Squirrel's Nano

[Squirrelbuddies]

Oh boy! Here it is -- the beginning of my teeny 4 gallon tank:

Here it is empty:

And here it is with the substrate (eco-complete) and a piece of bogwood. I included the wineglass just so you can see how small the tank is!

Once the water clears, I'll beginning adding the plants. I plan on scavenging plants from my other tanks. Plus, I need to decide where in the house I'm going to place it. AND, I need to setup the CO2 (1 Nutrafin unit).

Sam -- thanks for the inspiration to start this sweet little tank!

 

[lljdma06]

Yeah!!! I'm the first to get the bloody tank, and I'll be the LAST to set it up! Looks good so far, cloudy, but good. I'm sure it'll clear up nicely. Can't wait to setup mine. A little envious now, but no biggy. I'm actually glad I got the 8g, the 4g is too small for my taste.

By the way, what wine are you drinking today? I see a full glass. Do we setup tanks under the influence? Mmmmm. I've got several bottles of 1982 Gran Reserva Rioja waiting for me in Miami. Can't wait. Drink wine, setup tanks, drink wine, setup tanks, take a bite of good Gouda, setup tanks, drink wine, Gouda...What a life!

Congrats Squirrel!

 

[Luke_e]

Those tanks look cracking, cant wait to see this journel progress..
Do you have any pics of the bogwood, or any pics of the water when its clearer?

 

[Squirrelbuddies]

The water is much clearer this morning.

I'll take more pics tonight. (We're heading out for a day on the lake. Hmmmm....maybe I'll find some cool driftwood out there!)

So far, this is what I put in the tank:

1 piece of bogwood
1 rock
5 types of plants:
Rotala indica
Vallisneria spiralis
Hydrocotyle leucocephala
Eleocharis (dwarf hairgrass)
Echinodorus angustifolius (I think)

The hard part with a tank this size is planting "sparsely", knowing that everything will grow and fill in. It's so tempting to just plant it so it looks instantly "full"! So, it's looking a little bare right now. I need something for the back left side but haven't decided what it will be yet.

edit: Luke e -- here's a quick peek at the bogwood! sorry for the camera glare.

 

[Squirrelbuddies]

Here it is -- just a little more than a day old. I also added the Nutrafin today as can be seen on the right hand side. The ladder just barely fit!

The plants currently in there came out of four different tanks. I'm still unsure what to put along the left backside. I have 4-5 stems of micranthemum micranthemoides (pearlweed) that could go there. Or maybe some ludwigia? Maybe both!

I think the little sword looking plants in the front were named incorrectly when I bought them earlier this winter. They look like Sagittaria to me. They spread easily by runners and need to be watched carefully for algae when they get too close together.

I also need to come up with an idea for some other-than-plant life. Shrimp perhaps?

 

[Luke_e]

I love the little saggita (front left?), they look like dwarf hair grass which i love too.. Will they grow large?

lol at the ladder, shows how small the tank is, but if you look at it without the ladder it looks much bigger!

Nice piece(s) of bogwood, i like where you've put them.

 

[Themuleous]

Woohoo!! Glad to see it up and running! And Im also very glad that Im the reason so many of you lovely people are getting nano tanks, means you can all suffer the same hassel and strife that Ive gone through! Mwahhh! Pay back!

no seriously, please to see this little b-e-a-uty ready for the off, I like the layout so far, you going to attach anything to the wood? How have you over come the need for huge amounts of light but in a stupidly small space? Have you considered cutting the ladder in half? When I was using one i had the tube on the first stop so most of the ladder wasn't being used anyway and as the pictures so excellently demonstrate the ladder becomes a huge part of the tank! Or you could use the mini ceramic diffuser, as you've probably read recently these work with yeast CO2 as well

Sam

 

[lljdma06]

I like, I like, very nice! It is so tiny! Mine's really much bigger, 4g more makes a huge difference. I'm treating it like a shortened 10g.

Have you considered cherry shrimps? They are a very pretty red color, or another more fancy-colored shrimp?

I like the plant choice so far. I agree, you need something on the left back. Another rotala perhaps. If you get a nice bushy one, the tank will look really pretty, especially with the added pink on the leaves. Myriophylum would be an option to consider as well.

 

[Squirrelbuddies]

Sam, I was thinking about getting one of those little glass diffusers. It would be a lot easier to clean, too. The ladder is a pain in the butt to get clean in the corners.

The light fixture it came with has a 13 watt bulb. I think it will be ok for the plants I have in there. It looks pretty bright. My pics look somewhat dark as I changed a setting on the camera so there'd be less glare. (I really do need to read the instruction manual! It's an awesome camera -- if I could operate it correctly!)

Regarding attaching something to the wood...I've given this thought, too -- but I'm not sure yet. Any ideas what would work back there? I have five or six anubias but they are all too big for this tank. Java fern? Actually how about one of those African/Congo ferns (bolbitis heudelotii) that like a strong current?! The bogwood is right beneath the filter output so that would be perfect! Plus they grow slow.

I wish I could put my three little sterbai cories in this tank -- they would look so cool! Oh well. I think I'm going to go with the shrimp. Although, the endlers would look good in there, too.

 

[Squirrelbuddies]

Quick question: As others have indicated, the KH has risen due to the eco-complete. KH is 4 in all of my other tanks. KH in this little tank is up to 7-8. The pH is at 6.6. Based on Chuck's cool little calculater, this means my CO2 is around 56ppm. Is this accurate? Is so, I don't think this would be a healthy environment for any kind of fish, right?

 

[Themuleous]

Perhaps a little on the high side, although Ive run mine at 50ppm before (by accident) and the fish didnt seem to mine, but it may have long term impacts on health etc. If you can I would lower the CO2 a bit.

 

[craynerd]

Sweet tank! Whats the plant on the right next to the main piece of bog wood. Looks like a lotus but green ?

Chris

 

[lljdma06]

I agree with Sam, I've run it that high before, and I'm doing it now that I no longer have fish in the tanks, but if you've got fish, I'd try lowering it.

 

[Squirrelbuddies]

Sweet tank! Whats the plant on the right next to the main piece of bog wood. Looks like a lotus but green ?

Chris

It's a piece of brazilian pennywort I snipped off from a much larger plant. It's already sprouted several new leaves. I'll take more pics tonight.

I'll try to lower the CO2, too.

 

[Squirrelbuddies]

Did a little aqua-scaping today. And oh, look, there are fishies in there!!!! I replaced the water today with 50% water from the 38 gallon and added 50% fresh. Then I added established filter media from the 55 gallon. The nutrafin has been going for 6 days so the bubble rate has slowed. I think when I refresh the canister I 'll use less yeast.

This is what I changed for plants:

The brazilian pennywort is floating right now as I wanted a little cover for the guppies.
Added: foxtail, lily (green), baby tears -- Sorry about the common names, I'm too tired to spell their proper names correctly!

Here's a little video of the tank:
http/www.dropshots.com/day.php?userid=74...13&ctime=185833