Million's Planted Nano

[Million]

Tank Volume: 12x12x15 = 35 Litres = 9 US Gallons

Filtration Type: Aqua Flow 1 (6 watt) internal - 200L/hr

Lighting Type: 2x 11W double tube T5s in Ikea desk lamps

CO2: TetraPlant CO2 Optimat system

Substrate Type: Small grain round gravel, 2cm deep

Fertilisation Types: 2cm layer of TetraPlant substrate under gravel

Water chemistry: Unknown

Maintenance: Mature filter media added today

Well, here it is, my first tank journal. While avoiding revising for my university exams, I saw the PFK aquacube on t'internet, and took such a fancy to it I had to get one! I found someone selling something very similar on the for sale section here, and bought it, and started assembling everything. Having bought an Arcadia Arc Pod, I took it back and bought two Ikea lamps with the same fitting, and correct bulbs, for the price of one Arc Pod.

Today I added the substrate, gravel, and water, then I went out and found a nice bit of bogwood in the LFS (while ogling the potential inhabitants of my new bed-side habitat), and some java moss to attach to it. And here it is!

My plan is to do something similar to 'Fred's 5.5 gallon cube' with hair grass, and get some dwarf anubias nana to attach to the bogwood.
Then I would like to get a nice Betta splendens, some pygmy corys, and some ember tetra.

Anyway, let me know if you have criticism, advice, or comments - Thanks.

Million

 

[Ark]

hi max looks much different from when it was sitting in my bedroom i suppose all it needed wa a good good clean. i will follow this see how it turns out.
btw if you ask people about the tetra optmat co2 you are gonna get some bad reviews becuase you have to manually add the co2 yourself imho you should of gone for the nutrafin co2 set same price.

Ark

i kept embers in there much nicer then bettas
and for algae eaters go for oto cats did gr8 job for me

hers how i set my tank up -

then 1 month later -

1 more month -

then just before it was stripped down b4 algae attack -

soz for invading your thread just givi ideas

 

[Million]

hi max looks much different from when it was sitting in my bedroom i suppose all it needed wa a good good clean. i will follow this see how it turns out.

btw if you ask people about the tetra optmat co2 you are gonna get some bad reviews becuase you have to manually add the co2 yourself imho you should of gone for the nutrafin co2 set same price.

i kept embers in there much nicer then bettas
and for algae eaters go for oto cats did gr8 job for me

Hi Ark, thanks for the input. Yeah, bit of a scrub and some lighter fluid to get the sticker stuff off, and it came up good as new.

I went for the optimat system as it was the simplest i'd seen, and I had store credit so went for it - I figured there's less to go wrong than with a yeast based system, and just pushing the button on a can isn't too easy to get wrong!

I think with 35L I have room for a betta and a few embers (if they get along), and I do really like the look of some bettas - this was always going to be a betta tank for me.

As for the otos, I was torn between them and corys. I do want something that hangs out on the bottom, but I heard that otos can be hard work - would you disagree?

 

[aaronnorth]

ottos should be added to mature tanks but apart from the initial phrase of adding them there easy. The thing with the optimat is that it uses a lot of co2 and it sometimes needs filling twice a day, thats why it gets bad reviews. The filter bacteria will die off (i think) because it has no ammonia to feed on so either dose ammonia or save the media in another tank, the plants wont mind.

Are you planning on any other plants?

 

[Million]

ottos should be added to mature tanks but apart from the initial phrase of adding them there easy. The thing with the optimat is that it uses a lot of co2 and it sometimes needs filling twice a day, thats why it gets bad reviews. The filter bacteria will die off (i think) because it has no ammonia to feed on so either dose ammonia or save the media in another tank, the plants wont mind.

Are you planning on any other plants?

Yeah, I read that otos need a mature tank. So when poeple add mature media to a filter, is it pointless without fish in there? I added some water lettuce from my established tank, you can just about see it on top. I'm also adding Cycle - I don't know if it contains ammonia.
As for other plants, as I said in the first post I am getting some dwarf anubias nana to go on the bogwood, and some hair grass to cover the substrate. I also want something tall to go in the back corner to conceal the CO2 system, but haven't decided on this yet

EDIT: having had a read about fishless cycling, I have learnt that I do need to add ammonia, so will get some tomorrow and hope the bacteria had survived on what was there since yesterday!

 

[aaronnorth]

I also want something tall to go in the back corner to conceal the CO2 system, but haven't decided on this yet

How about some vallis?

 

[Ark]

nice lighting option cheap too.

corys need to be kept in groups and they need a soft substrate such as such but otos go everywere they even clean glass..

as for plants if you want a carpet go for echinoduras tenellus or pogostemon helferi midground ide go for some rotala or hygros

 

[Million]

nice lighting option cheap too.

corys need to be kept in groups and they need a soft substrate such as such but otos go everywere they even clean glass..

as for plants if you want a carpet go for echinoduras tenellus or pogostemon helferi midground ide go for some rotala or hygros

I realize this about corys, but from what i've read pygmies are small enough to be kept in a group in 35L, and the substrate is small and completely rounded I do, however, like the fact that otos clean the glass. Still haven't decided. It also depends what the LFS can get!
I don't really like any of those plants, just not my style - I want this tank to look at least superficially natural, so hair grass is a good option I think. Vallis, i'm not really a fan, I think I want something more bushy for greater texture variation from the hair grass and anubias

 

[Ark]

if you want natural go for some echinodurases but not the common amazon sword go to birstall.com and look through there plant selection i walways buy from them best quality i have found.

 

[aaronnorth]

some bushy plants are

caroliniana cabomba
Ambulia

 

[Million]

I got hold of some ammonia solution today, and added a few drops to feed the bacterial colony - thanks for the advice aaronnorth!

 

[aaronnorth]

Your welcome, it could of been disastrous

Aaron

 

[lljdma06]

nice lighting option cheap too.

corys need to be kept in groups and they need a soft substrate such as such but otos go everywere they even clean glass..

as for plants if you want a carpet go for echinoduras tenellus or pogostemon helferi midground ide go for some rotala or hygros

I realize this about corys, but from what i've read pygmies are small enough to be kept in a group in 35L, and the substrate is small and completely rounded I do, however, like the fact that otos clean the glass. Still haven't decided. It also depends what the LFS can get!
I don't really like any of those plants, just not my style - I want this tank to look at least superficially natural, so hair grass is a good option I think. Vallis, i'm not really a fan, I think I want something more bushy for greater texture variation from the hair grass and anubias

Pygmies will be more than fine in a 35L. I keep "dwarf" platies in a 8g and I seem to be rescuing fry all the time. I've kept regular Corydoras species in even smaller systems, but it takes quite a bit of care and I don't recommend that kind of stocking in general, as the water has to be kept very, very clean.

If you wish, check out my 2.5g and 8g journals in my signature. The final page or two have the most current images. I tend to go for more low-maintenance setups, but many of the plants can easily cross-over to more difficult setups if you want faster growth. Both systems are very stable and will be two years old in the Fall.

Good luck to you and keep us posted!

llj

 

[Million]

Pygmies will be more than fine in a 35L. I keep "dwarf" platies in a 8g and I seem to be rescuing fry all the time. I've kept regular Corydoras species in even smaller systems, but it takes quite a bit of care and I don't recommend that kind of stocking in general, as the water has to be kept very, very clean.

If you wish, check out my 2.5g and 8g journals in my signature. The final page or two have the most current images. I tend to go for more low-maintenance setups, but many of the plants can easily cross-over to more difficult setups if you want faster growth. Both systems are very stable and will be two years old in the Fall.

Good luck to you and keep us posted!

llj

Thankyou for the advice very nice tanks, and I like the cories and platties. Are dwarf platties a specific species, or just a morph? How large are they?

I have a problem with my el cheapo lighting (kicks self). The ikea lights I bought work fine with the warm bulbs they came with, but when I put in the cool spectrum bulbs I was recommended to use, they flicker intermittently. The bulbs are the same size, wattage, fitting, just different colour spectrum. Does anyone have any idea why this happens, and how I can fix it?

Thanks

 

[lljdma06]

Thankyou for the advice very nice tanks, and I like the cories and platties. Are dwarf platties a specific species, or just a morph? How large are they?

I have a problem with my el cheapo lighting (kicks self). The ikea lights I bought work fine with the warm bulbs they came with, but when I put in the cool spectrum bulbs I was recommended to use, they flicker intermittently. The bulbs are the same size, wattage, fitting, just different colour spectrum. Does anyone have any idea why this happens, and how I can fix it?

Thanks

You're welcome and thank you for your compliments on my tanks. My largest female is about an 1.25" long without the tail maximum. Whether or not "dwarf" platies are a legitimate strain is under debate. To me, they are just a smaller batch of platies, possibly initially grown under poor conditions, or they can be a strain that has more X. malatus (something like that), which can be smaller than X. variatus (something like that). Most platies in the LFS market are Xiphophorus hybrids anyways. Supposedly, they are infertile, but I have a breeding group. They do drop much less fry than the average platy, averaging about 4-6 per monthly drop, which is nothing. The fry, however, are larger and more robust, and if I catch them in time, the survival rate is very high. I'm trying to see if the fry, raised under good conditions, surpass their parents in size, have the same size, or become smaller. That, will then rule out the "poor condition" scenario and I may be indeed working with a "smaller" strain. I have at least noticed that the fry are breeding true and closely resemble the parents in color, shape, and finnage. To prevent inbreeding, I tend to replace only the males, but only with fish that match their color and type. I've had the platies since October of 2006.

I have noticed that sometimes it takes a few days for a new Fluorescent bulb to reach its full intensity and it will flicker during this time. This usually stops for me with a little time. They also flicker when they are getting old.

llj