George's Nano Journal

[George Farmer]

Thanks.

The filter is awful I know but it suited the task in terms of turnover rate and cost. Long-term I may go for an external! Obviously for photo shoots I will take the filter out.

To lift the hood I simply fitted a stainless steel "post" in each corner. They're made from scrap ejection seat gas pipes and I cut them to size and glued them in with araldite. They're balanced on a knife edge though so I may "upgrade" them to larger pipes.

 

[mantis147]

Good idea on lifting the lid! Will help on condensation & lamp heat!

 

[Silverlady]

What CO2 are you using, i like the stones as they are now. do you work for Bae by any chance?, my husband uset to make parts for Ejector seats at Hamble.

 

[Graeme Edwards]

If there's one thing I've learnt from this (stone arranging) already, from this and other "specialist" boards, it's that everyone has different views on what looks better. This should be no surprise as we all know that tastes vary - which is a good thing. I think Graeme and co., who are huge fans of Japanese style design, push their taste whilst others say what appeals to their personal taste. The fact that these differ perhaps is no shock but it is very interesting none-the-less. The reasons for different taste stretch far beyond the realms of this thread so I won't go there.

Well said!

The filter is awful I know but it suited the task in terms of turnover rate and cost. Long-term I may go for an external! Obviously for photo shoots I will take the filter out.

What about the type of filter I use AquaVital 160 hang on the back. You could go a size up and they are dirt cheap and dead easy to use and dont fill the tank.

 

[MoreCoffee]

What about the type of filter I use AquaVital 160 hang on the back. You could go a size up and they are dirt cheap and dead easy to use and dont fill the tank.

I'm also using one of these Aqua vital HOB filters , they seem ideal for nano tanks.

Cheap, quiet, outside the tank, adjustable flow rate, and easy to clean. The only problem I've found is with finding replacement filters ..... however it's easy to DIY the filter media.


Al

 

[lljdma06]

wow. How did you make that over tank thingy? lol

lovely tank though, looks good right now, filter looks a bit iffy (duh) but nicenicenice

I know that was my sentiment exactly. Such a beautiful arrangement of rocks, with special detail paid to their placement and BOOM! Grey filter with blue accents. I shudder. But obviously the filter will not be there for pictures and the tank looks great. Can't wait to see the glosso field.

Great idea for the hood, that should reduce condensation by quite a bit, George.

llj

 

[George Farmer]

I can't believe you guys don't like my lovely filter! I think it harmonises with the rocks really well and provides balance to the composition..........

OK, I'm lying! The HOB looks ideal, very tempting and at only £7.99....

Graeme - what's the circulation like? I know they're 160lph which is fine but I'm thinking more water movement through the water column. I've ran CO2 mist already with the Hagen internal and the mist is distributed nicely throughout the tank. I wonder if the HOB would be as good or whether any difference is negligable, or at least the aesthetic differences outweigh the difference in possible growth rates.

Another idea I've had is to have a graduated sky blue background, thus hiding the (HOB) filter even more. The sky would add to the landscape effect too.

 

[George Farmer]

What CO2 are you using, i like the stones as they are now. do you work for Bae by any chance?, my husband uset to make parts for Ejector seats at Hamble.

Pressurized CO2, Dennerle system with basic Dymax glass diffuser for CO2 mist.

No, not BAe, RAF.

 

[Ginge]

Nice tank george! Hopefully i can talk about it at the weekend. But something happened with my order so no plants came??? Luckily no money was taken either. So my tank is still Poo. I think we may now see many many nano's cropping up with the latest PFK freebie hey!

 

[George Farmer]

Collection of ferts


As promised here's my fert program. Subject to change depending on results. Tank actual volume 9 l.

Bear in mind I'm initially going for 100% RO so GH and KH will be zero prior to dosing.

I will be using no test kits. Let the plants to the "talking".

Macros

All-in-one mix for ease containing N, P, K, Mg. 400ml RO solution. 5ml dosed 3x weekly.

Ingredients

1 tsp. KNO3 - adds 5ppm NO3 per dose
0.1 tsp. KH2PO4 - adds 0.5ppm PO4 per dose
3 tsp. K2SO4 - adds 8ppm K per dose
3 tsp. MgSO4 - adds 2ppm Mg per dose

Trace

Dennerle A1 - 1 drop daily
Plantex CSM+B trace mix powder - 1 tsp. in 400ml, 5ml dosed 3x weekly

Extra Fe dosed via Dennerle E15 if necessary

Other info

CO2 >50ppm to deal with potential algae.

50% water change 2x weekly

I'm hoping the compost substrate will provide sufficient Ca levels as it contains limestone.

Sounds complicated when I read this back but it's a 30 sec. job every morning. May reduce dosing if I go for less water changes but a 4.5 l. water change is hardly a hardship 2x a week.

 

[Rafael Dilone]

Everything is looking real good so far. I cant wait to see the plants be put into the tank. Then it would look so cool 8)

 

[three-fingers]

I've also heard that as a subscriber gift PFK may be giving away 25 l. Aqua Cubes - worth the subcription fee alone! So we may see a lot more nano owners in the future.

I think we may now see many many nano's cropping up with the latest PFK freebie hey!

Im not allowed a second tank, but my birthdays in a week so im going to ask for a subscription to pkf. Maybe i'll be allowed to set it up...maybe

The fert program is making planted tanks look complicated again . If i ever have one it would be much simpler, but obviously nowhwere near as good .

 

[Graeme Edwards]

Graeme - what's the circulation like? I know they're 160lph which is fine but I'm thinking more water movement through the water column. I've ran CO2 mist already with the Hagen internal and the mist is distributed nicely throughout the tank. I wonder if the HOB would be as good or whether any difference is negligable, or at least the aesthetic differences outweigh the difference in possible growth rates.

PM sent!

I think that apart from the obvious filter being outside the tank making it less likely to create a dark spot in your tank the filter will be more divers and user friendly. You have plenty of space for extra media ( Biological of coarse ) but mechanical as well. I completely wrote off the media that came with it and added extra sponges better carbon and mature biological media.
Water circulation is fine, if not excessive for my cube, so Ive turned the flow down. I have no problems with fertilizers and Co2 mist being sent around even in the tightest of spots.

And to its aesthetics, its hands down better than that contraption you have in there





The filter is very quiet and is easy to get going, just by adding some tank water into the hob and switching it on , away it goes.
Sorted.

R,
Graeme.

 

[Neal]

What is the world coming to?
"Ejector seats?" "Speed tape to fix aircraft?"
You don't happen to be a secret agent do you?

Regarding the filters, make sure you have the filter output in the water or just resting on it, as i've found with my, my custom hole in my hunt (hot screwdriver style), it makes an annoying waterfall sound all night, so I turn the output down before I go to bed otherwise I can't get to sleep. Also Moody, I have the same layout of filter as you, but mine is an AquaOne HOB, and it only has the one sponge, and a cartridge like yours with a little foam on it and ceramics inside of that, but that is it. Did you add more media to yours or did it come like that? I've added media from my old Fluval 2 that packed in to try and cycle the tank a bit faster.

Your rocks looks great, there's a few things I can suggest, but it's to suit my personal taste like you said, i'd make the one on the left a little bit higher, or the one in the middle a little but lower, but like you said, that's my personal taste. I'm getting the cube from PFK tommorow if they have any left, so i'll be reading this journal very closely, although I read every journal well, as I think they are great, especially coming from a planted tank enthusiast. I'm not entirely sure on what substrate i'm going to be using yet, I want something that if it get's disturbed isn't going to cause problems, so I think I may just go with a layer of laterite, and a small bag of black gravel from my LFS, although i've heard the colour comes off coloured gravels over time, but I will just have to see. It will be interesting to see you use glosso, I may of used it, but I don't really like the stalks on them at the front of the tank, it looks like cress, and not very appealing right at the front of the tank IMO, also I don't have the patience to plant it either, I get annoyed trying to plant an Amazon Sword, could you imagine me filling a tank with glosso? I hope to see many pictures in the future, as theres nothing better than step by step pictures.
Amen,

Neal

 

[George Farmer]

Thanks guys.

Graeme - thanks ever so much for that very useful info. I've ordered that filter now and look forward to replacing the old one.

Not much to update you all with except I intend experimenting with yet more stone compositions.

Using some left over stone I managed to smash up some small pieces so may go for a more complex aquascape after all (thanks to Steven Chong for this idea). I'm really keen on the concept of making the small appear larger (like Bonsai) so hope to help acheive this by using a greater quantity of smaller stones.

I've ordered an issue of Aqua Journal (English translation) that focuses on stone/boulder 'scaping so that should help provide some further inspiration.

I'll try and get some more photos tonight.