# 6 gallon rimless cave tank



## ianiwane (May 6, 2005)

I have been wanting to do this for a while. This is a rimless 6 gallon tank. Substrate is ADA amazonia regular and ADA Bright sand. I also use Ohko stones. Lighting is a 28 watt coralife aqualight 10,000k bulb. Cave is made out of steel mesh encased with waterfall foam. I am planning on putting some Apistogramma Borelli's into this tank. The dimensions of the tank is 18x8x10.



















Tank on initial fill after planting









Picture inside the cave









Final after running a diatom filter for about 20 minutes


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## mrbelvedere138 (Jan 18, 2006)

Ian, that might be one of the coolest things I have ever seen. Very original and unique. You must have a lot of time on your hands. Are you planning on breeding your apistos, or just keeping them? Are you experienced in breeding? If so I suggest A. nijsenni (sp.). Those are really challenging and rewarding (so says my friend).


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## ianiwane (May 6, 2005)

Well, I only work like 3-4 days a week. I had today off so I went into Aqua Forest, got some ohko stone and ada Bright sand. This whole process took a couple of months to set up and to get all the supplies. 


mrbelvedere138 said:


> Ian, that might be one of the coolest things I have ever seen. Very original and unique. You must have a lot of time on your hands. Are you planning on breeding your apistos, or just keeping them? Are you experienced in breeding? If so I suggest A. nijsenni (sp.). Those are really challenging and rewarding (so says my friend).


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## jeff63851 (Feb 23, 2005)

Wow...I have agree, it is pretty orginal! I never thought of that! One thing though: How will you clean the inside of the cave? (ex: fish detritus, plant junk...)


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## ianiwane (May 6, 2005)

I have a mini pump in the cave that i can turn on as needed to stir up the detritus so the HOB filter can pick it up.


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## T-Bone (Nov 23, 2005)

That is really cool. The pump inside the cave is a pretty good idea, I didn't see it before either. That tank will be really fun to observe. Keep us posted!


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## ianiwane (May 6, 2005)

Will do, I'll post more pictures as the tank matures.


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## dpgibb0 (Mar 7, 2006)

Well????


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

Very cool!... How did I miss this one the first time around... _Do you have any updated pictures?... Have the Apisto's breed for you?_


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

Fantastic! Very imaginative! :thumbsup:


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## ianiwane (May 6, 2005)

Here is an update. I just have some baby Borelli's in the tank right now. I have at least 10 in there. The biggest being just short of an inch. I have not been able to take any recent pictures as I am trying to beat a case of thread algae.


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## ianiwane (May 6, 2005)

repost


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## Musket (Jun 7, 2006)

it's coming along. Hope your thread algae problem is a thing of the past. Let us see some more pix... Can you easily see inside the cave during the day? I think my lobster would LOVE that.


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## ianiwane (May 6, 2005)

Here is a better idea of what it looks like, I just did a large trim. The cave is visable durring the day.


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## Tankman (Feb 19, 2006)

Your foreground's interesting, Pogostemon Helferi, HC and etc's looking gr8... Can't wait till your background fills out  Btw, hope you don't mind me saying but do you think the red stem plant on the extreme left's a little large for this tank... Just a thought, that's all


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## eklikewhoa (Jul 24, 2006)

this is freakin cool!!


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## ianiwane (May 6, 2005)

I took the tank down to pave way for the new ADA tank. Someday I may set it back up, when I do I'll need to use a better filter. It did not do a good enough job.


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## lljdma06 (Sep 11, 2005)

What a clever idea! The cave looks great. Are there updated pictures?


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## Andrey (Nov 5, 2004)

Nice, I like it a lot.


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## ianiwane (May 6, 2005)

lljdma06 said:


> What a clever idea! The cave looks great. Are there updated pictures?


Look one post above, your post. I broke it down. But I put something better in its place.


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## dgaddis1 (Aug 14, 2006)

Can we get some more info on the foam used to make the cave? Like a brand name, and what all went into building it (did you paint it?). I really like it, and I think it looks like something that could be used to make a background....


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## ianiwane (May 6, 2005)

not sure on the brand, but I got it from aquatic-eco.com just search for waterfall foam. I did not paint it the foam is black.


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