Mikes P F K Nano

[mlawson]

I thought I'd do a late journal on my PFK nano, everyone must be getting sick of them now!

Well mine is about 6 weeks old.

Lighting: 11 watt tube making roughly 2wpg.
Substrate: Florabase with silica sand at the front.
Filter: Azoo hang-on filter.
Heater: Elite 100 watt.
CO2: Nutrafin yeast based CO2 system, backed up with Flourish excel.
Fertilisers: Lots of stuff. Seachem Fundamentals and Enhancers range aswell as some dry ferts from Aqua essentials. There are some of ferts too.
Water Chemistry: pH - 7, GH 10 part rainwater. CO2 - 22ppm.
Plants: Hemianthus micranthemoides, Hemianthus callichtroides, Pogostemon helferi.
Inhabitants: 5 Amano shrimp (Long term), 2 guppy fry (Short term, they went into the shrimp bag at my LFS accidentally), 2 very old WCMM's (Short term)

Today I have been experimenting with my picture taking. I took all the equipment out and I've tried 3 different backgrounds.

1st. Blue background:

2nd. Black background. Sorry pictures a bit slanted:

3rd. White background (With lighting behind). Sorry pictures a bit slanted :

And what it looks like normally:

As you can see I need a bit of help with my camera work, I didn't know how to adjust the settings on the camera because it is my Dads camera, my one broke. I'm also unsure on which background is best.

The tank needs a lot more growth, I want the HM at the back to grow more but most of its only been there for a week and some since yesterday. You can see in this pic, the new HM on the left and the old HM on the right.

I think the growth is good considering there is only 11watt, but the HC is begining to catch up some algae. The Amano shrimp are good algae eaters however.

One thing I want to change are the rocks, these I just ones I collected from my garden. I ordered some mini landscape rocks from AE but the turned out to be too large. I want something similar to them, but simply smaller.

Well, I'm sorry it's yet another PFK cube!

Any advice, opinions and critisism are strongly welcomed.

Cheers,
Mike

 

[Dave Spencer]

That is a nice liitle set up. The greens against the blue background looks great IMO, I have given it a go myself.

The rocks are pretty good, but you are in danger of losing a couple of them in the undergrowth. Is your HC carpetting OK under those light levels?

Dave.

 

[mlawson]

That is a nice liitle set up. The greens against the blue background looks great IMO, I have given it a go myself.

I also quite like the blue background, and it's the easiest one, for my room is blue! (I hate the colour now, but loved it when I was 6)

The rocks are pretty good, but you are in danger of losing a couple of them in the undergrowth.

Yes, that is one problem I've had, infact 2 rocks are no longer visible. I think I need some larger ones but the mini landscape rocks are too large.

Is your HC carpetting OK under those light levels?

I must admit, the growth is slow and it probably isn't as green as it could be, but it's still done OK considering I only used 2 plant pots and I didn't plant it perfectly either, in bunches rather than each bit individually. I might uprgrade with another 11watt arc pod as well.

Cheers,
Mike

 

[lljdma06]

I like the white background, actually. Had to turn my head a little, but I think there's a certain drama to that background. The water looks greenish with the black background, something to watch for. 11W ain't a lot of light to be frank. You're getting good growth, though. That's a testament to CO2 injection in lower light systems, you get growth that you otherwise wouldn't get. The algae concerns me a little and you may want to float some hardys in the tank until the tank is a little older. I wish I had some of the little plants that you guys get. Truely an amazing selection. You make my green thumbs twitch.

I have important criticism. I don't like WCMM in a tank that size. As much as I overstock and advocate fish in nanos, if properly cared for, you have to draw the line somewhere. WCMM need a lot more swimming space (at least 10g, a 15g long is best) and a lot more numbers (at least 6, preferably 8-10), IMO and you're going to get slammed by judges if you enter this into a competition. Remember, fish selection in aquascaping is almost as important as plant selection and arrangement. A poor choice can ruin a scape. Last year in ADA, several beautiful tanks were slammed for this, including one that I thought the scaping was stunning, but said person put 2-3 hengel or espei rasboras (a nearly 2 inch fish) in a 3g. A better fish for you would be a micro-rasbora species, especially with the delicacy of your scape. Go for Boraras brigittae or maculatus, a much better choice, and you'll be able to get at least six for your tank, as they produce a lot less waste than WCMM. The little rasbora in George's nano is another excellent choice for your system. Keep the shrimp, they are fine.

Sorry for the criticism. Otherwise the tank looks great. Keep up the good work.

llj

 

[mlawson]

I like the white background, actually. Had to turn my head a little, but I think there's a certain drama to that background. The water looks greenish with the black background, something to watch for. 11W ain't a lot of light to be frank. You're getting good growth, though. That's a testament to CO2 injection in lower light systems, you get growth that you otherwise wouldn't get. The algae concerns me a little and you may want to float some hardys in the tank until the tank is a little older. I wish I had some of the little plants that you guys get. Truely an amazing selection. You make my green thumbs twitch.

Yes, my favourite backgrounds were the Blue and white backgrounds, although I think I could improve it a little because at the moment it's just an A4 peice of paper. I've decided I'm going to add the 11watt arc pod, I'm not making any mistakes with this tank, I want a good carpet of HC.

I have important criticism. I don't like WCMM in a tank that size. As much as I overstock and advocate fish in nanos, if properly cared for, you have to draw the line somewhere. WCMM need a lot more swimming space (at least 10g, a 15g long is best) and a lot more numbers (at least 6, preferably 8-10), IMO and you're going to get slammed by judges if you enter this into a competition. Remember, fish selection in aquascaping is almost as important as plant selection and arrangement. A poor choice can ruin a scape. Last year in ADA, several beautiful tanks were slammed for this, including one that I thought the scaping was stunning, but said person put 2-3 hengel or espei rasboras (a nearly 2 inch fish) in a 3g. A better fish for you would be a micro-rasbora species, especially with the delicacy of your scape. Go for Boraras brigittae or maculatus, a much better choice, and you'll be able to get at least six for your tank, as they produce a lot less waste than WCMM. The little rasbora in George's nano is another excellent choice for your system. Keep the shrimp, they are fine.

Sorry for the criticism. Otherwise the tank looks great. Keep up the good work.

llj

Dont worry, the WCMM's are purely temporary. If you look at the top of the thread it says 'short term'. My filter broke (well it didn't break, but got severely clogged up for 4 days without me noticing) in a 70 litre, 7 died, so I had no choice but to put them in here. My Community tanks are just too warm for these fish. These are the last left from my origional breeding stock, I used to breed them regulary and give the fry off to the LFS, now they are very old and fragile. I should be giving them to my LFS this Tuesday if all goes well, so this is just a temporary measure.

I was not considering keeping this fish at all in this tank, nor even the guppy fry, infact I hate guppies! They will all go back to my LFS. I was actually considering keeping Boraras maculatus or ember tetras, I'm still not sure. The one in Georges tank were nice and I think they suite this aquascape, so I'll see.

Cheers,
Mike

 

[Castellop123]

Cheers...

 

[mlawson]

These are the last left from my origional breeding stock, I used to breed them regulary and give the fry off to the LFS, now they are very old and fragile. I should be giving them to my LFS this Tuesday if all goes well, so this is just a temporary measure.

My filter broke (well it didn't break, but got severely clogged up for 4 days without me noticing) in a 70 litre, 7 died, so I had no choice but to put them in here.

Almost the same thing happened to me, but I did not keep and breed WCMM... I had a 70 litre which contained a pair of Checkerboard Cichlids (this was their breeding setup and long-term home) and, before I went away (on a three week holiday), I checked that all the necessary equipment was working and that everything was in order. I bought an automatic feeder for the tank and did a water change before I went away.

When I came back, I found that the filter had stopped working and that one of my Checkerboard Cichlid's (the female) was dead! I tested the water straight after the discovery and found out that the Nitrite (and ammonia) level was very high... I did a water change and was then left with one male Cichlid. Almost straight after this, I discovered that my dwarf Flag Cichlid pair had also spawned (and the fry were already almost two weeks old - they must have spawned just after I left!) I had to use the 70 litre for the Flags' new home (because they were currently in a small 45 litre breeding setup and the fry were growing fast - strange, considering there was only a small automatic feeder in the tank.)

Anyways, the CheckerBoard had to be moved to the smaller 45 litre and that's the end of the story... (I gave him back to the LFS shortly after the incident...)

Back to topic - Cool tank, Mikes! I really want to get some Amano shrimp for my tank - don't know how they would fair with Flourish Excel... I also think that the blue background gives the greater effect and the HC looks as if it has grown very well since I last saw it...

Cheers...

Well, I have just come back from a visit to Wales, I collected some rocks which might look better than the other ones in at the moment, although they're all pretty small. I'll take some pics when I have some more time. Corin, I'm keeping my Amanos with Excel, they're fine, in fact they're doing quite well, they've all shed their skin once, and some twice, so I see no problem with you giving them a go. When I last went to the LFS (Bybrook) they still had plenty of Amanos left so you could be in luck. They were cheap too, only £1.25 each, if they aren't there you could ask them to order some in. I might also be getting some cherry shrimp too. See how things go.

I prefer the blue background at the moment, but I still quite like the white one. I have been looking at a few other aquascapes and lots of them seem to have a bluey white background, do they make these or can you buy them? I think one could look pretty good in there or should I stick to the blue?

Cheers,
Mike

 

[PRW1988]

Nice set-up ..... this is going to make me sound like an idiot, but what's PFK stand for?

 

[lljdma06]

Nice set-up ..... this is going to make me sound like an idiot, but what's PFK stand for?

Practical Fish Keeping. It's a magazine in the UK. They have an online version where you can post pictures of your tanks and comment on blogs and read articles. Last year, I believe, for every new subscription purchased, the subscriber got this little nano tank. It's a cute little 4g or so cube with pretty good lighting and equipment. It was a pretty big deal. I'm pretty sure subscriptions went up that year. I entered a bioorb competiton for US residents, but haven't heard anything yet. I probably didn't win. Not that the bio orb is the be all and end all of tanks, but a free tank is a free tank.

llj

 

[DevUK]

Looks great! It looks like the shrimp like to hide in the shade under the filter

 

[Grapey McGrape Grape]

Looks Excellent! (though a couple of grapes would really add to the aquascape IMO!)

see you!

 

[Castellop123]

Looks Excellent! (though a couple of grapes would really add to the aquascape IMO!)

Any updates to report (or Pics?)

Cheers...

 

[mlawson]

Well, I've upgraded the lighting, it's now 4WPG and upped the CO2, which, when I last measured is 26ppm. There is not much growth so I wont add pics yet. The WCMM's have been taken by the shop and the Guppies are temporarily in my Cory breeding tank. The HC is struggling a bit, bu hopefully the new lighting should help it grow some more, the Pogostemon helferi seems to be doing very well and the HC average. I'm now thinking of breeding Boraras maculata in a seperate breeding tank (Which will be planted), so perhaps once I've bred them they could go in here.

Cheers,
MIke

 

[Castellop123]

Cool! Breeding Boraras maculata is a pretty good idea (then you could give me some for my Nano! )

 

[mlawson]

Cool! Breeding Boraras maculata is a pretty good idea (then you could give me some for my Nano! )

I could! I've changed the rocks around a bit, I found some on a visit to Wales, I like the actual rocks, all though I'm not sure about how I've layed them out.

Mike