Spankone's Crack At A Nano (update 4/2/07)

[spankone]

hi im new and wanted some advice/views on my newly planted tank. i keep goldfish atm and have five in a juwel tank. but after browsing such cool forums as this one i though i better make some use of my spare tank and give it a go, honest opinions welcome

i fancied a cube but i though i better use my current tank to keep costs down etc my only worry is if the light is strong enough. Any way here are some pics.

i've used tetra complete for the plant substrate then covered in a dark fine gravel

then the usuale and put a bowl in while i added water tried the colinder bit it didnt work aswell for me thats why the water is a little cloudy

CO2 thingy

i've bought java furn eloda anubas bartary(sp) then to others that i cant rember the names of the rest of them

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/spankone/fishy%20wishy/P1010440.jpg[img]

finished bit cloudy but its dying down quickly

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/spankone/fishy%20wishy/P1010453.jpg

here it is all finised didnt take long at all,

i think the warm water and the rich substrate has encoraged a strong bacterial bloom already, but im off on work for 3 days now so i'll see its progress when i get back

i think the tank is 6 watts and 5 US gallons is that strong enough or not?

 

[mlawson]

Nice Tank. If you want to grow demanding species of plants
you'll have to upgrade your lighting.

Overall, Good Job.

edit: is that plant on the right Anubis, they should be attatched to a rock/wood.

 

[spankone]

yeh it is no worry when i get a mo i'll tie it down to one of the larger red stones

 

[Themuleous]

Hi and welcome to the forum

Not bad for a first attempt should look nice once it fills out a bit. You'll want to tie the java fern to something as you are going to do the anubais, both do better attached to wood or a rock. Nice to see the addition of the plant substrate, you'll be pleased you added when you want to start growing more demanding plants.

Re the lighting, 6w is nothing over a 5G, I've got 48w over my 5G EI nano. If you want to stay in the lower light realms then upping it to 15 - 20w would be a good idea. If you want to go high light slap a power compact or two under the hood. The choice is yours

Sam

 

[Stephanie p]

What filter are you using?

 

[spankone]

the filter is just a small power head that came with it but it seemed to work well for the 2 gold fish that onve dwelled in there, im a bit worried though i've just came back tonight after only being away for one night on business and the tank is still very cloudy and the largest leaf on the anubais (sp) has started to curl at the edges and the little plant in the middle looks haggered like its been eaten, any help welcome,

@ Themuleous do you have any info on the power compact light,

and @ any one who is reading i've been ussing filter water but i've been strugaling with brown alge for some time now and it dosnt go away no matter how long i leave the light on for, would it help if i went back to my harder tap water

 

[Stephanie p]

the filter is just a small power head that came with it but it seemed to work well for the 2 gold fish that onve dwelled in there, im a bit worried though i've just came back tonight after only being away for one night on business and the tank is still very cloudy and the largest leaf on the anubais (sp) has started to curl at the edges and the little plant in the middle looks haggered like its been eaten, any help welcome,

@ Themuleous do you have any info on the power compact light,

and @ any one who is reading i've been ussing filter water but i've been strugaling with brown alge for some time now and it dosnt go away no matter how long i leave the light on for, would it help if i went back to my harder tap water

Sounds like snails to me, they come of the plants when you buy them. I decided to keep mine in the tank untill i noticed chunks of plants eaten away

 

[SuperColey1]

I used the Tetra Substrate below my play sand. Too early yet for it to be used as the plants will still have reserves, so can't help you on that.

I guess we'll either be praising it or ridiculing it together in a months time.

Tank looks good, keep up the effort matey

I've been researhing the power compact light and if you want to go for the sort of wattage Themulous has (be warned EI and careful monitering) Get a twin24W starter from Aqua Essentials (online)

and an Interpet 24W Triplus, and Interpet 24W Daylight plus from here

http/www.surreypetsupplies.co.uk/acatalo...cent_Lamps.html

Very cheap for tubes this place.

Your tap water is probably better for your plants than filter water and therefore your plants MAY!! take what the algae is feeding on with more nutrient in the water.

 

[spankone]

cheers for that guys, i've found 2 small 15w lights so i'll fit them later and post some pics up

 

[nry]

Vaguely off topic, but how do you mount/power the power compact lights? That site is very cheap but I cannot work out how you set them up?

 

[spankone]

you'll need one of these dude http/www.seapets.co.uk/static-content/pa...hts-search.html its basicly the gubbins that lamp plugs into

im now thining after fitting my new lamps today that i should have bought a proper tube light rather then this

the bulbs are 15 watts each but seem to be a bit orangey when turned on, might see if i can get some energy saving ones to fit. also today i cleaned my tank out and started again the plant in the middle of the above photos had gone to mush and so had the eloda, the rest seemed fine so i resused them i think the problam was that i shoock up the co2 canister and i it shot some of its load into the tank.

any way stupid things happen when you dont know what your doing this is how it looks today after some replanting although im not happy with how it looks at all tbh the what ever its called in the middle just dosnt look right at all

 

[spankone]

also some advice on plants would be nice because i want a nice fore ground plant to go in the middle may be some thing like this

http/www.aquaessentials.co.uk/index.php?...roducts_id=1123

 

[Themuleous]

Humm not so sure about that lighting, it'll likely not be very good for plant growth, you'd have been better off getting a power compact system. BTW what are the dimensions of the tank? and how long a lighting tube do you think you could get under the hood?

Those bulbs from Surrey Pet Supplies are bargainous!

Re plants, given that this is quite a tall tank relatively speaking, you'll probably want to get some height from the plants, which I think you've achieved quite well already but you need to be very ordered about it, perhaps a lily in a back corner, with valls or similar along the rest of the back, then the crypts and something like the anubias on a piece of wood, then have something lower at the front, either riccia tied to wood, or some micro sagittaria or dwarf swords.

Sam

 

[spankone]

yeh i think your right about the lights the tank is 29 wide all the way round and 34 high i think and i have a 7cm by 29cm raised bit where the lights fit so the light will have to be smaller then that to fit in, im going to search the plants youve recomened now

 

[Themuleous]

I take it thats cm? If so might be tricky getting a PC light tube under there, the 24w is 30cm long, which leaves little room for the starter connector. If you have a friendly LFS perhaps buy a kit and see if you can get it to fit? Then take it back if it wont?

Re the plants - have a look at the AGA website, its got some inspirational scapes that'll not only make your jaw drop but will give you an idea of the plants out there and how to use them. There is a section for small tanks like yours

Sam