# 25g Cube Journal



## jessesparks

*25g Cube - Planted Tank Journal*

First ever journal in this hobby after having a number of tanks. I try my best to run a high tech setup and it will be fun to finally document a tank from start to finish. In this scape I'm using black lava rock, manzanita wood for hardscape, la plata sand and tropica soil for substrate. Livestock includes Ember tetra's, Harlequin rasbora's, Oto's, Amano shrimp, and Fire red shrimp. I'd appreciate any comments!

25g Seapora Cube tank
Eheim 2213 filter
10lb Co2 setup
Eheim 350 skimmer
Chihiros 45cm RGB LED

Plants:
Monte Carlo
Rotala H'ra
Rotala Green
AR Mini
Dwarf Hairgrass
Staurogyne Repens
Hygrophila Pinnatifida
Bolbitus
Trident Java Fern
Mini Pelia
Anubias Petite
Various Bucephalandra

Scape #1 2018


Some things I learned from this scape
- I only have 18x18x18 to work with so large or long growing plants overpower and throw off sense of scale
- Especially had problems with the Needle leaf java fern growing too long, reaching the glass then growing upwards 
- Christmas & Pinna sort of created a canopy at the top of the tank and blocked too much light

Scape #2 2019
The tear down


Clean & ready to go


Wood & rocks in


Zips & substrate in


Day 1: 


Day 35:


Day 52:


Day 64:


Day 77:


Day 130:



Day 326:










Some thoughts after..
- First time using tissue culture plants, the quality and quantity is amazing
- Need to work on the right side as some eggcrate is still visible
- Might add more small rocks + christmas moss to fill in


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## LaceyRen

Looks amazing!! Very professionally done, like it should be in those aquascape contests. More close shots from different angles?

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk


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## vraev

Beautiful shots Jesse. Love the new scape. What happened to all the H. pinnatafida? Man...the stuff I got from you is alive..but really slow growing. I guess I cannot judge it properly until I get my CO2 system sorted out.


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## jessesparks

LaceyRen said:


> Looks amazing!! Very professionally done, like it should be in those aquascape contests. More close shots from different angles?
> 
> Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk


I'll post some different angles and a one week progress pic tomorrow, thank you!



vraev said:


> Beautiful shots Jesse. Love the new scape. What happened to all the H. pinnatafida? Man...the stuff I got from you is alive..but really slow growing. I guess I cannot judge it properly until I get my CO2 system sorted out.


Sold some, but I added around 4 little pieces to the top of the driftwood in the new scape so it will be back. Once you have co2 dialed in you should see great growth, becomes a weed once established and starts shooting runners out. One of my favourite plants for sure.


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## jessesparks

Day 7 FTS



Corner Angle



Side Angle



One week of growth on the TC Rotala Green, H'ra & AR Mini




-Somehow had a massive die off of the Fire red neo's, was scooping a couple out every morning. Fish and Amano's are perfectly normal..
-Been doing 50% water changes every 2/3 days
-Trying a different co2 diffuser and flow pattern by moving the lily pipes and skimmer position
-Bumped up the light one intensity setting higher


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## jessesparks

The tank at 19 days:



Everything is going well throughout the tank and I haven't had anymore shrimp deaths lately. All the stems got there first trim yesterday at around 2-4 inches to throw out double shoots and start creating the back bush. The H'ra is starting to show some yellow/pink colours and I replanted some trimmings to fill in any empty gaps. Now we wait..

I don't think I was getting the best co2 diffusion throughout the tank so I moved the diffuser to under the eheim filter inflow. Getting much better diffusion and seeing improved pearling which is a great sign. Don't know if this affects the filter in anyway but it does sort of burp every hour to let out excess gases. Anyway we'll see how it goes since its showing better results then blowing the bubbles around the tank. Really interested in setting up a co2 reactor of some sort in the future..





Hygrophila pinnatifida growing well + shrimp photobomb



Bolbitus sending out tons of new fronds 10+



Shoutout to some good looking nerite snails


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## jessesparks

Full Tank Friday update:



Tank is now 35 days old and the plants continue to grow well. Starting to see some nice green dust algae on some of the rocks and wood, I personally like the look as it gives it a more mature feel. Replaced the trident java fern with christmas moss and took out most of the srepens because it's the one plant that doesn't grow quite right for me. Monte carlo is spreading, stems are getting some height.. Pinnatifida kind of exploded and it's also growing much larger leaves compared to when I used it in my previous scape. Guess it has more room to grow so it's taking full advantage.

Only problem i'm having is BBA starting to grow on most of the slow growers.. Going to be removing all affected leaves and double up on waterchanges for a couple weeks. Lily pipes need a clean this week too.

Will post more shots this weekend.


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## jessesparks

So I broke my lily pipe inflow while cleaning today.. Thankfully it was at the tip where the inflow slits are so I attached a sponge and it still works for now. Co2 diffusion might even be better as no bubbles whatsoever get by and float to the top, all get pulled into the sponge+inflow.

Side Angle:



A couple buce flowers



Monte carlo starting to drape down the rocks



Anyone know what these lines are in the H'ra leaves?


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## Ciddian

Beautiful! Its really growing in so nicely!


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## jessesparks

Some critter shots:







Heavily cropped in just using a 50mm lens.


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## vraev

Those are some great shots. Thanks for sharing.


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## jessesparks

Just got back from a week long trip..

Things have grown in a little more, and so has some algae. Did a minor trim removing decaying/bba leaves, a 50% waterchange and 2 days later did a 90% waterchange with a little h202 spray action. The bba had started to grow on some of the wood/rock surfaces and even on individual grains of sand. It's not too bad but i'll keep my eye on it.


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## gtgwin

looks great! I like the choice of plants with small leaves.


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## jessesparks

vraev said:


> Those are some great shots. Thanks for sharing.





gtgwin said:


> looks great! I like the choice of plants with small leaves.


Thanks guys!


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## vraev

Looking great man.


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## jessesparks

Stems are starting to look great after the trim last week.



- Bought 7 more ember tetras to add to the shoal
- Bought 2 SAE's to help out with minor algae



Some examples of the bba thats growing currently. I'm confident with the hydrogen peroxide/SAE combo i'll have it knocked back eventually. Already seeing slight improvements.


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## jessesparks

2 month update:

- Recently upgraded my regulator and purchased a Co2Art Pro series model

In the past I bought 2 atomizer diffusers which require a higher psi to function (30+). Funny thing is I didn't know that at the time of purchase and could never use them as my old regulator only went up to 16 psi. It's also my first time using a regulator that has a solenoid. My old one didn't have one so I just ran co2 24/7, never really had any problems but you could hear the co2 diffuser at night when everything else was quiet. The solenoid also helps me preserve the co2 big time as it currently only runs 9ish hours vs 24 hours.

- Finally getting some colour to show from the Rotala H'ra
- Moved a bunch of the buce/anubias from the front rock to the shaded rock 
- I've seen a few CPD fry throughout the tank and have a couple berried shrimp
- BBA is showing up less
- Updated the first post of this journal to include all the FTS progress shots


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## jessesparks

Buddy gave me a freebie crown of Downoi to try. First time ever growing it, let's see how it does.



Mini Pelia is such a cool moss(technically not a moss but a liverwort)





Plus some Amano shrimp snaps


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## jessesparks

Rotala finally grew to the water surface..

Time for a big trim tomorrow, planning on cutting all of the rotala to the ground and just replanting the tops. Not too happy with how the rotala green turned out. I think that it got shadowed a bit by the h'ra and was stunted after multiple trimmings. Going to change it up and put the h'ra in front and green in back. Come to the conclusion that this light is not strong enough to turn the h'ra to a dark red. I thought it would as it got closer to the surface but it's stubborn and is still yellow/orange/pink/red. Might add my other chihiros led light and use it as a 2-3 hour burst of high light as it's the plus version and has a way higher output. Just don't want any more algae on my anubias leaves..

SAE's seem to be knocking out the bba except for on grains of sand or on the driftwood/mini pelia at water level. It's funny because I moved some mini pelia with bba from there to lower on the front rock and they ate that right up. Also added a couple stems of blyxa to try out a midground plant between the hairgrass and rotala.


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## jessesparks

Tank after trimming/replanting tops of all the rotala(first time replanting tops). Somehow the rotala h'ra is looking more red after and the rotala green is showing some pink/orange coloured tips. Strange since they're way further from the light.. Tissue cultures just maturing more?





Side view of the tank including some Ar mini, christmas moss and nerite snail eggs.


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## jessesparks

Day 1 vs Day 92



Not the greatest quality but it's awesome to see big growth from the mini pelia and other slow growers. The explosion of pinnatifida and monte carlo is so satisfying to watch.. All the stems have had multiple trims throughout the tanks life by now and are not at peak height/shape currently.


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## jessesparks

4.5 month update:

Had a wonderful time moving this tank downstairs to have the carpets redone and then move it back afterwards.. Thankfully I was able to drain the water down to a couple inches and just pick it up. Lost a couple shrimp and fish but it went smoother then expected. Also was able to upgrade my filter from the Eheim 2213 to the 2215 for more flow.

Current inhabits include:

4 CPD's
2 SAE's
2 Ember tetras
Amano/Cherry shrimp
1 Nerite snail

Tank is kind of on autopilot and doesn't require much attention. Just a trim here and there, some feeding and water changes. Thinking about a rescape in a month or two and getting a new school of nano fish.


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## vraev

Looking fantastic man. Good job


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## jessesparks

7th month update:

The scape is doing great but has gone through some minor changes..

I ended up removing all the stems so maintenance would be easier on me as the summer gets super busy. In replace of the stems I split all my blyxa plants and created a super blyxa field, might look cool once filled in fully? I ripped out all of the thick overgrown monte carlo and planted some small plugs which are beginning to fill in a small area on the left. The bolbitus has been producing larger leaves/rhizome and was overshadowing the monte carlo/everything else below it so things had to move around. Now the only thing under it is mini pelia/anubias/buce. I love the bolbitus but unfortunately my tank is too small for its mature leaf size, constant trimming and it's leaves are still hitting the glass so it could be replaced sometime soon. Other then that, everything is growing pretty smoothly and the tank has no problems.


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## gtgwin

Awesome work!


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## ksimdjembe

This is a beautiful tank! Great work!


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## jessesparks

Quick snaps from this morning..

Mini pelia vs Pelia



Anubias breaking through the moss



Amano action


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## jessesparks

9 month update:

Things are mostly good, all plants growing as expected except the blyxa/downoi. The blyxa is definitely sending out more offshoots and becoming thicker but not growing taller as I was hoping for unfortunately. The downoi is just stunted and barely growing, maybe it was planted in a bad location, no idea. A month ago I ended up getting rid of my SAE since he was attacking and eating the cherry shrimp on a regular basis. As that happened BBA started to pop up in places and it's currently a little pain in the ass. Haven't done much to counteract but trim off infected leaves/waterchange/clean filter. I had a suspicion it could have been the co2 so it was fine tuned today as well as adding a new SAE to tackle the problem. Might use some H202 spray if it gets worse but hope not..

Added a Dwarf lotus in the back corner for some variety and pop in colour. Hoping it sends out some taller leaves soon..




























Added 17 Emerald Dwarf Rasbora. A very pretty nano fish, very similar to CPD but even more shy/skittish. They have a cool tiger stripe pattern on their sides with a black dot on the tail fin.


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## jessesparks

Tank is now 1 year and 2 weeks old. Last pics of the tank, rescape coming soon..


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## vraev

Looks fantastic man. Love the mini Pellia.


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## cb1021

Incredible.


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## hendy8888

jessesparks said:


> Tank is now 1 year and 2 weeks old. Last pics of the tank, rescape coming soon..


Love both your scapes, can't wait to see the next one! Makes me want to setup a nano tank of some sort, really looks smaller than 25g. (which I like)


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## jessesparks

New scape planted on Feb. 20, 2020

Plants used:

- Downoi
- Anubias Petite
- Pinnatifida
- Mini Buce 
- Littorella Uniflora
- Hygrophila Araguaia
- Pogostemon Erectus

All plants we're tropica tissue culture's excluding the epiphytes & pogo. Using littorella as my carpeting plant, I don't know if it's new/rare or what but i've never really seen it around the forum or used in any scapes recently. Cool looking thick grassy plant, interested to see how it does. Still have to add 2 pots of weeping moss and i'll be set.

The lava rock definitely has a more reddish tint while underwater which is meh but should look better once aged a little more+moss.

What school of nano fish to add.....?


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## planter

Really nice work. Every time I see a planted cube tank like this I feel tempted to set one up


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## jessesparks

2.5 weeks in..

All stock is now in which includes:

- 14 Emerald Eye Rasbora
- 3 Celestial Pearl Danio
- 1 Otto
- 2 Amano Shrimp
- 50 Fire Red Shrimp

Decided against adding nerite snails as I don't want any white eggs on my rocks.

Added weeping moss/mini pelia to the rocks. Most of the anubias petite melted away but other than that all plants are looking good. No algae/diatoms as of yet..







Closeup of the carpeting plant Littorella Uniflora. Similar look/length to dwarf hairgrass but has a thicker/tubular stalk and sort of reminds me of a succulent. Waiting for it to take off..


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## cb1021

Photographic production is wonderful. Amazing.


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## littletnklvr

I really miss my planted tank, just decided to go back to planted from marine, thanks for the inspiration!


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## jessesparks

littletnklvr said:


> I really miss my planted tank, just decided to go back to planted from marine, thanks for the inspiration!


No worries, enjoy!


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## jessesparks

AI Prime from above


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## iamaloner

How's the foreground looking these days?

Sent from my SM-G955W using Tapatalk


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## jessesparks

iamaloner said:


> How's the foreground looking these days?
> 
> Sent from my SM-G955W using Tapatalk


The scape at 8 weeks, pretty much at its peak before some new plants arrive and some things get switched out and around.









Plants that are on their way..


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## gtgwin

Really enjoy your updates!

Why not use an inline CO2 diffuser? One less piece of equipment in the tank.


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## jessesparks

gtgwin said:


> Really enjoy your updates!
> 
> Why not use an inline CO2 diffuser? One less piece of equipment in the tank.


I actually have one but haven't set it up yet. Coming soon..


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## vraev

Looks fantastic man. Great job.


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## cb1021

I wish you can come setup and maintain a tank for me. I don't have time but do appreciate the art of aquascaping.


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## jessesparks

Minor renovations include:

• Removed Litorella carpet and replaced with Glossostigma
• Pulled up all Hygrophilia and replaced half with Ranunculus papulentus, replanted the tops of the other half
• Pulled up all Pogostemon and replaced half with Rotala colorata, replanted the tops of the other half
• Trimmed mosses & pinntatifida


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## cb1021

Fucking insane....


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## jessesparks

Scape is just over 3 months old..

It's been around 1 month since planting the glosso/rotala colorata/ranunculus tissue cultures. Everything is filling in and we're pretty much at full glosso coverage. The plan tonight includes cleaning glass, water change, doing a large trim of everything and ripping out the Araguaia to be replaced with two varieties of erio to try out for the first time. I have a tissue culture cup of Eriocaulon King Crimson and one Eriocaulon Cinereum from a fellow hobbyist.


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## characinfan

Beautiful!


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## jessesparks

Tank update:


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## jessesparks

2021 update:









Rescape soon and possibly upgrading to a larger cube, 33g maybe. For hardscape i've recently acquired a massive malaysian driftwood stump and a bunch of black lava rock, so now to start playing around and make something.


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