Noob planning a planted fw pico rimless

[octanejunkie]

So did you get the light? How is it?

Hey Brian, yes, got the LED Light from Amazon yesterday, 1 day Prime, gotta love that!

It looks cool and is pretty bright.

I've reviewed it on Amazon here, but will post more docs here in a separate thread in the Equipment section detailing and photo documenting the light, packaging, instructions, etc. So far it looks pretty good for $26 delivered. 3W @ 6500°K, time will tell.

On your advice I visited Natures Aquarium too, what a nice little place. I've driven by it 10,000 times and never noticed it! I spent about an hour with the owner and came home with another piece of drift wood and some wisteria.

I also went to Mark's Tropical Fish up in Studio City on Wednesday, picked up some drift wood to play with as I scape my cube... cube tracked to arrive today - looks like I know what I'm doing this weekend!

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

Very nice and thorough review, Mike! Glad to hear you like it and it has potential -- it certainly looks nice. Gosh... I haven't been to nature aquarium for a while. It used to be one of my favorite places to drop in. The owner, Toru (sp?), is pretty cool. Does he still have those awesome display tanks I pictured? I also got one of my most unique and favorite pieces of DW there. It was not cheap but it was worth every penny.

Awesome that you're getting the tank so soon. Well I believe truaqua is located there in Cali. Can't wait to see how it all develops for you!

 

[octanejunkie]

Glad you liked my review, wish I had more to compare it to; epic noob here.

FWIW, I ordered a second one to keep as a backup, at that price I can afford shelf stock.

Toru at Nature Aquarium is totally cool, we seemed to hit it off (contrary to what some Yelp! reviews say about him), we talked about my pico build and about my other tank, and ongoing ammonia issue for a while. Seems the filter on my 6-gal might be undersized... I also dropped $$$ on some killer driftwood, but he does have a great selection of wood - best I've seen anywhere so far.

Here is a pic of some nano tanks w CO2 at his shop

Guess what showed up before I left for work today...

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

Be careful what you wish for, this hobby gets addictive.. sooner or later MTS (multiple tank syndrome) sets in! Haha

Man...those nanos Toru setup are stellar! Looks like he's using those archaea pro LED lights from AFA on those mini m's. Now that you know where that spot is (in your own backyard) and drive past there like 10k times, good luck to you and your wallet avoiding that gravitational pull! Haha

 

[octanejunkie]

Be careful what you wish for, this hobby gets addictive.. sooner or later MTS (multiple tank syndrome) sets in! Haha

Man...those nanos Toru setup are stellar! Looks like he's using those archaea pro LED lights from AFA on those mini m's. Now that you know where that spot is (in your own backyard) and drive past there like 10k times, good luck to you and your wallet avoiding that gravitational pull! Haha

No joke Brian, I eyed a 4-gal no-name cube for $51 (which I will probably buy soon!) and a lovely AquaJapan Complete 15-Gal setup for $195 w integral filter, power head and 24W CFL light...

Here are some more pics of the wonderful community 250-Gal tank, so peaceful to watch!

I got some great ideas there, and yes, I will be investing in their future as a LFS.

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

Mike are you signed up on SCAPE? Some of their members are having a meet at Nature Aquarium first Saturday in August. Might be a good opportunity to trade or buy plants cheap -- especially some cool mosses.

http://scapeclub.org/forum/showthread.php?21190-Tentative-Santa-Monica-Mini-Meet-Aug-3rd

 

[octanejunkie]

Mike are you signed up on SCAPE? Some of their members are having a meet at Nature Aquarium first Saturday in August. Might be a good opportunity to trade or buy plants cheap -- especially some cool mosses.

Tentative Santa Monica Mini Meet, Aug 3rd...

I signed up for scape, thanks for the referral! I'll try to make it to the meet up on the 3rd.

I mocked up my new nano cube last night

-Azoo Palm, top left corner
-LED light, top right corner
-15W nano in-tank heater, right corner wall (Aquatop from TruAQUA)

With a driftwood "spire" I found at Nature Aquarium

I'm boiling out the driftwood now

I think I will try to scape an Igwami style setup with a "hill" in the back right corner sloping diagonally down to the front left corner exposing a small rocky outcropping. Minimum substrate depth 2" in the front using CaribeSea Eco-Complete Planted.

Plant thoughts (open to suggestions)
- Anubias barteri ver. Nana = back left corner, blocking view of inlet tube
AND OR
- Lilaeopsis novae-zelandiae OR Echinodorus tenellus = along the back wall?
- Moss on wood, java is what I have, open to other...
- Cryptocoryne parva = semi-sparsely in foreground

I also like Ceratophyllum demursum, I just put a bunch in our tall tank, but I think I'll have to top it pretty frequently in a nano tank...

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

Looks nice... I like the light! My suggestion would be to center it though and not have the goose neck bent crooked like that -- i think it would look more visually appealing (but that's up to you of course). That's a pretty nice piece of DW you got from NA too! I like the twisting it's doing in the grain of the wood. While boiling it, does it float? Just make sure to soak it enough so it gets nice a water logged... sometimes DW is either dense and sinks right away or you''ll find out after you scape and when you flood your tank, it wants to float on you (which would suck).

As for the plants... instead of Anubias Nana, you should try to get some Anubias Petite or Micro (sometime this name is interchangeable). I think the smaller variety will help with scale.

I like your other selection of plants too. The Micro Sword or Pygmy Chain Sword will definitely benefit from Excel dosing to stand a chance under that lighting (which I hope is strong enough).

However, with any moss... too much Excel could harm them so finding a balance to would be key. I think Mini Xmas Moss or Fissidens (fontanus or mini) would look great on the DW.

That heater looks neat. I like the size... does it have an adjustable thermostat?

 

[octanejunkie]

I boiled the driftwood for 2 hours, topping the water off to keep the wood submerged - it was pretty heavy/dense and sunk right away.

The driftwood is now in my kitchen sink, soaking in Prime treated water to continue to leech tannins out.

I've been running the new Azoo Palm filter on the new tank all morning, just to get a feel for the filter while I test the tank for leaks: so far so good.

I am thinking about upgrading the stock 2-ply foam for a the AquaClear 20 foam media and AquaClear Biomax 20 like asiandude666 recommended in his video about setting up an Azoo Palm.Setting up Azoo Palm filter

The Anubias I got is supposed to be the "petite" or dwarf variety - I guess time will tell. I might split the rhiozome into 2 sections with at least 3 leaf stalks on each and plant one in each of our two tanks. It's such a slow grower it might take years to find out which variant of Anubias it really is

I might pickup some new moss at NA tomorrow to start tying to the driftwood... my new favorite store!

The heater is the 15W Nano Heater by Aquatop, I ordered it with my nano cube from TruAQUA. It has an internal thermostat pre-set to 77° F and is good for aquariums up to 4 gallons. Instructions say it must be fully submerged, not sure if I want to conceal it behind plants or if I can partially bury it in the substrate.

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

Yeah I added some Biomax (not many) from my established tank's filter to 'seed' the Azoo some BB. I also added this media that came with my Azoo when there was a free promotion at Dr. Fosters. I'm not sure how effective the free media is but it seems like tiny porous volcanic rock or something. I'm sure there's some BB living on it. But you can certainly fill it with all Biomax. I think the stock sponges are fine for what it is... your bioload is going to be tiny for shrimp anyway... it might be a good idea, after your tank cycles, to leave some room for some Purigen -- which is great in shrimp tanks to help polish the water and remove dissolved organics.

Here's my Azoo's filter chamber at the momment... if I do put shrimp in this tank later, I'll somehow get some Purigen in here.. possibly use some pantyhose as a media bag.

I wonder why that AsianDude bought a separate prefilter sponge as (to my understanding) the Azoo comes with one? Maybe this didn't before.

Yeah... I saw on SCAPE you got welcomed to the meeting... good stuff! Wish I can join! haha... Maybe you should ask if anyone has extra moss they're willing to sell... they might even just RAOK to you. They also announced on there NA will be getting their shipment of new plants tomorrow. More good stuff! Haha

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

Man.... looking at your pics of your tank again.. doesn't that low iron high clarity glass look amazing?!?! Superb silicone work to boot!

 

[Billbug68]

I'd suggest you cut that tank mat aka drawer liner to fit... You'll end up with all kind of gunk stuck in there, and it also makes for a cleaner look... Love the driftwood by the way, excellent looking piece.

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

I think these AquaTop tanks come with a 'garden mat' clone AKA drawer liner already. Well at least mine did.... unless TruAqua is getting cheap on us? LOL

But yes... definitely use it.

 

[Billbug68]

I think these AquaTop tanks come with a 'garden mat' clone AKA drawer liner already. Well at least mine did.... unless TruAqua is getting cheap on us? LOL

But yes... definitely use it.

Haha yeah, I've seen those at target... I almost got some for my 5g but I think it was actually cheaper to buy a mr aqua one from amazon then the roll of thick black drawer liner. Anyways, just my opinion, trim it to fit... It'll look nice n sleek...

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

Yup .. I use drawer liner from target for my GLA 6g and my GF's 60F.

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

How's your "weekend" project coming along, Mike? You do anything else to the Pico Cube yet?

 

[octanejunkie]

I'd suggest you cut that tank mat aka drawer liner to fit... You'll end up with all kind of gunk stuck in there, and it also makes for a cleaner look... Love the driftwood by the way, excellent looking piece.

Thanks for the thumbs up on the drift wood! I liked it the moment I saw it but I was looking for the "branchy, fallen tree" type wood. I'm thinking about an igwami-style setup, where wood is less common, so one striking piece of wood may not kill the deal; so to speak. It's a really small tank though...

What do you mean about "tank liner," the thin black neoprene pad supplied with the tank goes UNDER the tank, no?

I used to use thicker neoprene pads in my reptile tanks as a tank liner cause thr rocks were much bigger and heavier against the glass bottom... is the same advisable here with?

 

[octanejunkie]

How's your "weekend" project coming along, Mike? You do anything else to the Pico Cube yet?

Not much action here. My daughter came back from sleep away camp on Saturday afternoon so we've been reacclimating to eachother and doing kid friendly stuff... scaping a fish tank interests her for about 5 mins though she does kike the finished product.

I took her to see Nature Aquarium to have her help me pick some small rocks. .. she lasted 15 mins there, but she's only 7.

 

[Jkeating8]

I would die for a store like AFA or Nature Aquarium to be by me.

 

[octanejunkie]

Substrate update

I have decided to use a finer substrate for our shrimp tank, Caribe-Sea Eco Complete Planted is too large for what I am looking to accomplish, especially in this teeny tiny tank.

I ordered a bag of UP Aqua Shrimp Sand from amazon and am atempted to return the Eco Complete; I fear it will scratch my other, acrylic, tank.

It would seem I should be ok keeping Neos on Shrimp Sand, and I really didn't want to drop $$$$ on Amazonia or Akadama... any thoughts here?