Journal

[planter]

Well I said i would post some pics of my go at the Nano so here they are! I only post them in an effort to put something back into the forum that has helped me so much. I was inspired by 'Moody' and his Tropica Aquacube and decided to try and do something similar on a budget. The tank (£4.95) is SMALL - 10cmx10cmx15cm (approx.) At the time of taking these pictures the tank is 24 hours old and ive planted with HC,HM and a few stems of Rotala Willichi (taken from my other tank) Link to other journal here!

Ive used a natural gravel with a sprinkle of Laterite for substrate, and am using a Nutrafin Co2 reactor with my own (or someone else's ) yeast formula. The Nutrafin diffusor is about twice the size of the tank so I purhcased a glass/ceramic Nano diffusor (this thing is awesome!). 20 watt Halogen Lighting is courtesy of IKEA (£5) and the filter is an Aquaone clearview 100 (throttled down) so its fingers crossed now and hope it all goes well. I'll keep you all posted!

Better get down to IKEA Gnatfish!!!

 

[Gnatfish]

Ooo nice!

You gonna do anything hardscape wise?

I need to go lots of places, i need to re-do all my tanks and possible start up a 3ft planted. Except hi-tech stuff costs a fortune.

Keep up the good work!

EDIT: You've it seen now, no point taking up your thread.

 

[Fwapp]

Oooooh.. nice!

Where did you get the tank from? Or is it a very clear vase? Also, although it's very small, are you going to put any livestock in it?

I think I just cleared a space on my desk at work!

 

[planter]

No plans to add fish!! (a bit too small) and yes its just a clear vase the kind you find in Homebase/Ikea!

 

[Graeme Edwards]

What th!! Is that my cube Ahhh no, its planters cube

If this is an experiment then thats good, if not then i would say some hard-scape materials are needed.
Think about the size of the leaves on the plants you want to use and if they are to scale with the size of you scape.

Your going to need to do very regular water changes at least every 3rd day.

What are you using for liquide fertilizers??

I changed the filtration in the filter ( I have the same one as you ) in order of filtration 1) very wide gage sponge just buy the outlet from the impeller 2) fine sponge 3) small amount of filter wool 4) small squares of carbon filter pad ( the type for the new internal fluvel filters ) 5) then on the other side of the plastic devide i used mature bio media which is SERA syporax, you could use the ehime bio ball ect.

Regards Graeme.

 

[planter]

lol . If my cube turns out half as good as yours moody ill be over the moon! This really is just a bit of fun and as soon as i find some nice bits small enough i think i will hard scape in some form. It all kinda happened very quickly as my LFS were almost too effecient at getting me the HC. It turned up earlier than expected so its been a bit of a rush job but who knows what it might develope into as I cant resist tinkering along the way Very much an experiment Just wanna learn as i go. If nothing else it might stop me fiddling (and ruining) with my other tank. I have already removed the carbon cartridge that came in the filter and added some filter wool. The tank was filled from my main tank which is dosed with PN+ i guess ill carry on with that.

 

[planter]

I havent updated here for a while for the simple reason ....... I failed miserably !!
The algae got hold and was just uncontrolable. So feeling a little defeated I left the Nano alone for a while................ However ............. Ive since re done it and am having another go! I have already expierienced algae problems but am changing water much more frequently and trying to keep on top of it. I think the 1 litre of water is just proving too difficult hats off to you NANO guys! Im gonna go up in size a bit and gonna get me a Aquacube 25 ( hopefully next week) to see if I fair a bit better with the increased volume. Anyway heres some pics of the 1 litre cube looking o.k! Thanks for reading!

 

[Graeme Edwards]

Nice one planter.

Its the water changes and your Co2 that you need to keep a head of. Over dosing Co2 insnt a problem with not having any fish or shrimps. Water change should only take about 2 min with your nano, have some water already in a bucket, an empty bucket for the dirty water and a length of low diameter hose to syphon out the water, done and dusted in a matter of minuets.

Perhaps try just growing a riccia and moss nano and put more emphasis on the hardscape like your stone and wood.

R,
Graeme.

 

[planter]

thanks Moody!

Co2 is running in 24/7 via the hagen nutrafin unit fitted with a glass/ceramic diffuser. Water changes i have to confess are probobly the issue. When i have changed water ive used water from my larger tank do you think this might be a problem i noticed in a thread somewhere you was using tap water! my tap water is hard and alkaline though. I get RO once a week from my LFS for my Main tank guess its just a matter of storing some and keeping it to hand! the Riccia has gone beserk since taking the pics above but ive had to remove the Hm because it suffered again with algae! will keep you posted.

 

[Graeme Edwards]

Your not really adding fresh water into the nano.
My water is also very hard, i get a lime build up around the tops of my tank. I use dechlorinated tap water and its fine.
Why not have a 50/50 mix of your tap( dechlorinated!) and RO in the bucket or water container ready for when you do the water changes.

Master the nano and anything is possible

 

[Themuleous]

Looks quality that tank and I'm very jealous of that rock, exactly want I'm looking for!

Sam

 

[planter]

Looks quality that tank and I'm very jealous of that rock, exactly want I'm looking for!

Sam

Wish i could tell you what the rock is called sam but its just one rock I found amongst a huge crate of asstd rock at my LFS. Its a little big for my tiny nano but I like it!

 

[Themuleous]

Oh well gonna go on a rock finding mission sometime to see what I can find, but cheers all the same BTW where you at? Which shop was it?

Sam