Sam's Nano Journal

[soggyhome]

Fantastic m8, looks great. Definatley another inspiration to us new to this lark

 

[Themuleous]

Well, I had a massive rearrange today, took pretty much everything out and added a few more plants and different equipment.

Full tank shot before the prune, once again the hornwort was getting rather overgrown! You gotta love horwort for its ability to grow like mad! The HM was the same, there was masses of the stuff, really thick growth. Have got enough to send three people some! Think I should have done this sooner as it looks a bit leggy now as most of the lush green growth was at the tips of the plants which I cut off (quite literally, hacked them back with some sissors!)

One of the tank post prune. It has certainly opened the tank up.

A close up of the arch. I have replaced the petite anubias with some cryps, not sure of the species or if they will stay small, just think they add a bit of colour and variation. Have also removed the java moss, as it was a rich algae breeding ground and Im hoping to repalce it with the new moss I got. Have also replaced the heater with a smaller one so you can bearly see it now. And thats my new glass diffuser, its directly in the flow of the filter outlet so the bubbles get pushed all over the place and pretty much dissolve completely, very few actually make it to the surface.

One of the new moss. Its from tropica but even they dont know what it is, its just called 003N, its tropica code! I also found some Pogostemon helferi whilst I was in the shop, couldn't resist after I saw Zigs post (sorry Zig you proabaly hate me for finding it so quickly!). Hoping it'll make a nice feature in front of the new wood.

A close up of the moss, the stuff in the shop tanks looked a bit like very small riccia, hoping to transplant some to the wood arch, but will see how well it grows before I try this.

I got all the plants from Aquajardin just off junction 12 of the M5. An excellent shop, I even talked to the manager (Edd) about EI! I would strongly recommend anyone over that side of the country paying them a visit, the two display tanks are the best I've ever seen in a shop. But its best to speak to Edd the other shop staff are not so great.

Hope you like the new layout

Sam

 

[lljdma06]

The new tank layout looks great Sam! I like it, though I will miss the anubia. I do like your new crypts and I hope they work well for you.

You always tell me how your surprised that my fish have space to swim in my tank, now I will say the same for your pre-prune picture. Where are your fish!

 

[craynerd]

Great pics mate.

I`ve got my tank on order, it`s 18 X 8 (wide) x 10 (high). Its been on order now since i posted last. If it isn`t with me by weekend the LFS said to forget about it since he is really behind in orders and no telling when it could be!! CRAP service ey?

Anyway, if it isnt ready then i will go for a standard 12x8x8

I have also just aquired my stainless steel to bend for the frame. I`ve actually looked at your idea and modified it slightly.

For starters i`m using V thin block/square steel so it will have hole done the center. That means i will be able to hide the end cap cable for the light starter motor down them and keep it all neat. Also, i` have decided that with a <6g tank i`m just going to use 1 18W tube giving me 3wpg. It wont be heavy so instead of having light holders from both sides of the tank, it will just have the one i talked about above, coming from the back glass of the tank. Does that make sense? It will be like a desk lamp almost, the frame will hook on to one side of the tank and hold it there.

Anyways...keep the updates coming. It is truely inspiring and i`m well impressed. Obviously , i`ll be updating on mine when the project begins, but without this post i wouldnt have even had the idea!!!

Chris

 

[Themuleous]

The new tank layout looks great Sam! I like it, though I will miss the anubia. I do like your new crypts and I hope they work well for you.

You always tell me how your surprised that my fish have space to swim in my tank, now I will say the same for your pre-prune picture. Where are your fish!

Indeed I do and indeed it was! I saw several of the fish swimming on their side, as it was the only way through the plants in some plances!

Great pics mate.

I`ve got my tank on order, it`s 18 X 8 (wide) x 10 (high). Its been on order now since i posted last. If it isn`t with me by weekend the LFS said to forget about it since he is really behind in orders and no telling when it could be!! CRAP service ey?

Anyway, if it isnt ready then i will go for a standard 12x8x8

I have also just aquired my stainless steel to bend for the frame. I`ve actually looked at your idea and modified it slightly.

For starters i`m using V thin block/square steel so it will have hole done the center. That means i will be able to hide the end cap cable for the light starter motor down them and keep it all neat. Also, i` have decided that with a <6g tank i`m just going to use 1 18W tube giving me 3wpg. It wont be heavy so instead of having light holders from both sides of the tank, it will just have the one i talked about above, coming from the back glass of the tank. Does that make sense? It will be like a desk lamp almost, the frame will hook on to one side of the tank and hold it there.

Anyways...keep the updates coming. It is truely inspiring and i`m well impressed. Obviously , i`ll be updating on mine when the project begins, but without this post i wouldnt have even had the idea!!!

Chris

I kinda see what you're saying, sounds like a good idea. I had trouble explaining my plan to people before I got it built. I think one of the probelsm with such small tnaks is that the equipment looks really bulky, anything you can do to hide it will help the illusion of size, as there are less points for refference.

You sure you want such a short tank? 12" is mighty small? 18w tubes are also 24" long so you'll have quite a bit of overhang?

Thanks for you comments

Sam

 

[craynerd]

FEwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

SO GLAD you posted !!! yes, your tank is 24 x 8 x 8...for some reason i have always thought it was 12 x 8 x 8

NOW that makes much more sense! i`d be happy with that, i was only ordering a pre-made one since i wanted more length that 12inch!!!

Opppps..gonna ring and cancel the order!!!

Chris

 

[Themuleous]

You escaped a potentially embarrassing situation at the shop there me thinks!

EDIT - mine is a standard size clearseal, if they dont stock them you should be able to get one of them ordered in. It cost me less than 20quid.

 

[zig]

One of the new moss. Its from tropica but even they dont know what it is, its just called 003N, its tropica code! I also found some Pogostemon helferi whilst I was in the shop, couldn't resist after I saw Zigs post (sorry Zig you proabaly hate me for finding it so quickly!). Hoping it'll make a nice feature in front of the new wood.

haha....dont be silly, its a really nice plant, i bet it will become quite popular once its more available, im just lucky i have access to the entire Tropica catalogue, but that shop looks like a really good find on your behalf, count yourself lucky, i do, there was a time when plants over here were practically non existant other than vallis etc, how things can turn around. Btw its quite a slow grower but quite hardy from what i can gather, the more light you give the plant the more compact it will grow.

That moss looks really interesting it looks more like a liverwort, like a mini Pelia, i will keep an eye out for it.

Tank looks great..........good job!

 

[Themuleous]

Cheers Zig, its a bit yellow at the moment hoping it'll green up a bit. Yeh it might be a dwarf version of Pelia, the bloke in the shop (not the manager BTW) tried to sell me the normal version saying it was the same thing! Even I could see it wasn't!

Sam

 

[craynerd]

Sam, got board of waiting and since i realised you had a 24inch (not a 12 ) i figured that was little much point in me waiting other than for the extra 2 inch in the height.

So i have got myself a 24 x 8 x 8 and pick it up first thing tomorrow.

Can i just ask one question, since i have this last night to fully decide. Do you think and extra 2 inch will be nice, just that extra bit of depth, or not? It was just the way your CO2 diffuser stuck out of the water!

 

[guppy_man]

hi sam, never realised you had a tank diary going, otherwise i would of payed more attention, but the tank looks great , i know what you mean now, about the hornwort
java moss looks great on the wood

well done guppy_man

 

[Themuleous]

To be honest, I don’t think it would really make that much difference, you just have to think a bit differently when planning the tank. Instead of having 3" of substrate have 1.5", this is why I used eco-complete, no need to use up valuable space for normal gravel! It may mean it needs replacing a bit more often, say once a year or even every 6months but that’s no real problem.

I replaced the diffuser with a glass one so it doesn't stick out of the water now, but from what I understand these only work on pressurised systems. I had thought about cutting the nutrafin diffuser in half, that would solve the problem; I didn't use the full length anyway.

The only advantage to a 10" tall tank I can see would be the extra space for water, as this will allow for a bit more of a safely net should things go wrong (like over heating, etc), as there is more water to absorbed the affects, but this is a minor thing (probably only add 5lt more?) and if its a case of getting the 8" now or waiting a few weeks or longer for a 10" then get the 8", you don’t want to be waiting forever now do you

My new heater sticks out a bit, but that’s just the way I have it positioned, it would easily fit if it was slanted.

Looking forward to seeing this tank up and running I do find it a bit of challenge trying to get everything for the tank in 'nano' size but that just means I have to be that little bit more creative with my ideas

Sam

hi sam, never realised you had a tank diary going, otherwise i would of payed more attention, but the tank looks great , i know what you mean now, about the hornwort
java moss looks great on the wood

well done guppy_man

Thanks sorry didn't I mention this to you? Its only been going a few weeks anyway.

I liked the java moss too, but it was constantly covered in thread algae so removed it last night. Hoping the new moss will work better.

Sam

 

[scott67892002]

haha you went to my local it is a pretty good shop i'd also recommend aqatic habitat just off juncion 11a i think!

 

[Themuleous]

Indeed another very fine shop, been in there a few times, but not recently.

 

[YOYO]

Hey Themuleous the tank is looking great nice to see it develope . Just a question the for you though , Do you think that aquajardin still has some of that moss ? And do you think they would post some to me ? Just a thought . It would look great in my setup . Thanks again and keep up the good work