Zezmo
Aquarium Advice Addict
This is the 10 gallon Nano that I set up in January `06. There is about 8 gallons of tank, and about 2 gallons in the filter.
The filter is 2 stage, one is all Floss, and the other is bags of bio media. The tank came with one, and I added others from more mature tanks. There is a third part of the filter that has the pump, and the heater. For lighting the tank came with 2x 13watt CF bulbs. I upgraded to 4x 13w cf, and 4 blue LED moonlights.
It is set up with 1 1/2 bags of ECO complete for substrate. I am using the ADA "nano" CO2 set up. It came with "Amazonian" scented CO2. Heh, yes you can smell it ever so faintly in the room. I was planning on adapting this unit to take low pressure refills from my main tank. But the ADA cannisters last a long time so I will probably just keep using them. So far it works well and is a nice complete set-up. The only thing it lacks is a solenoid, which I picked up from a local used machinery wherehouse. The solenoid is A/C powered and cost $7 with fittings and wires.
At first, I cycled the tank with clippings from my other tanks and a bunch of snails. Then I made a trip up to SF and visited Ocean Aquarium and Aqua Forest to get some plants. My goal was to get only plants that I had not tried growing before, and that I had not seen in south bay stores. While up there I got these pants; Hygrophila costada, Eustralis stellata, Blyxa japonica, Bacopa myriphyoides, Myriophyllum matogrossens, Eriocaulaceae sp, Eriocaulon sp 'Mato grosso', Cryptocoryne parva, and Cryptocoryne crispatula 'Balansae'. I also picked up a few of the exotic Guppies found at both stores. Unexpected "pets" came in the form of a leech and some hydra. The leech I removed, the hydra I am letting stay. The critters in the tank are rounded out by some Trichopsis pumilus (Pygmy Sparkling Gourami), an Apple Snail, and some Malaysian Trumpet Snails. I got the snails from Bangkok Aquarium. They are a good source for MTS. The tank also temporarily has a young Yo-Yo loach (Botia Almorae). He is there cleaning up pond snails, and will move to another tank after a bit.
Here are some shots of the driftwood. I actually bought this piece several months ago because it looked so interesting. I know it would find a home eventually.
Here is the young Yo-yo loach...
This is the first time a shrimp picture actually turned out for me
These two plants were nearly identical when I bought them. The left one stayed in this tank, the right one went in the main tank to become a Rainbow Fish salad bar.
Check out the "vortex" in the CO2 diffusor. One of the vents from my outflow blows accross the top creating a little CO2 tornado. The micro bubbles float all over the tank from there.
This is my Eriocaulon Mato Grosso. At first it was a little melty after planting. Changing my CO2 to a "mist" that blast through the tank, and dropping my KH down nice and low stopped the melting. It was in my main tank first. The Rainbows were eating the melted bits, but when they started ploughing through the new growth, I moved it to this tank. It was like 3x this size when I bought it. It does show much new growth, so things should be ok with it.
This is a nice plant, I imagine in my main tank it would go crazy. If you look real close at this shot you can barely see some green fresh water hydras on the leaves. Hygrophila costada
Here are a few shots that I had in another post... these are just of the tank itself while I was setting it up...
Well.... I have more pictures.... lol...but I am sure that is enough. I would like to say that this whole Nano project has been a lot of fun. I do look forward to watching this tank mature.
The filter is 2 stage, one is all Floss, and the other is bags of bio media. The tank came with one, and I added others from more mature tanks. There is a third part of the filter that has the pump, and the heater. For lighting the tank came with 2x 13watt CF bulbs. I upgraded to 4x 13w cf, and 4 blue LED moonlights.
It is set up with 1 1/2 bags of ECO complete for substrate. I am using the ADA "nano" CO2 set up. It came with "Amazonian" scented CO2. Heh, yes you can smell it ever so faintly in the room. I was planning on adapting this unit to take low pressure refills from my main tank. But the ADA cannisters last a long time so I will probably just keep using them. So far it works well and is a nice complete set-up. The only thing it lacks is a solenoid, which I picked up from a local used machinery wherehouse. The solenoid is A/C powered and cost $7 with fittings and wires.
At first, I cycled the tank with clippings from my other tanks and a bunch of snails. Then I made a trip up to SF and visited Ocean Aquarium and Aqua Forest to get some plants. My goal was to get only plants that I had not tried growing before, and that I had not seen in south bay stores. While up there I got these pants; Hygrophila costada, Eustralis stellata, Blyxa japonica, Bacopa myriphyoides, Myriophyllum matogrossens, Eriocaulaceae sp, Eriocaulon sp 'Mato grosso', Cryptocoryne parva, and Cryptocoryne crispatula 'Balansae'. I also picked up a few of the exotic Guppies found at both stores. Unexpected "pets" came in the form of a leech and some hydra. The leech I removed, the hydra I am letting stay. The critters in the tank are rounded out by some Trichopsis pumilus (Pygmy Sparkling Gourami), an Apple Snail, and some Malaysian Trumpet Snails. I got the snails from Bangkok Aquarium. They are a good source for MTS. The tank also temporarily has a young Yo-Yo loach (Botia Almorae). He is there cleaning up pond snails, and will move to another tank after a bit.
Here are some shots of the driftwood. I actually bought this piece several months ago because it looked so interesting. I know it would find a home eventually.
Here is the young Yo-yo loach...
This is the first time a shrimp picture actually turned out for me
These two plants were nearly identical when I bought them. The left one stayed in this tank, the right one went in the main tank to become a Rainbow Fish salad bar.
Check out the "vortex" in the CO2 diffusor. One of the vents from my outflow blows accross the top creating a little CO2 tornado. The micro bubbles float all over the tank from there.
This is my Eriocaulon Mato Grosso. At first it was a little melty after planting. Changing my CO2 to a "mist" that blast through the tank, and dropping my KH down nice and low stopped the melting. It was in my main tank first. The Rainbows were eating the melted bits, but when they started ploughing through the new growth, I moved it to this tank. It was like 3x this size when I bought it. It does show much new growth, so things should be ok with it.
This is a nice plant, I imagine in my main tank it would go crazy. If you look real close at this shot you can barely see some green fresh water hydras on the leaves. Hygrophila costada
Here are a few shots that I had in another post... these are just of the tank itself while I was setting it up...
Well.... I have more pictures.... lol...but I am sure that is enough. I would like to say that this whole Nano project has been a lot of fun. I do look forward to watching this tank mature.
