# EvolutionZ's 2nd 1ft cube journal.



## EvolutionZ (Jul 26, 2007)

hi guys, i have ordered a 1ft cube ADA style tank from Davidsws 1 week ago.. and it came to me on saturday night.

tank specs :

30x30x30cm cube ADA Style.

lighting: 1x 36watt PL (2ft lighting on 2 1ft cubes).

substrate : bottom layer 1.5kg ADA II soil, top layer 2kg 
Dazs soil.

c02 : daily dosage of seachem excel.

ferts : none for the moment.

Flora : didiplis diandra, unknown black ground plant, spiky moss and taiwan moss.

as for ADA style, it simply mean lesser and thinner silicon.

i feel in love with the tank once i saw it!.










lets compare, both 1ft cube side by side both made by davidsws, right being the normal type and left being the ADA style.










back to my new tank, had placed in 1.5kg worth of ADA II but still not enough to even cover half of my tank.. and so i went and intend to get GeX but, i chance upon this Dazs soil and bought it.










hard scape!(those pebbles are tied with taiwan moss)










filled up with water.. and planted heavily on stem plants.










can anyone give me some advice on what plants to put in the middle between the didplis and the pebbles?










last and for all, 2 1ft cube side by side on my lower 2ft tier.










this scape is not yet settled.. might change the wood or add another piece if i can find a nicer one.

comments please.


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## EvolutionZ (Jul 26, 2007)

forgot to add that, i will get a hang on filter tomorrow and will try to fill up more plants.. do pop in for more updates



cheers!


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## foofooree (Mar 11, 2007)

that is definitely a nice tank. Where did you get your mesh material? Did you have another ADA tank?
I thought I was subscribed, but I guess not.


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## EvolutionZ (Jul 26, 2007)

thanks... that tank is a ADA style tank. kinda like a ADA replica. for the mesh, its acctually those cloth mesh used for holding filter media in your filter.


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## doubleott05 (Jul 20, 2005)

can anyone give me some advice on what plants to put in the middle between the didplis and the pebbles?

put soem bronze wendii in there or some sort of crypts that would look nice
well i think anyway


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## Joecoral (Feb 19, 2008)

I think some _Pogostemon helferi_ would look good between the rocks and the diplidis


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## EvolutionZ (Jul 26, 2007)

thanks, will consider crypts and downois.


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## jmontee (Feb 7, 2008)

Definitely second on the downois. I think the crypts would get too big. Then maybe some HC on the other side of the rocks?


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## EvolutionZ (Jul 26, 2007)

im planning on.
plant in between pebbles and didiplis = Jap hg and downoi.

plants on the back left corner = Hair grass.

plant on the front foreground = US fissiden on mesh.

and a little HC here and there, mainly beacuse im not sure if HC can survive with no other ferts. and plainly excel as co2 source.


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## foofooree (Mar 11, 2007)

EvolutionZ said:


> im planning on.
> plant in between pebbles and didiplis = Jap hg and downoi.
> 
> plants on the back left corner = Hair grass.
> ...


my hc thrived in plain river sand with only excel and iron, and I dont think that the iron was even used by this plant


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## EvolutionZ (Jul 26, 2007)

foofooree, great to hear that! will try on HC one day on my the other not scape yet tank..


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## EvolutionZ (Jul 26, 2007)

update!
japanese hair grass added.. us fissiden on mesh added.. and normal hair grass added as well.. really love my didiplis diandra!

did some cropping of pic.. really ulgy 








side view.. wood looks like a monster with mouth open:mrgreen:


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## foofooree (Mar 11, 2007)

that is gonna look amazing when the fissiden grows out!


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## EvolutionZ (Jul 26, 2007)

thanks foofooree..


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## jasonc (May 2, 2008)

Hi, EvoZ! I saw that you are using Dazs soil, I used it before, once any single step goes wrong(like over dose fertiliser), that black soil will grow a lots of algae.


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## EvolutionZ (Jul 26, 2007)

jason, that sounds bad.. anyway im not dosing any ferts.. hope mine will not have any algae breakout.


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## jasonc (May 2, 2008)

EvolutionZ said:


> jason, that sounds bad.. anyway im not dosing any ferts.. hope mine will not have any algae breakout.


After that incident, I changed to ADA aqua soil, so far so good. With fishes in the tank, actually silently dosing fertiliser, there are Nitrate(NO3) & Phosphate(PO4). Nitrate are produce from fish waste, and Phosphate are produce from rotten leaves or food waste.


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## EvolutionZ (Jul 26, 2007)

a update!
tank is 7days old.. obvious growth of didiplis diandra is noticed.. grew pretty fast as well for a low tech with only Excel.
for this tank.. till now totally no algae at all.. that is why i love low tech!
anyway.. added some long hairgrass at the back.. comments on it please.. 
(sorry for the missing US fissiden on mesh..)








didiplis diandra! my favourite stem plant.








plant ID? not much growth..








long hairgrass at the back.. the "hole" there is not filled yet..








half back dwarf/normal hairgrass.. half front japanaese hairgrass.. both no growth yet.








side view..


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## foofooree (Mar 11, 2007)

looks great, that "long" hairgrass looks weird. Is it branching at the top? I have some giant hairgrass and the "blades" are much thicker and doesnt branch out. Interesting. Will look pretty cool when it grows out!Cant wait to see that long hairgrass, looks pretty cool!


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