Zoom's 38l Nano

This weekend was my first "study free weekend" as my Project Management course has been taking all my time. (I wrote on Wednesday, and having passed it, I can officially put the books, files, and textbooks away!!)

So with some free time on my hands again, (after 8 months if intensive studying), I was able to take the tank apart, and completely redo it. The LOVELY thing about pfp is that it is actually very easy to get out. Simply put all your substrate, including the PFP into a bucket, fill with water, and rinse as if you are rinsing normal gravel. The PFP floats to the top, and is easily disgarded. I decided to take the PFP out, as I suspect the excess nutrients in the tank may be contributing to the algae.

So the day started by emptying the tank, taking out the plants, gravel, and giving the tank a good clean. I sourced the leak, and resiliconed.

The gravel was put in....





Some garden pebbles were used to create different levels of scaping...





Spent about 2 hours replanting the Glosso, hairgrass, and the other (unknown) plant at the back. Placed the tank in it's position, and cut out the hood, and moved the CFL. If you recall from my previous posts, I had to raise the hood using pegs as I had mounted the CFL vertically. I decided that I didn't like the look of the raised hood, so placed the CFL horizontally (@Vis will like this!!! ). I'm still a firm believer in the CFL being vertical for better penetration and PAR, however, this may also be a contributing factor to the algae, in that I am getting TOO MUCH light.





And final result.

 

looks nice Ashley. about the light thing i have seen several guys on the USA sites trying things with the CFL's for better light, and i know off one guy that went out and bought a par meter to get readings (cant think of the site right now), he used a 18watt cfl - horizontal first without a reflector and then with one, and the readings almost doubled with the reflector. So the horizontal mounting works perfectly well, but if you want to maximise the light just stick in a reflector.

 

@Linga ... whilst your research is correct, it is incomplete. Yes, the reflector will help, and if you go search in the DIY section, Or even go up a few pages on this very thread, you will find that the entire underside of my hood is a reflector.

Why I say your research is incomplete is because research has also shown that a CFL mounted VERTICALLY, (with no reflector) has a PAR reading between 3 and 5 times MORE than a horizonal mounted CFL (WITH REFLECTOR). The Par also has higher readings as you move further to the side of the tank... meaning that a VERTICAL CFL is (1) producing a higher Par, and (2) spreading the light further outwards than a horizontal CFL.

 

tank is looking great Ashley! How did you find the PM exam?

 

Was tough. Was an exam you do online with PM Institute USA. I passed on all sections, however on one section I BARELY passed. (If you fail one section out of 10, you fail the entire course).

 

zoom, the plant at the back is HM aka Hemianthus micranthemoides.. nice plants for nanos as they very small leaved

 

@shihr Have I planted it correctly? Or is it more like a glosso type plant?

 

you plant it like any other stem plant if it grows long, cut it and re plant it.. HM is also known to "crawl" and grow horizontally kinda like glosso.. but i only noticed this in my extra high light tanks.. they pretty undemanding plants though ime..easier than hc

 

Looks good with the garden pebbles. New sort of scaping. Can call it the "Zoom Effect"

 

Zoom's Upgraded Nano

Who thought a Nano can grow up??You may recognize the tank...

Staying in a flat can have it's drawbacks... like not having a garage to make your own stuff. My first project was going to be a copy of @Vis Nano-Tank cabinet... however when it went on sale, I couldn't resist.

It WAS going to be packed away and left for another day (i.e when I'm in a bigger place, and can convice my wife that another tank was necessary...) however I couldn't resist. Spent the day stripping the old Nano, and putting everything into the new Nano.

So we start from the top view...
At the back is a "sump" type filter. Water flows in on the left through 3 holes, under a divider, and back into the tank via a return pump. Filter media is simply wool and ceramic rings. Heater is hidden in there too.





Second pic is of the hood open. Vis you may notice I changed the globe for something a little bigger... and I drilled a few extra breather holes. (Need to silicon these now to prevent moisture damage...)





And finally the tank. Everything is pretty much the same as before. Used same plants, same scaping style (the "Zoom effect"). Just added some (unknown) moss to a tree I got from Vis as well.




( @f-fish if your eyes are really good, you will see little blurry dots swimming in the tank... that's the endlers!)

 

Nice little scape. Makes me think of those old English country side places where the hedges were still these brick walls.

O and the moss was Spiky, Flame and weeping. The fronts with the somewhat broader leaves is the spiky. Not to sure about the weeping though, was told what is was but not convinced.

Some tree growing tips. When that moss reach 2cm of growth, cut it back down all the way. Then after that give it a good trim every now and then or it grows so dence the bottom starts dying off.

I had a 9W bulb in there that gave you 3W/G, what do you have in there and where is the CO2

 

If I google those three moss, they all look the same to me. (I think I may have the flame on the tree).
The one you sent me doesn't look like any of the 3... it looks like a pot scoure....

The globe that you gave me was an 11watt. I put my 12w Tornado on... was a lot brighter.

I will trim that tree as per your suggestion.

I haven't gone CO2... I thought of it, but decided against it.I am however using Excel. (Initial dose of 2ml, and then according to calcs, 0.3ml every day. So I'll do 0.5 every second day.)

 

That would be the Flame. If you google flame you usually do not get the right image. Its usually erect moss.

By the look of the moss on the tree its the Spiky it grows really beautifully if cared for.

 

Nice scape .. high light nano is so the way to go I think - and those endlers make the perfect glitter in thank it would seem.

I soooo want to do the endler thing but need to hang back, need to sort some tank space first.

Later Ferdie

 

It's looking great in the new home with the new inhabitants.
I've also got my new Vis-tank up and running, but just to keep the moss alive for now. It will see a slight mod and a rescape in the new year

 

looking really nice dude, gonna be stunning with the tree and lawn grown in.

 

Update ...?

 

Nothing much has changed. Plant at the back is growing well. GLosso not doing too well. And moss has filled out.
And I have a few more baby Endlers.

 

How is the boyu filter performing? Just curious as to how it fits onto the tank .. apparently it hangs on? What about the spray bar attachments etc..?

TM

 

Heehee.... The Boyu outperformed my expectations completely... but it has been decommissioned for now. This is actually a completely new tank. If you go to post #230 above, you will see that I bought this tank and cabinet from Vis. The tank has a sump type filter at the back. At the top left is 3 holes where the water enters the sump, and to the right sort of on the middle you will see a black pipe sticking out the tank, this is the return pipe from the pump. Even the heater is now hidden in the back. Much better set up, and gives me about 2 liters extra

Oh, I pulled the PFP out the tank... and the algae dropped drastically too. Then I added the Endlers, and the algae is almost non-existant. (Except the algae on the glass which get's cleaned once a week.)