter floss
Heater: Probably no heater as my office stays the same temperature
Co2: 5lb tank, single stage hydroponics regulator, hoke needle valve, inline bubble counter and atomic diffuser (hopefully hide this in back chamber)
Substrate: ADA Aquasoil - Amazonia

*Flora:*
HC, Hemianthus callitrichoides
Christmas Moss
Staurogyne Repens
Taller background plant TBD

*Fauna:*
Various Shrimp - not too sure on variety yet
Galaxy Rasbora - if I decide to put fish in

*Fertilizers:*
I will be dosing the following from self made solutions using the EI dosing guide. 
KNO3
KH2P04
CSM +B

I bought the tank and light from Frank, aka aQ.LED, a couple of weeks ago. Everything else I basically had kicking around. I have wanted to set up something at my office for awhile now. I was originally planning on setting up a 12g long tank as I had a light for it already but this worked out much better. The tank is beautiful and I am very excited about the back overflow section. It will make the filtration very contained and make the whole thing much more compact at work. The only thing outside the tank will be the co2.

I meant to start this journal right when I started the project but I got excited and started it first. I am doing a dry start at home for a few weeks or a month before moving it to my office.

My cat checking out the tank.










She needed to test it with the light on...










Here it is right after planting:










Another angle:










It's been one week so far and it mostly looks the same. I had a bit of mold on some of the patches of HC which was annoying. I added a bit of Hydrogen Peroxide to my spray bottle and I think it's gone now. I think it'll be another week before I see any real growth. I will update as soon as there is change.

Thanks for looking!

James


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## scott tang (Jan 29, 2012)

wow nice lookin start


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## Jimbo (Apr 23, 2013)

Thanks Scott. I'm really looking forward to it all coming together.



scott tang said:


> wow nice lookin start


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## aQ.LED (Nov 13, 2012)

I have been told too much water could promote mold, maybe some other freshwater expert can confirm that


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## Pamela (Apr 21, 2010)

I love that piece of wood you have in there, it fits the tank perfectly!

Your cat is adorable too!


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## Jimbo (Apr 23, 2013)

Pamela said:


> I love that piece of wood you have in there, it fits the tank perfectly!
> 
> Your cat is adorable too!


Thanks! I'm really stoked on the piece of wood and I got it half off at IPU. Don't tell the cat that she is adorable. She has a big enough ego as it is.


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## blurry (May 10, 2010)

Which ipu did you go-to?


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## Jimbo (Apr 23, 2013)

blurry said:


> Which ipu did you go-to?


The one in Burnaby. They were having a sale on all their branched wood. I spent 40 minutes playing with it all. There was tons. That was about 2 weeks or so ago... but there was lots.


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## blurry (May 10, 2010)

How's the moss going with dsm?


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## Jimbo (Apr 23, 2013)

blurry said:


> How's the moss going with dsm?


I think it's going well moss wise. The moss is all still really green and looks good. It hasn't really shown any growth but I think it will take a bit. As long as it takes a good hold on the wood before I flood that I will be happy.

I am having a harder time with the HC though. I lost half of the patches to mold. After doing a bunch of research I think that I had it too humid inside the tank. I had it completely sealed. Apparently you need at least a corner open so there is some air exchange so that it doesn't get too humid. Now I need to decided to either leave the HC I have now and let it take ages and ages to cover, get more HC or add something else to the tank. I could put more s. repens in or add some dwarf hair grass from my big tank. I'm not really sure.


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## Jimbo (Apr 23, 2013)

*Update*

I had a difficult time with the dry start. In order for the moss to grow on the branches I had to keep the humidity in the tank super high... but when the humidity was super high, mold grew on the HC on the substrate. After about 10 days of trying to balance the two and succeeding at neither I threw in the towel. I moved the branch into my big tank to try to save some of the Christmass Moss and pulled all of the HC out. I then flooded the cube and planted a giant chunk of Dwarf Hair Grass in it instead. Once the hairgrass spreads, I will drain it and move it to my office and put the branch back in.

I lost all of my S. Repens though which was a bummer so I will probably try to get some more soon. I have an Anubias barter nana growing in my big tank which I will throw in the cube as well on the bottom of the wood when I put it back in.

On the plus side though, I scored a fantastic stand for it off craigslist. It's really good looking and is on 5 rollers underneath, so I can roll the whole thing to the sink for water changes.


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## Jimbo (Apr 23, 2013)

Well this tank has gone through some evolution. I got a hold of some nice manzanita branches and decided to try for a tree. I attached flame moss to it about a week and a half ago and it has already doubled in amount. I have 2 lights on it right now until it fills in. I am cranking the co2 and ferts to get this established and looking good. I then plan on moving it to my office and lowering the co2 and ferts and just using the one light. I am hoping for slow but stable growth once I get it set up at work. I got a piece of glass for the top so the cat would stop drinking out of it and put some lucky bamboo in the back.

I also figured my bonsai would like a little extra light.


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## Reckon (Jul 25, 2012)

Haha good use of your Glo. Also consider tying anubias to your 'tree?' You can get a leafier look from it this way


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## Jimbo (Apr 23, 2013)

Oooh that's a great idea. I am going to give that a try. Thanks!



Reckon said:


> Haha good use of your Glo. Also consider tying anubias to your 'tree?' You can get a leafier look from it this way


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## Dawna (Jul 29, 2013)

Jimbo said:


> Oooh that's a great idea. I am going to give that a try. Thanks!


God James, I seriously envy your driftwoods all the time  Geez. Let the flame moss grow and it will look awesome. Like a real tree. Some people use peacock/spiky moss too.


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## Jimbo (Apr 23, 2013)

Here is the latest picture. I think I will move it my office right after Christmas. Enjoy.


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## Reckon (Jul 25, 2012)

Looks so clean. I don't see hardware! So what are you using for filtration?


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## Jimbo (Apr 23, 2013)

Reckon said:


> Looks so clean. I don't see hardware! So what are you using for filtration?


It has a back overflow area. I have all my media, heater and co2 diffuser back behind. I also have the bamboo in there. It worked out super well. I'm really happy with it.


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## aQ.LED (Nov 13, 2012)

i hope you like both the lights you got and the tank as well =)


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## Jimbo (Apr 23, 2013)

aQ.LED said:


> i hope you like both the lights you got and the tank as well =)


I love them both. It has worked out perfect for me. Thanks again.


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## Jimbo (Apr 23, 2013)

I have finally moved this tank to my office.










I am very happy with the state of this tank. I have got the lights, co2 and ferts dialed for moderate to slow growth. Now I am agonizing about what to put in here. I could really use some help on this front. There is currently some pond snails and a couple pink ramshorns in there to keep it cycled. My original plan was to get a bunch of shrimp... but I am not sure about that now as I have never had any shrimp besides some random cherries and this tank won't be getting a ton of upkeep. I am not around very much in the summer and would like this to be able to go for a bit without work or just a little bit. I will get someone from my office to feed it for me and I premixed the ferts in little pump bottles to make it super easy.

Any suggestions would be welcome. I was half thinking about maybe a really fancy betta? I don't know where to get one though.

Thanks for looking.


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## bonsai dave (Apr 21, 2010)

Gorgeous set up .. I like the little Ficus bonsai beside the tank.


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## Reckon (Jul 25, 2012)

NICE! The hairgrass looks very clean  Pretty tough to pull that off.


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## indefine (Aug 10, 2013)

Reckon said:


> NICE! The hairgrass looks very clean  Pretty tough to pull that off.


yes i was gonna comment on that as well. very nice hairgrass! i looked back and it seems you planted these at the same time as i did yet i am not seeing the same results as you. i am winning battles with it slowly, but ongoing nonetheless.

very nice work!


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## Reckon (Jul 25, 2012)

indefine said:


> yes i was gonna comment on that as well. very nice hairgrass! i looked back and it seems you planted these at the same time as i did yet i am not seeing the same results as you. i am winning battles with it slowly, but ongoing nonetheless.
> 
> very nice work!


Share about your experience in a journal? I'm sure forum members would love to see your tank and also lend a hand with suggestions.


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## Jimbo (Apr 23, 2013)

bonsai dave said:


> Gorgeous set up .. I like the little Ficus bonsai beside the tank.


Thanks! I really like the bonsai as well. It seems to really like the extra bit of light that it gets from the LED light.



Reckon said:


> NICE! The hairgrass looks very clean  Pretty tough to pull that off.


Yeah I am really happy with the hairgrass. I struggled with it a lot more in my big tank but I stayed super on top of my co2 and ferts and it worked out well. All off the s. repens in the back is from a bit that I got from you.



indefine said:


> yes i was gonna comment on that as well. very nice hairgrass! i looked back and it seems you planted these at the same time as i did yet i am not seeing the same results as you. i am winning battles with it slowly, but ongoing nonetheless.
> 
> very nice work!


Thanks! Hairgrass is tricky and it has always been a struggle in my big tank for me... but I really like it when it works. Definitely my favorite carpet that I've used.


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## Jimbo (Apr 23, 2013)

*Update*

I have added fauna and believe this tank is basically done. I plan on letting it just chug along without much change for as long as possible.

I added:
- 3 Galaxy Rasbora
- 2 super red cherry shrimp (there were 3 but one didn't make it)
- 3 blue tiger shrimp
- 11 crystal black shrimp (five are all white)

I have the co2 pretty low and am dosing about half of EI dosing. The full light photo-period is only 6 hours long. I think I have hit a good balance with it and now just want to sit back and enjoy it. Thanks for looking.


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## Jimbo (Apr 23, 2013)

It's been a few months now. The tank is still doing well. Not as great as I would like but well enough considering the small amount of time I've had to take care of it. There are some cherry shrimp in there now as well as a couple of rasboras that are always hiding.

I am considering taking the moss tree out as it has been difficult to keep it clean and it grows pretty quick and over shadows a lot of the tank. I might sell it and try to get a few different stem plants. Ideally some with a bit of color and let it get really bushy.

Let me know if you are interested in the tree or have some stem plants that would be good for this little guy. Thanks for looking.


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## Reckon (Jul 25, 2012)

I'm heading out of town but perhaps when I'm back I'll have some for you to try: Alternanthera sp. mini, Rotala Mini Butterfly stand out as a couple good options. Otherwise, you can also stack some rocks in the back, fill the cracks with substrate and plant with Downoi, Hemianthus Micranthemoides, etc.


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## Jimbo (Apr 23, 2013)

Reckon said:


> I'm heading out of town but perhaps when I'm back I'll have some for you to try: Alternanthera sp. mini, Rotala Mini Butterfly stand out as a couple good options. Otherwise, you can also stack some rocks in the back, fill the cracks with substrate and plant with Downoi, Hemianthus Micranthemoides, etc.


Haha I was definitely thinking of you when it comes to some new plants. I'm out of town for the next couple of weeks as well but maybe when your back I get get some plants from you.


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## Momobobo (Sep 28, 2010)

The tank looks great! Great carpet and tree...tempted to go back into planted. If you end up selling the moss tree let me know, my girlfriend wanted one for her Flora but could never find a suitable branch.


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## Jimbo (Apr 23, 2013)

Momobobo said:


> The tank looks great! Great carpet and tree...tempted to go back into planted. If you end up selling the moss tree let me know, my girlfriend wanted one for her Flora but could never find a suitable branch.


I am going to get rid of the tree. I want to do something different. I am not sure if it would fit in a flora though... it's pretty big.


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## effox (Apr 21, 2010)

Looks good, huge fan of the dwarf grass.


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## UnderseaGal (Mar 4, 2014)

Tank looks fantastic! 
Too bad you don't see the rasboras much. I heard they can be shy.


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## Jimbo (Apr 23, 2013)

It's been a long time since I've updated. The summer is my super busy time as I run summer camps so this tank got neglected pretty badly. It got super overgrown and had really bad BBA. So I stripped it down and took out 80% of the plant matter. In doing so though, I stirred it up so much that I got a huge green water bloom. I don't have a UV sterilizer anymore so my options are pretty limited. I considered trying to black it out but a lot of people have told me that it will run it's course if I just leave it. There is a finite amount of extra nutrients in the water and in theory it should consume them all and then get better. We'll see.

It's been a week so far and it still looks the same.


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