Square One!

[rhysiboy]

Hi guys well after a long stint in marines that ended in disaster and 10 grands worth of damage to my house im getting back to my roots... and what a better way than to do a planted nano aquarium!!

Heres my plan

Tank: 3.5 gallon cube (25cm x 25cm x 25cm)
Filter: Eden 501
Co2: Nutrafin Fermentation
Lighting: 18w power compact clip on
Heater: Hydor external 200w
Substrate: ADA amazonian II
Hardscape: Seiryu stone
Fertiliser: Tropical Plant Nutrition+
Accesories: Angled stainless steel tweezers, stainless steel scissors

Plants-
Hemianthus Callitrichoides
Pogostemon Helferi

Fish- Undecided on this at the moment thinking ember tetras because i can get hold of them at work but any suggestions are welcomed

Inverterbrates-
4 Amano Shrimp
4 Cherry Shrimp

Heres what I have so far, awaiting packages this week!!

Im planning to paint the back black because it is going to be sitting in the kitchen on the counter top, so a background is needed to hide all of the cables and things.

If any of you guys and gals can see any problems with my potential set up or suggestions with better plant and fish combinations

 

[jacko9901]

good job so far. look forward to the tank progress

 

[aaronnorth]

200w!! if i was you i would have an internal, or just leave it in a room which is quite warm, the water could heat up to quickly. Also, that is a lot of plants for a small tank, the simpler you have it the larger it will look, and microsorum pteropus is quite a big plant, try to stick with finer leaved plants. It might be better just to dose easy carbo or excel daily rather then the nutrafin but that is just my opinion! or if you can run the tube into the filter rather than having that huge ladder in there!

Good strat and looking forward to it progressing.

 

[rhysiboy]

hahah well sorta realised today that the external heater is the same size as the tank and bigger ... ill hang on to it for when i start up marines again in the distant future lol I was thinking about the ladder.. hmmm is there anyway of doing what you said, running it into the filter?

 

[aaronnorth]

just put the tube under neath the intake of the filter and then the CO2 will dsolve as it passes through the media and impeller.

 

[rhysiboy]

Ive just bought a small 25w hydor heater so thats that problem sorted. Aaron how many plants do you suggst and what combination? Also could you suggest possible fish because im not too sure on which are suitable and the internet doesnt turn up anything worth while. How many fish aswell would i be looking at having in a tank this size?

 

[aaronnorth]

i would go with shrimps or lampeyes stay small. I would say 5 lampeyes and maybe a few shrimp could be added. try to keep plant sepcies as low as possible. With it being a small tank, it will be hard to cram all tose different plants in and it wont look right. Stick with finer leaved plants as this also is great for making the tank look bigger.

 

[rhysiboy]

how do 4 or 5 celestial pearl danios sound with an ottocinclus?

 

[RadaR]

Nice tank.
Ottos need to be in groups. Kept on their own or in pairs and they don't survive very long. I doubt there would be enough food or room for a group

 

[rhysiboy]

Oki dokes steer clear of the ottos, got it! Right with regards to plants ive sort of come accros this tank

Id like to use this as my inspiration i.e instead of using the bogwood use the seiryu stone as the centerpiece with a carpet of Hemianthus Callitrichoides and then fill in little bits of the rock with pogostemon helferi but this leaves a big gap at the background... so basically im asking can you suggest any suitable background plants? possibly two good species oh and ive decided i dont really liek the hair grass so thats not going into my tank

 

[flash22]

looks like a plan. nice bit of inspration there too.

fish wise some pygmy spotted rasboras ( Boraras maculatus ) would go well in there as ther tiny (15-20mm full grown) or the Spotlight Rasbora

 

[HODDY]

fish whise i would go for :

5 cherry shrimp
5 lamp eyes

or

5 cherries
5 ember tetras.

or maybe a nice male fighter?

 

[aaronnorth]

fighters are to distracting, you want to focus on the plants, not fish, although they do play an imortant role in the set up, stick to shaoling fish.

 

[rhysiboy]

yeah i sorta glanced at fighting fish but then thought the same! By the way by lampeyes do you mean killifish?

Can you suggest any good background plants, i'd like two of a reasonble height and sort of the 'bottle brush' leaf style (similar to how the background plants are in that photo)

 

[aaronnorth]

Yes, Aplocheilichthys kingii

Miceranthemum Micranthemoides is a small stem plant, great for this tank. Snaller version of what you see in the tank above (which looks like rotala sp. green and rotala rotundifolia)