My 60G(227L) Cube Adventure

Hey everybody. So in this thread I'll be keeping a record of the progress of my newest 60G Cube tank. The tank size is 24 x 24 x 24 inches or 61 x 61 x 61 cm.

It has a fluval 406 hooked up, and I think I need to make a spray bar to get the same flow but lower current on the stage left side of the tank. I have two marineland advanced LED strips for the lighting.

Here is the empty tank:


Here is with the substrate added:


Here it is with the stone:


Then finally planted:




I have baby tears and pygmy chain swords as the foreground, moneywort, java ferns, some AR and a mystery leafy bush plant as the midground, then wisteria and jungle val in the background. The stone I chose to use was seiryu stone. The substrate for the plants is Fluval shrimp & plant, and then pool filter sand is used underneath the high area of that along with some bricks for height, and more PFS in the middle area and inside the cave.

Also some of you might be interested to know this is my first aquascaped tank where we actually planned it out, and put effort into it. In my 55G we just kinda picked live plants out randomly and placed them in the sand.

This week I should be good to add the first fish, I am pretty set on starting with some Peacock Gudeons but we will see what happens.

I love the look of the aquascaped tank. 

Great choice of fish. My LFS has some in stock and I'd like some myself, but my water is too hard for them. 

Also, make sure your lid is tight fitting. Peacocks and Pseudomugils are excellent jumpers!

Love the tank  And I agree that peacock gudgeons/gobies are lovely fish - I have 5.

One tip for you. These fish like to spawn in very small caves, the smaller the better. If you could construct something about 2 inches long and less than one inch wide, they'd like that. Last time I had them years ago I had a small terracotta plant pot upside down so the only access was the hole in the bottom of the pot, which was now uppermost. The pot was an inch across at the opening and maybe 1.25 inches top to bottom. They ignored all the nice caves I put in and spawned in the plant pot. How two of them fit inside I don't know but they managed it.

 

Sadly, even if I did, my water isn't suitable for these fish, so I'd have to go down the route of RO water, which I'm trying to avoid. I'm trying to stick with fish that are more suitable for my parameters, than changing my parameters to make them suitable for the fish.

I'm trying to be good and I haven't made any expensive purchases  as I'm trying to wait until my large tanks are delivered. I really must chase those up as it shoud be this month.

I am starting to get withdrawal sysmptoms though. 

@Andy the minion I admit that several months ago I started to upgrade my tanks and went with various size Aqua Oak tanks. The final order was 2 Aqua Oak 150cm (AQ150D) tanks, which I'm expecting to hear about quite soon. They are for either side of the fireplace. One is for housing all 6 of my axolotls (now that they have all matured into males), and the other is going to be a river tank.
The past few months have involved moving around tanks and furniture to allow for the upgrades, which is why I changed my signature. 
I have also been purchasing the external filters, lights etc. ready for when the tanks are delivered.

I'll post pictures as I'm setting the tanks up.